First off, I have read all of the other soft brick threads on both xdadev and other sites, but all of them seem to address issues that come about as a result of a failed root attempt. My phone is 100% stock, running 4.1.1, and has been working great for months. I haven't installed any new apps in a few weeks, but my phone has been doing any regular updates. Today, my phone completely locked up about 5 separate times (about 2-3 hours apart for each). Each time, the only way to get my phone back was by pulling the battery (even the 10+ second press of the power button didn't work)... annoying, but manageable.
After the last lock up, my phone got stuck on the SAMSUNG logo (not the S-III logo). I let it sit there for about 45 minutes, and it was pulsing the entire time. Finally, I gave up and pulled the battery one more time. After putting it back in, the phone gets to the S-III logo, but the S is not pulsing. I've let it sit on that for over an hour - with no luck.
The failed root threads all suggest installing ODIN, rooting, wiping everything, then installing a stock firmware. I'm really hoping there is something else I can try, since wiping my phone would be extremely painful at the moment...
Anyone have any ideas?
Backup data factory reset and wipe >>> Or return phone to a service centre .
jje
Sadly as this may be, mine derped out exactly like yours one week after I bought it. It would randomly reboot, lag a lot until the day I woke up to that brilliant Samsung boot screen and nothing more helped.
Had not done anything to it so I returned it for a replacement. Turns out I had a faulty unit.
Sorry bro, guessing it's the only thing that will get yours sorted again. While I know in every product there will always be faulty units, I'm seeing dead sgs3 threads very frequently, I'm guessing Samsung's build quality isn't that good...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium App
It might be worth remembering ...
shaunco said:
First off, I have read all of the other soft brick threads on both xdadev and other sites, but all of them seem to address issues that come about as a result of a failed root attempt. My phone is 100% stock, running 4.1.1, and has been working great for months.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It might be worth remembering that there ARE a certain percentage of faulty units - those are all covered by warranty
It is also worth pointing out that accuracy can be a ***** - there is no "normal" Galaxy S3 that 2 or more months ago was running 4.1.1 - so if you indeed have 4.1.1 that is as a result of some (probably OTA) upgrade at some point in that interval
JJEgan said:
Backup data factory reset and wipe >>> Or return phone to a service centre .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love to backup my data, but since I had a stock bootloader (not CWM or one of the others) and the PIT seems gone, I'm SOL.
xclub_101 said:
It might be worth remembering that there ARE a certain percentage of faulty units - those are all covered by warranty
It is also worth pointing out that accuracy can be a ***** - there is no "normal" Galaxy S3 that 2 or more months ago was running 4.1.1 - so if you indeed have 4.1.1 that is as a result of some (probably OTA) upgrade at some point in that interval
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, bad wording on my part. When I bought it (the first day Amazon sold the I9300), it had 4.0.4. It has had 4.1.1 since mid-October. My comment of it "working great" was in relation to the random lockups (and now the stuck at logo issue).
Lucky for me, the phone is a work phone, so I bought a new I9300 at Fry's this morning and at least got my service and all my apps back, along with the data for the apps that were nice enough to put it on the SD...
This means my focus has shifted from returning my old I9300 to a working state to simply getting data off of it. If the bootloader shows "no product", it seems that the partition table is shot. Loading a new partition table would destroy the underlying data... so, is there anything I can do (even things that are physically destructive to the phone) to get the data (even as a single binary blob) off the internal 16GB storage?
As I said, I'm happy to rip this thing to pieces, if there is a way.
Related
Every time I reset or turn on my fone after shutting down, it will stuck at the logo boot up. It wasn't like that when I first bought the fone. Now it's getting worse and worse since the issue happens so frequently.
I have to take out the battery and put it back, then wait for about 3 to 5 mn before I turn the phone on.Then it would boot up as usual.
Is there anyone facing the same issue as I am? Any suggestion guys?
Are you experiencing excessive heat when this occurs? Also, can you give more info such as: does this happen only after recent charging or does it ever happen when the phone has been turned off for a long time? Was there any recent apps you installed or ROM changes when this started happening? Was there any potential damage done to the phone -dropped it, got it wet, or microwaved
When you say frequently, does that mean every time you restart? every other time? every five times?
Lastly, do you have any other issues/symptoms other than freezing at startup? Does the phone ever freeze during normal use?
i'd suggest you do a hard reset of your phone (hold down both vol up and vol down keys while powering on/resetting). that should fix the problem. if the problem still persists, it's probably some hardware faults.
Me too
My HD2 just started doing this too. It was fine for 7 weeks I have owned it. However, as described in this by OP, when doing soft reset would it would also get stuck on bootup logo. I'd have to remove the battery for a few minutes before it would bootup.
However, my HD2 also crashes and upon reboot then get stuck on bootup logo. It appears to crashes randomly eg not with any particular program or action.
I figured it was software issue so did hard reset. This worked fine. After hard reset the only software I loaded were Total Commander and Cookie Editor.
After Cookie Editor install I did soft reset and it got stuck on bootup logo. : (
So I did another hard reset but it hung up again upon reboot on bootup logo.
This appears to be a hardware issue. But has anyone else had same issue?
T-Mobile HD2
Stock ROM
Purchased July 6 2010 from Expansys
yes i am experiencing the same problem and i have uploded a video on youtube showing this! Yes my phone heats up when this happens..
Hi. I got this problem for quite sometime and am so used to taking out and putting back and taking out and putting back the batt.
But now I have another prob: my ringtone suddenly went soft and I now have to keep myself alert all the time to see if there's any incoming call or SMS.
I would like to do a hard reset but the question is: will it set my phone back to the stock ROM or still retain the updated version - 1.66.707.1?
Thanks in advance.
Stormrider75 said:
Hi. I got this problem for quite sometime and am so used to taking out and putting back and taking out and putting back the batt.
But now I have another prob: my ringtone suddenly went soft and I now have to keep myself alert all the time to see if there's any incoming call or SMS.
I would like to do a hard reset but the question is: will it set my phone back to the stock ROM or still retain the updated version - 1.66.707.1?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will retain whatever rom you are using
Htc Hd2 vodafone UK
HD2 issue
After some more searching it appears this is not uncommon for HD2. Its not clear to me if it is specific to T-Mobile HD2 or HD2 in general.
It appears to be a hardware issue. Although that is not 100% clear either. I find it hard to distinguish what some people report as 'freezing' which i believe is different to the issue described in this post which is 'hanging up' or 'getting stuck' on boot up screen - in my case it is the T-Mobile 'stick together' pink and white screen/logo.
(The 'freezing' issue that i believe is different to this 'getting stuck on bootup logo' issue appeared to have been resolved iwth new T-Mobile ROM - and I never experienced it on my HD2).
The resolution for getting stuck on bootup screen issue described here appears to have been to exchange HD2 (although some people exchanged up to 6 times and keep getting same issue!)
I think it is important to note that my HD2 performed fine for 7 weeks with lots of soft resets, hard resets, and lots of software installs (though no ROM reflashing) but within last week or so, start crashing randomly, then upon reboot get stuck on bootup screen/logo. This also became more frequent as time progressed. After doing hard reboot, the issue is now acute, eg it gets stuck on every reboot, and crashes more often.
This leads me to think some hardware has failed or degraded and is getting worse, maybe a connection/soldering etc?
However, is there any possibility that a ROM could 'degrade'? Can a ROM have a setting that is modifiable? (I know it is 'read only memory' but is it really?)
Anyways, love to hear from others on this issue.
Same problem here. Bought my HD2 in june. Cooked my own rom with Chucky's kitchen. Flashed different radios, hard resets, task 29 etc. Absolutely no problem. Worked fine for several weeks. But sometime it begun to freeze, auto resets, stuck at boot logo. It was getting worse. Even flashing stock rom it hungs at boot logo.
Now my HD2 is out for repair. Now waiting for returning. Hope they will change the motherboard.
several people have had their motherboards replaced and that has seemed to fix it for them. You'll probably have to fight with htc or your carrier, but should be able to get it replaced.
Hi guys. Another question:
I'm considering doing a hard reset. How do I store my messages before doing it? I can't seem to locate the folder that keeps all my messages.
TIA.
HD2 is an odd one
Thanks for replies. I really don't want to send it in .. but it will probably be the only way to resolve the issue. It will cost me courier there and back, and $20 'triage' fee .. total cost to me will be ~$100 just to have them look at it. Price of doing business I guess.
Anyways, I realized that one of my issues was that it was crashing when syncing. A little digging reveals that HTC Sense does something to all contacts when syncing first time putting a bit of html in contact notes field (weird but it is true .. its their way of reminding you bought an HTC phone?) So once I got it up and running, I disabled Sense and syncing went fine, no crashing.
(Btw, Sense also appears to do something with SMS msgs too so if you have lots it crashes on due to this reason too).
However, even with plain Jane MS today screen (eg not using Sense) it still crashed once on sync and again when listening to radio. Both times had to remove battery for few minutes before it would reboot without getting stuck at bootup logo.
But so far it seemed to be working 'better' without using Sense.
So, I re-enabled Sense to see what would happen and over a day it has crashed twice. I am going to see how it behaves for few days before sending it in as RMA repair.
Still, important point is that it was ok for 7 weeks, and then started crashing, more and more, even after hard reset, though some of issues may have been due to Sense (which is reported by many users).
It is still not a 'normal' thing for a $700 consumer device to have such erratic behaviour. So, given others have exchanged crashing handsets for new handset that has no issues points to underlying hardware issues as suggested above eg motherboard.
As comparison I also have HTC Diamond 2 which has been rock solid for 2 years of continuous use even with lots of software install, tweaking, reg hacks, etc.
Stormrider75 said:
Hi guys. Another question:
I'm considering doing a hard reset. How do I store my messages before doing it? I can't seem to locate the folder that keeps all my messages.
TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't text a lot so i just hard reset without saving .. but do a quick search on on XDA for SMS backup or PIM backup .. during my searches I am sure i have seen a couple of utilities that do what you want.
genoki said:
I don't text a lot so i just hard reset without saving .. but do a quick search on on XDA for SMS backup or PIM backup .. during my searches I am sure i have seen a couple of utilities that do what you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Btw I read before we can actually 'disable' Sense.
How do we do that?
Sense - go to Today
Go to Start - Settings
- iI you see the black HTC Settings (has 'Personalize' on top of items) then go to Menu and select 'All Settings' (this will show Windows Mobile's Settings. HTC Sense 'Settings' doesn't everything Windows Mobile Settings has or shows it differently)
- Select 'Today'
- Select the 'Items' tab in Today
- Check 'Windows Default' and click OK in top right.
This will 'swap' out HTC Sense 'today' with Windows Mobile standard Today screen and voila you will have 'disabled' HTC Sense and you are back to using Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 version of Sense (not anywhere near as useful or neat-o to look at but hey they are pretty happy with it )
genoki said:
However, even with plain Jane MS today screen (eg not using Sense) it still crashed once on sync and again when listening to radio. Both times had to remove battery for few minutes before it would reboot without getting stuck at bootup logo.
But so far it seemed to be working 'better' without using Sense.
So, I re-enabled Sense to see what would happen and over a day it has crashed twice. I am going to see how it behaves for few days before sending it in as RMA repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just by disabling Sense is not going to make it work. I had this problem with my HD2 also and without using Sense it seemed to be working (there were fewer crashes), but only for few days. My HD2 was getting worse day by day - it was not crashing only if it was not touched (it was crashing just cycling between Sense tabs or by initiating a call).
At repair center they told me (after three weeks of waiting) that the motherboard must to be changed.
Is it possible to damage it by flashing custom ROMs?
For me, this problem appeared after just one month of usage. I was flashed some custom ROMs.
Now, I have a new HD2 but I'm affraid to flash a custom ROM (at least in the near future).
I have my HD2 back. Took me 2 weeks, the repair center changed the motherboard and got an new IMEI.
Now all is working, no more stuck at bootlogo.
But i'm on stock rom (1.66) with 2.07 radio. No way to run Android with this radio. Hmm...
axman79 said:
Is it possible to damage it by flashing custom ROMs?
For me, this problem appeared after just one month of usage. I was flashed some custom ROMs.
Now, I have a new HD2 but I'm affraid to flash a custom ROM (at least in the near future).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid as well to flash any custom rom now. For Android i need to HSPL and flash a 2.08 radio or greater to use it. But i'm stick on stock rom for sure.
I want to know as well if it possible to damage it by flashing customs roms ?
As i stated earlier, i flashed plenty of roms, doing task 29 etc., in the end stuck on bootlogo.
Thanks for the feedback on your repairs axman79 and Kalip. Btw, aside from courier cost there and back, did you have to pay the $30 'triage' fee or whatever they call it? Also, did they challenge your observations at all or did they just replace motherboard without question?
Yah, disabling Sense hasn't stopped my HD2 from crashing eith. Without using Sense it crashed several times while using Opera and more than a few times while syncing over the past three days. Also, it still gets stuck on reboot often, requiring battery to be removed for few minutes before rebooting.
So, guess I will send my HD2 in for RMA repair too (and wait for up to 3 weeks) and hope I get a functioning device in return.
Interesting though I didn't flash my HD2 but it went from 'good' to 'bad' in similar way that your two HD2's. From reading other posts around here on XDA and elsewhere it appears that HD2 motherboards fail with surprising frequency and for variety of reasons.
Would be nice to know if HD2 motherboards are unusually delicate and something physically breaks, or if there is some electrical operation, eg charging it on USB or unusual combination of button pushes that shorts something out?
The fact that battery has to be removed for few minutes in order to get thing to reboot hints that something requires charge to dissipate eg a component somehow 'locks up' which causes crash, and needs to be discharged by removing battery?
genoki said:
Thanks for the feedback on your repairs axman79 and Kalip. Btw, aside from courier cost there and back, did you have to pay the $30 'triage' fee or whatever they call it? Also, did they challenge your observations at all or did they just replace motherboard without question?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was flashing stock rom with stock SPL, was at the shop where i bought it and they send it. I told them it stucks at bootlogo. Repair center changed motherboard without any question. Cost me nothing.
genoki said:
Also, it still gets stuck on reboot often, requiring battery to be removed for few minutes before rebooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ja ja, same here.
genoki said:
So, guess I will send my HD2 in for RMA repair too (and wait for up to 3 weeks) and hope I get a functioning device in return.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you will, but dont forget to flash back stock rom regarding SPL !
genoki said:
Interesting though I didn't flash my HD2 but it went from 'good' to 'bad' in similar way that your two HD2's. From reading other posts around here on XDA and elsewhere it appears that HD2 motherboards fail with surprising frequency and for variety of reasons.
Would be nice to know if HD2 motherboards are unusually delicate and something physically breaks, or if there is some electrical operation, eg charging it on USB or unusual combination of button pushes that shorts something out?
The fact that battery has to be removed for few minutes in order to get thing to reboot hints that something requires charge to dissipate eg a component somehow 'locks up' which causes crash, and needs to be discharged by removing battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to know as well !
hey guys. I am so glad I found this post! I have exact same issues ith my HD2, it's driving me nuts.
I kept sort of log and described my problems in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712729
I think I have to send my HD2 for replacement or repair.
Can you please tell me how can I get my phone fixed/replaced?
I got the US T-Mobile version, but I don't have account in T-Mobile. Can I deal directly with HTC? Where do I have to call to get RMA number etc.
I would greatly appreciate your help!
KML
Hi, I've had my SGS2 for around 3 weeks now, and in that period I have had 2 random shut downs.
The first time it happened I was using the original firmware out of the box. The second time it happened (yesterday) I was using the latest firmware via Kies.
The phone is unlocked and unbranded from buymobilephones.net (UK), and I'm on the T-Mobile UK network.
The phone is NOT rooted and I am not overclocking.
Is my phone faulty or is this a software problem? Baring in mind this has only happened twice in the past 3 weeks.
backup data and factory reset would be my first step.
Followed by a return to the store .
jje
JJEgan said:
backup data and factory reset would be my first step.
Followed by a return to the store .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers, just did a factory reset. Should I ring Samsung to fix the phone (comes with 12 month warranty) or return it to the online retailer? Not sure what to do.
Just send it off to sammy
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
... 2 shut downs in 3 weeks?
It's not faulty.
Your contract is with the retailer not Samsung .
I would see if phone restarts again before returning it .
But would inform the retailer of the problem to be within 28 days .
jje
drm111 said:
... 2 shut downs in 3 weeks?
It's not faulty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've owned several phones over the past 15 years and I've never had such problems before, even with my previous Android the Orange San Francisco. Seriously, if I have a £500 phone I don't expect it to shut down randomly even it it's only twice in 3 weeks. I've missed some important calls and texts because my phone has shut down without me knowing.
JJEgan said:
Your contract is with the retailer not Samsung .
I would see if phone restarts again before returning it .
But would inform the retailer of the problem to be within 28 days .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
roharia said:
Just send it off to sammy
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright cheers, I'll ring buymobilephones.net and see what they say.
beggin said:
Hi, I've had my SGS2 for around 3 weeks now, and in that period I have had 2 random shut downs.
The first time it happened I was using the original firmware out of the box. The second time it happened (yesterday) I was using the latest firmware via Kies.
The phone is unlocked and unbranded from buymobilephones.net (UK), and I'm on the T-Mobile UK network.
The phone is NOT rooted and I am not overclocking.
Is my phone faulty or is this a software problem? Baring in mind this has only happened twice in the past 3 weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean two weeks ago.....
If it continues, you may have a faulty one.
Well I have the same issue, it's in my pocket, next thing when I push the power button the screen just stays black.
Have to hold down the power button to drop it and then restart it.
Sooo, I had this happen once when it was on the table which took the phone in my pocket out the mix.
In the end I tried the battery fix with some geckostrip (that rubber easy removable strip you use on the back of phones to stop them sliding)
I put the strip on the underside (opposite of the connections) and wrapped it around the back (facing the cover).
This makes for a VERY tight snug fit in the unit.
It has now been 2 weeks without one single shutdown...so as much as I thought "this must be software or hardware related", it looks like it very well may be "hardware related" on the battery front.
For those who still have this issue try what I did and let us know your findings.
Cheers
Sheldon
Update: Okay never mind on the battery thing, phone lasted 2 weeks but just blacked out again.....
I had the same problem for many months but it stopped after I uninstallrd dolphin hd browser. No idea if coincidence or not but read a few others with sgs2 and dolphin installed had same problem. Do you by chance have it installed?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I've actually experienced problems similar to this twice now with my SII.
First time was straight out of the box. I charged it up and then took it travelling with me. I kept taking it out of my pocket to find out it had turned off. I thought it was my fault with the power button being in a bit of a silly place. But then it turned off whilst it was lying on my desk or in my hand whilst I was using it. Whenever it turned back on again the battery usage history showed a big sudden drop (10+%) in battery level and then it would increase slowly for a while after. Spoke to O2-UK and they got me to do a software reset and then a hardware reset when it reoccurred, which didn't fix the problem either. They then did a next day replacement.
After I got the most recent update to TW I started to experience times when I'd come to unlock my phone but the screen would stay black. It would, however, give haptic feedback when I pressed the power button but not respond to touch. I recently did a software reset of my phone due to another problem (it kept thinking it was docking this time - but stopped on the day I took it into the O2 Shop) and haven't experienced this since.
For so expensive device I expect only 2 "legal" reasons to shut down while running stock ROM with no additional software or changed hardware (i.e. battery):
1. Battery went completly empty (or as empty as power saving settings allow)
2. I forced it to shut down via power button
If it shuts down on its own under this conditions, first doubt is faulty hardware.
And then it should be quickly replaced by provider/shop/wherever it came from.
Everything else might raise doubt in faulty piece of additional software.
Have had similar issues. Uninstalled the go weather app / widget and nothing since. Might just be a coincidence though.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
So I've read about this "sleep of death" that sounds like the same thing as what this is.
It appears to affect a wide margin of Samsung devices over time.
One post suggested it was because WIFI activates while the screen is off and the device is in sleep mode, thus blaming the like of apps such as Juice Defender and WIFI managment built into gingerbread.
I have uninstalled gingerbread, enabled watchdog to monitor utilization (out of curiosity) and set the WIFI sleep mode to NEVER.
One day down without a issue, I'll see what happens over the next few weeks.
-Sheldon
I heard that frequent shutdown/reboots happens with 2.3.6 release.
If you got it, better go back to 2.3.5 or earlier. Iit worked for me.
I have 2.3.4 and i get these problems once a month or so.
Wy OH has the same firmware but she gets a random shutdown once a week. We both have the 1900 Anker battery (not stock one) - weird. I am going to try a different ROm and see if it makes a difference.
same issue but after i have deleted à few apps the issue was gone...?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Moving to Q&A
guys im having the same issue too. its happened like 2 times in a month now. it previously happened when i was on 2.3.3 and stock ROM.
today it just happenned again even after being on superatmos 2.1, on 2.3.6.
whats going on?
So sometime in the last week or 2, my I9300 started randomly freezing up and/or shutting off by itself.
it's usually a while after booting - i'll come to unlock it, and the LED will be showing Blue. Clicking any of the buttons doesn't do anything, nor does waiting a while.
Holding down the power button for a few seconds boot/reboots the phone though, and it works normally when it starts back up again - although after a while it will die again.
Sometimes it runs for hours, sometimes just minutes.
Occasionally, it will freeze up while i'm actually using it - the screen stays on, frozen in place, but the touchscreen and buttons won't do anything (although oddly, multiple clicks of the home button make the colours invert?).
Anyway, i thought this soundsed a bit like this 'Sudden Death' bug, but how do I know? I installed and ran the eMMC check app and it says:
Phone Model: Samsung GT-I9300
eMMC chip: Type VTu00M, Date 05/2012, CID 15010056545530304df1f900755f5f5f, FwRev oxf1
SGS3 Sudden Death? YES. Insane chip.
My question is - what does this mean? Do i have the problem and just need to make sure i run a kernel with the fix, or is the phone now broken and needs replacing/fixing?
If it does need fixing, do i need to revert it to stock ROM and run triangleaway or anything before i send it in, or is it fine how it is?
It's currently running crDroid 11.1 XXELLC, and it was at the time i started noticing the problem. I'm using Siyah 1.8.9, although i was using an earlier version before (can't remember what).
Same problem here... i don´t know what to do... today i make a lot of things to attempt to restore all but everything fail... i decided to talk with samsung and send the phone to repair, in a few days I hope to come to pick up the phone, I have to say that I had to pay 24 € for the shipping and after playing wait month or month and a half. is frustrating but hopefully come good repair.
One read the SDS thread . Two if you think you have the problem or a problem follow the how to revert to stock post and take to a service centre .
Freeze is more likely rom and or kernel .
???????
although oddly, multiple clicks of the home button make the colours invert AS IT SHOULD .
jje
thanks - have read the SDS thread and the stuff people were talking about there didn't really sound like what's happening for me, which is why i posted this thread.
I also thought that it sounded like the ROM or kernel, which is why I have now tried Siyah, tank, and boeffla kernel latest versions, as well as the foxhound, android revolution, and darky roms.
none have made a difference so far
I'm just looking for some ideas on what to do next - should i try reverting back to an Old rom/kernel, should i try a non-sammy based one, is it possible that my SD card is somehow causing the problem?
i didn't know that the multi-click thing inverted the colours - why does it though? it doesn't seem like something i'd want a shortcut to.
Wipe phone flash stock rom .
jje
Fixed it by moving from ELLA modem & wiping.
This thread is your solution : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2091045
so i wiped again and installed the MA2 modem - this made the freezing problem even worse so i wiped again and installed the ELKC modem.
this was on Monday and I hadn't had a single freeze until this morning, when it's frozen 4 times in the space of a few hours.
so i guess i'm flashing back to the factory image...
Lear95 said:
Fixed it by moving from ELLA modem & wiping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My stock, never-rooted GT-I9300 (4.1.2, I9300BWELK1, JZO54K.I9300XXEMC2) is plagued by boot loop problems. It first started about 3 months ago, where the blue charge LED would suddenly come on and the phone would not wake from sleep. I pulled the battery, then when it was turned on it showed the initial S III logo, then the O2 logo followed by the glowing Samsung logo. Then repeated from the O2 logo endlessly. I pulled the battery again, then the next morning restarted it without the SIM or SD card in, and it had done a partial factory reset - i.e. lots of phone contacts were there with the texts, but all the settings had reverted to default. Later that day while on charge the same thing happened again, and I sent it away to O2 for repair.
When it returned, the same thing happened 6 weeks later although this time it was on when it froze and went straight to the O2/blue LED stage. Another repair (I'm fairly sure these 'repairs' were just factory resets...), and 6 weeks later exactly the same. Back to the O2 shop for another repair.
This time they replaced the 'main board' and when it came back it had a different Wi-Fi MAC address. This time only 6 days elapsed before the same fault arose again, and finally I was eligible for a replacement handset. This lasted 2 days before a boot loop condition occurred again! This time, being sure it couldn't be a hardware fault I tried my own /data and /cache wipe, which worked. I skipped all but the must-have apps, and I thought this was going to be stable but once more this past weekend the boot loop happened again (I've got my restoration procedure down to about 15 minutes thanks to the practice!)
I don't know what could be causing this and I'm fed up with resetting my phone. Are all S IIIs this unstable? I've never had a phone that required a factory reset within 18 months! When it is in the boot loop, I can access recovery and download modes, but safe-mode start-up has no effect.
The last remaining candidates I can think of are a problem with my SIM card, or a defect with my SD card... or an app. Can anyone suggest the best way to troubleshoot this? I'd really really rather not have to skip importing my settings as I have among other things many SSIDs I don't easily have access to re-create.
What ROM are you on? 4.1.2?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
rootSU said:
What ROM are you on? 4.1.2?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, 4.1.2. I don't recall this behaviour before I got the OTA update from 4.1.1 though
kernalk said:
Yes, 4.1.2. I don't recall this behaviour before I got the OTA update from 4.1.1 though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, not all S3 owners experience this, a factory reset solves most of these issues however, if it doesn't, a trip to the Samsung service center will help.
I'd say it's probably a dodgy app, or some kind of unstable firmware update for your region/carrier, since hardware replacements didn't help with it.
Skander1998 said:
No, not all S3 owners experience this, a factory reset solves most of these issues however, if it doesn't, a trip to the Samsung service center will help.
I'd say it's probably a dodgy app, or some kind of unstable firmware update for your region/carrier, since hardware replacements didn't help with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I know anyone else with and S III on O2-UK but it seems to be news to O2, so I assumed it must be fairly rare.
I'm not sure about dodgy apps; testing them one app at a time isn't really feasible as it can take up to 6 or 7 weeks to fail judging by past performance. Are there any logs or similar that I can pull out somehow in the event of a boot loop? I've seen about logcats but I am not sure if this would be of use
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
kernalk said:
Hmm. Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I know anyone else with and S III on O2-UK but it seems to be news to O2, so I assumed it must be fairly rare.
I'm not sure about dodgy apps; testing them one app at a time isn't really feasible as it can take up to 6 or 7 weeks to fail judging by past performance. Are there any logs or similar that I can pull out somehow in the event of a boot loop? I've seen about logcats but I am not sure if this would be of use
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything to carries is "news".
I can't help with logs and whatnot, so I'll leave that to someone else.
You can always flash and downgrade to the older firmware that didn't give you a problem, if the problem persists, it is indeed an app.
Even when rooted, informative logs are nigh on impossible to get
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
rootSU said:
Even when rooted, informative logs are nigh on impossible to get
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't fill me with confidence!
Thanks again for the replies. I'm not wild about downgrading. I liked the improvements! Is it possible to downgrade in a carrier supported way? Retaining warranty compliant has been rather useful in the past few months!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
You can flash any official via odin.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
Well late Friday night it did it again. Not sure when exactly as I was asleep. Woke up in the middle of the night and went to check the time, Looked at my phone to find the blue LED on when it should have been red for charging or green for fully charged, and it was very hot - wouldn't turn on either. Pulled the battery but it kust went into the loop. I was away from home so I couldn't do any troubleshooting and had no choice but to wipe.
This time I didn't restore settings and the only apps I installed were SMS Backup & Restore and Puzzle Alarm (I know this isn't the culprit as I only started using it this week!). Gone are all my precious wifi SSIDs but otherwise I'm not sure I've noticed the difference.
So I'm now not connected to my work wifi, nor have I set up my work email or Lync - two of the things I use my phone for must after Facebook which I've also not reinstalled. Facebook mobile web is really hard to use by comparison.
By chance I popped into the O2 shop later that day and had the fortune to bump into a Samsung rep who had never heard of this and agreed that I was unfortunate to have these problems (how touching!) and suggested I speak directly to Samsung support rather than O2 which I will do this week. I will also contact O2 about a replacement SIM and look into replacing the SD too.
This is really silly. I'm not keen on downgrading the software because the first thing either Samsung or O2 will do is upgrade it again. Frankly at this point I'm fed up with the whole thing but I've got a year left on the contract and even a pretty much new handset like mine won't fetch enough.
Hello:
So, the bottom line up front is I need help solving a problem with my now third, new Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4--it keeps restarting on its own, at random times, but most often after I lock the screen.
To go in more depth, if you think you may know the solution: I purchased the S4 when it first came out, some time in 2013 (not sure specifically, but it was new) and it worked just fine for 13 months (1 month past the warranty of course); this was back in August, when I got the latest Android update pushed to my phone from Verizon (4.4.2). A couple of weeks later, I would occasionally get overheating warnings that would very quickly disappear (like within a few seconds), and then the device started restarting itself... I cannot predict when it will restart, it's random, but like I said above, it usually happens most right after I lock the screen by pressing the right side button once. I started looking around on the internet for a solution then, but only found a couple of videos from earlier in 2013 where people were having battery problems (Google search has been letting me down more and more as the years pass). One day while at work, I was listening to Pandora as I always have with the phone in my front pocket, as I always have. A few hours later when I got home, not having taken the phone out of my front pocket since those last few hours at work, I went to answer a text message I had received; when I unlocked the phone, the screen was black, except for a small bit of white showing through some cracks UNDER the LCD, UNDER the screen protector, INSIDE my Otterbox Defender... the phone appeared to be working still, but the screen and touch screen did not. At that point I was pretty damn irritated and tried to find answers for a week with no luck... I called Verizon, they sent me on a goose chase to Samsung, who sent me back to Verizon, who got me in a conference call with Samsung and then left the call, and then Samsung ultimately said I would need to pay for repairs to the phone... SO... I went back to Verizon who again said I would have to talk to Samsung, but instead I just settled to giving Asurion (my phone insurance through Verizon, whom I pay an extra $9 monthly) $99 as a deductible to get a replacement S4...
Two days later I receive a brand new S4... spend hours setting it up the way I had my prior one... wasting tons of my valueable time to do so and bandwidth from my Concast ISP and the data cap they've decided to give us... one week later, the phone starts restarting itself... and this one did it more often than my prior one... EVERYTHING is up to date, minus a good amount of useless bloatware apps I never use from Samsung, like "Watch On," which I ignore... but everything necessary, I update. So, I go back to Asurion, who quickly ships me a 3rd S4...
Two days later I receive that third, brand new S4... spend hours setting it up the way I had my prior one... and now, this one is also restarting itself randomly. Interestingly, when I visited family for Thanksgiving, it restarted itself over and over and over much more frequently than when I'm at my place... at my family's place, they have very poor reception, and my phone usually has to work more to try to get the signal... IDK what the deal is, but maybe that information can be helpful to y'all.
Other things to note:
1) When I check the "RAM manager" by holding down the home button and then choosing "Task Manager", the phone is always using at least 800MB of 1.77GB of RAM... even when I choose "Clear memory" and it tells me 30 something apps have been closed... it jumps right back up to 800-900MB of usage.
2) I've tried factory resets on all three phones; with the first one where the screen cracked inside, I hooked the phone up via HDMI... within a couple of days, the restarting begins.
3) With the first replacement I received, I could not sent text messages with the default messenger app... and shortly after trying, it would restart.
4) I have used the same SIM card with all three phones since the issue began, when I first got the 4.2.2 update... I do not suspect the SIM card is the problem, but I'm also not savy with the phone... I know my way around it, but I'm not in the know.
5) I thought maybe it started because of some apps I had been trying, so I had deleted them, and the problem still persists.
6) I constantly have a Pebble Bluetooth smart watch connected to the phone... I have since I got it last Spring (2014).
7) I have never rooted the S4, overclocked it, underclocked it, or modded it in anyway because I do not know how, and I was afraid of what could happen in the future with whatever ROM I did flash onto the device if Verizon tried to push an update to it... I just don't know anything about the whole process, and I'm assuming it requires a lot of know how and babysitting of the device... I just want it to work.
8) I've replaced the battery twice; it doesn't seem to be the problem.
9) I've cleared the cache through the boot manager thing gotten to by holding a combo of buttons on the device while it's rebooting... it did not help.
Edit: 10) Today while I was listening to Pandora in the car, the audio began to skip and scratch, and then it paused for a moment, and then the phone restarted itself.
11) I forgot to mention that the reboot process itself is very fast compared to a manual restart performed by me... the phone will go black, the Samsung color rings will show a second after that, the logo appears then, the screen flashes the red Verizon logo, and then the devices is ready to be used... it's less than 10 seconds.
I've been searching around on the internet for about two months now while dealing with the problem and I can't find anything useful. Does anyone here know what my issue is and how I can fix it? Is there a way to pull error logs / information from the S4 somehow to give to someone to diagnose, like DxDiags on PC? I don't know how to read that stuff myself, but I know it can be very useful... I just don't know how to find that info inside of these very locked down ****boxes we call smartphones...
I truly appreciate any help I can get--sorry I can't offer anything in return; if I can't find a solution, I'm just going to go to my backup phone from 2011 (Droid X), and I will definitely never purchase another Samsung device, especially after they blamed me as the cause of the problem without even seeing the phone...
Thanks.
The problem is with the NG6 software build, and "probably" not with your phone. Go to Settings>About Phone> and see what Baseband Version is on your phone. If the last 3 letters are NG6, that's probably the problem. There is a new OTA update (as of 12/1).....Baseband Version ending in NK1, which corrects the rebooting problem. Either install the new update, or go back to the NC5 baseband version and that should solve your problem. Both NK1 and NC5 can be rooted if you desire.