[Q] Cannot Access Camera - Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

A few days ago I noticed that the camera on my Nexus 9 stopped working (think this may have started after installing 5.1.1 but really don't use my camera much so I can't ignore the possibility the error started prior to upgrading). I would go to open the camera app and it would hang for a long time without ever progressing to the actual optical image. At some point the icon for the camera disappeared from my home screen and app drawer. I tried a few things to try and get the camera working again: 1) force close, clear cache/data, uninstall updates, reinstall updates and no change, 2) install alternate camera apps and use other apps to access the camera, but neither of them could access the camera, 3) turn off trusted faces and any other apps I could think of that would be accessing the camera but no progress, 4) completely wiped my device and reinstalled the 5.1.1 factory image from scratch and the same problems remained, 5) completely wiped again and installed latest Dirty Unicorns ROM and the camera wouldn't launch from here either (side note - performance noticeably improved otherwise and will be sticking around as daily driver), and 6) wiped and tried latest weekly release of DU to no avail.
I haven't yet flashed back to 5.0.2 because at this point I don't think it'll do anything and I wanted to consult the brain trust here before driving myself crazy or cracking open the casing to examine the hardware (no drops or impact to give reason to believe at fault).
Has anyone else experienced this problem or anything similar? I've done a bunch of searching but haven't seen other posts addressing this issue. There are posts about the Nexus 5 having some issues when other apps try to access the camera, but those posts also indicated the problem was cured by a reboot.
Tldr: cannot access camera and don't really know why.

i would not suggest opening it up to find out yourself. the camera is actually taped to the back of the case and there's a good chance you'll just pull it out and have to take it all apart to put it back in. i recommend just contacting google about it and getting a replacement, honestly. it sounds like it's probably a hardware issue, and it doesn't sound like it's something you're at fault for. if google doesn't help you then go to htc, they most likely will.

Update:
I went through HTC with a warranty repair. I was a little nervous as I did open the back in an attempt to reseat the camera connection and I left some visual signs of access. Also, I wasn't sure whether they would care whether (or would know if) the bootloader had been unlocked. I did restore completely to stock and re-lock prior to shipping to HTC.
Basically, everything went more smoothly than I could have imagined. I told the warranty rep on the phone about the problem and I got the impression they've had a decent number of repair requests triggered by recent updates. With very few questions asked, I was given shipping label on their dime and a claim number. I packed up my tablet, sent it in and got a new (refurbished? - it wasn't shipping in retail packaging, just the plastic wrapping around the front and back, but it looks untouched) tablet back within a few days. Again, I doubt they even looked at the tablet before sending out the new one.
Kudos to HTC for standing behind their product! I'll uphold my end of the implicit bargain and give them internet recognition in exchange for a painless warranty process.

Related

[Q] Hero with a mind of it's own

Hi guys, I could really use some help.
I've a T-Mobile G2 variant which was running a stock HTC Sense ROM. I started getting weirdness happening on it though - the home screen moving on it's own - switching between pages and back again, pressing any buttons apart from the power button just switched the home screens to the thumbnail view. Dialogue boxes refused to let me press the okay or cancel buttons, and texting became impossible - key presses deciding for themselves what they thought I was pressing. Rebooting the phone made little difference, and I tried re-calibrating several times, but this only helped for a short time before it all went again.
Just before Christmas I decided to flash a new ROM, deciding upon the Froyo 2.2.1 final from Elelinux. I have the same problem though, and it's right annoying.
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?
Apps I currently have installed are:
Google Sky Map
Jewels
Google Scoreboard
Shazam
Sky+
Superuser
Terminal Emulator
WiFi Analyzer
The phone is almost 18 months old, but had been working perfectly until recently - around the same time I installed Angry Birds (which I uninstalled assuming it to be the cause).
Well i had this behavior as well. You need to change your digitizer as your screen has become unresponsive. I tried to fix it myself following the guidelines in the according thread in General and ended up breaking my camera lens.
So what i am suggesting is you get it to an HTC Repair store and let them fix it under warranty. Mine is as good as new now.
Unfortunately sounds like an issue with the digitizer in the screen, which can be repaired but isn't a simple job. The fact that touching the screen anywhere shows the preview suggests the screen is already registering a touch (hence broker digitizer). Don't spose you have an extended warranty or insurance for a replacement?
Hi there,
I've changed mine a month ago, it has cost me about 40€ and was made in 30min with the official tutorial from Htc that you can find on youtube. It was yes.. Really eaaasy ;-)
gruß,
H.
Thanks for the replies - I had hoped it would be software, although I kinda knew it would be hardware. I've got a monthish left on my contract, so I don't think it'll be in warranty, see if I can hang on without it :/
Isn't HTC giving 2 year of warranty for hardware? I've still got a year to go in mine.
mine's not from HTC - it's a T-Mobile one (albeit from a 3rd party supplier), and T-Mobile warranties are usually rubbish from my experience.
Well you won't lose anything by trying. Get in touch and bust their balls so you can get your digitizer changed. It's a hardware fault, not yours. I was treating mine very very well and still it broke after 9 months of use.
Get them to change it, it's not your fault they use crap material to make them.
from what you've said, Id say its maybe more likely to be a trackball issue, which probably doesn't make much of a difference to you, but might be slightly easier to fix
CyberWalrus said:
from what you've said, Id say its maybe more likely to be a trackball issue, which probably doesn't make much of a difference to you, but might be slightly easier to fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He cannot type a message because letters type themselves in, it's clearly a digitizer problem, not a trackball issue i'm afraid.
Reflashed stock T-Mobile ROM this morning - hopefully I can get to my local T-Mobile shop at lunchtime to get them to fix it. Thanks for all your help.
and then I returned. T-Mobile said there was a long processing time for repairs at the moment, and they had no loan phones I could use whilst mine was away. Did say I could upgrade early though which was nice. Spent my lunch hour trying out several new phones (including a couple of nokias, sorry). Came back with a Motorola Defy, and a still broken Hero.

Anyone else experiencing random locks/reboots?

My Photon has been acting up today. It has frozen on a black screen four or five times, requiring a battery pull each time. Also a couple of random restarts. The same thing happened once yesterday, but it has come back with a vengeance today.
Anyone else experiencing this? Bad phone? Not rooted, updated prl/profile, etc. Been on the road, so no chance to try the MR, so I don't know if that would solve anything or not.
I'm a Sprint Launch Ambassador supporting the Photon. I have seen reboots on my own device but it was due to a 3rd party live wallpaper I had downloaded and was running. When I removed it, the device was stable again. Does your device do this in a factory reset state with nothing installed 3rd party app wise and no SD card?
never had that type of issue with mine
mattvalenz said:
I'm a Sprint Launch Ambassador supporting the Photon. I have seen reboots on my own device but it was due to a 3rd party live wallpaper I had downloaded and was running. When I removed it, the device was stable again. Does your device do this in a factory reset state with nothing installed 3rd party app wise and no SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Matt - thanks for your quick response.
I am not running third party or live wallpapers. Just a pretty static experience.
I have installed quite a few apps, of course, but I haven't had the time, at the moment, to do a factory reset (and frankly, doing a factory reset is a pain, and I'd rather not have to do it). My installed program list is also pretty standard (Google apps, Facebook, Pandora, Angry Birds).
I do, however, have a SD card mounted, which I actually considered might be the problem. Is there any clue about why this might be causing the problem?
Interestingly, it hasn't happened in the past few hours.
Are there any reports of specific applications that are causing issues, or reports that this is a widespread problem? I could forgive it a bit more if it restarted more than hard crashed, but the lockups with no warning on my primary business phone are rather problematic.
Also, any word you might be able to give on updates that might come out in the next week or two?
My main concern is just that I don't have a bad piece of hardware. I love the phone - as something to make phone calls, it's one of the best pieces of hardware I've ever had. If it's an issue where I need to switch the phone out for a different one, I'm fine with doing that, but I'd like to know before the warranty runs out.
Me too
I just want to chime in and report that I have seen some random black screen lockups on my new Photon. It usually requires battery removal to fix, but once while I was trying to pry the back cover off (it's a very stubborn cover), the phone came back to life.
No SD card, stock wallpaper.
Google voice
Skype
Twitter
Google +
Swiftkey X
Lastpass
Locked up after five minutes off the charger this morning. For what it's worth, the phone seems to get very warm when it is locked, possibly indicating a high power/processor usage.
I don't know if others have experienced this as well.
Random lock twice today when I went to answer the phone..and one time at 6 AM it was my 84 year old mother who had fallen.
I saw the #, grabbed my wife's EPIC and called my mom.
This is not a good thing on a 2 day old phone.
Apply the leaked Maintenance Release. There's a thread in the Dev sub-forum.
Beknatok said:
Apply the leaked Maintenance Release. There's a thread in the Dev sub-forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know if this actually solves the lockup issues?

Warning: Camera failed error on my new galaxy s3

when iturn the camera on its a black screen and says warning camera failed when i try to switch camera to see myself
mox123 said:
when iturn the camera on its a black screen and says warning camera failed when i try to switch camera to see myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some custom kernels have a problem with the highest resolution for the front camera due to memory allocation. Go to settings / applications / all and clear data for camera.
Load up the camera switch to the front one and check its working.
If it is don't select the highest resolution for the front camera use the middle one.
If that doesn't work maybe another problem.
Please state what rom and kernel versions you are running, more info the better.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
mox123 said:
when iturn the camera on its a black screen and says warning camera failed when i try to switch camera to see myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appears to be a S3 problem specificically, camera failure problems. Google ' galaxy s3 camera failed ' and there are numerous reports ranging.
from only a day old out of the box to a couple of weeks. Some reports of total failure, some hardware restart temporarily fixed, some app sharing hardware such as skype hogging the camera.
I think Verizon in the US are saying return for replacement..
Hope this helps.
Having the same problem. I thought it might have been an app I installed - I uninstalled all apps that used the camera. Still no dice. Did a factory reset. Still no dice.
Called Verizon and explained that I'd already tried a factory reset to no avail. The service rep didn't ask me to do anything else. Because I've full device insurance coverage I'm getting a new phone overnighted and should have it no later than 3pm tomorrow.
j0shtalgia said:
Having the same problem. I thought it might have been an app I installed - I uninstalled all apps that used the camera. Still no dice. Did a factory reset. Still no dice.
Called Verizon and explained that I'd already tried a factory reset to no avail. The service rep didn't ask me to do anything else. Because I've full device insurance coverage I'm getting a new phone overnighted and should have it no later than 3pm tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am having the same issue, and also hve full insurance, however they will not replace my phone with a new one, only factory refurb. Who did you speak to about getting a new phone? this is really frustrating...
s3 camera fail fix
mox123 said:
when iturn the camera on its a black screen and says warning camera failed when i try to switch camera to see myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue and tried factory reset, 3rd party camera apps. nothing worked even updated camera firmware and phone firmware still black screen with camera fail. I took off the battery cover, removed the battery, removed the phillips screws in back. carefully popped off back housing and the camera flex cable is right there. i simply unclipped and reconnected it and made sure the camera was seated tight by pushing on it.(carefully as not to damage lcd). I will say i have no warranty because i bought second hand but the are no void stickers over screws so no way to tell its been opened. camera works perfect now. I repair phones as a hobby and remebered the galaxy one having a speaker issue just like it. anyway worth a shot or if you have a warranty just get a replacement but it took me about 3 minutes,
Camera fail
I would like to update the post with my findings:
Since my last post, I did a warranty exchange on the phone. Upon receiving the new one, I reverted the broken one back to stock through the tutorial on XDA (using a prev leak bootchain, ODIN flash, etc).
All went flawlessly, and after reverted to pure stock, the camera worked again. I re-rooted and re-flashed a variety of ROMs (ASOP & TW). camera worked fine through all of it. It wasn't until I did play store updates that things went bad. After the updates the camera stopped working again. So Once again I flashed back to stock. Camera worked again. I felt comfortable doing this as I could re-produce the problem and solution.
After fooling with app updates etc I determined that the Google Talk / Goog Hangouts update was the culprit. Once that was installled the camera was inaccessible. I have since not taken that update (been a few weeks now) and all is still fine.
moral of the story to folks out there, watch out for the Hangouts update. I dont have any more info than that. Just wanted to share.
412ecase77 said:
I had the same issue and tried factory reset, 3rd party camera apps. nothing worked even updated camera firmware and phone firmware still black screen with camera fail. I took off the battery cover, removed the battery, removed the phillips screws in back. carefully popped off back housing and the camera flex cable is right there. i simply unclipped and reconnected it and made sure the camera was seated tight by pushing on it.(carefully as not to damage lcd). I will say i have no warranty because i bought second hand but the are no void stickers over screws so no way to tell its been opened. camera works perfect now. I repair phones as a hobby and remebered the galaxy one having a speaker issue just like it. anyway worth a shot or if you have a warranty just get a replacement but it took me about 3 minutes,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would just like to share my experience, it may help someone... I also had this problem and fixed similar to desc. above... I had taken apart phone and cleaned out mostly all of my connectors because of water damage/corrosion issues.. I suppose I had bent the cam ribbons slightly out of place... this in turn, for some reason maybe somebody with more knowledge can answer, caused the phone to no longer power up or show any sign of life... I could not figure out and ended up paying my deductable for new phone... I knew it was specifically related to me removing the cam because I had already cleaned and got phone to a working state, but the cam didnt work so I took apart again cleaned cam port and voilà my phone stopped powering up completely... wtf! sooooo I just recently went back after reading above, and dramatically bent the cam ribbons to make sure contact was good... now everything works.. ya live and learn
snowboardwcu said:
I would like to update the post with my findings:
Since my last post, I did a warranty exchange on the phone. Upon receiving the new one, I reverted the broken one back to stock through the tutorial on XDA (using a prev leak bootchain, ODIN flash, etc).
All went flawlessly, and after reverted to pure stock, the camera worked again. I re-rooted and re-flashed a variety of ROMs (ASOP & TW). camera worked fine through all of it. It wasn't until I did play store updates that things went bad. After the updates the camera stopped working again. So Once again I flashed back to stock. Camera worked again. I felt comfortable doing this as I could re-produce the problem and solution.
After fooling with app updates etc I determined that the Google Talk / Goog Hangouts update was the culprit. Once that was installled the camera was inaccessible. I have since not taken that update (been a few weeks now) and all is still fine.
moral of the story to folks out there, watch out for the Hangouts update. I dont have any more info than that. Just wanted to share.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so you got 2 s3's out of it? nice
naathaanb96 said:
so you got 2 s3's out of it? nice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No no I sent the refurb one back to vzw. Had a lot of bad luck with factory refurbs.
i know this may be a necro thread, but I just had the same issue and I solved it by replacing the front facing camera/prox sensor assembly. tried new main cameras first but when those didn't fix it I replaced the front facing and everything worked fine.
mox123 said:
when iturn the camera on its a black screen and says warning camera failed when i try to switch camera to see myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fixed it on my SGH-T999L with Jedi Invasion 5 by flashing this kernel http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1756776
Use the Touchwiz JELLYBEAN 4.1.2 VERSION
I'm brand new to this forum, but my uncle has been a member since 2008 and says you guys are the best when it comes to helping with problems for Android.
I'm having the camera issue, as well, and it spans across all camera apps, snapchat, Skype, etc. I just now discovered the front facing camera works when before it wouldn't even let me switch to it, making me think both cameras were dead. I've tried a different ROM, kernel, battery pulls, rebooting, everything in the list. I even dismantled my phone and pressed the connection in a bit, and still no luck. (Thankfully I didn't completely wreck my phone, though.) I'm trying switching from a different developer now, since I was using the only two TouchWiz ROMs I could find for my Cricket d2cri, both by the same guy. I'm hoping against hope it's an issue with the guy's programming and that it's not a sudden hardware failure after nearly a year of having the phone.
If anyone happens across this thread and has any ideas that haven't been said as to what I can do, please, throw me a message or respond to the thread. What good is a phone without a camera these days?
Cody the Fox said:
I'm brand new to this forum, but my uncle has been a member since 2008 and says you guys are the best when it comes to helping with problems for Android.
I'm having the camera issue, as well, and it spans across all camera apps, snapchat, Skype, etc. I just now discovered the front facing camera works when before it wouldn't even let me switch to it, making me think both cameras were dead. I've tried a different ROM, kernel, battery pulls, rebooting, everything in the list. I even dismantled my phone and pressed the connection in a bit, and still no luck. (Thankfully I didn't completely wreck my phone, though.) I'm trying switching from a different developer now, since I was using the only two TouchWiz ROMs I could find for my Cricket d2cri, both by the same guy. I'm hoping against hope it's an issue with the guy's programming and that it's not a sudden hardware failure after nearly a year of having the phone.
If anyone happens across this thread and has any ideas that haven't been said as to what I can do, please, throw me a message or respond to the thread. What good is a phone without a camera these days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having the same issue, and I did try many things: revert to stock, changing kernel, try other camera apps, wiping camera app datas, Still nothing, if someone can help with other method please.
I got "camera fail" after i flashed ArchiDroid 1.7.2 coming from PAC nightly. Then flashed ArchiDroid 2.2.4 and camera got fixed. All flashes where clean
In my experience, custom ROMs and kernels can also cause this issue. I flashed a different custom ROM and voila, my camera was working again
s 3 camera failed
mox123 said:
when iturn the camera on its a black screen and says warning camera failed when i try to switch camera to see myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi I was having the same problem with my camera and I installed 3rd party camera software and the camera seem to work using this. I used camera mx
Camera faillled warning
I HAVE THE PROBLEM OF CAMERA FAIL WARNING IN S5 SENSATION ROM
I AM USING S3 Gt i9300 IS THERE ANY SOLUTION FOR THIS PROBLEM
THE CAMERA DOESNT WORK ONLY IN S5 SENSATION ROM
That is usually caused after flashing a custom kernel without having opened the camera app at least once with the stock kernel.
Go back to stock kernel, open the camera and it should work. Now flash the custom kernel and don't do a factory reset or you'll be in the same again
Which kernel you using? If you on 4.4.2 i recommended Archi Kernel.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Question Shutting down every time screen turns off

Hi all,
Received my 1 iii yesterday, spent several hours setting it up, tweaking, testing, transferring files--and love it. Been an LG V-series user for the last six years, but with LG bowing out and having moved toward radiused corners, rounded glass, notches, etc. anyway--I'm very glad Sony is still out there making sane, non-compromised phones with basic features like microSD, no hole punch, and headphone jacks that are now treated as "niche" or "enthusiast".
BUT, unfortunately, having a very odd problem, and can't find any examples of anyone else having the issue... but it basically makes the phone unusable.
Literally any time the screen turns off--whether via pressing the power button, or via an inactiivty screen time out--the phone either shuts down, or restarts.
I've done a factory reset several times, tested it with fully restored apps/settings/personal data/etc., and totally un-restored, makes no difference--the issue always happens. So it's not the fault of any setting I altered, app I installed or disabled, etc.
I remember the first time I booted up the phone--but none of the factory reset times since then--that it said something about some setting being on to prevent battery wear from the phone being accidentally turned on during shipping. So maybe there's some bizarre setting somewhere that auto-shuts-down the phone when the screen turns off? Otherwise I'm at a total loss...
Thanks in advance for any help!!
Here is one of two reviews from Amazon about this phone:
"Got in the infinity reboot issue right out of the box...a $1200+ phone, very disappointed .
Got it today on the release. Then start setup and update. Not even until all set up finished, it restarted first time. Then again in just about 15mins. Overall been through restart 12 times. Try hard reset and all other methods, not helping. Return....."
So, unless you are the one who left this review...you are not alone! This type of stuff makes me so disappointed!
Sounds like the reviewer on Amazon was having a different problem. Mine stays on perfectly fine as long as one is interacting with it--only shuts down/restarts if the screen turns off.
Given the variety of software states in which the problem occurs--vlank setup, full set-up, safe mode--seems like a rare hardware issue. As long as it can be replaced with a correctly functioning unit quickly, it's still the phone I want...
If not, I guess I ride out my LG V50 till it dies, and then quit using smart phones...
Having to ship it in for warranty repair. Seems like almost certainly a hardware problem--sounds like I "won" the lemon lottery. A bummer, but not an indictment of the phone generally.
But I'm still really digging the phone--when it works. Did a video A/B with my LG V50, and while it didn't strike me as miles better--it definitely was when full-screen. Not having to look at rounded corners and a notch is worth a lot to me. With font and display set to smallest settings, *love* the look and roominess of the screen.
I agree with not wanting notches, or punch holes...this is why I am interested in this phone...PLUS I truly miss having a notification LED. However, so far the reviews from end users/owners...not the "pro" reviewers on YouTube..is leaning towards the negative! My last three phones have been from OnePlus. Currently on the 8T. I know many have started to slam OnePlus for their practice of late patches and higher prices...but I have not had even ONE problem with any of the OnePlus phones I've had! They just work. I've had the 6, 7-Pro, and now the 8T. There's nothing out there that even interests me any longer that doesn't overheat, or freeze, or have unnecessary dedicated assistant buttons??? Disgusted with them all. I just might have to take a harder look at Apple!!!!
Outside of what appears to be a truly random and uncommon hardware issue that's affecting mine per this thread--I actually really loved the 1 mk iii so far.
I haven't had overheating issues, camera seemed excellent, loved the hardware build quality, *LOVE* having a proper screen again (including no notches, aspect ratio, and tons of room w/ fonts and appearance set to smallest). I will never buy a phone that doesn't have microSD support, and access on this phone is awesome (no tool needed).
I wouldn't be too quick to write it off--especially not for the likes of Apple, who provide a hugely compromised, feature-removing, closed-ecosystem product at an inflated price for what you get.
Keep in mind--it's the internet, so you're going to far disproportionatly have people needing to discuss problems. Folks for whom nothing goes wrong--for any product--won't tend to seek out places like this to say so. So I wouldn't let a really small sample of issues unduly color your view...
Hi I have the exact same issue. Received mine on the 24th and transferred everything over from Oppo find X2 pro. Thought it was me at first when trying to wake but it rebooted. All fine until used in car QI base. After 20 minute drive picked it up and tried to wake only for the same thing to happen. Did this several times yesterday and this morning both on and off charge and while cool to touch. Very disappointing as expected more for something that cost nearly £1200! Like the phone a lot and prefer it over the Oppo but cannot find a way around this. A new 256k micro SD card also being used so have tried without this, without the EE sim and factory reset but still it happens. It's unusable as is so will have to be replaced, unless any suggestions?
Have had a few good Android phones from Huawei P20 pro, Mate 20X to current Oppo in recent times but never had an issue like this.
Having to swap back to the Oppo is very time consuming and exasperating!
Shame as this is a stunningly good phone.
Mikehbw said:
Hi I have the exact same issue. Received mine on the 24th and transferred everything over from Oppo find X2 pro. Thought it was me at first when trying to wake but it rebooted. All fine until used in car QI base. After 20 minute drive picked it up and tried to wake only for the same thing to happen. Did this several times yesterday and this morning both on and off charge and while cool to touch. Very disappointing as expected more for something that cost nearly £1200! Like the phone a lot and prefer it over the Oppo but cannot find a way around this. A new 256k micro SD card also being used so have tried without this, without the EE sim and factory reset but still it happens. It's unusable as is so will have to be replaced, unless any suggestions?
Have had a few good Android phones from Huawei P20 pro, Mate 20X to current Oppo in recent times but never had an issue like this.
Having to swap back to the Oppo is very time consuming and exasperating!
Shame as this is a stunningly good phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgot to say there are others on here with similar issue, under random reboot thread.
After sending in for "repair" and receiving it back with no improvement (but "repaired"), Sony has finally agreed I'm due a replacement unit. Have shipped my first unit off, due to arrive to them next Wednesday. Will hopefully receive a properly-functioning replacement soon thereafter... Agree that, if the phone didn't have this bizarre issue, it would be great--very close to what I want in a phone (versus the myriad options out there that don't offer what I want, and insist on absurd design choices I detest).
So, we'll see. Certainly frustrating to have an issue like this on a phone that costs more than plenty of computers...
(To be clear, I had the issue literally every time, from the beginning, regardless of what I had/hadn't set up, installed, sim card/no sim card, micro SD/no micro SD, etc.).
I have Xperia™1 III but the phone is really stable for me, no random reboot. I have only heating issue. Xperia™ XZ2 Premium hasn't heat like this phone. My phone is Hong Kong device
Most likely not what caused your issue...but...it is NOT a good idea to allow any backup to install all your previous apps from an "old" phone to a new one. I know it can be a major pain and very time consuming to install everything from scratch when setting up a new phone...however...when you allow a backup to flow freely onto a new phone you are allowing all the junk to come back also! It's up to you, but I always install everything from scratch and it may not be related but...I have owned many, many phones and NEVER had all the problems that so many have all across the board. Am I just lucky, or is it because I have so much experience with computers and know how to set things up properly? YMMV
jaseman said:
Most likely not what caused your issue...but...it is NOT a good idea to allow any backup to install all your previous apps from an "old" phone to a new one. I know it can be a major pain and very time consuming to install everything from scratch when setting up a new phone...however...when you allow a backup to flow freely onto a new phone you are allowing all the junk to come back also! It's up to you, but I always install everything from scratch and it may not be related but...I have owned many, many phones and NEVER had all the problems that so many have all across the board. Am I just lucky, or is it because I have so much experience with computers and know how to set things up properly? YMMV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you have been lucky
Like you I have never had a problem and been in IT since the early 80's but this isn't something that's has been moved over. Sadly, the phone behaves the same wether out of the box or fully migrated. In the PC world I saw something similar with overheating and poorly cooled AMD processors in the 90's and am wondering if this is a heat related component batch issue?
Sony need to get a grip on this sharpish or they will be looking at refunds, which is never good.
The reboots are caused by the fingerprint reader. My new phone would bootloop while fast charging if my one and only configuration after a factory reset was setting a fingerprint.
DO NOT SEND IT IN FOR A WARRANTY REPAIR - - IT WILL GET WORSE
Get a refund.
First, Sony sent it to SBE with FedEx Ground, which currently takes about 2 weeks.
Second, SBE returned it bricked and voided my warranty. They said I flashed it but I had sent it in new and unmodified. I didn't even think they returned my own phone back because it had a UK/EU label and destroyed firmware. Sony Support would no longer help me because I was no longer a customer. SBE insisted I was a firmware flasher that deserved nothing. I ran EMMA and it showed my phone IMEI, locked bootloader, and stock firmware.
I finally found somebody on Sony Support who would give me an RMA. Maybe it was their mistake, but I wasted no time shipping it back. I'm doing a credit card charge reversal if I get any more crap from Sony/SBE.
I have spoken to Sony UK tech support and they have confirmed there is a reboot issue with some1iii's. Apparently, second line technical support have identified the issue (software) and there will be a revision released to cure this. When pressed, they couldn't give me a date for this and were a little vague. I was advised to return to my supplier for a refund.
Not good on a phone costing £1200 and surprised they haven't got their act together more quickly. They seem to be struggling getting phones shipped presently and my supplier has confirmed a 14 day wait if I want to re-order. I don't know if this is just poor advanced planning by Sony UK or if this is a Sony global problem trying to get hold of the components for manufacture.
Despite all the issues, this phone still ticks all the boxes for me so have decided to wait for the dust to settle!
Good to know there's some awareness now on Sony's part of this issue, and a plan yo resolve it via software (?). If the second unit I get has the same issue, I guess I'll wait a bit for that aoftware resolution--but deeply hoping I won't have the issue again.
I will say, I believe I tested not registering any fingerprints on at least one of the numerous factory resets I tried, and I believe the issue still occurred--had seen threads of similar issues stemming from the fingerprint reader on other manufacturer's phones, so tried to rule it out...
The original phone I got back from SBE wasn't bricked, it just wasn't in any way improved. Fortunately Sony didn't make any weird claims that I'd done anything wrong (I wouldn't know how to mess with "rooting" or whatever--no interest/need to). It was delivered to Sonyin San Diego by FedEx today--so hoping my replacement unit ships in the next day or two...
Mikehbw said:
Despite all the issues, this phone still ticks all the boxes for me so have decided to wait for the dust to settle!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. With LG gone, I really want the Xperia 1 iii to pan out--only phone that has microSD, no notches/currves/radiused corners, a hogh-res screen, and a headphone jack. If I can't get one to work properly, I'll probably just buy another LG V50, second-hand.

S21 crashing/rebooting 1-2 times/day. Any tips on troubleshooting?

I have as SM-G991U (256 GB S21 US version, stock everything but using Nova Launcher) that is randomly freezing/crashing then rebooting on me 1-2 times/day. Does android have any kind of crash log I could look at to try and figure out what's causing the problem? On the samsung forums, their support reps suggest running in Safe Mode, which I have, but it's not very useful because I can't reproduce the problem on demand and it usually happens 1-2/day, but sometimes less, so unless I just ran in safe mode all the time, that wouldn't tell me much. Plus, it would only tell me it's an issue caused by one of a hundred or so apps which, again, is not helpful.
So I'm hoping there is a crash log or something somewhere because I have no idea what triggers the crashes. The other night, it was sitting on a wireless charger, the screen wasn't on, then all the sudden it rebooted. It's not specific to any app or anything I'm doing. If there are no crash logs (which would be frustrating and disappointing), any other troubleshooting ideas are welcome!
Look for a memory leak. Typically a poorly written 3rd party apk.
Try clearing system cache.
Make sure auto restart isn't enabled...
dougleto said:
I have as SM-G991U (256 GB S21 US version, stock everything but using Nova Launcher) that is randomly freezing/crashing then rebooting on me 1-2 times/day. Does android have any kind of crash log I could look at to try and figure out what's causing the problem? On the samsung forums, their support reps suggest running in Safe Mode, which I have, but it's not very useful because I can't reproduce the problem on demand and it usually happens 1-2/day, but sometimes less, so unless I just ran in safe mode all the time, that wouldn't tell me much. Plus, it would only tell me it's an issue caused by one of a hundred or so apps which, again, is not helpful.
So I'm hoping there is a crash log or something somewhere because I have no idea what triggers the crashes. The other night, it was sitting on a wireless charger, the screen wasn't on, then all the sudden it rebooted. It's not specific to any app or anything I'm doing. If there are no crash logs (which would be frustrating and disappointing), any other troubleshooting ideas are welcome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi mate
For logs info check here and here
You can always flash firmware , using home_csc , to avoid factory reset the phone , if the problem is system related it will help
If is app related
Try booting in safe mode to see if problem goes away...
MAX 404 said:
Hi mate
For logs info check here and here
You can always flash firmware , using home_csc , to avoid factory reset the phone , if the problem is system related it will help
If is app related
Try booting in safe mode to see if problem goes away...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'll definitely try these out. I tried safe mode, the trouble is it's not really great as a diagnostic because the phone will go from 4-24 hrs between resets during normal operation, and since a phone in safe mode isn't terribly useful, it's hard to keep it in safe mode for long enough to see if that fixed the issue, if that makes sense. And then, if it did fix the issue, it just narrows it down to 1 out of a hundred apps! But maybe I'm missing something. Is there additional information I can find if I run in safe mode that would help suss out the problem?
blackhawk said:
Look for a memory leak. Typically a poorly written 3rd party apk.
Try clearing system cache.
Make sure auto restart isn't enabled...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I know how to clear cache but not how to check for memory leaks. Do you have a tool you'd recommend to do that? And I had never heard of auto restart before, so thanks for that. I confirmed that it is NOT enabled (that would have been a face palm moment!).
dougleto said:
Thanks! I'll definitely try these out. I tried safe mode, the trouble is it's not really great as a diagnostic because the phone will go from 4-24 hrs between resets during normal operation, and since a phone in safe mode isn't terribly useful, it's hard to keep it in safe mode for long enough to see if that fixed the issue, if that makes sense. And then, if it did fix the issue, it just narrows it down to 1 out of a hundred apps! But maybe I'm missing something. Is there additional information I can find if I run in safe mode that would help suss out the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is not easy , you just need to be methodic
See if you can find anything useful in the logs first
Reflash firmware , use home-csc , see if it help
Have you notice if the phone fails under any specific circumstances?
If that does not help and if you can really relate the problem with any specific app you may try to freeze or uninstall suspicious app and let it run for a day , Package disabler app is a good option , it is easy to enable or disable app but is not free, you could try this one , is a debloater tool , it allow you to disable app... may be easy that having to uninstall / install by hand
I'm also having the same problem. Had the phone since June, it didn't start to occur until late August, which leads me to suspect it is an update related issue.
GillBates21 said:
I'm also having the same problem. Had the phone since June, it didn't start to occur until late August, which leads me to suspect it is an update related issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you posted today, I've been meaning to post again here because I tried troubleshooting and am still having issues. In fact, it crashed twice today when I was trying to send a text message.
I installed one of the log applications (can't remember which one at the moment) but it wasn't really helpful. They didn't seem to catch any information related to a crash even though they were logging data at least twice when it crashed.
Then I tried reflashing using home-csc using ODIN and that ended up soft-bricking my phone (and yes, I followed all the instructions and used home-csc) so I had to reflash everything and do a full factory reset. That seemed to help, reducing the crashes from once/day to once/2-3 days for a few weeks, but now it's back to ~once a day (sometimes more, sometimes less).
So if anyone has any other idea, I'm all ears. When I was reflashing and stuff, I noticed in the recovery mode (or whatever it's called) options that you can look at logs. Does anyone know if one of those logs would have crash-related data or any other ideas of what to try? This is incredibly frustrating, especially that it's persisting after a factory reset. Argh!
dougleto said:
I'm glad you posted today, I've been meaning to post again here because I tried troubleshooting and am still having issues. In fact, it crashed twice today when I was trying to send a text message.
I installed one of the log applications (can't remember which one at the moment) but it wasn't really helpful. They didn't seem to catch any information related to a crash even though they were logging data at least twice when it crashed.
Then I tried reflashing using home-csc using ODIN and that ended up soft-bricking my phone (and yes, I followed all the instructions and used home-csc) so I had to reflash everything and do a full factory reset. That seemed to help, reducing the crashes from once/day to once/2-3 days for a few weeks, but now it's back to ~once a day (sometimes more, sometimes less).
So if anyone has any other idea, I'm all ears. When I was reflashing and stuff, I noticed in the recovery mode (or whatever it's called) options that you can look at logs. Does anyone know if one of those logs would have crash-related data or any other ideas of what to try? This is incredibly frustrating, especially that it's persisting after a factory reset. Argh!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what I tried to do is roll back all the default google app updates. Ex: Android system webview, Google app itself, etc etc. I factory reset it without backing up any apps (but pictures and messages etc), It was working for a few days and then it happened again. Which further reinforces my thinking that my problem is software based.
GillBates21 said:
So what I tried to do is roll back all the default google app updates. Ex: Android system webview, Google app itself, etc etc. I factory reset it without backing up any apps (but pictures and messages etc), It was working for a few days and then it happened again. Which further reinforces my thinking that my problem is software based.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm curious why you think that means it's a software issue. If this isn't a widespread issue with the S21 and after we've both done a factory reset and still have the issue, that makes me think it could be a hardware issue. Of course, there could be some software incompatibility with an app that most people don't have installed or a bluetooth connection or something, which is why I really want to find a useful crash log (and find it rather absurb how hard it is to find a useful crash log on android, come on guys, it's a mature OS, some kind of crash log seems pretty basic!), because otherwise, it could be a ton of issues and I can't reproduce it. Ugh.
The reason is that the "few days" after the reset and restoring pictures, messages (but not apps) from backup, where there were no crashes at all (where previously it would happen at least 2 times per day).
GillBates21 said:
The reason is that the "few days" after the reset and restoring pictures, messages (but not apps) from backup, where there were no crashes at all (where previously it would happen at least 2 times per day).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it, that makes sense. I'm on t-mobile and just got an update this morning. We'll see if that improves anything because my device restarted 4 times yesterday
I havent had a crash like this since i disabled chrome and other google stuff, and downgrading google apps lol.
GillBates21 said:
I havent had a crash like this since i disabled chrome and other google stuff, and downgrading google apps lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you disable chrome and what other google stuff did you disable? (There's obviously quite a lot of google services that can't be disabled)
After the most recent monthly update, my phone has gone from rebooting multiple times/day to once every 2-3 days, which is more manageable but still super annoying. It is incredibly frustrating to me that there are no good tools to troubleshoot a crash (at least that I've ben able to find). Honestly, it's driven me to consider an iPhone for the first time in my life .
My trouble is back... I will be scheduling a fix with samsung soon so I can RMA it
Check the below link. This seems to be a hardware problem which got solved after Samsung replaced the motherboard.
Samsung Restart problem
So I bought this phone for my wife. Since I received the phone, after a day the phone started crashing whatever app she was on and then take you back to lock screen without having to go through a full restart process but it was definitely a restart as you would need to enter your pin again as opposed to fingerprints.
Since it was within 15 days of purchase I returned and reordered another one from Samsung, and to my surprise exact same issue. What are the odds of having two brand new phones having exact same issues.
This leads me to believe it must be a software issue. I just received this 2nd new phone last Friday.
Yeah, I think what I was experiencing was a hardware issue (it definitely went through the full restart process, not what is described in the previous post). And from the link posted by sandystays above, it looks pretty common. I contacted Samsung support and was not impressed at all. They walked me through a number of troubleshooting steps that weren't helpful then had me take my phone to UBreakIFix. I did, they ran a diagnostic and their tools couldn't find anything wrong so they said Samsung should replace it.
Contacted Samsung, told them I had taken it in. They said I needed to take it to a technician (again, right after telling them I just had). They then said, oh, you'll have to mail it to us and you'll get your phone back in 7-10 business days. Their suggestion for what to do for a phone in the meantime? Buy a prepaid phone then return it when I get my phone back (which a) is unethical and b) wouldn't work anyways since they're locked). Ridiculous. They also admitted that this is a very common problem, so I asked why they just won't send me a replacement device if it's so common to which they had no real answer, just "that's our policy".
Eventually, I contacted T-mobile (my carrier) and was very pleasantly surprised. After me telling them the issue and the steps I'd taken to troubleshoot it, they sent me a replacement phone (recertified, but still) that arrived in 2 days. WAAAYYYY better than Samsung. The entire process made me a bit jealous of my wife's iPhone. If she had had a similar issue, we could have taken it to an apple store and not had the whole "our policy is that you have no phone for 7-10 business days" nonsense from Samsung AND the backup and restore process is still way better on iPhones than on any android I've ever owned. How there is no easy and reliable backup/restore mechanism on android after so long is beyond me.
Bottome line: if you have a similar issue, it's very likely a hardware problem (my replacement phone has been fine for 3 days now). And avoid Samsung support if you can!
dougleto said:
Yeah, I think what I was experiencing was a hardware issue (it definitely went through the full restart process, not what is described in the previous post). And from the link posted by sandystays above, it looks pretty common. I contacted Samsung support and was not impressed at all. They walked me through a number of troubleshooting steps that weren't helpful then had me take my phone to UBreakIFix. I did, they ran a diagnostic and their tools couldn't find anything wrong so they said Samsung should replace it.
Contacted Samsung, told them I had taken it in. They said I needed to take it to a technician (again, right after telling them I just had). They then said, oh, you'll have to mail it to us and you'll get your phone back in 7-10 business days. Their suggestion for what to do for a phone in the meantime? Buy a prepaid phone then return it when I get my phone back (which a) is unethical and b) wouldn't work anyways since they're locked). Ridiculous. They also admitted that this is a very common problem, so I asked why they just won't send me a replacement device if it's so common to which they had no real answer, just "that's our policy".
Eventually, I contacted T-mobile (my carrier) and was very pleasantly surprised. After me telling them the issue and the steps I'd taken to troubleshoot it, they sent me a replacement phone (recertified, but still) that arrived in 2 days. WAAAYYYY better than Samsung. The entire process made me a bit jealous of my wife's iPhone. If she had had a similar issue, we could have taken it to an apple store and not had the whole "our policy is that you have no phone for 7-10 business days" nonsense from Samsung AND the backup and restore process is still way better on iPhones than on any android I've ever owned. How there is no easy and reliable backup/restore mechanism on android after so long is beyond me.
Bottome line: if you have a similar issue, it's very likely a hardware problem (my replacement phone has been fine for 3 days now). And avoid Samsung support if you can!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the second phone I still have the 2wk window to return. I am contemplating if I should just return altogether. I had bought an s21 Ultra as well and that seem to be working OK.
Two s21+ phones with same issue, what are the odds of hardware problem? But what if it is the entire batch that is bad.
isiddiqi said:
On the second phone I still have the 2wk window to return. I am contemplating if I should just return altogether. I had bought an s21 Ultra as well and that seem to be working OK.
Two s21+ phones with same issue, what are the odds of hardware problem? But what if it is the entire batch that is bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your issue sounds different to me. Mine definitely fully rebooted, I have no idea what is going on with yours, it sounds like your crashes are locking the phone or something, that could definitely be software. Good luck!

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