[Q] Galaxy S III behaving erratically...malware?? - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III

Hey all!
I haven't had much to post about my Galaxy SIII (Sprint) before till recently.
Lately I have noticed that the screen locks up. Doesn't really seem to correlate with what I am doing, but it just freezes. Sometimes I get a black screen if I start an app and sometimes it is when I pull down the notifications screen. I have seen this described before but no real suggestions on how to fix my device from freezing several times a day.
Today, The phone icon in my lower tray keeps disappearing.
Also, the phone dialed itself (the last number I called) and froze so I couldn't hang up the call! I had to do a battery pull!
Not sure what is going on with my phone, but it is time to call in the experts.
Could it be that I have some sort of malware? Is there even malware for androids? Do any of the programs work to remove it??
Any suggestions would be really appreciated!
Thanks all
Mike

AVG from Google Play works very well, and it's free, and it doesn't run in the background if you set it up that way. https://play.google.com/store/apps/...e&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=google+play+avg
sent from somewhere

mikeinstlouis said:
Hey all!
I haven't had much to post about my Galaxy SIII (Sprint) before till recently.
Lately I have noticed that the screen locks up. Doesn't really seem to correlate with what I am doing, but it just freezes. Sometimes I get a black screen if I start an app and sometimes it is when I pull down the notifications screen. I have seen this described before but no real suggestions on how to fix my device from freezing several times a day.
Today, The phone icon in my lower tray keeps disappearing.
Also, the phone dialed itself (the last number I called) and froze so I couldn't hang up the call! I had to do a battery pull!
Not sure what is going on with my phone, but it is time to call in the experts.
Could it be that I have some sort of malware? Is there even malware for androids? Do any of the programs work to remove it??
Any suggestions would be really appreciated!
Thanks all
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you on a custom ROM, or rooted, do you have custom recovery if so which one? Can't really help you by what you posted. Unless you are downloading 3rd party apps that aren't from the play store its probably not malware. Here is a malware app to run though https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

GiantJay said:
Are you on a custom ROM, or rooted, do you have custom recovery if so which one? Can't really help you by what you posted. Unless you are downloading 3rd party apps that aren't from the play store its probably not malware. Here is a malware app to run though https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. +1 on this 100%. Google screens the majority of apps and they're constantly on the look out to make sure apps arent messing with your phone in a way that they shouldn't.
I've said this many times in many threads and I will say it again here.
The best anti-virus is an observant end-user. Just watch what apps you install and what permissions they ask for (for example a game app doesnt need access to your contacts) and you will be good.

So wait, I shouldn't install this file I found off of Google? It's filename is: "totally_not_a_virus.apk"
Sounds legit to me!
But yeah, to OP, it sounds like you might want to do a clean flash of your room and see if that helps.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Related

911! need help something wrong

k i read about an app called spare parts on here so i figured hey i'll try it out. i did saw what extra setting were there and decided i wasn't gonna use it didn't even change any settings.
after opening the app and then pressing home something wierd happened i saw a white screen with HTC in green in the center for about 3-5 seconds my backround with a loading pop-up and nothing else for about another 3-5 seconds. this is happening every time i press the home button or exit out of an app. it's getting infuriating, i'm also getting wicked bad lagg in sense and lot's of hang up's and force closes. also wicked bad battery life. i don't know what to do to fix it.
i have the OTA and rooted last night with unrevoked method, this morning is when i tried the app around 10 or 11 not sure last couple days is a blur.
can anyone help, how can i restore what i had previously, do i have to do a full wipe.
nobody...... anyone plz, it is cripling my evo
thorpe24 said:
k i read about an app called spare parts on here so i figured hey i'll try it out. i did saw what extra setting were there and decided i wasn't gonna use it didn't even change any settings.
after opening the app and then pressing home something wierd happened i saw a white screen with HTC in green in the center for about 3-5 seconds my backround with a loading pop-up and nothing else for about another 3-5 seconds. this is happening every time i press the home button or exit out of an app. it's getting infuriating, i'm also getting wicked bad lagg in sense and lot's of hang up's and force closes. also wicked bad battery life. i don't know what to do to fix it.
i have the OTA and rooted last night with unrevoked method, this morning is when i tried the app around 10 or 11 not sure last couple days is a blur.
can anyone help, how can i restore what i had previously, do i have to do a full wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
get used to it if you intend to use sense, the screen you speak of is sort of like the htc sense/rosie intro. If you dont like it you can go vanilla and use another launcher, like adw froyo,launcherpro, or even the extra launcher thats included....
Sounds like you enabled aggressive handling of apps. Can you get in there to turn it off?
jmxp69 said:
Sounds like you enabled aggressive handling of apps. Can you get in there to turn it off?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or just do a factory reset.
also, you are experiencing some isolated problems which leads me to beleive the issue is software related rather than hardware.I have experienced NOT ONE of the issues you speak of. Make sure you update prl. I can vouch for that one. My data was 90% broken till i did. Also try and wipe data, that would prolly fix everything as well.....FYI, i cannot gurantee the problem lies with your hardware OR software. Thats just my diagnosis. Good luck
Thats what it was the agressive handling of processes thanks alot guys feel like a fool.....
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
thorpe24 said:
Thats what it was the agressive handling of processes thanks alot guys feel like a fool.....
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh...I did that once on my hero. I know the feeling.
some versions of spare parts come with a launcher. the problem is that when you press the home button now, it's trying to goof with /system, which is forcing the reboot. even though you may be rooted, you don't have rw privileges in /system while messing with android.
you may be able to get away with accessing /system and erasing your goofy installed spare parts app. you'll have to do that through adb shell, and the custom recovery. do a search for 'remove apps', you should find it easily enough. i think the thread was moved from dev to general, or q and a.
anything that will call a write to /system (i.e. a rooted app that needs access to it to work right) has the potential to cause the phone to reboot. when i installed adfree, it had the same effect. trying to install hosts (which write to /system/etc) caused a reboot. i had to install hosts through recovery with a push after remount.
hope that helps
Hmm I installed autokiller and it appears to work doesn't mess with anything that is
I really dunno a way of testing that its actually working though if you where looking for a way to manage memory
I was using a task killer but read up on stuff and turned it off just keeping it in case I need it for something that wont close and the phone is running great and battery life keeps getting better and better.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
autokiller
People you need to be careful with autokillers!
Make sure that you are not closing down sense items.
Put anything that says htc or sense on ignore.
If not you are shutting down parts of sense. Then sense has to reboot. Witch is why you see the white screen with the htc logo in the middle.

[APP] Words with friends

Out now in the market, but has major issues right off the bat, notably no sound or notification settings. Sort of ridiculous to launch without those!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
The lack of notifications kind of sucks. Been playing it and aside from those, there doesn't seem to be any other bugs.
I do get a visual notification in the status bar but without audio, its a pain.
It keeps giving me a force close error. Anyone have any idea why? ive uninstalled plenty times, and even cleared the data. problem persists.
Email the dev
*I'm just sayin...
tonym2015 said:
It keeps giving me a force close error. Anyone have any idea why? ive uninstalled plenty times, and even cleared the data. problem persists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After using it for the past few days, I do get FC's on a fairly regular basis. Not so much that it makes it unusable, but definitely enough to make it annoying.
I've read some other threads and this is one of the 'bugs' that needs to be ironed out. Hopefully they have an update for these bugs soon.
It'll get updates,don't worry.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
The first time I installed it was plagued with all kinds of crazy stupid bugs and connection errors.
I uninstalled and reinstalled, and notifications etc. are working so far. Haven't used it a ton yet.
I can say that so far the UI etc. really isn't very good. and FULL PAGE ADS after every turn? extremely annoying. Considering how annoying they make it with ads, im surprised theres no paid version too...
I'm sure there will be updates. Question is when. Did take them a while to get the game out on Android.
I read on their website that a pay version without all the ads will be available in the future as well.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Update now available via the market...
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Update fixed many issues with closes and errors, and gave options menu for sounds and notifications.
My current issues are:
1) Even when phone is on silent, the game sounds still play
2) I'm seeing some pretty serious battery drain issues since installing the game, even though I have the notifications push at 30 minutes. I've used other scrabble-type games for a long time with constant push notifications and never had battery drain like this. I feel like the crazy amount of ads really wastes lots of battery.
The update has definitely brought on some improvements but there is still a ways to go.
I still do not get any audio notifications. The visual popup works in the status bar but nothing audible. (Yes sounds are checked in settings and volume on device, both ringer and media is up)
I'm not getting as many FC's as I was before, but that doesn't say much as they were all too common at launch.
I have also noticed the battery drain. Not sure what exactly is causing it. Over the last three days my game play has been about the same. Day 1 drain was very bad. Day 2, it was normal. Day 3, very bad again. We will see what today brings...
maybe i'm missing something. I can't get this thing to stay open at ALL. it always FC's on me before I can even do anything. I've tried on both CM6 and CM7.
Any ideas? I've emailed the devs twice.
btate0121 said:
maybe i'm missing something. I can't get this thing to stay open at ALL. it always FC's on me before I can even do anything. I've tried on both CM6 and CM7.
Any ideas? I've emailed the devs twice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like a mixed bag for everyone. I'm sure they've gotten 10's of thousands of e-mails. Gonna be a while before its stable gotta just wait it out.
gbarayah said:
The update has definitely brought on some improvements but there is still a ways to go.
I still do not get any audio notifications. The visual popup works in the status bar but nothing audible. (Yes sounds are checked in settings and volume on device, both ringer and media is up)
I'm not getting as many FC's as I was before, but that doesn't say much as they were all too common at launch.
I have also noticed the battery drain. Not sure what exactly is causing it. Over the last three days my game play has been about the same. Day 1 drain was very bad. Day 2, it was normal. Day 3, very bad again. We will see what today brings...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can get audio notifications when it pops into the status bar, only it doesn't seem to be effected by the sound status of my phone, so I just turned it off for now.
I have also noticed battery drain. I've been making maybe 20-30 plays per day maximum over a few games and my battery is just tanking. Words with Friends shows up in my battery status chart as 3%-5% of battery (which in itself is bad that its actually a quantifiable amount of battery drain), but I know its gotta be draining more, even with notifications on a 30min timer. I've been using WordSmith (very similar) for a few weeks now with push notifications and way more plays with no effect on my battery life so this is a Words with Friends issue.
I should also note that the last few times I've opened the app, something regarding the banner ad at the bottom of the page crashes, and blankets the whole screen with an HTML error. Sometimes it disappears and the ad blanks out, but other times I can't do anything about it. I don't think this is related to running the adFree Android app, but who knows with the level this app is running right now.
martonikaj;11470
I should also note that the last few times I've opened the app said:
Happens to me too... tried uninstalling both adfree an wwf just to see if a fresh install of juat wwf would work but no luck.. same thing started happening with my tmz and ehow apps too so it may not be wwf's fault
*I'm just sayin...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ctraywick1 said:
Happens to me too... tried uninstalling both adfree an wwf just to see if a fresh install of juat wwf would work but no luck.. same thing started happening with my tmz and ehow apps too so it may not be wwf's fault
*I'm just sayin...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you think it has something to do with adFree? I'm not sure about that as it works sometimes and not others, and it used to work fine before the update and now it doesn't. Cuz sometimes WWF will load just fine with a black bar at the bottom (per usual when u have adFree installed) and I can use it fine. But i'd say about 2/3 the time I get the full-screen HTML ad error. I haven't seen this happen in any other app ever and I've had adFree for several months now. Really weird.
Decided to just uninstall. Really not worth the hassle.
Noticed instantly after uninstall my battery stopped draining. Hope they fix the issues.
ctraywick1 said:
Happens to me too... tried uninstalling both adfree an wwf just to see if a fresh install of juat wwf would work but no luck.. same thing started happening with my tmz and ehow apps too so it may not be wwf's fault
*I'm just sayin...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem. What I did to fix it was to go into AdFree, and hit the "Revert" button, and that seemed to fix the weird HTML errors. Hope this helps!
Adfree was causing issues for me to, I had to revert my host file and reboot for it to work again.
Is it just me or is does this app rape the battery 8/
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
that's lame! I'm noticing more and more apps using the same kind of ads that wwf uses, so I hope AdFree gets an update .. =/ i hate having ads
theebest said:
Is it just me or is does this app rape the battery 8/
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely does rape battery. Main reason I uninstalled.

[Q] Screen not Turning off

Recently on a few roms I've seen my phone wake itself. Not entirely sure how.. And not to mention, it does this when I'm sleeping. So basically my phone will die within hours as my phone stays on and the screen burns in
Unfortunately I have a 30 second time out and it does not shut off my screen. It stays on entirely.
I need help to fix this issue, I have not recently installed anything I normally don't install things and haven't flashed any kernel or mod that should affect it. I did flash a Beats mod by rocko but I highly doubt that is causing the issue.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
withbloodskies said:
Recently on a few roms I've seen my phone wake itself. Not entirely sure how.. And not to mention, it does this when I'm sleeping. So basically my phone will die within hours as my phone stays on and the screen burns in
Unfortunately I have a 30 second time out and it does not shut off my screen. It stays on entirely.
I need help to fix this issue, I have not recently installed anything I normally don't install things and haven't flashed any kernel or mod that should affect it. I did flash a Beats mod by rocko but I highly doubt that is causing the issue.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like some app is waking it up and then holding a wake lock. You will have to experiment and uninstall apps to see which app is doing it. Do you remember installing a certain app right before it starts doing it. More than likley it will be one of the apps on the running menu under manage applicarions.
cmlusco said:
It sounds like some app is waking it up and then holding a wake lock. You will have to experiment and uninstall apps to see which app is doing it. Do you remember installing a certain app right before it starts doing it. More than likley it will be one of the apps on the running menu under manage applicarions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly this, apparently Doubletwist was the culprit. Shame too.. its never done that to me before, I like using my phone as a media server to use on my xbox/surround sound system
Thanks though, appreciate it.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
I use better battery stats to find wakelocks. Sounds like yours was any easy find but some can be really sneaky.
I know Songbird has a ton of addons, maybe give it a look and see if it can do what doubletwist does.
In a related note....my screen timeout wouldn't work one day. No matter what I set it to, the phone would never timeout/display-off automatically. I just ran 'Fix Permissions' and issue fixed itself.
I'll have to try it, songbird is sick. I am in love with that audio player.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks.
cmlusco said:
It sounds like some app is waking it up and then holding a wake lock. You will have to experiment and uninstall apps to see which app is doing it. Do you remember installing a certain app right before it starts doing it. More than likley it will be one of the apps on the running menu under manage applicarions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Precisely, in my case it was skype keeping my phone awake.
withbloodskies said:
Recently on a few roms I've seen my phone wake itself. Not entirely sure how.. And not to mention, it does this when I'm sleeping. So basically my phone will die within hours as my phone stays on and the screen burns in
Unfortunately I have a 30 second time out and it does not shut off my screen. It stays on entirely.
I need help to fix this issue, I have not recently installed anything I normally don't install things and haven't flashed any kernel or mod that should affect it. I did flash a Beats mod by rocko but I highly doubt that is causing the issue.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You probably have an issue with Screen Wakelock(a.k.a FULL_WAKE_LOCK) , which is used by third-party apps to control the screen.
There is an app which is specially developed for solving "wakelock" issues, It is called "Wakelock detector" freely available at GooglePlay.
Or you can just type "Wakelock" at GooglePlay
Here is XDA thread; Xda Wakelock detector
Perhaps this can help as well.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1878828
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
Wow. Digging up an old post and the op has switched phones.
This information could still be useful to someone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Nexus randomly reboots, stock 4.2.. what gives?

This is driving me insane. I'm running stock 4.2, and my phone keeps randomly rebooting in my pocket. I've never used a different ROM, only rooted. Only thing I could say is that I tried to use SuperUser to keep my root after the OTA upgrade, and it did not keep it successfully (is that actually possible yet, btw? I know the GNex Toolkit doesn't seem to support it).
No ideas here. I know I can reset, and I probably will at this point, but.. any causes?
I had the same problem and I find out that hd widget app is making my phone to reboot. After I uninstalled the app I don't have the rebooting problems. If you have the same app try to uninstall it and see if the revolting stops.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
darko.baruh said:
I had the same problem and I find out that hd widget app is making my phone to reboot. After I uninstalled the app I don't have the rebooting problems. If you have the same app try to uninstall it and see if the revolting stops.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have that app, and the thought crossed my mind - I was wracking my brain to remember whether or not the rebooting began before or after that install a few days ago.. I will uninstall it and see what happens. Thank you!
Shoot, because I hate the stock lockscreen clock on 4.2
EDIT: Went to uninstall, and my phone soft-rebooted. Guess that answers that..
wizard7926 said:
I do have that app, and the thought crossed my mind - I was wracking my brain to remember whether or not the rebooting began before or after that install a few days ago.. I will uninstall it and see what happens. Thank you!
Shoot, because I hate the stock lockscreen clock on 4.2
EDIT: Went to uninstall, and my phone soft-rebooted. Guess that answers that..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure the reboots are location service related and a bug in 4.2. Hard for me to tell, because I am on AOSP which is a bit different in that regard.
adrynalyne said:
Pretty sure the reboots are location service related and a bug in 4.2. Hard for me to tell, because I am on AOSP which is a bit different in that regard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I hear. Which I don't get because I don't use the weather widget, only the clock (unless you're talking time zones or something). Or unless you mean I don't have GPS enabled and it's trying to use it?
I also heard it's from a bug with Google on the 3rd party lockscreen widgets in general.

[Q] Galaxy Note 2 Restarting itself?

I've had my Note 2 for a couple weeks and all the sudden it restarts itself sometimes everytime I put it down. It's annoying. What could be the problem to this?
AndeeTran said:
I've had my Note 2 for a couple weeks and all the sudden it restarts itself sometimes everytime I put it down. It's annoying. What could be the problem to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is just a theory… but give it a shot.
Every time you put it down, sounds like something has come lose inside of it. Has it been dropped at all since you bought it?
Either way, try this, for starters:
I would suspect that your battery might be a little loose. Fold a small little shred of paper up, and wedge it between the “butt end” of the battery (this opposite side of where the connector pins are) and the device. This will effectively push the battery into the pins a little more, and possible keep it from coming loose.
Also, put a small folded piece of paper directly between the battery and the back cover of the device.
The idea here is to keep the battery from moving around. This will rule out the possibility of it coming loose, and resetting.
Also, take your micro SD card out if you have one.
Are you using any custom ROMs or kernels?
Good luck, I’ll keep an eye on this thread.
Well not every time, sometimes, sometimes when I lock the phone it restarts. Yes I have dropped it couple times, and no I'm not rooTed or running custom roms or kernels. It seems it restarts by itself when My phone automatically updates the apps cause when it turns back on it shows a while bunch of notifications of my apps behind updated
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
AndeeTran said:
Well not every time, sometimes, sometimes when I lock the phone it restarts. Yes I have dropped it couple times, and no I'm not rooTed or running custom roms or kernels. It seems it restarts by itself when My phone automatically updates the apps cause when it turns back on it shows a while bunch of notifications of my apps behind updated
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
K so for now turn off automatic updating and see if the problem goes away.
Also, why are you not rooted? I would recommend doing this. There is no reason not to be at least rooted.
Also, go into your settings>application manager and wipe data on the following system apps...
Google play store
Google play services
Downloads
Then reboot the device.
Admiral Sir Manley Power said:
K so for now turn off automatic updating and see if the problem goes away.
Also, why are you not rooted? I would recommend doing this. There is no reason not to be at least rooted.
Also, go into your settings>application manager and wipe data on the following system apps...
Google play store
Google play services
Downloads
Then reboot the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help! I'll do all of the things you told me right now!
Well I don't want to be rooted, until the new Jelly Bean comes out. I get some glitches on my phone, like I don't get notifcations from the XDA app anymore and other apps like I wanted them too.

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