[Q] Android gets into a hotboot looping state for unknown reason - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi.
My Galaxy S3 is frequently getting into hotboot looping state for no apparent reason. The only way to get it out of this state is to wipe the phone or restore a backup of the "data" folder only.
After that, it might work for a week, but it might not work for a day (not work = start to hotboot loop).
It happens when after the phone screen is locked, it doesn't wake up anymore. It doesn't answers to any calls (like if it's off) or notifications. Just dies.
Forcing a reboot (by holding the power button) or removing the battery ables me to reboot it, but enter in hotboot looping state. I can make it go thru the whole booting state and I see the homescreen (And that's weird because I'm supposed to see the lockscreen first). Some widgets animation works but the device doesn't answer to touch (two softbuttons vibrates when touched, they do vibrate but don't render anything on Android) and then hotboots. Keeps doing this forever. Booting into safemode USED to work, but it doesn't work anymore, I don't know why.
After wiping the device or restoring the Data backup, device turns on as expected (restoring data takes it back to working state exactly like it was before the backup, even the same lockscreen pattern). I've tried to leave a terminal running logcat to catch the error, but it doesn't write in realtime, so when the bug breaks out, the logfile is empty.
I even thought it could be the S3 memory issue with firmware, but I'm using the "fixed" kernels. Also, it is recoverable, and not permanently dead.
I suspect of some rogue app, but I have too many apps to just go through installing one by one (and waiting even weeks to install the other one). Is there any way I can get a postmortem logfile or make logcat write in realtime?
Thanks

GTMoraes said:
Hi.
My Galaxy S3 is frequently getting into hotboot looping state for no apparent reason. The only way to get it out of this state is to wipe the phone or restore a backup of the "data" folder only.
After that, it might work for a week, but it might not work for a day (not work = start to hotboot loop).
It happens when after the phone screen is locked, it doesn't wake up anymore. It doesn't answers to any calls (like if it's off) or notifications. Just dies.
Forcing a reboot (by holding the power button) or removing the battery ables me to reboot it, but enter in hotboot looping state. I can make it go thru the whole booting state and I see the homescreen (And that's weird because I'm supposed to see the lockscreen first). Some widgets animation works but the device doesn't answer to touch (two softbuttons vibrates when touched, they do vibrate but don't render anything on Android) and then hotboots. Keeps doing this forever. Booting into safemode USED to work, but it doesn't work anymore, I don't know why.
After wiping the device or restoring the Data backup, device turns on as expected (restoring data takes it back to working state exactly like it was before the backup, even the same lockscreen pattern). I've tried to leave a terminal running logcat to catch the error, but it doesn't write in realtime, so when the bug breaks out, the logfile is empty.
I even thought it could be the S3 memory issue with firmware, but I'm using the "fixed" kernels. Also, it is recoverable, and not permanently dead.
I suspect of some rogue app, but I have too many apps to just go through installing one by one (and waiting even weeks to install the other one). Is there any way I can get a postmortem logfile or make logcat write in realtime?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flashing another ROM for S3 and doing a full wipe.

TenKoX said:
Try flashing another ROM for S3 and doing a full wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I already did. It started to happen out of nowhere while I used the Android Revolution HD ROM, then after a few wipes and reinstalls with the same problem, I gave a shot to WanamLite ROM. Exactly same problem. Both are based on the original 4.1.2 Android.
I'm pretty sure it is being caused by some rogue app, because the only thing in common between those ROMs is that I "batch-install" all my apps back from Google Play.
So far, I'm suspecting about Vine (it's the last install that I remember since it started to have this issue) and I have already uninstalled it, but it might have been caused by some app update that broke hell to my phone.
If there were some kind of "black box" that I could retrieve after a crash, it could be the solution

GTMoraes said:
Thanks for the reply.
I already did. It started to happen out of nowhere while I used the Android Revolution HD ROM, then after a few wipes and reinstalls with the same problem, I gave a shot to WanamLite ROM. Exactly same problem. Both are based on the original 4.1.2 Android.
I'm pretty sure it is being caused by some rogue app, because the only thing in common between those ROMs is that I "batch-install" all my apps back from Google Play.
So far, I'm suspecting about Vine (it's the last install that I remember since it started to have this issue) and I have already uninstalled it, but it might have been caused by some app update that broke hell to my phone.
If there were some kind of "black box" that I could retrieve after a crash, it could be the solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you wipe data, your apps disappear, so I think this is not the problem.
Do another full wipe and DON'T restore your data. Just download again from Google Play and see if the problem appear again.

TenKoX said:
If you wipe data, your apps disappear, so I think this is not the problem.
Do another full wipe and DON'T restore your data. Just download again from Google Play and see if the problem appear again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I started doing this the first time, but it still crashes it. And as I was wasting too much time with this, the backup option came as a option to not have to click to download over 200 apps one by one. Also, it once happened during a long holiday, and I was in a friend's ranch with no decent internet connection for downloading. All my apps were gone and I was stuck with a default phone for five days.
The backup is exactly the point where I finish downloading all the apps and they're installed. There are no cracked programs or adapted (e.g. Nexus camera). Every single app is obtainable from Play Store, so it's pretty fresh
Funny (actually sad) thing is that it's a system-wide error that a wipe solves it. If I don't wipe data and reinstall the same ROM (which under normal condition is no big deal), it doesn't get past from boot screen.
The worst is it happens instantly. It's working now, but then it crashes. Bam, gone. Few hours ago I was texting my gf and I left the phone for a while, waiting for her answer. After some time I knew something was off, picked up the phone and it was pretty warm (first signal), with the LED blinking some Facebook notification. Tried to wake up but it is in coma. I force a restart and it hotboot loops like I described on first post
It -only- happens when screen is locked. I disabled the screen lock for now to see if it's a workaround, but I'm not holding my breath

It could be a hardware malfunction if it can carry through all the roms you flashed and even when you tried a fresh install without your apps it still happened.

WildfireDEV said:
It could be a hardware malfunction if it can carry through all the roms you flashed and even when you tried a fresh install without your apps it still happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pretty much discarded. Wiping data instantly solves it. It did indeed run for 5 days with no external app without a single problem.
But also it ran over one week with external apps without a problem. I've executed some memory integrity tests and they all reported a-OK.
I'm kinda ruling out the "rogue-app" issue. I thought that recovering "data" from NAND backup was the /sdcard/android/data. But it's deeper than that. Now I don't even have a lead.
Phone already crashed today, without Vine and lockscreen, so that's not the problem. I really need to get some logs out of him. Just need to know how. Only if it could write a realtime log, so I could pull through ADB.
My last resort will be a fresh-fresh android installation, default S3 i9300 ROM, with only essential apps. Already have it triggered for the next crash.
If it goes rogue even this way, I'm running triangleaway and returning it (will be a profit too, the silver border is stripping).
This time around, I'm trying running it without a external sdcard (several files were being corrupted in it, don't know if it's due to force restart by removing battery, or some real issue on the card)

It's a problem within the Facebook social app or Youtube.
I've managed to run the phone flawlessly for weeks without signing in on Facebook, suspecting it might be it.
Today I logged in on Youtube app accidentally, and had to login on Facebook app to retrieve some info. Three hours later, phone went mad again.
I don't know which app caused it, but I think there's some relation to Facebook due to a greater ~involvement~ (couldn't find a proper word.. forgot it) with Android.
I've changed ROMs, launchers, system versions.. but not Kernel. I'll try another kernel and report on Boeffla main thread to see if there's some known bug

Related

Omega v12 (23/09/2013): System UI crashed i9505

So I have been using Omega v12 (23/09/2013) on my Galaxy S4 i9505 for a week or so absolutely no problems what so ever.
Then last night my phone just ran out of battery and safely shut down when I plugged it in and turned it on everything seemed fine until it got to the lock screen it was quite unresponsive and once i unlocked it the screen was black but showing the notification bar and it keeps bringing up a dialog box saying gmail has stopped working which once you press it it reboots. one time it said system UI has stopped working.
I can pull down the notification bar but i cannot do anything in there if you try to get to settings or for example turn bluetooth off it reboots. i was able to get the multitask menu up once where i could access google search and it allowed me to browse the web it even opened chrome but as soon as i closed it it rebooted again.
I really don't want to wipe data, keep that as my last option.
I have not seen anyone else with a similar problem i have seen a few people have 'system ui' crashes but they seem unrelated.
They were talking about installing something called '3Minit Framework'. I have no idea about this or what it does and i don't know how i would get it onto my phone, I have not tried to see if i can plug it into the computer and copy data i might try that when i get home from work...
On a different thread it was suggested to just reinstall from zip without wiping data. It didn't work.
I would like to maybe try flashing a different kernel but I don't know if right at this stage its safe to do so or even if it will make any difference?
If yes, what kernel would you guys suggest???
Any assistance would be much appreciated!
inthestarrysky said:
So I have been using Omega v12 (23/09/2013) on my Galaxy S4 i9505 for a week or so absolutely no problems what so ever.
Then last night my phone just ran out of battery and safely shut down when I plugged it in and turned it on everything seemed fine until it got to the lock screen it was quite unresponsive and once i unlocked it the screen was black but showing the notification bar and it keeps bringing up a dialog box saying gmail has stopped working which once you press it it reboots. one time it said system UI has stopped working.
I can pull down the notification bar but i cannot do anything in there if you try to get to settings or for example turn bluetooth off it reboots. i was able to get the multitask menu up once where i could access google search and it allowed me to browse the web it even opened chrome but as soon as i closed it it rebooted again.
I really don't want to wipe data, keep that as my last option.
I have not seen anyone else with a similar problem i have seen a few people have 'system ui' crashes but they seem unrelated.
They were talking about installing something called '3Minit Framework'. I have no idea about this or what it does and i don't know how i would get it onto my phone, I have not tried to see if i can plug it into the computer and copy data i might try that when i get home from work...
On a different thread it was suggested to just reinstall from zip without wiping data. It didn't work.
I would like to maybe try flashing a different kernel but I don't know if right at this stage its safe to do so or even if it will make any difference?
If yes, what kernel would you guys suggest???
Any assistance would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try wiping dalvik cache and cache
for kernels you should try yourself

[Q] Reboots every evening after getting 4.2.2 update

OK, this is really weird - after getting the 4.2.2 update, my phone reboots itself every night, not 100% sure it's exactly the same time, but it's been while sitting in my pocket or on the table, not even in use. At first I assumed it was Zooper, which I had installed right after the update, but I disabled it yesterday and got the reboot again tonight.
I even checked my Tasker to make sure some auto-reboot profile hadn't installed itself!
Any hints about how to diagnose this? Do I have no choice but to remove apps one by one? Most of the apps I run are the same ones I run on my TF300 tablet which also has 4.2.2, so don't know if it could be an app.
Did it again tonight and it is the exact same time - 9:19pm It's also interesting is that this is about the time of day I did the update to 4.2.2 It's like some daily thing going on. It must be some new app applied by default by the update, I've disabled some of the obvious new apps.
Does anyone know if I do a factory reset will it go back to 4.1 (which worked fine for me), or will it stay at 4.1?
PhysicalEd said:
Did it again tonight and it is the exact same time - 9:19pm It's also interesting is that this is about the time of day I did the update to 4.2.2 It's like some daily thing going on. It must be some new app applied by default by the update, I've disabled some of the obvious new apps.
Does anyone know if I do a factory reset will it go back to 4.1 (which worked fine for me), or will it stay at 4.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the Factory reset will erase all ur Apps and will stay in 4.2.2 ......
Looks like this update has really screwed up my phone. After a couple of more nights of trying to disable more apps, and trying to catch the error with logcat (nothing that makes any sense in the log, no error or crashes preceding the reboot) I decided to factory reset.
It rebooted again tonight, about 24 hours after the factory reset.
Also, intermittently now the power button will not suspend the phone, though I can hold it and reboot, I don't know any other way to put it to sleep.
Looking at the log some more, the only thing that gives any hint is that there was Location Services activity before the crash. Googling around about my problem showed there was a bug in Location Services early in 4.2 but the claim was that it was fixed. I guess tomorrow night I'll try turning off Location Services as well.
PhysicalEd said:
Looks like this update has really screwed up my phone. After a couple of more nights of trying to disable more apps, and trying to catch the error with logcat (nothing that makes any sense in the log, no error or crashes preceding the reboot) I decided to factory reset.
It rebooted again tonight, about 24 hours after the factory reset.
Also, intermittently now the power button will not suspend the phone, though I can hold it and reboot, I don't know any other way to put it to sleep.
Looking at the log some more, the only thing that gives any hint is that there was Location Services activity before the crash. Googling around about my problem showed there was a bug in Location Services early in 4.2 but the claim was that it was fixed. I guess tomorrow night I'll try turning off Location Services as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The update may have screwed up somewhere in the middle, you could try to re-ruu your phone or unlock the bootloader and flash a custom rom, also the thing about the power button not putting the phone to sleep or doing anything than reboot on long press happened to me on each and every custom rom and I never did any OTA, got my phone, unlocked bootloader and flash away from sense, my hboot is still the one that it came with, but for me that thing happens really randomly, like once every 1 or 2 weeks, and when that happens for me the volume buttons stop working also till reboot, I was thinking I was the only one facing it so I kinda decided not to talk about that as I saw no one say anything about it, but I am also one of those for who the phone turns off exactly when my phone goes to 6% battery whatever I do, on whatever rom I am and even in the recovery, so I was thinking that maybe vodafone modified something on it, that's an other reason I didn't say anything about the buttons becoming unresponsive...
So what I would recommend is to re-ruu your phone or go to a custom rom (or if none solves anything the phone may have some kind of hard brick).
Just to help out anyone else who ever has this problem.
It was not location services.
I can see clearly in two logs an HTC process crashing. This seems to cause a cascade that leads to reboot.
I contacted HTC tech support, they suggested I boot up in a recovery mode and try to wipe data cache. They were surprised to find that attempting to do that caused a reboot.
So as Ranomez suggests above, they want me to re-do the update with the RUU when they release it, which they said would be "soon" last weekend.
On the other hand, my battery life after this update is fantastic, so I've decided I can live with this to not have to worry about recharging by mid-afternoon!

How to fix soft-bricked Samsung Galaxy S5 in boot loop

I recently restarted my phone after the battery died, and now everytime it gets to the lock screen, I can unlock it, and it'll function seemingly fine for up to 30 seconds (usually more like 5-10), but then it automatically restarts.
The only apps I've installed since last restarting, maybe a week ago, are FolderSync and Tasker. It's possible I haven't restarted since installing AnyConnect and OpenConnect, although I'm pretty sure I did restart at least once after those, and haven't touched them since. OpenConnect did have some permissions fix item in the settings menu that would supposedly attempt to get it to work on devices where it wouldn't (it didn't work on mine), so that has me suspicious, especially since it seems sometimes these boot loops are related to permissions errors.
I'm running Philz recovery, which I can get into fine. I read about a permissions fix in some recoveries, but Philz (at least mine) doesn't seem to have it.
When the battery died, I was connected to a bluetooth speaker, playing music with Spotify. Not sure if something could have gotten corrupted having it die while the bluetooth connection was active.
It's a T-Mobile S5 and the ROM I'm running XtreSoLite 2.1 Lollipop XXU1BOC7.
Any suggestions for things to check to get it to stop restarting? If I have to wipe it, are there any ways to sort of partially wipe it? Are there a series of things I can try that would go from least extreme (not losing anything) to most extreme (fully re-flashing)? I have been able to open an adb shell and pull everything from internal storage that I don't want to lose.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Samsung Galaxy S3 switches off automatically each night

Hello
I've had a Samsung Galaxy S3 for ages, unfortunately for me, the phone recently just switched off, then on, then won't go past the "Samsung" screen. Ah, I thought (well, something a bit more sweary) - but I had a backup identical model phone in case one broke, so I started using that. Moved all my apps, installed banking app etc, and then happy.
Or so I thought...
The new (well, it's an old phone, but one I haven't been using, bought as back up) phone now switches off when charging every night, an issue which was going to switch to me charging it during the day when I can stare at it and see if anything happens to make it switch off, but then I realised it switches off each night even when it isn't charging.
I have a bigger battery to hold a charge for a few days, and so even when I don't charge it, just have it next to me as I sleep - and next morning it will be off. I presume it might be switching off around 5am... this is only a rough guide as if I switch it back on, and flick through the phone, I see my unread emails are up to around 5am, and then after a few minutes it logs back into the internet etc and brings me newer emails.
I first thought it was that it kept switching off when charging... but now I know it does it at (I presume) the same time every night even when it's not charging. Can't use it as an alarm clock anymore, as it's off before the alarm goes off. Anyone have any idea what's happening?
Did you copy all of your data and settings?. Most likely you have a software conflict going on.
I highly recommend you backup your data from all 3rd party apps. Do not backup your system apps data, google data, apps or games that cloud sync or phone settings, ie wifi passwords etc.
You must allow samsung apps, google and other cloud apps to sync their own way and you must calibrate the phone for wifi manually.
Beyond that you'll need to reflash stock firmware and start over using the guidlines I have given you above after restoration of the firmware (and root if required).
Beamed in by telepathy.
I assume when I installed on the other phone, it switched settings when I log in to various things. Because I installed everything asap, I've no idea if one thing is causing the issue.
How do I get the phone to calibrate manually? Apologies, I'm not great with techie stuff I add the wifi details, and logged into settings - is that manually? Things are backed up to themselves, so when I log back in it resets to previous settings when it syncs. Should I try and work out how to prevent all things from backing up manually? Haven't logged back into any games, although they might be installed, haven't actually signed in or used them.
How would I go about reflashing stock firmware? Doesn't sound like anything I've ever done before, but up for a challenge
By manually i mean just setup wifi yourself rather than allowing a backup. Same for system apps.
The app data will contain references to the old phone which will confuse it. All of that must be rewritten on the specific device to match the phones identity.
3rd party apps are usually OK with backups but still shouldn't be trusted, but they don't usually bootloop the phone. They just force close instead.
Flashing firmware will reset the phone back to factory and rewrite the operating system, removing any software bugs in the process. To learn how to use odin you can find countless guides online too.
A straight forward "factory reset" via either the phone software or the recovery menu could solve the problem rather than flashing.
If I were you, I'd just factory reset it and then allow the phone to run for a few hours to see if the problem reoccurs in a factory state. If the phone asks for a google login just use the normal account and allow all updates to happen but switch off backup and sync for the short term. If all seems good then you know there was a bad app somewhere.
Beamed in by telepathy.
shivadow said:
By manually i mean just setup wifi yourself rather than allowing a backup. Same for system apps.
The app data will contain references to the old phone which will confuse it. All of that must be rewritten on the specific device to match the phones identity.
3rd party apps are usually OK with backups but still shouldn't be trusted, but they don't usually bootloop the phone. They just force close instead.
Flashing firmware will reset the phone back to factory and rewrite the operating system, removing any software bugs in the process. To learn how to use odin you can find countless guides online too.
A straight forward "factory reset" via either the phone software or the recovery menu could solve the problem rather than flashing.
If I were you, I'd just factory reset it and then allow the phone to run for a few hours to see if the problem reoccurs in a factory state. If the phone asks for a google login just use the normal account and allow all updates to happen but switch off backup and sync for the short term. If all seems good then you know there was a bad app somewhere.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, cool, gottcha! Ok, will try soon. Surprisingly, I've switched off the phone every night instead of it auto-switching off at around 5-6am, and surprisingly it's so far going well. Had it on for 3 days and only at 47% now, so it's promising, still does switch off occasionally during the day, but I've just ignored that. Will do a factory reset in the next couple of days and report back Thanks for the help

Samsung S9+ daily irregular uncontrolled reboot (donating)

Hey there Guys,
so, I am desperate enough with this issue, that I'd actually pay the one who fixes it for me.
If you need specific infos, let me know what and where to find. Cuz I'm hella stupid with this stuff.
Bought a Samsung S9+ on Amazon. (should work just fine)
Model Number: SM-G965F/DS
Here we go, (try to remember as much as possible, as its 1 year ago)
since I can't live without root, I did do so by the magisk method. I think it didn't work so well, cuz there were system issues. Couldn't boot anymore. Thought I "bricked" it.
I managed to factory reset and boot it again, with an operating system I downloaded from google results, of which I thought was the correct one for this model. (problem might be here? Wrong OS? If so, where and what exactly do I have to download?) Its kinda bs to me, that there are different versions depending on the country etc.
Lets continue:
Managed to successfully root it then. Everything worked fine. Samsung s9+ rooted.
After a short while, I encountered the issue I am facing since then.
Problem:
My Samsung is rebooting every day. Suddenly turns black, reboot with Samsung Logo. Fun fact, all tabs are still opened in the background afterwards. (no real reboot?)
Happens when:
- time is not fixed. Anytime possible.
- even when I'm not using it. (but mostly)
- Even while video recording. Not app specific. (I always keep only one app open btw.)
- sometimes when it happens while I use Instagram, I'm logged out of Instagram afterwards. (not sure if it happened with Facebook, but might) (I use Insta a lot, Facebook almost never)
Solutions I tried.
- Empty cache. (I think I tried it the correct way.)
- Factory reset
Not confident in the app issue belief, that I'd uninstall every single app for 2 days each.
Assumption:
I don't feel/think its one app. If so, maybe Instagram? But shouldn't be the case though. As said, I always close all apps after I put down my phone.
Maybe its the OS? What do i know..I'm a scrub.
Help highly appreciated. The reboots are driving me crazy and are tremendously inconvenient sometimes.
pkenso said:
Problem:
My Samsung is rebooting every day. Suddenly turns black, reboot with Samsung Logo. Fun fact, all tabs are still opened in the background afterwards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reasons to Cause Android Phones Keep Restarting
1. Corrupted data in memory.
2. Incompatible third-party apps.
3. Outdated cached data.
4. Hardware issue.
Boot Android into Safe Mode
Safe Mode is a good place to help you to track down the causes of problems occurring on your Android phone. Once you boot your phone into safe mode, all third-party apps installed on your device will be got rid of. In this mode, check if your phone still keeps restarting without any reason. In case the problem disappears, then a third party app is the main cause of the problem. All you need is to find out and delete it from your phone.
jwoegerbauer said:
Reasons to Cause Android Phones Keep Restarting
1. Corrupted data in memory.
2. Incompatible third-party apps.
3. Outdated cached data.
4. Hardware issue.
Boot Android into Safe Mode
Safe Mode is a good place to help you to track down the causes of problems occurring on your Android phone. Once you boot your phone into safe mode, all third-party apps installed on your device will be got rid of. In this mode, check if your phone still keeps restarting without any reason. In case the problem disappears, then a third party app is the main cause of the problem. All you need is to find out and delete it from your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I assume if the problem still persists in safe mode, its a firmware issue?
I'll try the wiped cache now until it reboots again. If so, then safe mode.
safe mode (no apps) just seems hard as I use my phone for work and the issue appears randomly within 48 hours..
--- Instead of safe mode, would be the same if I just uninstall for example a few apps for a certain time?
--- I read about a master reset. Wouldnt the simpliest and 100% working method be to just reset the phone with a new firmware? Which I can download where?

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