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I have been using the Energy Leo Rom’s since September updating whenever I new rom is released, everything has always been fine with them and I absolutely love them. Me and my fiancée both use them, but lately my phone has been restarting over and over and will not boot, it gets to you boot up splash screen and restarts. When this began to happen I wasn’t even using my phone it was recharging as I was updating my computer to Windows 7, anyway I am able to revert back to T-mo’s stock rom and everything works, but whenever I go back to any none stock rom, even earlier ones it keeps doing the reboot thing, our second TP2 is fine. I have done research and haven’t found much I have ran Mtty at least a dozen times, even upgraded my radio, and nothing works but the stock rom, I have cleared storage both the software route, and the power, talk and end button route. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I just can’t handle this stock rom.
Shaolinstyle said:
I have been using the Energy Leo Rom’s since September updating whenever I new rom is released, everything has always been fine with them and I absolutely love them. Me and my fiancée both use them, but lately my phone has been restarting over and over and will not boot, it gets to you boot up splash screen and restarts. When this began to happen I wasn’t even using my phone it was recharging as I was updating my computer to Windows 7, anyway I am able to revert back to T-mo’s stock rom and everything works, but whenever I go back to any none stock rom, even earlier ones it keeps doing the reboot thing, our second TP2 is fine. I have done research and haven’t found much I have ran Mtty at least a dozen times, even upgraded my radio, and nothing works but the stock rom, I have cleared storage both the software route, and the power, talk and end button route. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I just can’t handle this stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you able to re-do the Hard spl?
Yes, I have redone it and nothing changed, it goes through the initial TP2 screen showing the radio and other info in red on the bottom, but as soon as it goes to set up the rom is when it restarts. Whats weird is it is never at the exact same time, sometimes will be a second, other up to five seconds.
Shaolinstyle said:
Yes, I have redone it and nothing changed, it goes through the initial TP2 screen showing the radio and other info in red on the bottom, but as soon as it goes to set up the rom is when it restarts. Whats weird is it is never at the exact same time, sometimes will be a second, other up to five seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this sounds obvious and dont take it the wrong way but are you sure that the rom you are trying to flash as been unzipped properly and is named correctly. Try re-downloading a fresh rom and unzip it and rename it Rhodimg.nbh and put it on the root of your Sd card and try flashing it from the card. Also is the battery charged?
I am certain that the roms that I have been using are unzipped and named properly, there was actually a flahed rom on this phone that was workig fine until it started resetting with the rom on it, I wasn't updating or anything when it started to act up. Plus I use the same roms on a second TP2 which are working fine. I did try now to flash from my SD card, Hard SPL said it installed correctly but when I rebooted phone its doing the restart thing over and over still. Battery has been at 100% or close to for all flashes.
ever since i got the Bell S3 i have always had this problem. Phone is fine but sometime the screen will turn on randomly and will be frozen for a couple of minutes. Its rare that it happens and its quite random but it looks like touchwiz crashes and it needs a minute or so to bring it back, the phone itself does not restart it like its just touchwiz.
The screen become totally unresponsive when this happens and i can't seem to figure out what could be causing it, don't have Any weird startup apps running, i have seen it happen with just the music player open.
The other thing is CWM I have been using Team Epic's recovery for a while now and been trying to upgrade to official CWM but ROM Manager does not see my device since its the M series and was able to flash via Odin but ROM manager still prompts that it needs a official CWM recovery.
Also any fix on the date stamp, minor issue and was the reason i held off upgrading to official CWM this long.
Help! My phone is freezing / locking up and rebooting several times a day now!
I successfully did the stock AT&T Jellybean update this week when it became available via Kies.
I had no issues with the initial upgrade…it seemed to go smooth.
After a day…or a few hours….I can’t remember…I did start noticing a few issues with Touch Wiz closing or freezing and some other apps misbehaving. I can’t even remember what exactly the issues were.
I was also having some other quirky issues with the phone on stock ICS before the JB update…so I have been meaning to do a factory reset and reinstall everything.
So with the phone being even more flakey with JB I went ahead and did a factory reset with my new JB setup.
After a few hours setting up the phone with all my apps, settings, etc I noticed two issues. Swiftkey would not remain selected as my default keyboard and AT&T Voicemail viewer would not retain any of my account settings after a reboot.
After some Googling I learned that this is a know issue with JB 4.1.1 for many apps…they don’t quite install properly and something happens during shutdown that causes the settings to be lost. The only work around seemed to be:
Root Phone
Install apps
Backup with Titanium or other backup program
Uninstall apps
Restore apps – then they somehow install properly and work
I did this…first time rooting the phone….and the root and work around worked perfectly first time.
But after continuing to install apps and tweak my phone the real problems have now begun.
The phone is completely freezing at random times…in any app or in the TW launcher. It seems to just sit there frozen until I hold down the power key long enough to force a reboot or take out the battery.
There are no force closes or other error messages and I have found no other pattern to the freezes.
So now the phone is almost totally useless. It may work for a few hours…or just a few minutes before locking up. Worse…I have no way to know this has happened if the phone is in my pocket.
I did another full factory reset using the Recovery Mode and reinstalled everything again and am having the same issues.
I fear the root somehow corrupted my phone or one of my apps is totally incompatible with JB but I have to many (~70) it will be very hard to tell which one.
The other issue I am having is the battery is draining in just 4-5 hours even with light use.
Coincidentally….4G LTE was just turned on in my area this week so that would be a factor in both the battery drain and maybe even the lockups. I have a Microcell at home…wondering if 4G LTE and my Microcell are not behaving.
There are just too many variables with a new ROM (JB), fresh rooting of the phone plus recovery app installed, plus 70+ apps, plus new 4G LTE, plus my Microcell.
I don’t know what to try next to get the phone stable or to get the battery use reasonable.
Please post any and all suggestions….
One thing I’d like to clear up or eliminate is the root issue…is there any way that is the cause of my phone’s current problems?
What a mess of a week! Instead of the total awesomeness of JB, 4G LTE, and the fresh experience of using a rooted phone...all happening for me in the same week...I get a total headache and useless phone. Sure hope I can dig my way out of this.
Thanks for reading my long post!
I'd say to flash stock rooted official jellybean from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 i'd then do a Hard Factory reset *2767*3855# then you can install apps that are compatible with jb but not the app data and see how the phone is. also, for signal issues, try using a different modem located herehttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831898
wujiku said:
I'd say to flash stock rooted official jellybean from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 i'd then do a Hard Factory reset *2767*3855# then you can install apps that are compatible with jb but not the app data and see how the phone is. also, for signal issues, try using a different modem located herehttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831898
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the ideas....had not heard of the "Hard Factory reset *2767*3855#"....how is that different from a factory restet initiated from winthing Android or from the recovery program?
Also - is there any quick / easy way to know which of my apps are supposed to be compatible with JB?
Sure will be a pain to reconfigure everything again.
Should I be safe installing my apps via Titanium backup restores? (as long as I don't restore data)
Also - what about restoring my IMs and call logs from Kies? Is that safe?
Boomer6345 said:
Thanks for the ideas....had not heard of the "Hard Factory reset *2767*3855#"....how is that different from a factory restet initiated from winthing Android or from the recovery program?
Also - is there any quick / easy way to know which of my apps are supposed to be compatible with JB?
Sure will be a pain to reconfigure everything again.
Should I be safe installing my apps via Titanium backup restores? (as long as I don't restore data)
Also - what about restoring my IMs and call logs from Kies? Is that safe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you happen to have juice defender? I had the same problem, and noticed it only happened when I was on battery. I uninstalled that and it stopped rebooting.
stbtigerr said:
Do you happen to have juice defender? I had the same problem, and noticed it only happened when I was on battery. I uninstalled that and it stopped rebooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope....juice defender...
And my phone doesn't really seem to be rebooting....just freezing up. I have to force it to reboot by holding down the power button for 10 seconds.
About to try a fresh factory ROM install (pre-rooted) and a hard factory reset.
Then I'll add my apps back very slowly to see....
What a pain in the you know what!
wujiku said:
I'd say to flash stock rooted official jellybean from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 i'd then do a Hard Factory reset *2767*3855# then you can install apps that are compatible with jb but not the app data and see how the phone is. also, for signal issues, try using a different modem located herehttp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831898
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well...I did all that...and no luck. Still freezing up.
I could not actually do the exact *2767*3855# reset...the phone would not respond to that command. So I used CWM to format the SDCard and also did a factory reset there.
Reinstalled my apps carefully and without data restore...boom....phone is locking up all the time again after maybe 12 hours of good operation.
Either this build of JB is not working on my phone or it somehow got fubar'ed during that first upgrade.
My plan now is to restore to factory ICS un-rooted....reset the flash counter if possible....and return the phone under warranty if possible.
Any recommendations for this?
Got replacement phone - still freezing up!
Boomer6345 said:
Well...I did all that...and no luck. Still freezing up.
I could not actually do the exact *2767*3855# reset...the phone would not respond to that command. So I used CWM to format the SDCard and also did a factory reset there.
Reinstalled my apps carefully and without data restore...boom....phone is locking up all the time again after maybe 12 hours of good operation.
Either this build of JB is not working on my phone or it somehow got fubar'ed during that first upgrade.
My plan now is to restore to factory ICS un-rooted....reset the flash counter if possible....and return the phone under warranty if possible.
Any recommendations for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HELP!!!! Please!!!!!
I did a warranty RMA and got a new (refurbed) phone from AT&T. I set it up with stock ICS and it seemed to work fine. I installed CWM without rooting via ODIN and did a Nandroid backup. I then used CWM to load TWRP recovery and did a backup with that.
Then I loaded the stock JB room with root. Tweaked the phone and app settings a little and things seemed to be fine for 1/2 a day. I reinstalled TWRP since the ROM flash replaced it with stock recovery. Things still seemed fine.
So...with JB rooted and seeming to work fine....I booted into Recovery (TWRP) and did a fresh Nandroid backup since the phone was finally all configured and working (apparently).
Well after rebooting from the backup...the phone is acting all crazy again. It seemed to crash my home WiFi network....had to reboot my router. Now the phone freezes or locks up any time I disable WiFi or change WiFi settings.
I am just cursed with the GS3!
Two separate phones with stock AT&T JB with root...one running CWM Touch and the new one running TWRP and both lock up or freeze all the time.
Should I give up and try custom ROMs? Give up on rooting?
I want TouchWiz for SBeam and some of the Samsung apps that I like better than stock...would rather just stay stock with Root.
What can I do to get this phone stabilized with root and JB???
Just did another test...
If I leave my house and walk a couple hundred yards away...as soon as the phone finally loses the WiFi signal and disconnects it locks up.
Seems like all my issues (with first phone maybe too) are tied to WiFi.
Is no one else having WiFi issues with JB? Could it be tied to rooting somehow? For instance...maybe the stock rooted ROM has different modem or WiFi drivers...or different kernel than the actual stock JB ROM I first used via Kies update?
Boomer6345 said:
Just did another test...
If I leave my house and walk a couple hundred yards away...as soon as the phone finally loses the WiFi signal and disconnects it locks up.
Seems like all my issues (with first phone maybe too) are tied to WiFi.
Is no one else having WiFi issues with JB? Could it be tied to rooting somehow? For instance...maybe the stock rooted ROM has different modem or WiFi drivers...or different kernel than the actual stock JB ROM I first used via Kies update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the KIES JB Update, & rooted. I am not experiencing any of the issues your having. It might be helpful if you could post a list of apps & widgets that you have installed, If you have frozen or removed stock files.
It sounds like you may be experiencing some app conflict issues.
MasterDecker said:
I've got the KIES JB Update, & rooted. I am not experiencing any of the issues your having. It might be helpful if you could post a list of apps & widgets that you have installed, If you have frozen or removed stock files.
It sounds like you may be experiencing some app conflict issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not frozen any apps or done anything I would consider advanced or risky....
I tried running with what I thought would be just "safe" apps....no luck. I've got most all of my apps installed and did a Titanium Backup so here is a dump of all the user apps backed up:
Code:
cgeo.geocaching-20121219-204517.tar.gz
com.amazon.kindle-20121219-204309.tar.gz
com.amazon.mp3-20121219-204326.tar.gz
com.amazon.mShop.android-20121219-204301.tar.gz
com.anddoes.launcher-20121219-205011.tar.gz
com.anddoes.launcher.pro-20121219-205016.tar.gz
com.android.chrome-20121219-204524.tar.gz
com.ap.advml-20121219-204732.tar.gz
com.apksoftware.compass-20121219-204539.tar.gz
com.ArtInGames.AirAttackHD-20121219-204225.tar.gz
com.asksven.betterbatterystats-20121219-204516.tar.gz
com.att.android.uverse-20121219-204944.tar.gz
com.att.mobile.android.vvm-20121219-204953.tar.gz
com.att.um.androidvmv-20121219-204448.tar.gz
com.aws.android-20121219-204954.tar.gz
com.careerbuilder.SugarDrone-20121219-204718.tar.gz
com.devuni.flashlight-20121219-204654.tar.gz
com.dominospizza-20121219-204542.tar.gz
com.duduapps.craigslistfree-20121219-204542.tar.gz
com.ea.tetrisfree_na-20121219-204932.tar.gz
com.ebay.mobile-20121219-204552.tar.gz
com.espn.score_center-20121219-204826.tar.gz
com.evernote-20121219-204602.tar.gz
com.facebook.katana-20121219-204621.tar.gz
com.gamestar.pianoperfect-20121219-204756.tar.gz
com.google.android.stardroid-20121219-204659.tar.gz
com.greatclips.android-20121219-204659.tar.gz
com.imangi.templerun-20121219-204915.tar.gz
com.imdb.mobile-20121219-204702.tar.gz
com.instagram.android-20121219-204708.tar.gz
com.jawbone.companion-20121219-204719.tar.gz
com.joeykrim.rootcheck-20121219-204826.tar.gz
com.july.cbssports.activity-20121219-204649.tar.gz
com.kb.Carrom3D-20121219-204804.tar.gz
com.keramidas.TitaniumBackupPro-20121219-205010.tar.gz
com.lastpass.lpandroid-20121219-204723.tar.gz
com.maxmpz.audioplayer-20121219-204808.tar.gz
com.maxmpz.audioplayer.unlock-20121219-204825.tar.gz
com.meijer.rx.android-20121219-204730.tar.gz
com.melodis.midomiMusicIdentifier.freemium-20121219-204849.tar.gz
com.metago.astro-20121219-204444.tar.gz
com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad-20121219-204733.tar.gz
com.netflix.mediaclient-20121219-204744.tar.gz
com.outfit7.talkingtom-20121219-204911.tar.gz
com.pandora.android-20121219-204752.tar.gz
com.photox.touchwhiz-20121219-204212.tar.gz
com.q2e.unitedfcu5017android.ufcu.uwnmobile-20121219-204953.tar.gz
com.rovio.angrybirds-20121219-204333.tar.gz
com.rovio.angrybirdsspace.ads-20121219-204352.tar.gz
com.rovio.angrybirdsstarwarshd.premium.iap-20121219-204414.tar.gz
com.rovio.BadPiggiesHD-20121219-204449.tar.gz
com.s0up.goomanager-20121219-205017.tar.gz
com.shazam.android-20121219-204827.tar.gz
com.shotzoom.golfshot-20121219-204655.tar.gz
com.skype.raider-20121219-204832.tar.gz
com.smugmug.android-20121219-204847.tar.gz
com.spotify.mobile.android.ui-20121219-204855.tar.gz
com.thewolverine.app-20121219-204944.tar.gz
com.touchtype.swiftkey-20121219-204859.tar.gz
com.trimble.allsportle-20121219-204258.tar.gz
com.vp.alarmClockPlusDock-20121219-204255.tar.gz
com.weather.Weather-20121219-204938.tar.gz
com.yelp.android-20121219-204959.tar.gz
com.yum.pizzahut-20121219-204759.tar.gz
de.heimlich.gut.solitaire.hd-20121219-204847.tar.gz
eu.chainfire.triangleaway-20121219-204224.tar.gz
jackpal.androidterm-20121219-204224.tar.gz
la.droid.qr-20121219-204813.tar.gz
net.androgames.level-20121219-204515.tar.gz
net.zedge.android-20121219-205008.tar.gz
nl.rogro.GScriptLite-20121219-204702.tar.gz
org.wikipedia-20121219-204958.tar.gz
Having the exact same problems as you. Please help. I'm also considering giving the phone back at Best Buy and having them give me a new one with ICS and leaving ICS on there. My steps are very simple. I had the stock ICS ROM from AT&T and I used Kies to upgrade to stock JB. That's it, nothing else, no rooting, nothing.
I am seeing exactly the same behavior, when wifi switches to 4G or even sometimes when bluetooth comes on, etc I will see the lockup and hang. Have to hold down power button to restart. But I don't think this is completely the issue, because even if I turn off wifi, bluetooth and only leave on 4G, then I still will see random reboots, but a lot lot less frequent. Also, I have always had 4G and I see the battery only lasting 4-6 hrs, so I think this is normal with 4G. I saw this even with ICS.
I have not done any factory reset or anything - I would assume if you use the Kies s/w to update and it leaves your files and apps on there, then it should just work. But I will try the factory reset once I backup my contacts, etc.
I'm a little shocked that people are having this problem with a newly released ROM.
abhansali said:
Having the exact same problems as you. Please help. I'm also considering giving the phone back at Best Buy and having them give me a new one with ICS and leaving ICS on there. My steps are very simple. I had the stock ICS ROM from AT&T and I used Kies to upgrade to stock JB. That's it, nothing else, no rooting, nothing.
I am seeing exactly the same behavior, when wifi switches to 4G or even sometimes when bluetooth comes on, etc I will see the lockup and hang. Have to hold down power button to restart. But I don't think this is completely the issue, because even if I turn off wifi, bluetooth and only leave on 4G, then I still will see random reboots, but a lot lot less frequent. Also, I have always had 4G and I see the battery only lasting 4-6 hrs, so I think this is normal with 4G. I saw this even with ICS.
I have not done any factory reset or anything - I would assume if you use the Kies s/w to update and it leaves your files and apps on there, then it should just work. But I will try the factory reset once I backup my contacts, etc.
I'm a little shocked that people are having this problem with a newly released ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After several re-flashes to stock JB with root and still more freezing with WiFi, etc....I gave up and loaded a custom ROM this morning.
I'm running BlackJelly...and after about 8 hours it seems be be running great so far. It is TW JB-based...and having very few issues with it. Battery is poor but it takes a few days of charging and use I guess to get the battery / phone / ROM calibrated. AT&T Visual Voicemail is not working and the phone shows H instead of 4G LTE...but I'm sure I can fix those issues by searching through the hundreds of thread pages on that ROM is this forum.
Give it a try before you switch to ICS or trade in the phone. You can always flash back to stock un-rooted and use Triangle Away to reset flash counter.
Good luck!
Still stuck with crashing phone!
Boomer6345 said:
After several re-flashes to stock JB with root and still more freezing with WiFi, etc....I gave up and loaded a custom ROM this morning.
I'm running BlackJelly...and after about 8 hours it seems be be running great so far. It is TW JB-based...and having very few issues with it. Battery is poor but it takes a few days of charging and use I guess to get the battery / phone / ROM calibrated. AT&T Visual Voicemail is not working and the phone shows H instead of 4G LTE...but I'm sure I can fix those issues by searching through the hundreds of thread pages on that ROM is this forum.
Give it a try before you switch to ICS or trade in the phone. You can always flash back to stock un-rooted and use Triangle Away to reset flash counter.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well...after over a week of trying it out....BlackJelly did not help me. Still had freezes / lock-ups.
I can't tell if the phone is re-booting itself or just re-launching the Launcher (I us Nova but tried stock and Apex too). The phone appears to re-boot on it's own but the up-time under status would not reset...making it seem like not a re-boot but a launcher reload or something. Pretty much same issues as with stock JB.
So I gave up and tried CM10.1 nightlies....and wow....crashing all the time now. Whereas stock JB and BlackJelly seemed to crash when I left my home or left any WiFi network or even just when I disabled WiFi while connected....CM10.1 crashes all the time while at home seemingly at random. I can get 5 hours of great use...then have it crash 5 times in an hour. Seems to crash a lot in the settings menus.
This is with my second (replacement) phone. I am just cursed!
How do I effectively use a LogCat app or something to find out what apps or services or whatever are crashing my phone? Help!
Read through this whole thread and no where did you ever mention clearing your cache. Clear your system cache/davlik cache and reboot.
cjranucci said:
Read through this whole thread and no where did you ever mention clearing your cache. Clear your system cache/davlik cache and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry...should have mentioned that. I've cleared the system and davlik cache many times...before and after flashing. I've done full system wipes / resets, formatted my SD card...everything I can think of.
I either have a rouge app that I seem to install right away after clean flashes....or a rouge Wifi router in my house that messes up my phone even when I leave and use other networks...or a rouge ATT&T microcell that does the same....or a rogue LTE area in West Michigan....
Or a second bad phone sent from AT&T. But no form of JB seems to work for me no matter what. Guess I could run a clean install with no apps for several days...and then add in an app a day for the next 2+ months until I find the bad app...if that is even the case.
So bummed with this mess!
My phone freeze after rotation on landscape only with JB. all kind roms of JB stock, cyanogen,, aokp.
makamobile said:
My phone freeze after rotation on landscape only with JB. all kind roms of JB stock, cyanogen,, aokp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting....that might be what I was experiencing....but I never thought that was it....did not notice that cause/effect.
I gave up and went back to stock / rooted ICS / TW...version LH9. Loaded it yesterday and have had 24 hours of great use...no issues.
I miss JB and Google Now...but at least my phone works!
I'm not sure for stock JB but on other ROMs, you could try changing your governor and scheduler.
BWolf56 said:
I'm not sure for stock JB but on other ROMs, you could try changing your governor and scheduler.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When on CM10.1 I tried bumping the minimum CPU speed to 484 and 5xx (can't remember the actual numbers)....and the maximum CPU speed to to 14xx and 13xx (again, can't remember)....and this did not help.
Not sure if that is what you meant tho.
Anyway...I gave up and went back to rooted stock ICS (LH9) and the phone is working great. I've given up on JB for now. I will wait for a new major JB release from Samsung before I try again.
copy paste from gs3 verizon forum
Q: The phone keeps freezing when I go into landscape mode.
A: This has been covered many times in the thread, but to reiterate: If you are using the AOSP lockscreen you must disable "Ripple Effect" in Settings -> Lock Screen -> Lock Screen Options
Short version:
Use CWM or TWRP to (1) format sdcard, (2) erase dalvik cache, (3) erase cache and (4) factory reset. This seems to resolve at least one source of random reboots. If installing a new ROM, do that first and then followed by the four steps, then boot into the new ROM. Step (1) may be the important one (in which case it might, in principle, be possible to solve the problem while saving userdata), but I don't know.
UPDATE: It was working fine and I had to spoil it all by installing MIUI, just for kicks. Now, the old problem is back and the solution above doesn't seem to work. Looks like this is not a completely reliable solution...
* * * * *
Long version:
My wife's GNex was in a very bad way. It is entirely stable in Android 4.0.2. But if either upgraded or flashed to anything else, will randomly reboot. Actually, it's not even that random--it will reboot on its own within a couple of minutes of idle with the screen off. I tried all sorts of things--flashed different ROMs, radios, etc.--factory reset multiple times. Googling turns up lots of chatter about random reboots but little by way of viable solution. I figured that the problem may be hardware related. But all Samsung's servicing did for me is to return the unit to 4.0.2. At that time, 4.0.4 was just released and the local servicing centre hadn't even received their copy of the ROM (for yakjuwx). In the end, I 'solved' the problem by rooting and disabling the OTA update notification. (My wife wasn't bothered by the fact that she wasn't running the latest Android version. And the phone works fine in 4.0.2 otherwise.) Work and life caught up and I didn't think much of the matter after that.
That was about a year ago.
Recently, I migrated my wife to a brand new GNex, and took the opportunity to try my hand at solving the problem again. I flashed the latest 4.3 ROM, the latest stable CM10.1, Paranoidandroid, etc. But no matter what I tried, somehow, the phone is stable only with Android 4.0.2 (ICL53F). A chance find online mentioned something about data corruption on the sdcard as a source of problem, and that the usual factory reset doesn't actually reformat the sdcard (it only marks it as empty). Putting 1 and 1 together, I used CWM to do the things listed above (see "short version") and now, the phone is running stock 4.3 (JWR66V), stable CM10.1 and Paranoidandroid without random reboots so far. So now, I am a happy camper, though with one extra, fully functional white GNex.
Footnote: If you don't understand what I said in the short version, it's best you don't try doing anything yourself without first reading up on fastboot commands. This is one place to start. I am not responsible for anyone bricking their device fooling around.
Thanks for reading.
Update to my adventure.
Just about resigned to the fact that the phone is back to its old ways. The old tricks no longer work. What happened next?
1. Left off for more than a day (I gave up).
2. Installed AOSPA PARANOIDANDROID 3.96--using CWM, installed ROM, GApps, wipe dalvik, wipe cache, format sdcard.
Weirdly, the phone now seems fine. It hasn't rebooted by itself after 30+min in sleep. The old problem was that it will invariably reboot by itself in within 2 minutes from screen off so even if there are other problems, the old one is not there anyway.
Something in the steps above seems to have made a difference.
Still monitoring.
I troll here a lot for information, as I fix devices for friends for free, so if I'm posting up for help here it means I've run out of internet solutions and energy. Mods, I've spent a week searching and reading through threads, no single thread solved my issue which is why I'm posting up; please move the post if it better fits elsewhere.
The Phone: T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-M919
Current Firmware: M919UVUFNK2 Stock T-Mobile (M919UVUFNK2_M919TMBFNK2_M919UVUFNK2_HOME.tar.md5)
Current Bootloader: M919UVUFNK2 (also verified with getprop ro.bootloader)
Current Baseband: M919UVUFNK2
PDA: M919UVUFNK2
Hardware Revision: REV0.7
Current Android Version: 4.4.4
Current Kernel: 3.4.0-2437203 [email protected] #1 Mon Nov 17 19:20:38 KST 2014
Current Build: KTU84P.M919UVUFNK2
Device/Product: jfltetmo
CSC Code: TMB
Firmware CSC: (blank)
Active CSC: TMB
Product Code: SGH-M919XXXTMB
GPS Works: Yes, verified
BT Works: Yes, verified
WiFi Works: Yes, verified (all bands, secure and unsecure)
Sound Works: Randomly, causes issues. When it does work it is crystal clear
Network Radio Works: Yes, verified
Battery: 2 new batteries, one OEM and one Rav
IMEI/ESN: Free and clear, verified to be a TMO device by TMO
Error Messages Seen (if any): "Process system isn't responding"
Odin Versions Used: All 3.x up through 3.10.6
Alternate ROM Tries: Candy5 v2.1.0 jfltetmo
Alternate Recovery: TWRP 2.8.4
Odin "Double-Flash w/o Auto-Reboot" Used: Yes, multiple times (even triple and quadruple times)
FSCK Used: Yes, no issues detected
The Story:
I was presented with a challenge, fix a phone which just came back from the manufacturer. Sadly, not the first time I've had to clean their mess up. It was sent in under warranty because of screen bubbles, and returned with an OEM LCD, and a new battery. And, before anyone asks, the manufacturer refuses to take a look at it again. It's now out of warranty (by a month or so) and they said it worked fine when it left their hands. Yes it did, but only for a few weeks. From the time they shipped it back out until it crashed, nothing had changed on the user's end, no software additions or anything.
Appeared to only need re-flashing. After it booted and reached the unlock screen it seemed fine. If you unlocked the phone, it would immediately freeze up. When it did this it would usually be frozen for about a minute or two and then reset itself. Most of the time it would return to the lock screen, sometimes it would hang on the T-Mobile flash screen. One time I was able to get in but once it started syncing messages it locked up again. It had the latest firmware (M919UVUFNK2).
I used OEM recovery to wipe the cache and return it to factory fresh. It quickly booted up to the lock screen and everything seemed fine, I swiped and moved around the menus like normal. Sound was random though, sometimes it would work, sometimes not. Wifi, Bluetooth, Data .. everything worked like it should. I began to notice, however, that anytime something tried to use sound (ringer, notification, changing the volume) the system would lock up and stutter somewhat. Eventually it got to the point where it would just hard-lock every time sound was used. So I wiped it fresh and clean again--I wiped it several times in a row infact, just to be sure.
Again, everything seemed fine but sound would be random, and sound always seems to trigger issues. A few times I immediately muted all audio as soon as I factory-reset and rebooted the phone, in order to see if that mattered. One of those times it locked up within 2 minutes of use, and the other times it locked up eventually. It seems to last longer when audio is muted, but I wouldn't correlate that directly because it's not easy to scientifically prove.
In order to see what might be going on I went to install CatLog from the sdcard, but that needs root to work properly. I tried using SuperSU and CF-Auto-Root (jfltetmo/sghm919) to no avail. What happens when either of these methods are used: They run flawlessly and say everything is good, but upon rebooting the phone locks up at the Tmo flash screen. No matter what I do, rooting causes it to lock, and when it's locked the phone gets ultra hot as if the CPU is stuck in a loop.
After re-flashing the stock rom umpteen times and getting the same issues, I tried finding a PIT file to no avail. Gave up on that. For giggles I tried previous TMO stock roms. I realize that you normally can't do this, and some advise against it, but when you're up a creek it sometimes doesn't hurt to try, and I've had this work on other phones in the past. I tried ll of them actually, in chronological order of release so as to simulate upgrading:
These wouldn't flash to the phone at all:
M919UVUEMK2
M919UVUAMDL
These flashed/took and actually worked without an issue, they just all eventually locked up like NK2:
M919UVUFNH7
M919UVUFNB4
M919UVUAMDB
I re-flashed NK2 another 20 times or so, still producing the same problem. Decided to try 5.x out in case that might solve something. So far I've only tried 1 rom for it, Candy5. Several times I was able to get it to boot and use it just fine. One time it actually lasted almost 2 days. Since I'm talking about Candy, the folks did a fine job with it, I really like the layout/aesthetics. Free plug there.
Sadly, it crashes under Candy as well. Same problem as with NK2. Boot crashes, boot loops, sound issues. I've since sucessfully reverted to NK2. Presently it's sitting on my desk receiving emails, downloading apps and working just fine. I have all audio disabled. It's been going for about an hour. (edit, right as I posted this it crashed and rebooted itself)
My Theory:
Theory 1: The reason I want to re-PIT is because I theorize something in the filesystem, somewhere, has taken an epic dump. The more the phone is used the quicker it crashes--this happens almost every single time, and battery/CPU temps are normal. After a certain amount of use/time, the phone craps itself. Storage use isn't always sequential, so something is mapped as good when it isn't, and when it's put to use it dies. One way I correlate this with sound is that perhaps the system doesn't cache the soundbyte, so when it goes to read the file it craps.
Theory 2: Same as above, but instead of storage, the problem is bad RAM causing the same data corruption/issue. No easy way to solve this. I will be stress-testing the RAM chips tonight. Update: I stress-tested the CPU and RAM using some available apps, and ran it for quite a long time. Didn't seem to cause or exacerbate the issue any.
Closing:
Anyone have any ideas? I thought maybe re-PITing the thing may help, but couldn't find any files on it. The only other TMO S4 I have access to is a friend's who doesn't want it rooted (a requirement to read a PIT file I've been told). I appreciate any advice/input on this matter. Would be nice to get this thing going.
Did you pay for the repairs using a credit card? If so call the card company and contest the charge since it wasn't fixed properly.
It's not my device, and as stated in the post, it was repaired under warranty at no cost to the consumer.