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I just recently got the vibrant and got the OTA the same day, the gallery freezes about half the time, and about half of the time that it freezes i have to pull the battery, i cant get to task manager or put the phone to sleep and wake it up.
I searched google and there are alot of links regarding it but i didnt find any that gave any ideas to fix it.
I searched this forum and nothing came up. Anyway, I have a class 6 card, the gallery on my nexus is very quick and has never frozen, so it is definitely the phone.
In my experience with the g1, MT3g, N1 and now this vibrant, any time ive received an OTA it has come with costs, it always brings fixes and features but also causes new problems, large and small. So I dont doubt what I found while searching, that the gallery issue is a result of the recent OTA for the GPS fix. Anyway, its kind of silly that this awesome, technologically advanced device freezes when you open up one of the native apps. But can we do anything about it? And if not, is it likely that Samsung will address it in another OTA? thanks
edit: ive also just recently had my phone just turn off every day or so, and it wont power back on until i pull the battery. Maybe these 2 issues mean i have a defective device? Or is this par for the course with the tmobile galaxy s?
Overclock your phone to only run at 800-1000MHz. It completely solved this for me, 400-1000MHz still hiccups.
thank you, yet another reason to root i suppose...
So no way to fix that with stock phone? =(
heygrl said:
Overclock your phone to only run at 800-1000MHz. It completely solved this for me, 400-1000MHz still hiccups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
overclock huh,, i never tried i am there is a link here let me go look or how did u do it
/
That is odd, I've never had my gallery freeze or my phone reboot... Are you sure you don't have some rogue app? Perhaps you should factory reset and start fresh? Do you have any "junk" apps on your phone (stupid apps)?
I had a freeze on opening gallery right after the JI6 was released. I think it was trying to recreate the thumbnails from scratch and download pics from my Picasa acct.
Happened one time only and I actually had to pull the battery since it went unresponsive. Never had a problem after that.
~SB
perhaps unmount and remount the INTERNAL memory card. I've done this before just because I saw it as a suggestion and it recreated my gallery.
I having the same issue. I am ready to delete it and use a different app. Is that possible?
acjames said:
I having the same issue. I am ready to delete it and use a different app. Is that possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're rooted you can probably remove it.
I have tried factory reset so I don't think its a rogue app. I got the ota the day I got the phone so I can't compare before and after. If some people aren't having the issue period maybe a warranty replacement would resolve it. Of course, if we do end up getting froyo maybe that's something that will improve. Love the phone either way, I just get fed up with stuff like gallery freeze, random reboot, GPS issues, etc... stuff that i would think shouldn't get past product testing.
OP, this is discussed at the thread below. (use the search next time)
You are not the only one having this issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=805784
Quick Summary:
- Even with the removable card blank, the Gallery still have the same issues.
- I did a complete wipe and still have the same issues.
- I cleared data through System Settings which recreated thumbnails and other data, still have the same issues.
androidmonkey said:
OP, this is discussed at the thread below. (use the search next time)
You are not the only one having this issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=805784
Quick Summary:
- Even with the removable card blank, the Gallery still have the same issues.
- I did a complete wipe and still have the same issues.
- I cleared data through System Settings which recreated thumbnails and other data, still have the same issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow i am so sick of reading some loser tell somebody to "search next time". You'll be so very relieved to know that I actually did search, and all i found out is that you dont have any friends. But honestly I did find your thread, however it didnt seem to me to be on point with what i wanted to ask specifically. Your post says that "watchdog" told you your gallery is a "resource hog" and that you have to kill it. I dont know what watchdog is, nothing told me anything i just cant get into my gallery app very often, so that didnt seem applicable. Also, i got ji6 the day i got my phone so putting the gallery issue in the context you did ("since ji6 update") didnt mean anything to me, i dont anything about this phone pre-ji6 update. All I know is that my gallery app sucks, your thread was a bit technical for me to be able to apply to my particular issue
Anyway, now my gallery freezes every single time i initially try to open it, i have had to pull the battery 6 times in a row, it works after the pull. This has been my favorite android phone (of 4) but now i just want to set it on fire and run over it with my car. I guess Samsung and Android arent interested in making their $600 products work, does anybody know how i can fix my phone so that it does what it is supposed to? Also im not rooted which i assume probably makes it impossible for me to fix? thanks for any help.
DMaverick50 said:
Wow i am so sick of reading some loser tell somebody to "search next time". You'll be so very relieved to know that I actually did search, and all i found out is that you dont have any friends.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol
also bump
Hi everyone. It's been two days since the process com.google.process.gapps has started crashing, "stopping unexpectedly" whenever i use the browser on my tab.
Reading the error report, it seems (not 100% sure about that) this is somehow related to the bookmarks sync with Chrome, but i can't find a way to disable this.
Has anyone exprerienced the same issue? Any known solution? Thanks
Go to settings > accounts and sync, click on your account then uncheck everything, then manually sync everything one by one to see what is causing the error.
Then go to manage apps and clear the cache of all the problem apps and re-sync them once you're done. It might take a few tries but it should take care of that error.
I'll try that as soon as possible, thanks!
browser sync was causing this for me
I believe that bookmarks sync no long works with galaxy tab. Google changed something on their end that should have worked fine(it still works on the xoom, transformer, etc.) but since samsung changed a bunch of stuff for no apparent reason, it is now broken. samsung is so stupid sometimes..
So you're basically suggesting that bookmarks sync should stay off to avoid problems like that?
well I don't really know. I never used bookmark sync in the first place. I'm just going by what is said in this article.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/br...gle-or-the-oems/17840?tag=mantle_skin;content
It turns out that at some point Google started making some changes to the backend systems that handle Google’s user account data. There’s nothing wrong with them doing this; it happens all the time. In fact, no other Android 3.1 tablets had any issues at all with the changes, and their bookmark sync continued to work without a blip on the radar.
Not Samsung, however... I did some digging around the internet, and it’s become somewhat well-known amongst Android developers that Samsung actually modifies core source code in the Android operating system that handles communicating with Google’s backend data services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's a pity. I had just started to think it was a useful tool to keep track of unread web pages between work, home and outside...
Let's hope Samsung somehow fixes that.
PS: disabling bookmarks sync actually stops the process from crashing, I think I've solved (if we could really say so...) the issue. Thanks to all!
Thanks, disabling auto sync for browser has stopped the error. Samsung developers need to fix this - I can't auto sync my gmail
What am I missing here?
Ok be prepared, this post may be rather long winded however I will try my best to prevent that. I have a Tmobile G2x I purchased on launch date. Ive not attempted to Root, change roms, or anything of the sort. (as much as I always wanted to, I always felt that my skills were not good enough to attempt these ideas no matter how easy they may seem. I just did not want to be the cause of screwing up my phone that I paid dearly for)
So I have a friend who claims to be the master (of disaster so it turns out) of rooting androids and such. He stops by my house just to hang out and eventualy convinces me to let him root my phone and install CM7. Within a few minutes the phone was rooted (super1click) and was running CM7 release candidate. (I really dont know what all these things truly are but I drilled him for answers once he jacked up my phone and left me with a half-bricked phone) So he installed Rom manager and convinced me to upgrade to the premium version via marketplace so I did. He was then showing me how easy it was to flash new roms at the touch of a few buttons. He put on some other rom which looked like CM7 but claimed to have extra tweaks. It worked fine. A few minutes later he put on some Faux Rom which gave a boot up screen like my old Nexus One did. (Multicolored X) It seemed to work fine as well. Then he said lets check out the nightly CM7 Rom so he put it on. (however I dont think it ever actually put CM7 back on.-still on Faux?) Thats when things got crazy.
Now I get the com.google.process.gapps force close message all the time. He tried to fix it for 4 hours and finally gave up. Here is what I know he/we tried: After searching the internet for hours we tried everyone elses ideas. Clearing calenders cashes, un syncing, etc. We did about 40 factory resets. We have tried to install my backup (which was from BEFORE he even touched my phone) and upon holding both volume rockers and plugging in USB (no battery installed) and it still does nothing. Windows recognizes device but phone screen stays black. Tried Debug mode while doing this as well. If we hold the volume down button and power the little install bar comes on the screen and it does its thing (whatever that is) and goes right back to the way it was. I keep getting the gapps message all the time. After factory reset I cant even type in my gmail address to start the initial setup of the phone. The force close keeps cutting me off. If I type fast, I can sync the account but I cant use market whatsoever. Tried installing Rom manager to re-flash but just sticks at starting download and gapps pops up again.
My son is starting school tomorrow and he has a medical condition. I NEED this phone to communicate with the school nurse via emails and such. As of now I can only text, call, or surf web all while dodging force closes. If ANYONE out there can please help me get my phone back to normal Id greatly appreciate it. Im sure its something easy but as I said before, Im not good at this thing and thats why I never attempted it myself. Your welcome to submit answers here or PM me your phone # if you want to walk me through it on the phone. (I have a landline phone to talk to you on) Thanks in advance for everyones time and Im sorry this ended up being so long.
Hello,
Based on your post, I would suggest that you search your phone's development forum on XDA for a compatable clockwork recovery mod which will install a custom recovery on your phone. The thread will give you instructions on how to do so and how to enter recovery mode.
You can then enter the 'Backup and Restore' part of the recovery and restore your backup manually without using ROM manager. If this doesn't work, I would suggest that you then download the ROM of your choice and install it from the clockwork recovery. Make sure you clear user data and wipe the cache before you install.
Any fix yet? This is really annoying me as I rely on my bookmarks tremendously.
try this:
Open stock browser and under settings choose clear cache and deletehistory
Hey, I have tried searching the forums but did not exactly come across the answer I was looking for. So, I am on my Samsung Galaxy SII and I just rooted my phone recently. I was having the problem of wifi sharing sucking up my battery, so I rooted my phone but at the same time I decided to try freezing up a few apps that I did not need to free up more ram and get more battery life. So, I followed the "safe to remove app" thread and I removed apps that were said to be safe from the spreadsheet, but could someone please tell me what is needed to run Youtube and the IM applications? For Youtube, everything works fine, until I get to the video part. I click on the video, and it never loads, the circle keeps spinning. I would think I disabled something important for loading the videos there as I can still load Youtube videos when I go to the website. Also, with IM I almost have the same problem. When I click on the application, the entire screen is black, with just the loading circle in the middle, but nothing ever happens. These two things seem to be the only problems I encountered so far. I only froze apps that were said to be for sure safe to remove. Nothing under caution or no. I hope someone could help me with this problem! Thank you guys so much for all your help! I do not know much about my phone as I just rooted it.
Not sure about IM app, i suggest try imo messenger.
For Youtube, did you remove video app?
(Videos; com.sec.android.app.videoplayer; VideoPlayer.apk)
Although im not 100% sure, I would bet that it's the cause of the video playback problem.
I think better to re-run all the frozen apps so that you will know that those frozen apps caused the issue. If not, then you have a corrupted system.
Alright, thanks for your help guys! I guess in the back of my head, I already knew I had to go back and test out each and every quarantined app again. I was just hoping someone knew exactly what was needed for those applications. Thanks though!
I have a T Mobile GS5 which I Towel-rooted soon after purchase. It is currently running the stock NE6 build.
I wanted to upgrade w/ the Mobile Odin app and maintain root. However, after paying for and installing Mobile Odin (4.20), when I open the app, it immediately crashes and says it has stopped working. Given the option to report the failure or close, I chose to report. This returns a message that the google play store has stopped working.
Am I just being stupd? I have searched high and low for some similar posting or support and can find nothing.
Any suggestions?
Thanks for any help.....
..
fffft said:
Everyone says that they have searched, whether they have or not. It's too bad that you didn't tell us how you tried to search. Or what keywords you used, we could have helped you improve your searches. There are a ton of xxxx (app) has stopped working threads, so it's difficult to understand how you didn't find any.
You should have a second look as there is a wealth of information in existing threads. But to summarize briefly, you can try these steps -
You may not have installed the support files properly. Read the directions carefully and reinstall the app.
Try wiping your cache from recovery mode.
Clear the app's cache and data in the application manger in the settings menu.
As a last resort, close any background apps that may be causing a conflict.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the three + weeks since I loaded the program have searched thru quite a few key words, including the exact error message, combinations of odin not working, tmobile mobile odin not working, ad nauseum. None of the threads I saw, and there were many, addressed odin not opening at all. Never since loading. Most folks have issues w/ flashing the wrong types of files, or not checking some box. I have never seen the odin screen. And in any search I have never seen that problem described.
When you say supporting files, what are you referring to? I know that the MO lite offered here requires supporting files, but I paid for mine, didnt know it wasnt complete. I tried loading up the lite version and got the same thing, instant shutdown. Makes me think that it is not an issue with MO but maybe something on my phone. Are you aware of any background apps which may cause conflict? I cleared the MO cache and data. Also forced a stop and rebooted. And removed/reinstalled.
So by posting here, I am not really looking to refine my searches so much as looking for someone who maybe had the same issue, overcame it, and is willing to share that insight to relieve my stupidity. I guess that wouldn't be you, although I appreciate your thoughts on the subject.
..
fffft said:
I appreciate your forthright candor. It's not possible to help everyone, so I choose to put my time towards helping those who tried to search the forum before posting. Just as you prefer to have someone who has been through the same experience provide you the answer. I'm not sure that is an efficient strategy except for the most common problems.
The likely solution is as I summarized earlier for any app that presents a ".. stopped working" message. Perhaps as you hope, someone who has had the same issue can further advise you. Good luck.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After going back and reading some more, something hit me, it was always kinda right there......
Looking at the screenshot of the MO display, i noticed the 'clear dalvik cache' command. Reminded me that I had been screwing around and had turned ART on to see how it ran. Wonder where the 'clear art cache' box is..............oh.
Turned dalvik back on, runs like a champ. just downloaded the addons, opened the tar I had on the external sd and I think I'm ready.
As I never did see a thread referring to this specific issue I figured I would document for the forum's info.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
had the same problem
Rev_zero said:
After going back and reading some more, something hit me, it was always kinda right there......
Looking at the screenshot of the MO display, i noticed the 'clear dalvik cache' command. Reminded me that I had been screwing around and had turned ART on to see how it ran. Wonder where the 'clear art cache' box is..............oh.
Turned dalvik back on, runs like a champ. just downloaded the addons, opened the tar I had on the external sd and I think I'm ready.
As I never did see a thread referring to this specific issue I figured I would document for the forum's info.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ran into the same problem. So, no need to feel stupid and im glad to see u realized the problem.
Its a learning process. Lol
Ok first let me tell you guys that i have never seen this problem before and all of a sudden TODAY I saw it in two unrelated phones, one huawey ascend 530 something , and the other one a no brand chinese dual sim note 3 or note 4 knockoff , bot phones where stock , and users dont even know what rooting is, let alone custom roms.
The problem was popups , lots of them , some with pr0n ads, others with "security software" ads, some more for games, this popups started as soon as the phone booted, no need to enter a browser or app at all, then it started downloading some more apps with weird names (weird as apparently random garbage names), and some other apps for coupons, games, launchers etc, tons of crap, every time one finished downloading it was asking for which method to use for installation :google verification or something else I think "package installer" that i don't remember now, but that I know both are legit apps from android to install stuff, of course I said no every time but it just kept asking so I figured I will factory reset this because I have no time but he is a friend so I need to help him, but have not much time so I thought that was the best thing to do.
WRONG, after factory reset (from settings menu) popups where still there, so I just figured I would do it from recovery screen, and I did, ... surprise, popups still there and also the downloading notifications of more unknown apps, as I said before some of them had names like games or security software, other were just random gibberish, sometimes an app with chinesse name crashed (force stop) , when I saw that the first time I immediately knew it was some chinesse malware crap, ok I guessed maybe the sdcard had something sticky on it , hidden partition or something, so I removed it, and reset again, ... problem persists, oh and let me tell you, this problem showed up immediately after boot, I didn't even have the chance to register a google account, so crap was not coming from a google sync data or or synced apps or browsers or something , well then I had the idea of turning off the wifi and see if they stop, some of the popups opened browser pages and other popups just opened by themselves as if it was from an already installed app.
results: the damn thing turned wifi ON by itself to keep downloading their ****y apps, so I just deleted the saved wifi networks, and the damn thing started using the mobile data to keep doing its stuff (it even turned data on).
There was only one 2 things left to do, either try to root the phone and dive in the apps to try and remove any suspicious ones, or reflash with stock.
Well I had to leave by that time and told my friend i would like to help him, but it would have to be some other time, coz I know how hard it is to try and find a rom for an unknown chinese manufacturer even if I find one, trying to figure out the links in chinesse pages I doubt it would be an exact match (had done that before, so I know its difficult and takes many hours of your time) it had JB on it.
Then I arrived to work and a coworker asked if I could help him , it was a Huawei ascend G527-U081. exact same symptoms and behavior, ok so again I did factory resets blah blah erase sdcard etc etc, same results malware persisted, but in this case, it took me less than 5 mins to find the stock rom at huawey support page, downloaded it, did update via sdcard, and VOILA FIXED.
So someone who knows more about how could this infection happen can take some time and try to explain me?
My uneducated guess is that some side-loaded app or downloaded app from the webpages ads or something like that got ROOT access to the phone internally or even rooted the phone with their own root renamed app, and somehow put themselves in the system partition or the place where the factory apps are installed from, i guess that's why only a full flash fixed it.
Could that be it?
I hope no one here gets that crap, I have never had any malware in any of my phones and I am even surprised and wonder what people can possible do to get infected that bad, lol, I don't think I could even on purpose, but then again, having an adaway app takes most of the dangerous ads away so no risk clicking them by mistake.
Hi,
By any chance did you save the apks that were the cause of this as I would like to decompile and test them under a VM maybe we could take them offline or attempt to get a warning out there.
BioT3rm said:
Hi,
By any chance did you save the apks that were the cause of this as I would like to decompile and test them under a VM maybe we could take them offline or attempt to get a warning out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt find out wich apps were the cause of this, it was to many apps trying to install themselves and one popup after another from different apps.
the chinese phone still has all the crap, i wouldnt know what to give you from it
arana1 said:
I didnt find out wich apps were the cause of this, it was to many apps trying to install themselves and one popup after another from different apps.
the chinese phone still has all the crap, i wouldnt know what to give you from it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought as much but this is the second time I've seen someone post something similar, brand new install on the phone or factory reset and mileage downloading apps, I do believe this could be a new malware out of China.
This is a common thing with Chinese devices. They mostly contain malware. This is why China based devices are not big with most of the world.
If is built into their os. You can't really remove it.
arana1 said:
I didnt find out wich apps were the cause of this, it was to many apps trying to install themselves and one popup after another from different apps.
the chinese phone still has all the crap, i wouldnt know what to give you from it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my knowledge it's the one app "pornclub" that installs all those junk applications. This app somehow access the root on non-rooted phones and reinstall automatically even if you hard reset the phone. Removing this app after rooting may be helpful. This malware also appeared in ASUS Nexus tablet and other phones. So it is not linked to some specific make. People who download apps from third party sources should be careful and get them only from sites which display hash info for play store apps. Besides avoid downloading junk porn apps.
I also have a similar malaware on my note5. I did a factory reset and when I checked my chrome I had no ads but when I reconnected to my Internet I instantly started downloading galaxy apps and when I checked my chrome again I had a ad by mgid again.
---------- Post added at 04:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------
I scanned my phone and it said s health was a threat
Did anyone find a fix to this? Does a FW update help?
rhri3 said:
Did anyone find a fix to this? Does a FW update help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fixed the huawey "updating " to the same rom version it already had, ie full flash,
i read that there are some utilities and av cleaner in google play sstore that get rid of this, search for pornhub cleaner
arana1 said:
I fixed the huawey "updating " to the same rom version it already had, ie full flash,
i read that there are some utilities and av cleaner in google play sstore that get rid of this, search for pornhub cleaner
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply. I'll try flashing the existing ROM again and see if I get rid of it. There's also some info on that on https://blog.avast.com/2013/10/23/no-pleasure-from-this-adult-app-only-pain/
edit: It worked! I flashed the same ROM on the phone again and now the phone responds fast again.
Which AV/anti malware app would you recommend to avoid this incident in the future - and I don't want thousands of other apps that come along with it (battery saver etc.)?
rhri3 said:
thanks for the reply. I'll try flashing the existing ROM again and see if I get rid of it. There's also some info on that on https://blog.avast.com/2013/10/23/no-pleasure-from-this-adult-app-only-pain/
edit: It worked! I flashed the same ROM on the phone again and now the phone responds fast again.
Which AV/anti malware app would you recommend to avoid this incident in the future - and I don't want thousands of other apps that come along with it (battery saver etc.)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I use NONE, the problem was not on my phones, I just dont install anything that doesnt come from trusted sources , be it development forums like this , or play store, or other well known pages, what I do USe is an adblocker, most of this malware comes from popups that suggest you install something else, well with adaway i get rid of most of that and have never had malware on any of my phones
hi i am having a same problems which u've mentioned above. ive tried factory reset ,erasing sd card, reboot and all but it doesnot remove totally from my phone.can anyone tell me how to fix this problem and get rid of this malicious app and virus.
I have same problem, i tried malwarebytes and the following was found backdoor.triada.js, trojan.rootnik.ab, trojan.agent.gc, trojan.sivu.rn, trojan.sinu.c, and bct_service app. I click delete and reboot my phone still not remove.
I've had this problem for a few months, but it was mostly controllable. I was too lazy to fix it, but I have a bit of knowledge about it now.
I got this when I tried installing a hack mod for a dead game. As far as I can remember, the "bad apps" were netalpha, catstudio(these two can only be disabled), com.google.keyguard, and com.android.gesture.builder (there were more, but I can't remember them). Some of the apps that get downloaded are Lazada, Zalora, Battery saver, Apus, Heathstone, 2048, and Township. I also factory reset my phone a few times, and the apps either lessen or increase...
My phone is also Huawei, so I'll just try updating the rom.
Thanks for the info ^^
kitaro11 said:
hi i am having a same problems which u've mentioned above. ive tried factory reset ,erasing sd card, reboot and all but it doesnot remove totally from my phone.can anyone tell me how to fix this problem and get rid of this malicious app and virus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way that solved this problem was to reinstall the ROM trought recovery.
reboot phone to remove malware trojan
Hi I been racking my brain trying to fix my phone with similar issues. On Monday 5/11/17 after doing a update the viruses took over the phone , I have are Trojan Triada and Slocker Back door Ransomware and another viruses I cant remember , I did the same steps you mentioned and nothing. So my last 2 options are the same.. Is it hard to flash a LGG3 att version , or will rooting the phone and manually remove them... i AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR POST :angel: Thanks.
edpinal72 said:
Hi I been racking my brain trying to fix my phone with similar issues. On Monday 5/11/17 after doing a update the viruses took over the phone , I have are Trojan Triada and Slocker Back door Ransomware and another viruses I cant remember , I did the same steps you mentioned and nothing. So my last 2 options are the same.. Is it hard to flash a LGG3 att version , or will rooting the phone and manually remove them... i AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR POST :angel: Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem and the only way to solve it was to reflash the Rom.
Also experiencing on a Mintt phone
I live in a developing country and had few options when I needed a new phone. I have a Mintt phone which I cannot seem to root. The internet here is terrible so I don't have many apps but have had recurring self installing malware that renders the phone unusable until factory reset at which point the whole process starts again.
It seems to be attached to the inbuilt browser which I can't remove. It starts with a circle on the screen which can't be removed and if touched opens a warning message that WhatsApp has a virus. I don't have WhatsApp. Then chrome tries to install. I don't use chrome. Then the messages become so frequent nothing can be done but factory reset. Any help would be much appreciated!
Samsung GT-N8013
Stock ROM full flash help?
I was wondering if I could get a walkthrough on how to find and do a full flash Stock ROM for my android tablet, similar to what you describe here.
I have had this tablet for years, but years ago, I think I got some malware, and anything I've tried over the years seems to be unable to get rid of it. I've followed many times the clearing cache from pwr/volumn up boot menu, and factory resets from same menu, yet everytime it starts up for the first time, it loads and updates several apps, then when it fully starts to home page, there is always a "lucky try" app.
I can't remove this app, and there are extra settings apps too, and the official google apps don't update properly. All in all it's very fishy, and I would like to try what you are talking about, with a full flash reset, but I have no idea how. I'm at the point where if I totally brick the thing, I'm ok with that. It is pretty much useless and has been for years anyway.
The only way to solve this problem is to flash a stock or a custom Rom.