Hi all,
Got, or rather gonna get, it back on Wed. This is a 2nd warranty repair trip this fall for the same problem: phone reboots at random sometimes 10+ times a day, sometimes not all. And random as scrolling through Settings random. Samsung system reports it as:
*****
Original Problem:
TECHNICAL INQUIRY - POWER - POWER CYCLE
Problem found:
WON'T DOWNLOAD SW/PRL
Solution:
S/W UPDATED
*****
It felt like a hardware problem to me. Looks like all they did is updated some software and/or PRL. Does that sound like it could possibly resolve the random reboots problem I've been having? I'm skeptical and thought I'd ask.
Thanks!
SM05 said:
Hi all,
Got, or rather gonna get, it back on Wed. This is a 2nd warranty repair trip this fall for the same problem: phone reboots at random sometimes 10+ times a day, sometimes not all. And random as scrolling through Settings random. Samsung system reports it as:
*****
Original Problem:
TECHNICAL INQUIRY - POWER - POWER CYCLE
Problem found:
WON'T DOWNLOAD SW/PRL
Solution:
S/W UPDATED
*****
It felt like a hardware problem to me. Looks like all they did is updated some software and/or PRL. Does that sound like it could possibly resolve the random reboots problem I've been having? I'm skeptical and thought I'd ask.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on what all you've tried before sending it in. Have you tried wiping the phone and flashing multiple roms to see if the issue persisted? If so, then it's most likely a hardware issue. If not, then it's possibly a software issue.
dsmboost said:
Depends on what all you've tried before sending it in. Have you tried wiping the phone and flashing multiple roms to see if the issue persisted? If so, then it's most likely a hardware issue. If not, then it's possibly a software issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've flashed it back to stock 2 times before sending it in. In both cases phone would continue exhibiting the same behavior ie sporadic reboots for about a day, especially in the first few hours after re-flash. It'd then settle in into a no-reboots state. Not sure what to contribute that too. I did do a full wipe and didn't load practically any apps on it. So, may be certain parts of the RAM weren't being exercised. I don't know, just guessing here. Not sure what to make out of that pattern I mentioned though.
Thanks for your help.
EDIT: Wow the issue was really REALLY stupid. turned out i was using a HUGE picture as my lockscreen wallpaper, and it was causing hang ups because I guess it was trying to load that huge picture into ram every time it went to sleep or something. change the picture, everything was fine. I'm really dumb.
My galaxy s2 has been fine pretty much since launch. Switched over to cyanogenmod a long time ago, been updating to their nightlies about once a month. Recently tho, starting like this week, my phone has been randomly rebooting like crazy, to the point that the phone is unusable. Any thing I try to do results in a soft reset. The fastest way I've found to recreate the issue is to turn on and off the screen twice quickly, causes a crash/reboot, dont know what to call this.
AFAIK I still have access to recovery, odin, etc.
I've tried flashing an older nightly, wiping cache, factory reset, still get crashes really easily. I've ruled out my micro sd card being the problem, it still randomly reboots without it. Any idea what I can do to try and narrow down what the problem is?
Do a clean install of stock in the first instance, run it for a few days & see if it persists. If it stops happening, then obviously something CM-side causing it. If it doesn't replace battery. If that doesn't fix it, take it to a local mobile repair shop for diagnosis.
i looked on here for tips on how to fix my lag problem
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...php?p=50499120
I dont have the insane chip, u have fw7, bought samsung s3 on may 2013, manufacture date dec 2012. updated the rom 3 times from what i think originally was EMB1-EMB3-EMB5 and now EMC2 (supposedly an excellent stable rom with excellent battery life)
since monday I have been having a lag/freeze problem where the phone will become unsusable for about 5 secs, then if i start typing again, it''l freeze again.
can anyone shed light as to what has happened?
I tried the dummy file generator method, it didn't crash or freeze once when producing 5-6gb of data. it freezes after a few hours use and the only way to get it to work again is to either update an app or remove an app. very strange.
could it be a corrupted chip?
i've just updated to xxEMG4 (dont know why, i downloaded another yesterday but it failed to install so had to download again).
now i've tried it with the xxEMG4 and it still has the same problem, i'm trying to remove apps one by one to see if that improves the situation.
how can i test if my chip is damaged or in bad condition without rooting? is there any apps i can use? i've already tried the brickbug app but i am not rooted so unable to do the memory test
Don't post multiple threads on the exact same subject.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
I've been experiencing the same problem lately and think I might found a solution: it seems that, at least in my case, the problem is with the battery.
I switched batteries with a friend and the freezes stopped. The strange part is that my friend doesn't have freezes either.
I really don't know why the freezes happened or why changing the battery fixed it (or why my friend doesn't have the problem when using my battery).
So, try changing the battery if you can and test it. It's been a week with freeze-free for me, maybe it works for you too.
can anyone shed light on what is happening please?
a further update, i removed bbm app from it and tried to recreate the lag and freezing problems and it didn't so i was relieved that it was an app problem all along.. however i was experiencing battery drain problems which i couldnt figure out so i updated to the latest 4.3 and used that for a month. no lag or freeze problems at all.. the only issue is that 4.3 drained my battery quicker than on 4.1.2 as the lowest brightness wasn't as low as on 4.1.2. so i took the plunge and used odin and reflashed a fresh xxemg4 to my s3 on friday. i did a factory reset as settings kept closing and failing then initially when i started using an app it froze for a few secs then was ok so i thought nothing of it.. spoke too soon. i had the newest bbm on 4.3 and for a month did not experience any freezing, but then today it's freezing again!! i'm on 4.1.2 xxemg4 bear in mind.. i immediately removed bbm as that's what cured it originally, but the lagging/freezing is still there and comes abruptly like when i was using 3g, when i switch on wifi it goes away but am unable to recreate the problem,
is it likely that it's a hardware problem with the chip? remember for a whole month while i used 4.3. i had no freeze lag problem whatsoever (i dont want to use 4.3 by the way so that's not a solution) so does that rule out it being a hardware issue and must be software?
i really want to avoid taking it in to a service centre as all they'll do is flash to the latest rom which is 4.3. (which i have already done) and the removing bbm didn't work unfortunately so im stuck now as to what is causing this freezing/lagging??
is there anyway to diagnose it?
pete101 said:
can anyone shed light on what is happening please?
a further update, i removed bbm app from it and tried to recreate the lag and freezing problems and it didn't so i was relieved that it was an app problem all along.. however i was experiencing battery drain problems which i couldnt figure out so i updated to the latest 4.3 and used that for a month. no lag or freeze problems at all.. the only issue is that 4.3 drained my battery quicker than on 4.1.2 as the lowest brightness wasn't as low as on 4.1.2. so i took the plunge and used odin and reflashed a fresh xxemg4 to my s3 on friday. i did a factory reset as settings kept closing and failing then initially when i started using an app it froze for a few secs then was ok so i thought nothing of it.. spoke too soon. i had the newest bbm on 4.3 and for a month did not experience any freezing, but then today it's freezing again!! i'm on 4.1.2 xxemg4 bear in mind.. i immediately removed bbm as that's what cured it originally, but the lagging/freezing is still there and comes abruptly like when i was using 3g, when i switch on wifi it goes away but am unable to recreate the problem,
is it likely that it's a hardware problem with the chip? remember for a whole month while i used 4.3. i had no freeze lag problem whatsoever (i dont want to use 4.3 by the way so that's not a solution) so does that rule out it being a hardware issue and must be software?
i really want to avoid taking it in to a service centre as all they'll do is flash to the latest rom which is 4.3. (which i have already done) and the removing bbm didn't work unfortunately so im stuck now as to what is causing this freezing/lagging??
is there anyway to diagnose it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so i've tried it for 2 days now and the lag and freeze keeps coming back and the only thing which stops it is if i install another app and it seems to reset for a couple days.. could it be to do with the sudden wake up opening the device?
i dont have the insane chip and it never freezes or lags in 4.3. (but i dont want to use that cos it has bigger battery drain than 4.1.2) is this definitely a hardware issue but if i go to the store they'll just flash it to the latest firmware (4.3.) which i dont want AND it wont freeze lag anymore.. but that still doesn't resolve the underlying issue that it may be a hardware problem with the chip? how would i get them to replace the chip if i cant show them the issue in 4.3.??
can someone help me please???
pete101 said:
can someone help me please???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok i've diagnosed it down to the fact one of the cores seems to go offline during the freezing lagging and usually after i wake it up from sleep.
i use os moniter which tells me the info about the device.. it's a quad core phone international model and has the cores listed 0, 1, 2, 3.
i've noticed that when it lags and freezes cores 1 and 2 go to 'offline' with a '?' next to the info as oppose to 100000 or 4000000 etc
does anyone have any idea what is happening to my handset?
is it really a hardware issue? as i mentioend before when i used 4.3. i have no lag issues whatsoever at least i think i dont but if there is an underlying hardware issue it'll be hard for me to get this fixed. it seems the firmware just smoothes over the problems rather than fixes it.
Hello guys. Recently after the oreo update, I'm facing a lot of issues. Main thing being the screen freeze. The phone hangs suddenly at a screen and nothing works. It doesn't even reboots on its own, if I leave it, it will stay like that forever. Only way to start it back is to hold power and vol down after which it reboots. Also i have noticed, before this happens, there is a slutter and lagginess in my phone, like while switching apps with the recent app navigation icon, while typing, or bringing down notifications, everything seems to be a bit laggy giving an indication that the phone is going to freeze. And I reboot it, I have seen that the battery drops by 5% suddenly and phone gets hot. Can someone please help me identify the problem. I can do a factory reset, but I won't be satisfied until I know what's wrong so that I can prevent it happening ever again.
@SHIVALP123 Sometimes updates can cause issues especially if upgrading to a other android version. Factory reset should fix the problem and for future a backup and clean wipe for different android versions. Could just be a malfunctioning app or files that got left behind maybe. I'm loving the V30 just recently upgraded from 6P. Oreo is fantastic and no issues so far to speak of. ?
Exodusche said:
@SHIVALP123 Sometimes updates can cause issues especially if upgrading to a other android version. Factory reset should fix the problem and for future a backup and clean wipe for different android versions. Could just be a malfunctioning app or files that got left behind maybe. I'm loving the V30 just recently upgraded from 6P. Oreo is fantastic and no issues so far to speak of. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohh. Okay. Thank you. I have deleted many recently installed apps for now. No issue since morning, battery life has improved quite a lot. Got 8:15hrs of screen on time with 4G on all the time and all the time the net was being used. I wonder how well it will perform on wifi. I just hope i don't have to reset it now. ?
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!