Screen rotation bug / hard reset without ODIN - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
So my S4 is screwed. It stopped rotating. It started freezing up.
Before you ask: yes the toggle is switched on.
The frustrating thing is I took it to the Samsung store last week with this bug and the way they fixed it was to flash it with ODIN back to stock. They blamed software I installed for causing the problem. I picked my phone up yesterday and I've already managed to get the problem back with the apps I've installed.
I kicked it into recovery mode and did a wipe from there. After restarting, the bug was still present with no new apps installed.
If it's software related, how in Satan's great peehole is this bug staying resident after a format from Recovery Mode?
This is really REALLY frustrating, as I don't want to have to go and be without a phone for another 5 days whilst they flash it again.
I don't want to flash it with ODIN as they told me in the shop that they can tell if you do and it will invalidate the warranty.
The app I have as a candidate for causing the problem is DJMax Ray, which is my favourite Korean button bashing game. In DJMAx Ray, it locks rotation for you to play, and it may be a recent update that has changed the way it does this to cause the problem.
It's my favourite game, so I'd be well upset if I had to stop playing it.
It's still driving me crazy though - if it's a software thing, why the hell does a format not fix it?
Does anyone have any experience / ideas / suggestions as to a fix without going back to Samsung? I've tried the whole changing the toggle and taking the battery out for a few minutes, and kicking it into ODIN mode and taking the battery out as it starts. These both don't work.
How else can I reset my phone back to factory in the most agressive, data wipey way without invalidating my warranty?
Hope someone can help!
Frustrated from London - B

Related

SGS acting weird - screen turning on and off repeatedly

My cousins SGS is having some issues. Last night the battery died, since then the following problem has arisen. The screen turns on for one second then turns off for one second then turns on for one second and so on repeatedly. Even when the phone is locked. No new apps have been installed. We have cleared the RAM. Turned the phone off and removed the battery for a few minutes and re-inserted, but still hasn't solved the problem. Factory reset still hasn't fixed it.
Will flashing to another rom eg Doc, potentially solve the problem? She doesnt really want to send it back to Samsung as it will result in the phone gone for a month or so.
She is running the stock DTJG4 rom (Australian 2.1), no lag fixes, not rooted.
Any ideas?
Bump. Anyone? Could it be a hardware issue?
yikes.. i think its a hardware problem... but just in any case try reflashing with odin to confirm this..

Phone crash after battery died!!

my battery was running low, (and coz poor battery issues with JPY), i didnt notice when it switched of. normally i use the power button to turn the screen on to unlock, but instead i realised the phone had been off as it was now booting up...it booted up fine went into the homescreen and then vibrated once and powered down.......now it was powering down for a long time and occasionally there were vibrations and the lights on the home keys were constantly on. the screen was black. i got home and tried to charge it but the progress bar showed no progress on charging, i tried to switch it on but it would go to startup screen vibrate cupla times and power down. so eventually had to do a hard reset in recovery mode. tried every option but in the end had todo it by wiping data.
now the thing is, is this supposed to happen? if ur battery suddenly losses power ur whole fone will screw up?
for future ref if ur battery dies dont try to switch ur fone on until u got some charge in it and use the home key to put screen on..
Sounds like it could have been faulty firmware .
JPY does not have a significant battery drain problem per se .
jje
Black screen, vibrations and no boot after restart
Hello! I had almost the same experience (Black screen after reboot and occasional vibrations) only mine refused to boot even after memory wipe and after flashing new roms.
Was your phone rooted? Because I think rooting a 2.2.1 rom (XWJS3) was the beginning of my nightmare. keep in mind that the phone was working like charm for two months. This was the second time I had a problem. The first time the phone started after performing a factory reset by itself!
In case this happens to you next time and for every non experienced galaxy player (like me) reading this:
Don't panic! Blank screen, vibrations and no boot doesn't necessarily mean a hardware problem. Finally I managed to fix it flashing eclair and repartitioning with pit512. Now I'm a happy XWJS8 user
And a question for the experts: Any clue why this happened? Is it really a rooting issue? Can a cheap Chinese battery from ebay cause this?
everything was stock on mine, no root.......maybe thats why i could recover it??!!
Maybe! and I hope the reason is faulty firmware as JJEgan says. If this is true, your phone will be fixed by the next update.
I was very urge... the same happened again. It's been a month of smooth functioning and now after a simple restart, the device doesn't boot for absolutely no reason (Stuck on black screen constantly vibrating). Since my phone wasn't rooted, and I haven't seen many people talking about a problem like this I suspect:
1. Faulty hardware (for a few devices including yours and mine)
2. A Bad app.
Contacts Vanished
Hey Everyone
Im having similar problems, i updated my sgs to the js7 version of froyo, then rooted it with oneclick method. this was as i got the phone a month ago. Its been smooth sailing since then. But last night the phone powered down and wen it loaded up it had no contacts, my sms where still there but all the apps had a force close issue none worked. so cleared the cache in recovery. Still nothing so i did a factory reset and once loaded up. i formatted the sd and internal within the settings option. So the phone was now clean. I then connected to pc luckily had backups so installed titanium restored all my apps n settings. Using kies restored my contacts n thanks to an app called sms backup i restored those.
So all was well and worked again. I didnt restore the apps i had installed within the last week to make sure it was not a faulty app. I was happy, but now tonight it did it again. No contacts again.
Pls help
Any suggestions
That's exactly how it started for me. One month after rooting froyo 2.2.1 Suddenly everything force closes and the device hard resets by itself. I reinstall all the apps and then after one month and performing a simple restart, it refuses to boot. Stays in a black screen and vibrates every some seconds. I flash a new rom but does the same. Problem solved after repartitiong and flashing original eclair with pit 512. Reflashed a 2.2.1 rom and everything works perfect (the phone now is unrooted and with a nice clear stock rom). But then after one month again (!) I realise that some videos refuse to play. Trying to restart and craaash. black screen, vibrations and no boot. Did the same again (repartitioning and flashing) and now I wait for another month to pass and lose an hour of my life to do the same again. No idea why this is happening. Is it possible that rooting messes with something that stays faulty after restoring the file system? is there an app that we all installed and caused this mess? please this is the most serious problem I've red in this forum and still a mystery. I believe this thread should be sticky and we all share similar experiences because this looks completely random!
I believe this thread should be sticky and we all share similar experiences because this looks completely random![/QUOTE]
+ 1

[Help!] Vibration suddenly stopped working, completely

Hi all,
Its very weird for me, my phones vibration suddenly stopped working, completely. I tried all restart the phone, pull the battery out and start after 5mins but nothing helped.
If it’s a hardware issue then I’m worried as I didn’t expect this from a so expensive phone.
I will try factory reset later as I’ve to take all backups but if there any other suggestion please advice. As doing all restore will take time. thanks
soumen.sam said:
Hi all,
Its very weird for me, my phones vibration suddenly stopped working, completely. I tried all restart the phone, pull the battery out and start after 5mins but nothing helped.
If it’s a hardware issue then I’m worried as I didn’t expect this from a so expensive phone.
I will try factory reset later as I’ve to take all backups but if there any other suggestion please advice. As doing all restore will take time. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flashing stock, or close to stock like Alexndr's ROMs. If they work on that, then it's a problem with your ROM..
I just checked with the *#7353# -- Self Test Mode (2nd Hidden Menu) code. it nothing happens for the vibration test, just the option going blue. Can any one try this and post what it does in other devices as i dont have any more note 3 here.
I think the vibration motor is gone.
nicholaschum said:
Try flashing stock, or close to stock like Alexndr's ROMs. If they work on that, then it's a problem with your ROM..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No other feedback in it. As the self test didn’t turn the vib on so I doubt it’s was hardware problem not a software issue, I googled and check the vib motor location in the phone and give some moderated tap/knock by my finger at the back of the phone and amazingly it started working again.
This is what didn’t expect from a $700 phone. Anyway the issue has been fixed temporarily don’t know what will happen in future.
I need an advice, if any one of you help. Now the thing is, when the vibration stopped, by tapping from behind it started working but after a day it again goes off and never turned on by any thing, I did the same thing many time but this doesn’t help.
After few days I put it on vib mode while listening song and chatting on hangout, I put it in vib mode as new message wont pause the song. But suddenly the vib started again. It worked for that day but next morning it gone again, and then I put it on vib mode and started sending fake msg over hangout many time and it started again after few attempt.
So here I wanted to know it’s a hardware issue or software end issue? as I'm really confused. Thanks
soumen.sam said:
by tapping from behind it started working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's software, no matter what, nothing can detect a tap from behind.
So it has to be hardware.
I think this could be a software end issue too, as now if its not working its not starting but hitting from behind, but if I restart its working again. it was off for a day then while I was listening song on vib mode it suddenly started by itself. since then its going off anyway and coming after restart. and it started after the last small OTA update.
soumen.sam said:
I think this could be a software end issue too, as now if its not working its not starting but hitting from behind, but if I restart its working again. it was off for a day then while I was listening song on vib mode it suddenly started by itself. since then its going off anyway and coming after restart. and it started after the last small OTA update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please use the reply button so I know you actually replied to the thread.
No matter what you do, hitting from behind as a fix means it's hardware. The fact that when you reboot is because it repowers the chip on the board, and when it does it probably allows for some grace working time.
nicholaschum said:
Please use the reply button so I know you actually replied to the thread.
No matter what you do, hitting from behind as a fix means it's hardware. The fact that when you reboot is because it repowers the chip on the board, and when it does it probably allows for some grace working time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Bad, I usually do so but somehow missed that.
Yes I doubt it’s a hardware issue but before repairing or replacing the vibration parts I wanted to try fix it by software end if this is a software issue. I still have the warranty period left for 6month or so but the thing is here in India Samsung doesn’t replace the complete faulty device like they or apple does in US. The always repair or replace the faulty parts. And I’m not comfortable to use a repaired phone.
What I was trying to do is I wanted to reinstall the stock latest firmware by Kies 3. I really don’t want to use any custom rom, neither rooting as Stock is quite good for me and fulfill my all requirement what I need for my work. But the thing is with Kies 3 1stly it always showing “N-900 Device not supported” when I was trying “firmware upgrade and initialization” but somehow I manage to let it work but at the end it showing “you are already have latest firmware” and it stopped.
I googled it as saw all those have this same issue, factory reset didn’t solve this, neither hard reset. I wanted to know is there any way to reinstall the same stock official updated firmware easily by Kies 3? I don’t wanted to do it by odin and a downloaded pack from sammobile, I am looking for a fast and easy official way. the reason I don’t want to use by odin is it will require lots of learning to learn the whole thing to avoid messing up with it, and I really don’t have time for this.
Also another question is: when I went to download mode for the 1st time I see its says “Knox warranty 0x” what does that mean? Warranty void or its still under it. I saw people have 0x0 or 0x1 but didn’t see any one having 0x only. Please advice, thanks
Edit: also now the vibration coming and going off by itself, like yesterday night it was not working but when I wakeup it was working, and no restart meanwhile. BUT I observed most of the time its turning off when I’m charging the phone or at the end of charging or before pulling the charging cable off. When charging starts it was vibrating and during charging it working same, but after I pull the cable, it stopped.

Overheating/Bootloop/Black Screen problem solved but...

Hey, I had been stuck with the issues as mentioned shortly after I upgraded to Nougat via ODIN (SM-G935F/probably Netherlands, Unlocked, no root, no mods). The phone would work fine and then suddenly start overheating and resultant bootloops and black screens when in certain standard apps like Google photos and Facebook. This would happen with no fixed pattern, sometimes everyday, sometimes once a month). I did cache clears and full resets but the problem would reappear. Phone stopped getting OTAs as well, although it got a few in the beginning. Security patches. Recovery typically showed updating and didn't progress.
Finally I decided to flash another latest stock ROM via ODIN. Now a few days have gone by without a sign of the previous troubles (God, I hope it stays like this).
My question after this long story, is this possibly a hardware problem, in which case I'll sell it off before it reappears. Or could it just be a software glitch solved by the new ROM, in which case I'd like to keep the phone. Which is more likely, I really want to keep the phone as the S8 upgrade is not worth the money for me, in my opinion.
waqar747 said:
Hey, I had been stuck with the issues as mentioned shortly after I upgraded to Nougat via ODIN (SM-G935F/probably Netherlands, Unlocked, no root, no mods). The phone would work fine and then suddenly start overheating and resultant bootloops and black screens when in certain standard apps like Google photos and Facebook. This would happen with no fixed pattern, sometimes everyday, sometimes once a month). I did cache clears and full resets but the problem would reappear. Phone stopped getting OTAs as well, although it got a few in the beginning. Security patches. Recovery typically showed updating and didn't progress.
Finally I decided to flash another latest stock ROM via ODIN. Now a few days have gone by without a sign of the previous troubles (God, I hope it stays like this).
My question after this long story, is this possibly a hardware problem, in which case I'll sell it off before it reappears. Or could it just be a software glitch solved by the new ROM, in which case I'd like to keep the phone. Which is more likely, I really want to keep the phone as the S8 upgrade is not worth the money for me, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a bad flash. The new flash removed the issues, so you're good to go.
Guess what guys, the problem returned after about 3-4 weeks. Appeared randomly while using FB. Phone went into bootloop and overheating again, and even when it restarted properly, it would go into the same cycle when I started using apps like messaging, whatsapp and facebook.
I booted in recovery and cleared the cache after about 25 reboots. One thing I noted was that recovery initially showed an update running, which got stuck first, and then completed after another reboot and entering into recovery. Has been stable for the past 24 hours now, like it never happened. I can't figure out what the issue could be, since now I can do whatever I want and it won't overheat like before or reboot.
Feels like a software issue since it disappears like it was never there. Hardware rarely does that. Is there a possibility that storage of some sort is bad at some point, and when data is written over that point, the problem appears. I'm shooting in the dark but can't figure it out otherwise.
Yup.
Seems you have memory issues.
Go to Samsung service and replace memory chip.

Fingerprint hardware not available and screen locks itself immediately!

Hi everyone!
I have a OP 2 for more than one and a half years now and never had any issues with it(stayed stock...) until recently. I didnt update the phone to the latest version and was putting it off, and today in the afternoon when I tried to unlock my phone it said the 'Fingerprint hardware is not available' and after unlocking the phone with the pattern, it IMMEDIATELY LOCKS ITSELF BACK !!! after split second it just locks the screen while everything is working like connection, wifi, messages, notifications, etc. but due to this I cannot access anything on the phone, can't go to settings and switch to onscreen nav bar buttons, can't force stop/wipe cache the com.fingerprints.serviceext either, tried restarting it several times, downloaded the update but can't even install it because the phone just locks!:crying: I have no idea what would fix it and I am avoiding a full reset and wipe on the phone(also based on all i have read, dont think it would fix it anyways)
If anyone knows whats the problem or has dealt with it or knows someone who has, please help me out here on how to fix this and what to do. I did not root it or flash custom ROM's on it yet and never had a flip cover or any sort of case so literally don't know why it happened.
Thanks in advance,
Max
Hi
I had the exact same issue with mine, I was on LineageOS and could access the logs so I was able to determine it was an hardware failure.
Went to a repair shop to replace the home button, and Bam it worked again.
If you didn't flash a custom ROM it is likely an hardware issue just like I had.

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