[Q] SGS3 screen flashes off and on randomly while in use - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

This never used to happen but in the last week has.
While using it, whether I'm in GoSMS Pro, or Chrome or even in the homescreen the screen will fade to black then back one to three times. It almost feels like proximity detection but there's absolutely no obstruction nor am I in a call.
Running 4.0.4 stock unrooted, latest update from Rogers.
Has anyone had this? Getting a bit worried!

Screen blacking out randomly
I'm also having this problem. I'm also on Rogers but I'm am rooted. I am however still using the stock rom. It all started happening after I did the latest update. Any help would be appreciated.

dropzone01 said:
I'm also having this problem. I'm also on Rogers but I'm am rooted. I am however still using the stock rom. It all started happening after I did the latest update. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES! Finally I'm not alone.
I was worried this was isolated. This confirms even more my suspicion it's a software not a hardware issue. The other reason why it would be so is because after it flashes off and on, the screen elements also do, which indicates the software is trying to refresh the display. If it were hardware it would likely not fade flash and nothing would change on the screen.
It sounds like the software update caused it as I noticed it started after installing it.
I ended up doing a hard reset yesterday after having had no responses. I am hoping it might help. I hate having to reinitialize so much crap while unrooted though. I was hoping to keep it stock and not worry about saving app data until Jelly Bean official stock is out. Oh well.
I also learned S Memo Samsung account syncing doesn't work. Good thing I made a Kies backup. Sigh...

Victorminator said:
YES! Finally I'm not alone.
I was worried this was isolated. This confirms even more my suspicion it's a software not a hardware issue. The other reason why it would be so is because after it flashes off and on, the screen elements also do, which indicates the software is trying to refresh the display. If it were hardware it would likely not fade flash and nothing would change on the screen.
It sounds like the software update caused it as I noticed it started after installing it.
I ended up doing a hard reset yesterday after having had no responses. I am hoping it might help. I hate having to reinitialize so much crap while unrooted though. I was hoping to keep it stock and not worry about saving app data until Jelly Bean official stock is out. Oh well.
I also learned S Memo Samsung account syncing doesn't work. Good thing I made a Kies backup. Sigh...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update: unfortunately the hard reset did not fix it. Problem has returned as of Sunday. I hope Jelly Bean comes soon. :S
In the meantime I'm talking with Rogers about this and pointing them to this thread.

Temporary solution found
Victorminator said:
Update: unfortunately the hard reset did not fix it. Problem has returned as of Sunday. I hope Jelly Bean comes soon. :S
In the meantime I'm talking with Rogers about this and pointing them to this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've solved it, but this may not be a solution for most people experiencing this (my friend also had this issue). In my case removing the game Modern War solved it.
I remember that after I installed it, the system started doing these flashes. It now has been behaving ok for 4 days since uninstalling it.
I don't think the game itself is the cause, but rather there could be some background task from it (it does occasionally push game event updates as notifications) that doesn't like the 4.0.4 update. In this case I can't quite identify what nor do I know how to diagnose it.
Just thought I'd update people in case they still have this issue. It may be one of your apps, essentially. It sucks and it shouldn't happen, but alas unless we test with a new stock OS update, we won't have much to eliminate it without removing the offending app.

Related

[Q] s3 stuttering/twitching

I have tried searching for this problem but I must be using the wrong terms... so sorry in advance if I missed a post that addressed this issue.
My sprint S3 does this twitchy/glitching thing on every touchwhiz based jellybean rom (does not do it on TW ICS ROMS) I have tried. It basically makes it nearly impossible to do sliding animations, IE it can actually get stuck and start flashing halfway between screens, or when pulling down the top menu, however you can open new programs just fine if you are already on the right screen for them. Luckily it does not do this all the time, but when it happens it keeps doing for 10 minutes or so and its annoying as hell.
I figured this must be a rare issue even though it effects both my wifes phone and mine, since I have never read anything about it, however I just got a new replacement phone and it does the exact same thing, even on dead stock TW JB ROM.
Oddly enough I discovered last night that if I turn on my screen filter app it stops completely, but it starts right back up when I turn off screen filter..... any ideas how to fix this?
Try grabbing cache clear from the play store and set it to run every 12 hours. It helped my phone a good bit.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
No one else ever has this issue?
joelespinoza said:
No one else ever has this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had it dude, but it was just on the CleanBean ROM, it was annoying as hell!
So I changed the ROM, Its weird that its happening on a Stock ROM, any suspicious app?

Random Reboots since JVB by OTA

This has happened to me twice while in my pocket since receiving the OTA a week ago. This never happened with ZV9 since getting the phone months ago.
Has anybody else seen this? Any ideas what this might be? Any apps to help figure out what's causing this? Is this related to the location service reboots that other phones on Jelly Bean like the Nexus were having?
I am not a big fan of Android version changes via "patching" for this very reason. I suggest doing a factory reset and see if it continues to happen.
Lokifish Marz said:
I am not a big fan of Android version changes via "patching" for this very reason. I suggest doing a factory reset and see if it continues to happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good call, thanks for the input. I was considering doing that if it keeps up.
I'll probably root and unlock soon anyway once I have some time.
spackmanbr said:
Good call, thanks for the input. I was considering doing that if it keeps up.
I'll probably root and unlock soon anyway once I have some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem and it only happened after I had updated the Android Booster FREE app. I uninstalled Android Booster FREE (as it really wasn't useful, in my opinion anyway) and the problem disappeared. If you have this app installed maybe you can uninstall it and see if that solves your problem.
Thanks for the input, but I never use any apps of that nature, and no power saver apps either.

I747m screen problem...please help!

Ive searched everywhere and can't seem to find anyone with a solution. Ive found a post with the same problem but no solution.
So yesterday my s3 started having problems waking up. Meaning when I lock it usually you bring up the lock screen by pressing the power button or home button. Problem is when I press either one, screen doesnt come on. The buttons do. If I tap the screen I can hear the ripple effect but the screen doesnt light up. I have to keep locking and unlocking till it finally works. Averege of about 6 tries. When I get a call most of the time the screen doesnt come on either. I can still answer since I know where the slider is. When I do turn it on everything works perfect. No flickering or any other issues. When it boots it works perfect...never fails. Just when I lock it.
I tried restoring already, thinking its a software issue...still does it. What piece of hardware could cause this? I'm stumped. Please any advice would be great.
I'm not rooted and running 4.1.1 oem rogers software.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
felcom said:
Ive searched everywhere and can't seem to find anyone with a solution. Ive found a post with the same problem but no solution.
So yesterday my s3 started having problems waking up. Meaning when I lock it usually you bring up the lock screen by pressing the power button or home button. Problem is when I press either one, screen doesnt come on. The buttons do. If I tap the screen I can hear the ripple effect but the screen doesnt light up. I have to keep locking and unlocking till it finally works. Averege of about 6 tries. When I get a call most of the time the screen doesnt come on either. I can still answer since I know where the slider is. When I do turn it on everything works perfect. No flickering or any other issues. When it boots it works perfect...never fails. Just when I lock it.
I tried restoring already, thinking its a software issue...still does it. What piece of hardware could cause this? I'm stumped. Please any advice would be great.
I'm not rooted and running 4.1.1 oem rogers software.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is that you have something draining all your RAM or being hard on your CPU. When you restored, did you factory reset?
You might have to backup your stuff, factory reset. Test it, if it still does it, bring it up with Rogers for a replacement. If it doesn't, reinstall your stuff until you find the culprit.
You could troubleshoot it also by uninstalling the latest apps you installed.
BWolf56 said:
My guess is that you have something draining all your RAM or being hard on your CPU. When you restored, did you factory reset?
You might have to backup your stuff, factory reset. Test it, if it still does it, bring it up with Rogers for a replacement. If it doesn't, reinstall your stuff until you find the culprit.
You could troubleshoot it also by uninstalling the latest apps you installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said...Already did a factory reset. Meaning All apps were gone. Started fresh. Even without going through the first setup (setting up google account etc etc) if I lock the phone its hard to wakeup.
Phone is out of warranty so no go there....
I'm just not understanding what is causing it. I know the screen is fine...buttons are fine...everything points at a software problem. I found a post from a while back where someone was having the same problem....no solution was posted though. I even took the phone apart last night thinking a bad connection or something...disconnected the screen and reconnected it...didn't do anything.
If the screen was going bad wouldn't I have issues all the time? Once I wakeup the phone it works perfect...no flickering or anything. When it boots (which I've done like 30 times between today and yesterday) the screen has come on every single time perfectly fine. Everything tells me it's software related...but after doing a factory reset and running original firmware it seems as though it must be a hardware issue...but which component.
I know the phone wakes up when I press the buttons...I can see the menu and back buttons light up...and if I tap the screen the ripple sound is there...just the screen doesn't wake up....till I try a few more times....very frustrating.
Thanks Again for trying...if anyone has any ideas....greatly appreciated. I'll try and find original Rogers firmware and install with odin...see if that works....
felcom said:
Like I said...Already did a factory reset. Meaning All apps were gone. Started fresh. Even without going through the first setup (setting up google account etc etc) if I lock the phone its hard to wakeup.
Phone is out of warranty so no go there....
I'm just not understanding what is causing it. I know the screen is fine...buttons are fine...everything points at a software problem. I found a post from a while back where someone was having the same problem....no solution was posted though. I even took the phone apart last night thinking a bad connection or something...disconnected the screen and reconnected it...didn't do anything.
If the screen was going bad wouldn't I have issues all the time? Once I wakeup the phone it works perfect...no flickering or anything. When it boots (which I've done like 30 times between today and yesterday) the screen has come on every single time perfectly fine. Everything tells me it's software related...but after doing a factory reset and running original firmware it seems as though it must be a hardware issue...but which component.
I know the phone wakes up when I press the buttons...I can see the menu and back buttons light up...and if I tap the screen the ripple sound is there...just the screen doesn't wake up....till I try a few more times....very frustrating.
Thanks Again for trying...if anyone has any ideas....greatly appreciated. I'll try and find original Rogers firmware and install with odin...see if that works....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds indeed like software issue. I'm not so sure what would cause it on stock rogers though.
Either way, you can find the stock ROM on sammobile.com or on this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1822308
You'll need Odin to flash it. (It doesn't trigger the flash counter)
felcom said:
Phone is out of warranty so no go there....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you buy your phone with a credit card? Some cc's have warranty built in. Mine doubles what the manufacturer offers.
Thanks for the link. I will try it tonight and post the results. Really hoping it works.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
I downloaded the newest firmware. 4.1.2 official rogers. Problem persists. Must be a hardware issue. Thing is what could cause this? Is it the screen...is it the gpu? I imagine if its gpu the phone is only good for parts as I imagine its part of the motherboard. Oh well...might be getting the s4 sooner then planned.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
felcom said:
I downloaded the newest firmware. 4.1.2 official rogers. Problem persists. Must be a hardware issue. Thing is what could cause this? Is it the screen...is it the gpu? I imagine if its gpu the phone is only good for parts as I imagine its part of the motherboard. Oh well...might be getting the s4 sooner then planned.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're down for a little test, you could try with a custom ROM.
Use the link I gave you and flash pre-rooted Rogers' ROM. From there, install TWRP (or cwm) using goomanager (from the Play Store) and flash a custom ROM as per their instructions (Don't forget the Gapps).
Before anything though, make a backup
Never know, might save you some time on that S4.
BWolf56 said:
If you're down for a little test, you could try with a custom ROM.
Use the link I gave you and flash pre-rooted Rogers' ROM. From there, install TWRP (or cwm) using goomanager (from the Play Store) and flash a custom ROM as per their instructions (Don't forget the Gapps).
Before anything though, make a backup
Never know, might save you some time on that S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I might try it. Dont think I have too much to lose at this point. I always try and keep my phones nice so that when I get a new one I can sell the old one for good money to help offset the cost. This really messes with that system as the phone isn't worth much now...just bought an extended battery too...was planning to keep it for at least another 6 months.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
So just a quick update. For no apparent reason the phone started working fine again. It now turns on and off just fine. I'm not going to mess around with it anymore. That's really bizzare. I'll give it a couple days and will report back if it continuous to work fine or if the problem comes back. Thanks for the input.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app

[Q] N7 shutting itself off at night

So my first N7 had dead pixels and when I returned it I had to open 3 others in store to find one that was perfect. Or seemingly perfect. Twice now I've woken up to find my N7 off. The first time it happened I thought maybe I turned it off but last night I know I left it on. I did some searching and found that I am not the only one with this issue, but I haven't found any recent threads about it or any known fixes. Now I'm still on 4.3 and really don't want to update to 4.4 but if this bug was addressed I'll update it. Anyone here have this issue, found a fix, or updated and had the issue disappear? I really don't want to exchange it yet again but I will if it's the only way to get one that doesn't do it. Any insight would be appreciated.
Sent from my Moto X
_MetalHead_ said:
So my first N7 had dead pixels and when I returned it I had to open 3 others in store to find one that was perfect. Or seemingly perfect. Twice now I've woken up to find my N7 off. The first time it happened I thought maybe I turned it off but last night I know I left it on. I did some searching and found that I am not the only one with this issue, but I haven't found any recent threads about it or any known fixes. Now I'm still on 4.3 and really don't want to update to 4.4 but if this bug was addressed I'll update it. Anyone here have this issue, found a fix, or updated and had the issue disappear? I really don't want to exchange it yet again but I will if it's the only way to get one that doesn't do it. Any insight would be appreciated.
Sent from my Moto X
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you want to update to 4.4.2? It might solve the problem.
Anyway, the only device I had that had random reboots was my Nokia Lumia 520 which I straight away replaced.
I would advise you to do it aswell incase 4.4.2 doesn't fixe it.
username4this said:
Why don't you want to update to 4.4.2? It might solve the problem.
Anyway, the only device I had that had random reboots was my Nokia Lumia 520 which I straight away replaced.
I would advise you to do it aswell incase 4.4.2 doesn't fixe it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like the way 4.4 looks. I am a big fan of the blue/holo theme of 4.3. I have 4.4 on my N5 and that's enough for me. 4.4 really doesn't bring much to the table (for me anyway) that would compel me to update.
My N7 isn't rebooting, it's turning off. Never had a device that did that before. I'll probably update just to see if it stops it, and plus I have some bad stuttering when watching embedded videos in chrome and from what I've read, 4.4 solves that too. I really don't want to have to exchange it again, and I'm sure the manager at Best Buy doesn't want me to either lol.
Sent from my Moto X
_MetalHead_ said:
I don't like the way 4.4 looks. I am a big fan of the blue/holo theme of 4.3. I have 4.4 on my N5 and that's enough for me. 4.4 really doesn't bring much to the table (for me anyway) that would compel me to update.
My N7 isn't rebooting, it's turning off. Never had a device that did that before. I'll probably update just to see if it stops it, and plus I have some bad stuttering when watching embedded videos in chrome and from what I've read, 4.4 solves that too. I really don't want to have to exchange it again, and I'm sure the manager at Best Buy doesn't want me to either lol.
Sent from my Moto X
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obvious question here but have you tried a factory reset?
username4this said:
Obvious question here but have you tried a factory reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to tomorrow if it does it again tonight. But the tablet is only a few days old and I already did a factory reset before I set it up initially.
Ok it just did it again right in front of my face. It didn't just go black in the middle of use, I picked it up to use it and before I could do anything it powered down, but did so as if I had deliberately done it. Meaning, the Power Off pop up was on the screen and it said "shutting off" the same way it does when you turn it off manually. That would lead me to believe it would be a software bug as opposed to a hardware one... am I correct in that assumption? Or can some hardware defect actually trigger the normal power down sequence?

[Q] Weird WiFi Issue (Wont Turn On)

Hello all,
Its been a while since I had an issue with my phone but this one is really bothering me. Last week for no reason at all I noticed my WiFi was turned off while at work. When I tried to use the drop down widget to turn it back on it would just stay gray for like 5-10 seconds then go back to the off position. So I went into settings and tried to turn it on the long way and got the same result. This was troubling to me because I had made no changes to my phone that could have effected this. So after doing some digging around online and not finding any answers I contacted Samsung tech support who was terribly uninformed about their product and offered very little help with my problem. They suggested I go into the application manager and reset the application preferences. I was skeptical because I had spent a considerable amount of time disabling all the bloatware that was not needed in the past but I did take the advice of tech support and to my surprise it did get wifi working again.. temporarily that is.
Today I did the OTA 4.4.2 Kit Kat upgrade in hopes that it would fix my issue and to my shock and surprise it did. Wifi worked flawlessly for a few hours but then all the sudden earlier today it just shut off again without notice. Now once again, it will not turn back on no matter what I try. Im thinking this could potentially be a hardware issue. If it is then why after the upgrade to 4.4.2 did it work so well for a few hours?
Any help would be much appreciated as I have chewed through nearly all of my monthly data allocation while trying to find a working fix.
Thanks in advance!
KingKash420 said:
Hello all,
Its been a while since I had an issue with my phone but this one is really bothering me. Last week for no reason at all I noticed my WiFi was turned off while at work. When I tried to use the drop down widget to turn it back on it would just stay gray for like 5-10 seconds then go back to the off position. So I went into settings and tried to turn it on the long way and got the same result. This was troubling to me because I had made no changes to my phone that could have effected this. So after doing some digging around online and not finding any answers I contacted Samsung tech support who was terribly uninformed about their product and offered very little help with my problem. They suggested I go into the application manager and reset the application preferences. I was skeptical because I had spent a considerable amount of time disabling all the bloatware that was not needed in the past but I did take the advice of tech support and to my surprise it did get wifi working again.. temporarily that is.
Today I did the OTA 4.4.2 Kit Kat upgrade in hopes that it would fix my issue and to my shock and surprise it did. Wifi worked flawlessly for a few hours but then all the sudden earlier today it just shut off again without notice. Now once again, it will not turn back on no matter what I try. Im thinking this could potentially be a hardware issue. If it is then why after the upgrade to 4.4.2 did it work so well for a few hours?
Any help would be much appreciated as I have chewed through nearly all of my monthly data allocation while trying to find a working fix.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem. I upgraded to the KK 4.4.2 and now my WiFi won't turn on! I'm getting the Security notice that "Your phone's security has blocked an action that is not permitted. No further action is required." So, I went to the phone security tab to see what my settings were and it is set to Normal and the only other choice is High. So, I don't want to change that setting!
Both of you guys try flashing Ktoonz newest KK kernel for tw.. If that won't work there's also something to try to fix it in the OP, or you could also try that first
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
serio22 said:
Both of you guys try flashing Ktoonz newest KK kernel for tw.. If that won't work there's also something to try to fix it in the OP, or you could also try that first
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if im wrong but your suggested fix would require root right?
I am running a stock unrooted rom
please help!
KingKash420 said:
Correct me if im wrong but your suggested fix would require root right?
I am running a stock unrooted rom
please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right.. But other than that, the only other thing I can think of is to Odin the 4.4.2 firmware and see if that would fix it, if not then its likely a hardware problem
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

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