Database Users

[Q] Hard crash, handset not responding at all. Advice?

I was downloading music onto my Wildfire with the Spotify app for offline playback when my handset went completely unresponsive. I can plug it to a charger and see the led light up, so it's not kernel panic. Also I hear notification sounds for incoming email and stuff. I just can't get the screen to go on.
This happened to me before and I took off the battery, which resulted in a corrupt file system on my SD card, so I'd like to avoid having to do that. Do I have any other options? I can't seem to turn it on or off. It's not responding to the power button at all.

try putting it into HBOOT/Bootloader when the device is off
( Hold Power button and down on volume rocker)
-if that works maybe try a recovery?

Problem was turning the device off without corrupting the SD card. After consulting Martin on IRC it turned out to be impossible so I just took the battery out and screwed up the SD cards.
I think the card is a lemon and the cause of these freezes in the first place. I got it off eBay really cheaply I suspected there was a fair chance it wouldn't be premium quality. Let this be a warning to you all trying to get cheap on your SD card purchases.

janne_oksanen said:
Problem was turning the device off without corrupting the SD card. After consulting Martin on IRC it turned out to be impossible so I just took the battery out and screwed up the SD cards.
I think the card is a lemon and the cause of these freezes in the first place. I got it off eBay really cheaply I suspected there was a fair chance it wouldn't be premium quality. Let this be a warning to you all trying to get cheap on your SD card purchases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha ok, im glad you got it fixed though, i will always try to buy the sandisk micro SD cards in future

SD card warning

I made the mistake of popping the memory card out while it was turned on. I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal and I could reboot the phone after putting it back in. Well needless to say I was wrong. It's pretty much a factory reset phone now and doesn't recognize the sd card.
It even says the total storage available is 15.73 MB. I just did a factory reset from the about menu and the same thing. Not sure what to make of this, but will report back if I can get it going again.

ryotgz said:
I made the mistake of popping the memory card out while it was turned on. I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal and I could reboot the phone after putting it back in. Well needless to say I was wrong. It's pretty much a factory reset phone now and doesn't recognize the sd card.
It even says the total storage available is 15.73 MB. I just did a factory reset from the about menu and the same thing. Not sure what to make of this, but will report back if I can get it going again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might try the "Volume down" key;camera and power button at same time..... this might be a more dramatic "Hard reset" Keep us informed....

pigue said:
Might try the "Volume down" key;camera and power button at same time..... this might be a more dramatic "Hard reset" Keep us informed....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw that in the quick start guide right before you posted it. I tried it with the memory card inserted and no luck. I tried it without the memory and it worked. Then I had to do it again after inserting the memory card and I'm back to 22.15GB. Selecting "reset phone" from the about menu did not work with the memory in OR out. So yes, that method must be a little more "dramatic".
Moral of the story: Do like the instructions say, Do NOT remove the memory card while it's turned on or turn it on without it in the phone. I guess there's always one person who has to figure this out for everyone else
I still think it's weird it reported 15.73MB of total storage...

Thanks for the lesson!

Glad I could take one for the team. Now to get everything reinstalled and setup

ryotgz said:
I saw that in the quick start guide right before you posted it. I tried it with the memory card inserted and no luck. I tried it without the memory and it worked. Then I had to do it again after inserting the memory card and I'm back to 22.15GB. Selecting "reset phone" from the about menu did not work with the memory in OR out. So yes, that method must be a little more "dramatic".
Moral of the story: Do like the instructions say, Do NOT remove the memory card while it's turned on or turn it on without it in the phone. I guess there's always one person who has to figure this out for everyone else
I still think it's weird it reported 15.73MB of total storage...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is that key combination (volume down key, camera and power button) a hard reset?
Just want to know so I can add it to the wiki

the_scotsman said:
So is that key combination (volume down key, camera and power button) a hard reset?
Just want to know so I can add it to the wiki
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's correct.

Well I did a soft reset with the sd still in and never removed. Back to 15.73 MB total storage and no settings or apps saved. This appears to be why AT&T says not to use an SD card yet...

I too suffered total memory loss by powering down the phone. only hard reset worked.
Also, when I followed the quick setup guide first time I got " (Download Screen!) Don't turn off may take up to 10 minutes."
I let it run for 30 before finding more specific directions on AT&T forums.
http://www.wireless.att.com/support/tutorials.do?tutorialsCategory=Getting+Started&tutorialId=877530&deviceId=12630

thanks for advice and link

Not only is my 16GB not cooperating with the phone/OS, it is not detected by the PC, can't even reformat it. Any suggestions on force detection/formating? Other wise I have to hope for a update to allow my memory to work. The phone is still able to reformat the flash, gives me around 22.8GB available storage. But if it shuts down it deletes everything, goes to about 15GB available storage.
*Also, Netflix, Youtube, Zune all had errors after first hard reset with the memory inserted. Would't play video.

Apparently the same issue here learning the hard way as well. Ordered a Transcend 8gb microSDHC class 6 card from Amazon (excellent reviews) to have in time for the Windows Phone 7 launch.
Purchased my Samsung Focus yesterday at 9am sharp when they opened the doors, installed the card in the phone before we did the first power up to ensure I wouldn't have to set up things twice (doing a reset or hard reset), not reading the instructions we went on to setup everything including my live account, Facebook, e-mail accounts (exchange, gmail), and downloading apps from the marketplace. Only at lunch 4 hours late I discover under settings, about phone I only have 7.46gb of storage space (meaning the card wasn't setup).
Read the manual at this point and did the full hard reset (volume -, camera, power button) which prompted me to hit the windows key twice to perform hard format / reset. Phone booted with the welcome screen and all the prompts again, went to check under settings, about phone and saw to my relief 14.46gb of storage space meanings all was well. Started reloading everything, set up everything, installed a ton of apps and got everything pretty good. Figured with battery low I would turn the thing off and do a full charge overnight (bad idea).
The simple power down (goodbye! screen) seemed innocent at the time until i decided to boot my phone back up only to have nothing and all my apps missing. Checked settings and about phone only to find 15.36mb of storage or something like that! Ended up doing a reset under the settings followed by a hard format / reset again to bring myself back to a factory welcome screen and 14.46gb of storage under settings about phone.
Since settings back up I'm afraid to power down until we find out the issue behind this. I don't think it's due to "incompatible" microSDHC cards as they are all the same things (class variances) and this card was bought brand new packaged from Amazon (with excellent reviews might I add) so that rules out the Chinese knock off eBay microSD card.
Hopefully we'll see an OTA fix for this or something, my friend "says" he doesn't have any issues with his Sandisk 32gb class 2 microSDHC that he bought at the ATT store with the phone. He "says" he's powered it down multiple times without losing anything or any other weird oddities though I'm not sure he initialized the card before he powered it up and down.

TheMarkness said:
Hopefully we'll see an OTA fix for this or something, my friend "says" he doesn't have any issues with his Sandisk 32gb class 2 microSDHC that he bought at the ATT store with the phone. He "says" he's powered it down multiple times without losing anything or any other weird oddities though I'm not sure he initialized the card before he powered it up and down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried three different cards and all of them give me the same result. After a reset I lose everything and have to hard reset again.

ryotgz said:
I've tried three different cards and all of them give me the same result. After a reset I lose everything and have to hard reset again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All different brands as well? I can strike this Transcend, his is a Sandisk. I'm going to have him power it down with the power button and turn it back on after work today to see if his loses everything. I really hope there is some fix in the works that doesn't require you to shutdown or change something resulting in setting everything back up yet again lol.

TheMarkness said:
All different brands as well? I can strike this Transcend, his is a Sandisk. I'm going to have him power it down with the power button and turn it back on after work today to see if his loses everything. I really hope there is some fix in the works that doesn't require you to shutdown or change something resulting in setting everything back up yet again lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two of them are A-data and the other is a kingston.

ryotgz said:
Two of them are A-data and the other is a kingston.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well just had my friend call me back after getting ATT to add back his messaging plan (the turned off his text messaging, explains why he wasn't replying to texts lol). After making the changes on his account he had to turn the phone off and back on, no issues came right back up with all his goodies, reading about 40gb of storage (he bought a 32gb class 2 SanDisk right there at the ATT store).
So apparently these things are very very picky with cards? idk.

AT&T rep had me walk through the setup at the store when I bought it. I didn't have the microsd card with me so I installed it when I got home (Kingston 16 GB Class 4). After powering on the phone it didn't see the card. I completed a reset in the Settings and About. After the it worked. I never completed a full hard reset (volume -, camera, power button). I have turned it off and on several times. Wonder if that is anything?? Just need to complete the reset and not the full reset. Also mine was brand new too.

TheMarkness said:
All different brands as well? I can strike this Transcend, his is a Sandisk. I'm going to have him power it down with the power button and turn it back on after work today to see if his loses everything. I really hope there is some fix in the works that doesn't require you to shutdown or change something resulting in setting everything back up yet again lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure we will all lose everything in conjunction with the fix, whatever it is. Small price to pay to have our phones working 100% as we want them.

Well my friends Focus with the Sandisk 32Gb class 2 card he got from the ATT store just went blank. He said he phone locked up on him, upon restart he said everything was gone (all 25gb of synced music!).
So honestly I say listen to Microsoft and go no SD card until there is a fix/patch along with a compatible card list.

Update: friend powered off the phone and reseated his micro sd card and it seems all is well now though his contacts are missing information like its not updating or populating right. His phone did show "15mb" under storage when it was blanked like everyone else.
Update 2: looks like it unlinked all his contacts from Google and Facebook, strange strange. Not worth the storage space to me if its hit or miss right now, works one minute then boom your reseating your sd card and fiddling.

Constant Power Cycling?

So now my DVP has learned a new trick. I was driving home and noticed the power was off. Could've sworn it had plenty of battery, so I went to power it on.
Now it just sits there and power cycles...all the time. Tried yanking the battery, replacing it, and charging it plugged into the wall...still sits and power cycles.
Between this and the whole SD debacle, I'm getting pretty pissed off at this phone.

Have you replaced the SD Card? Could the power button be sticking?

Yes - the SD card was replaced. Several times actually, and all replacements worked fine (reset + card swap, then power on) for a week...then this suddenly started occurring.
Someone at the MS store blamed it on that, which I guess is okay, but seriously - if that is the case, then Dell needs to put a legitimate "this will void your warranty" sticker on there rather than some black bar that *supposedly* shows "void" once you peel it off, even though nobody in the store could actually read what the hell it said.

I have had something like that happen with my phone as well. I have not replaced the MicroSD card but maybe 4 or 5 times this last week the phone has seemingly been off or off in space when I try and turn it on from "sleep". All the times this has happened I had to pull the battery. Once it did the same thing again right away but most of the time it goes back to normal.
I thought it was one of the apps that might be causing some issues so I have removed it and will see if this stops.

gshocker said:
I have had something like that happen with my phone as well. I have not replaced the MicroSD card but maybe 4 or 5 times this last week the phone has seemingly been off or off in space when I try and turn it on from "sleep". All the times this has happened I had to pull the battery. Once it did the same thing again right away but most of the time it goes back to normal.
I thought it was one of the apps that might be causing some issues so I have removed it and will see if this stops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What SD cards are you guys using? I have had a Sandisk 32gb Class 2 in since Friday morning and no issues so far (crosses fingers).

I used a Kingston C4 32GB - worked fine aside from the slow Zune sync, same with the Patriot C4 16GB. The one that worked properly was a Wintec 16GB C10 card - until the power cycling occurred. I replaced the stock card and it still did the same thing. I would expect if it was *really* a card issue, it would've booted but displayed an error, as it does if you just replace the card without doing a reset.

After some more testing it seems this happens when I am pretty sure it has to do with some Marketplace app bug. When I search in the marketplace it seems to happen. Phone will go to sleep and then not come back. I end up having to pull the battery to get it back. Hopefully this will get fixed in an update.

My recommendation is to use the phone for a few weeks *before* swapping out cards. In this case, no one knows if it's a hardware issue, software, or something about the MicroSD card.
Keep it stock. See if it's fine that way. If so, then swap out cards. If it starts to act up, then you likely have your culprit.
My $.02

yipcanjo said:
My recommendation is to use the phone for a few weeks *before* swapping out cards. In this case, no one knows if it's a hardware issue, software, or something about the MicroSD card.
Keep it stock. See if it's fine that way. If so, then swap out cards. If it starts to act up, then you likely have your culprit.
My $.02
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. saves time when using process of elimination.

SD card notifications is a hardware issue

I did some testing today and it appears that the SD card issue regarding the notifications we've been getting is a hardware issue and cannot be fixed through OTA's.
All day long while I was sitting at my desk with my phone laying flat, I did not get the notifications but as soon as I left the house and put the phone in my pocket, I got my first SD card notification.
I can now recreate the notification every time by turning my phone upside down and slightly tapping my finger where the SD card sits.
I'll probably just wait until Samsung fixes this and then warranty it through Tmobile. They've never gave me problems when it comes to shipping replacement phones.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Yep, its an issue with the sim card tray hopefully.
If it is i imagine theyll just ship out new ones to affected people. Dont want to have to return the whole thing if possible

I haven't got a single notification about my SD Card except for the first time after my phone boots up.

Zer0_ said:
I haven't got a single notification about my SD Card except for the first time after my phone boots up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me neither. Although I did Scotch tape the top of it just in case lol
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

Doesn't happen with mine. When I first turned it on after inserting it I got the notification but then I just swapped it away maybe 3 times and it's gone for good.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

which is why you wait till all the defects on the 1st batches are sorted out

Yes its officially an hardware issue
I have had the same issue non-stop for a while. I did everything mentioned here without any exception. Its not only the notification. Its also when you are listening music and checking photos from your external SD card that the device suddenly stop responding. I have a friend who work for Samsung Canada and he is in a "high level position". They have been aware of the issue since March 11. All their first shipments (their first batch) has this issue. And they quickly worked on it for the second build. However, we don't exactly know when this second build will be on the shelves (they may already be or not). Sometimes, it takes months. Because they had a lot made before the launch. And they will pass all of those before going to the second batch with the fix. Its an hardware issue officially. Sad but we got a lemon. We are now stuck with it. I would certainly be more than happy to flag this on Twitter, Facebook, everywhere possible. Where is the facebook page to complain.

I guess I'm lucky then. I don't get SD card notifications.

I am a journalist in the tech field
And BTW, I've spoke to Samsung Canada for 2 hours with a supervisor and they will not admit this is a problem so no they will not ship new devices to affected people. As I have commented on my last post, I know from from a trusted source at Samsung (high level employee) that it is a hardware issue and that it will be fixed with new batch. However, he did not know when this new batch would be on the shelves. This could take months as they will sale the first batch first. Samsung Canada will not acknowledge and will not give people other devices.

I had that on my first S7 edge...2 replacements later the problem was gone...
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I preoredred from samsung and got my s7 edge on 8th of march and have no sd card issues. I have samsung 64gb pro micro sd card.

I only get it right after a reboot and that's it...

Please note that this can go away for a few days but will come back. No matter what you do (hard reset = I did 8 times), 2 micro SD, one Sandish and one Samsung = same problem. Unfortunately, it is a hardware issue. If I were you, I would protect my phone with a case and screen protector (to ensure to keep full warranty of the device) and wait a few months to get a phone from a new batch. I have a friend who works at Samsung Canada and he anonymously told me that this is a known issue by Samsung who will not admit it and they will still sale the batch that was previously build with this issue. Once they get new batch, this will be fixed. Also, my assumption is that the issue will get worse overtime (sun, cold, bending, pockets, etc). Good luck.

what's the problem?
SD card notifications? what notifications does the SD card give? I only encountered the reformat it on first insert and every time I reboot.

Dark_Wizard said:
I only get it right after a reboot and that's it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine does the same
is the normal or ....................

The problem is more than the notification use your SD. Listen to music for a while and at the same time access your pictures on the SD. It may not do it for a while, but it will eventually. Everything will freeze (no SD recognized) until you restart the phone. I have 6 friends who bought the phone and it did eventually do it. I did reformat and hard reset, and every possible steps 8 times and it does come back.

Christian99 said:
The problem is more than the notification use your SD. Listen to music for a while and at the same time access your pictures on the SD. It may not do it for a while, but it will eventually. Everything will freeze (no SD recognized) until you restart the phone. I have 6 friends who bought the phone and it did eventually do it. I did reformat and hard reset, and every possible steps 8 times and it does come back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are pathetic!!!!!

Christian99 said:
The problem is more than the notification use your SD. Listen to music for a while and at the same time access your pictures on the SD. It may not do it for a while, but it will eventually. Everything will freeze (no SD recognized) until you restart the phone. I have 6 friends who bought the phone and it did eventually do it. I did reformat and hard reset, and every possible steps 8 times and it does come back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have this phone for just 5 days and for the last 4 days i got this notification every reboot, but today, it just disappears. the last thing i did was transferred all apps possible to sd (external) as i could not do a back up (titanium backup) due to low memory.

ayongkot said:
i have this phone for just 5 days and for the last 4 days i got this notification every reboot, but today, it just disappears. the last thing i did was transferred all apps possible to sd (external) as i could not do a back up (titanium backup) due to low memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The notification when you reboot the phone is totally normal. What is not, it's the random eject when you use the SD content. Some people have better device than others. I had pre ordered mine. Your 5 days purchase may be in the new batch. I don't know this for sure though.

mitko76 said:
you are pathetic!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What did he do?

Inserting any SD card causes bootloop....

I've done some searching but not come up with any definitive answers....
Lately my phone(SM-G930V) has taken to bootlooping and heating up at random times...
This morning (4-4-18) it took a security update (G930VVRU4BRC2) and became completely unstable...
I tried everything...finally resorting to a full factory wipe and reset.
Still looping.
The SD card has been in it since day one (Feb 2016) it is a Sandisk 32gB...
On a whim I removed the SD card and the phone returned to normal.
I experimented with (4) other SD cards of varying brand and capacity and every single one threw the phone into a constant loop.
Obviously something bad has happened inside the phone with regards to the SD slot or how it reads it...
Just wondering if this is a known issue and if there might be any resolution ?
Thanks, Dan

I had a similar issue yesterday. To be honest I fixed it by flashing the att fw onto my verizon phone for oreo and then using adb to upgrade my phone to oreo. Now my phone is super stable and hauls ass. Jesus I love oreo.
I followed this guide https://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-galaxy-s7/help/android-oreo8-0-verizon-s7-t3750452 when you go the guide page, do the method without the SD card.
BE WARNED it takes a LONNNNNGGGGGGGGG time to update. Took me probably 1-2 hours.
Im using a verizon phone with an att sim card so I didn't have any issues with the setup wizard. I heard some people on verizon having issues though, they fixed it by removing their sim card during the wizard after they pushed start.
Only thing I did different was used regular odin. You can try either though.
My phone is running superb now.

Scary thing is...this morning...it started looping again...
No SD card inserted at all...
I removed the tray and cleaned the SIM card with a pencil eraser (made the contacts nice and shiny) and it hasn't looped in almost an hour.
I'll look into reinstalling the firmware and upgrading to Oreo...
Been waiting for the update to come through normally...but hey...what ever it takes..
Dan

Worked for me man. Give it a shot. Like I said, Oreo is running flawlessly on my phone too. The phone is so snappy now.

danielzink said:
Scary thing is...this morning...it started looping again...
No SD card inserted at all...
I removed the tray and cleaned the SIM card with a pencil eraser (made the contacts nice and shiny) and it hasn't looped in almost an hour.
I'll look into reinstalling the firmware and upgrading to Oreo...
Been waiting for the update to come through normally...but hey...what ever it takes..
Dan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to alarm you, but first off, how old is the phone? Was it brand new when you got it or is it a used or refurbished phone? The reason I ask is because my previous phone I had, an LG G3, lasted 2 years. Right after my contract ended (non-payment plan at the time), it started exhibiting issues stating that the SD card has been ejected and then minutes later, the SD has been inserted. This would happen with any SD card. I eventually had to use the phone without the SD card and I flashed back to various previous images, custom ROMs, etc. No matter what I did, eventually the SD card would eject itself for some reason and then reinsert it self (it wasn't really ejecting but the phone thought I had removed it).
Turns out, it was a hardware failure in the phone. Eventually, one evening I was using it and the entire screen went black. Hooking it up to my PC resulted in nothing. It was dead. So, I don't want to alarm you, but this could be the precursor to a hardware failure going on in your phone depending on how old it is, etc. Hence my questions as to how old it was, and whether it was used or refurbished.
Might be time for a new phone. If it's fairly new and under warranty, you might want to swap it out (which usually results in getting a refurbished unfortunately), but you never know. You could always take into a repair shop and have them run some diagnostics on it as well.
Hopefully it's just something wonky with your software and a reimage fixes the issue. I've had mine for almost 1.5 years and so far, it's been running great. I've never rooted it or anything because for me, it does all that I need and performs well. First phone I've had (other than my G3) where I haven't had to root it or flash a custom ROM. For me, it works great, but I know that's not the case for everyone.

iBolski said:
I don't want to alarm you, but first off, how old is the phone? Was it brand new when you got it or is it a used or refurbished phone? The reason I ask is because my previous phone I had, an LG G3, lasted 2 years. Right after my contract ended (non-payment plan at the time), it started exhibiting issues stating that the SD card has been ejected and then minutes later, the SD has been inserted. This would happen with any SD card. I eventually had to use the phone without the SD card and I flashed back to various previous images, custom ROMs, etc. No matter what I did, eventually the SD card would eject itself for some reason and then reinsert it self (it wasn't really ejecting but the phone thought I had removed it).
Turns out, it was a hardware failure in the phone. Eventually, one evening I was using it and the entire screen went black. Hooking it up to my PC resulted in nothing. It was dead. So, I don't want to alarm you, but this could be the precursor to a hardware failure going on in your phone depending on how old it is, etc. Hence my questions as to how old it was, and whether it was used or refurbished.
Might be time for a new phone. If it's fairly new and under warranty, you might want to swap it out (which usually results in getting a refurbished unfortunately), but you never know. You could always take into a repair shop and have them run some diagnostics on it as well.
Hopefully it's just something wonky with your software and a reimage fixes the issue. I've had mine for almost 1.5 years and so far, it's been running great. I've never rooted it or anything because for me, it does all that I need and performs well. First phone I've had (other than my G3) where I haven't had to root it or flash a custom ROM. For me, it works great, but I know that's not the case for everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahahahaha....
That's actually *very* funny.....
Phone was brand new out of the box 2 years ago....oh wait ?.....exactly 2 years ago...how do I know that ?...because the payment just came off my monthly bill.....
I was saying to the wife...."great...as soon as the phone is paid off it takes a sh&t".....
A coincidence ?...
I've been girding my loins figuring I need to run up to the Verizon store and get myself a new S9....ugh...

danielzink said:
Hahahahaha....
That's actually *very* funny.....
Phone was brand new out of the box 2 years ago....oh wait ?.....exactly 2 years ago...how do I know that ?...because the payment just came off my monthly bill.....
I was saying to the wife...."great...as soon as the phone is paid off it takes a sh&t".....
A coincidence ?...
I've been girding my loins figuring I need to run up to the Verizon store and get myself a new S9....ugh...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, funny how that is, right? lol. I'm expecting when my S7 turns two later this year, it will die. lol