Phone randomly rings

[comptine]

It's a problem that started a few hours ago, my phone will randomly light up and play my ringtone, but it's not an actual incoming call. For a while it also booted the Car Mode at the same time, but I seem to have disabled that for now. When it's in vibrating mode the screen only lights up, but no vibrating. I can't find anyone with a similar problem. I suppose it should be noted that I did not install any new apps or meddle with any settings.

Appreciate any help I can get.

 

[cr6]

Welcome to the forum comptine!
Can you tell us what you've tried so far, in regards to solving the problem? Have you tried rebooting the phone? Ten minute battery pull? (I don't recall if you can remove the battery in the M8, if so do it)
When the "ring" happens, does anything pop up in your notification bar?
Hang in there and we'll do the best we can to get you fixed up.

S5 tap'n

 

[comptine]

Of course! I tried a reboot (the slow one). When the Car Mode came up I went into the settings for that and un-ticked automatic launch, but I'm still not sure if those are fully related. Nothing really pops up when it rings (and nothing in the notification bar), all active programmes are and were shut down. The M8 has a built in battery, so pulling it out would not be possible. The call register does not show any missed calls. I read that on some networks it can do that if you have voice messages, but I checked and I have none. I'm truly baffled, I've had a bunch of different androids before (including HTC's) but this is the first one to do this.

Thanks for the help.

 

[FoxKat]

Have you added a new case, perhaps one with a magnetic closure?

Sent from my Droid Turbo on Tapatalk.

 

[comptine]

Have you added a new case, perhaps one with a magnetic closure?

Sent from my Droid Turbo on Tapatalk.

Nope, haven't done anything to the phone that I can think of.

 

[cr6]

Try turning off car mode for now. Reboot the phone and see if that helps. Car mode can be a bit finicky sometimes.

S5 tap'n

 

[comptine]

Before today I din't even know I had a car mode, but I think it should be off. I disabled the auto launch thing in the settings and exited the mode. I doesn't seem to pop up anymore. But the ringing problem has somehow remained.

 

[comptine]

It rings in airplane mode too. I figured I'd add that.

 

[FoxKat]

It rings in airplane mode too. I figured I'd add that.

Okay, that's a new one. Are we completely sure that its ringing and possibly not some other type of notification?

Sent from my Droid Turbo on Tapatalk.

 

[comptine]

Yes, I changed my ringtone to something I don't use anywhere else, and that tune started playing instead. So it's definitely the ringtone that's gone mad.

 

[FoxKat]

Well, just the fact that it does this while in Airplane mode is a clear indication that something is terribly wrong. you shouldn't get a ringtone unless the cellular radio receives a call. As you know, this can't happen while in Airplane mode, so something is awry there and the phone is somehow being told that there is a call coming in and triggering the ringtone.

I must say this is feeling more and more like either a hardware failure or a firmware corruption. I might start by booting into Safe Mode and see if the problem persists.

To boot into Safe Mode on this phone, follow the instructions listed HERE (Restart the Device in Safe Mode The all new HTC One M8 Verizon Wireless ). If the phone continues to act strangely while in Safe Mode, it has to be either firmware or hardware. The next step may be to attempt a Factory Data Restore (FDR).

There is also a Troubleshooting Assistant HERE (Troubleshooting Assistant for HTC One M8 Verizon Wireless ) which may lend some clarity to the issues you're dealing with.

If that is unsuccessful, then I'd suggest you back up all personal data to either a removable MicroSD card, or to an external device or cloud storage, then perform the FDR. I use the following two apps and have had nothing but complete success with both for backing up the SMS/MMS and the Phone Call Log...

SMS Backup Restore - Android Apps on Google Play

Call Logs Backup Restore - Android Apps on Google Play

If you are logged into Google, your contacts should be backed up there, but you may wish to do a separate backup of them as well...

Super Backup SMS Contacts - Android Apps on Google Play has gotten great reviews and has been used over 5,000,000 times since introduction. I have no personal experience with it, but it will back up your contacts and ALSO can back up your SMS, however I personally prefer Ritesh's utility (above) instead for SMS backup purpose.

If after restoring the phone, if it still acts this way BEFORE you've reinstalled any of your user-installed apps, it would be IMHO conclusive that you have a hardware failure. If it functions normally but eventually reverts to this strange symptom after having reinstalled some of your apps, I would point to an app as the culpret.

To perform an FDR, go HERE (HTC One M8 - Resetting HTC One Hard reset - SETTINGS SERVICES - How-tos - Support HTC United States ).

Please keep us in the loop as you attempt to troubleshoot.

 

[rfXXXXX]

It's

It's a problem that started a few hours ago, my phone will randomly light up and play my ringtone, but it's not an actual incoming call. For a while it also booted the Car Mode at the same time, but I seem to have disabled that for now. When it's in vibrating mode the screen only lights up, but no vibrating. I can't find anyone with a similar problem. I suppose it should be noted that I did not install any new apps or meddle with any settings.

Appreciate any help I can get.

problem that started a few hours ago, my phone will randomly light up and play my ringtone, but it's not an actual incoming call. For a while it also booted the Car Mode at the same time, but I seem to have disabled that for now. When it's in vibrating mode the screen only lights up, but no vibrating. I can't find anyone with a similar problem. I suppose it should be noted that I did not install any new apps or meddle with any settings.

Appreciate any help I can get.

For me it was Skype.

I got the problem after I started using Skype. Random ringing combined with problems charging and ringing when I plugged in the charger. Force stopped Skype and the problem went away.

 

[bonkers one m8]

I you dont mind, Im going to resurrect this thread to assist others finding a solution.

I have the same issues as OP, my ONE M8 (stock android 6.0) started ringing this afternoon, and when i picked up the phone, there was no prompt to answer the phone, in fact, there was no app icon (ie music) running at all. The ringtones would often come in groups , layering over the top of each other till the sound was a complete mess. When you dial a number during the ringtone playing, the ringtone stops for a second, then starts playing through the speakers, but making calls is possible , as is receiving calls. I also noted the car app turning up in recently used even though it is not being activated. The ringtones seem to be as random as but approximately 20ish rings an hour.

I changed ringtone and the phantom rings also changed, confirming it wasnt a random alarm.

I soft reset the phone numerous times to no avail.

I disabled many apps, including the Car app, Skype, and twitter, no result.

I restarted in safe mode as mentioned above, no change.

I deleted cache partition, no change.

I guess im going to reset to factory, but I can think of better things to do with my evening

 

[FoxKat]

I you dont mind, Im going to resurrect this thread to assist others finding a solution.

I have the same issues as OP, my ONE M8 (stock android 6.0) started ringing this afternoon, and when i picked up the phone, there was no prompt to answer the phone, in fact, there was no app icon (ie music) running at all. The ringtones would often come in groups , layering over the top of each other till the sound was a complete mess. When you dial a number during the ringtone playing, the ringtone stops for a second, then starts playing through the speakers, but making calls is possible , as is receiving calls. I also noted the car app turning up in recently used even though it is not being activated. The ringtones seem to be as random as but approximately 20ish rings an hour.

I changed ringtone and the phantom rings also changed, confirming it wasnt a random alarm.

I soft reset the phone numerous times to no avail.

I disabled many apps, including the Car app, Skype, and twitter, no result.

I restarted in safe mode as mentioned above, no change.

I deleted cache partition, no change.

I guess im going to reset to factory, but I can think of better things to do with my evening

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. There's only one of two possible outcomes. Either it will fix the problem or is a hardware issue and the reset will not fix it. I'm leaning in the direction of the factory data restore fixing it, which doesn't mean necessarily that it was a software conflict. It could easily be a corrupted OS.

In either event I hope the problem is resolved soon.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[bonkers one m8]

Thanks for your reply, out of the few forums that mentioned this problem, your response was the most comprehensive and polite and I was a little miffed that OP never bothered to stick around and do fault finding with you.

Back to the phone, last night I did my factory reset, and although it never randomly rang again, other issues appeared to manifest.

While playing media through MX player, no audio would be heard, either through speaker or headset.

When answering/making phone calls the phone would default to loudspeaker as soon as the call was answered.

Phone randomly closing message app whilst typing.

BUT, this morning, after 3 factory resets, my phone now appears to be working normally. I will monitor and update again if there is any change. I used compressed air on both the charge slot and the headset slot, even though both were clear to a visual inspection. Its pretty unsatisfactory as far as fault finding goes, but i guess if it doesnt appear again it was most likely something like moisture in a weird spot (phone was not knowingly subjected to liquids) or maybe a cracked motherboard or something if the problems and gremlins persist. :| IDK

On a related note im pretty unimpressed with htc backup utility, im no savant but im not technically retarded and i managed to factory reset and lose most of my data. That should not be possible.

cheers for your help.