Phone has suddnely become very unresponsive - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I understand if this is too broad a question, but on the off-chance there is at least a broad category of problems anyone could point me to...
I've had a problem with the phone after asking a third party file managing app to look for duplicate files (usually quite a long operation). It failed to complete, and since then nothing has been working on the phone and it keeps restarting. The weird thing is (or at least weird in my experience). It hasn't frozen or crashed. It's just that everything seems to be finding it hard to do anything. It's exactly the same in safe mode.
I turned on some developer tools (CPU indicator and notification for unresponsive apps). I don't really know what the CPU indicator is showing me (having no point of reference), but it spiked very quickly one time to cover almost the whole screen then calmed down to sit about a quarter along, so I'm presuming CPU usage is far from full. The unresponsive app notification is more telling as every minute or so a new app comes up with "... is not responding. Would you like to close it?". Basically everything is not responding.
I also tried checking running apps and cached processes, the third party app is not still running, just the usual set of background Google apps.
I can't do any USB debugging or software repair because "USB connectivity is not responding". I can't uninstall or re-install anything because "Settings is not responding" and "Google Play is not responding". I can't even use certain developer tools because many of those are "...not responding"
I realise this means I'm probably out of options, but before a factory reset (or the bin!) I'd just like to try and understand what could have happened. At least I could possibly avoid it next time.
Just to add - I've just done a Factory Reset. The problem is still there, apps don't respond, I can't uninstall anything, USB connection doesn't respond (or does respond but keeps dropping out) and after a while it will spontaneously restart. How on earth can one operation do this to a phone?

malware?

Isaac34 said:
I've just done a Factory Reset. The problem is still there, apps don't respond, I can't uninstall anything, USB connection doesn't respond (or does respond but keeps dropping out) and after a while it will spontaneously restart. How on earth can one operation do this to a phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start by mentioning your device.

Isaac34 said:
I understand if this is too broad a question, but on the off-chance there is at least a broad category of problems anyone could point me to...
I've had a problem with the phone after asking a third party file managing app to look for duplicate files (usually quite a long operation). It failed to complete, and since then nothing has been working on the phone and it keeps restarting. The weird thing is (or at least weird in my experience). It hasn't frozen or crashed. It's just that everything seems to be finding it hard to do anything. It's exactly the same in safe mode.
I turned on some developer tools (CPU indicator and notification for unresponsive apps). I don't really know what the CPU indicator is showing me (having no point of reference), but it spiked very quickly one time to cover almost the whole screen then calmed down to sit about a quarter along, so I'm presuming CPU usage is far from full. The unresponsive app notification is more telling as every minute or so a new app comes up with "... is not responding. Would you like to close it?". Basically everything is not responding.
I also tried checking running apps and cached processes, the third party app is not still running, just the usual set of background Google apps.
I can't do any USB debugging or software repair because "USB connectivity is not responding". I can't uninstall or re-install anything because "Settings is not responding" and "Google Play is not responding". I can't even use certain developer tools because many of those are "...not responding"
I realise this means I'm probably out of options, but before a factory reset (or the bin!) I'd just like to try and understand what could have happened. At least I could possibly avoid it next time.
Just to add - I've just done a Factory Reset. The problem is still there, apps don't respond, I can't uninstall anything, USB connection doesn't respond (or does respond but keeps dropping out) and after a while it will spontaneously restart. How on earth can one operation do this to a phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to install some app which keep notifying you whenever you get such virus in your handset.

Isaac34 said:
I understand if this is too broad a question, but on the off-chance there is at least a broad category of problems anyone could point me to...
I've had a problem with the phone after asking a third party file managing app to look for duplicate files (usually quite a long operation). It failed to complete, and since then nothing has been working on the phone and it keeps restarting. The weird thing is (or at least weird in my experience). It hasn't frozen or crashed. It's just that everything seems to be finding it hard to do anything. It's exactly the same in safe mode.
I turned on some developer tools (CPU indicator and notification for unresponsive apps). I don't really know what the CPU indicator is showing me (having no point of reference), but it spiked very quickly one time to cover almost the whole screen then calmed down to sit about a quarter along, so I'm presuming CPU usage is far from full. The unresponsive app notification is more telling as every minute or so a new app comes up with "... is not responding. Would you like to close it?". Basically everything is not responding.
I also tried checking running apps and cached processes, the third party app is not still running, just the usual set of background Google apps.
I can't do any USB debugging or software repair because "USB connectivity is not responding". I can't uninstall or re-install anything because "Settings is not responding" and "Google Play is not responding". I can't even use certain developer tools because many of those are "...not responding"
I realise this means I'm probably out of options, but before a factory reset (or the bin!) I'd just like to try and understand what could have happened. At least I could possibly avoid it next time.
Just to add - I've just done a Factory Reset. The problem is still there, apps don't respond, I can't uninstall anything, USB connection doesn't respond (or does respond but keeps dropping out) and after a while it will spontaneously restart. How on earth can one operation do this to a phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a custom recovery I would suggest you to wipe the system os and install firmware again
You can google search it like
How to install stock firmware on 'your device'
But instead of just solving the problem, I am much more curious in knowing how the problem occurred
Could you please tell me
What was the app's name?
From where did you download the app?
And did you granted root permission to the app?
Hope my post was helpful
Regards,
milkyway3

Related

[Q] S II 'soft' reboot

Apologies in advance for the potentially vague description, but I also cannot find a solution elsewhere on the forum.
Earlier today, I was watching a YouTube video and then I locked my phone and left it to charge whilst I went downstairs (as I often do). When I returned roughly an hour later, I found the screen on, which I only ever do if I've left Draw Something open, or some similar app - but it was on the lock screen.
(none of that is necessarily important, I just wanted to clear up the "what did you do to make it start rebooting" question)
Anyway, after unlocking the phone, the screen went to black and the phone restarted.
However, it wasn't a "real" reboot, because the boot screen didn't come up, etc. It's just like just the UI is restarted. I can usually use the phone for about 30 seconds at a time. This seems extended when I have flight mode on, and is even longer still when I have the phone locked.
I've uninstalled some potentially-offending apps, removed the SD card, cleared some apps' data, but to no avail.
I'm using default 4.0.4 from Samsung. The only issues I'd had with it until now were that some apps crashed occasionally, but I attributed that mainly to the apps themselves.
The most annoying thing for me is that is seems like it's an issue that can be fixed quite simply, without having to uninstall every app or factory reset the phone.
Anyone have any other ideas as to what I could do? Thanks!
RobHannay said:
Apologies in advance for the potentially vague description, but I also cannot find a solution elsewhere on the forum.
Earlier today, I was watching a YouTube video and then I locked my phone and left it to charge whilst I went downstairs (as I often do). When I returned roughly an hour later, I found the screen on, which I only ever do if I've left Draw Something open, or some similar app - but it was on the lock screen.
(none of that is necessarily important, I just wanted to clear up the "what did you do to make it start rebooting" question)
Anyway, after unlocking the phone, the screen went to black and the phone restarted.
However, it wasn't a "real" reboot, because the boot screen didn't come up, etc. It's just like just the UI is restarted. I can usually use the phone for about 30 seconds at a time. This seems extended when I have flight mode on, and is even longer still when I have the phone locked.
I've uninstalled some potentially-offending apps, removed the SD card, cleared some apps' data, but to no avail.
I'm using default 4.0.4 from Samsung. The only issues I'd had with it until now were that some apps crashed occasionally, but I attributed that mainly to the apps themselves.
The most annoying thing for me is that is seems like it's an issue that can be fixed quite simply, without having to uninstall every app or factory reset the phone.
Anyone have any other ideas as to what I could do? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just go to recovery mode and fix permissions

[Q] Screen stays on after root

Hello,
I rooted the phone usin gExynosAbuse.apk and now I noticed that the screen will stay on even after some use. I set the display to go off after 1 min. FYI, Motion is OFF and Stay Awake is NOT checked in the development settings.
If the phone is freshly restarted the screen will go off after the set amount of time. However, after some use (not sure what triggers it), the screen would stay on until I pressed the lock/pwr button.
Any idea why?
Thanks.
You have an app keeping it on. Time to go through your list and find it
Thanks for the answer.
That sounds like a pita. I guess there is no other way than run an app and see if the problem comes back, repeat for all the app I have installed?
Well, think back to when the problem first occurred. As long as you weren't configuring apps at the time, its likely to be the last installed app.
Otherwise, you could do what I did when I had an app deodexing my /data/app directory every boot:
Uninstall them in groups until the issue goes away.
You could also take a look at your wakelocks, and narrow it down further that way. The phone definitely isn't sleeping when the screen is on.
Yeah, the thing is I just got this phone and after rooting I went crazy with app installs lol.
Guess will have to take my time to weed out the problem.
Thanks again!
Hope you find it.
After 70 apps, I gave up and just wiped data and started over when I had my issue, LOL.

[Q] Android gets into a hotboot looping state for unknown reason

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

Android UI keeps crashing!

I honestly don't know where to post this so I'm going to post it under "General" in hopes that someone far smarter than me can help (!)!...
ScreenShot:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx8wdr_asZMFZXE1dGFWSnZ2NmM
I've had the following issue for the past 30 days (at first I thought it was some glitch that caused the UI to crash when phoning-home to Cyanogenmod for updates). It SEEMS to have happened right when I first started screwing around with TitaniumBU... that may be a total coincidence, also...
The phone works just fine but will suddenly start showing things in Landscape instead of Portrait (and vise-versa). After I reboot the phone boots to a black screen with just the status bar at the top (showing the time, wifi, etc...) with absolutely NOTHING ELSE except for what appears to be a "back" arrow at the bottom of the screen (that does nothing when pressed).
WTH?! Please. Because I've tried everything (to include wiping internal and ext-SD). :crying: I have, of course, searched other forums but "Android UI Crashing" returns a ton of unrelated results...
:cyclops:I'm still having this issue so I'm gonna bump this thread... Any help is much-appreciated!:cyclops:
I'd wipe the whole internal storage (including ROM) and reinstall the ROM.
Dude - WAY ahead of ya - already did. To the extent that I accidentally soft-bricked the stupid phone!
We all know, as engineers and troubleshooters, that the first step to solving a problem is duplicating it.... and I cannot seem to consistently duplicate the problem! And the crux of it is that this started at the end of December when I was bored around the holidays and playing with my phone (making several different changes).
Obviously I'm not restoring anything from a previous backup... I've even blown away my backed-up App settings in my google account... Formatted Internal and External... Installed latest OS and GApps...
Gun to my head; if I had to guess I'd say that it has something to do with the "System Profiles" feature... I started using it to disable my Lock Screen whenever it detected my home wifi, and to return to the System Default (with the Lock Screen enabled) whenever it no longer detected my home wifi... Because I swear that the crashed-phone looks the same as the screen where you enter your PIN with the addition of the status bar at the top...
The issue has to do with System Profiles to use wifi-detection for toggling the lock screen. Not sure what it is about this that causes the issue, but that was the cause.

LG G Vista 2 "Unfortunately System UI Has Stopped"

Hi all,
I've got an LG G Vista 2 that I've been trying to turn into an audiobook/podcast/mp3 player after decommissioning it from use as a cellphone about a year ago. However, whenever I boot the phone the screen remains black and a popup appears saying: "Unfortunately System UI has stopped". When tapping "ok" to close the popup the screen remains black and shortly later another popup appears, effectively preventing any interfacing with the device. Even keeping the power down menu open long enough to turn off the phone is a struggle.
It seems like the most common recommendation online is to factory reset the phone through recovery mode - I have tried that several times, each time the popup comes up even before going through the Android setup process. The same popup comes up even in safe mode. I'm at a loss of what to do: I have no way to interface with the phone, through the device still seems to work fine. I'm wondering if this issue is possibly caused by a hardware fault that is manifesting in a software issue, or if the OS install is just incredibly corrupted.
Is there any way to reinstall Android on the phone without being able to access its GUI? Being a lower-end phone from several years ago it is rather hard to find OEM ROMs online, though even if I had a ROM I wouldn't know exactly what to do. I would appreciate any recommendations on where to go from here.
Thanks.
Were you able to solve this issue?
No, unfortunately not. It doesn't seem to be a straightforward fix and I haven't gotten around to really working on it. I'm still open for sugustions if anyone has any tips.

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