Random reboots / crashing

[sholmes]

So, everything was great until I left home. And someone else brought this up but I'm too lazy to find their post again.

The Droid 3 rebooted when I went to unlock the screen after it had switched from WiFi to 3G. This happened again later this morning.

So, now I've shut off WiFi entirely and I'm just using 3G (I'm still on the unlimited plan). So far, no reboots.

If I can get through until tomorrow, I'll start re-installing applications.

So how many people have WiFi shut off entirely and are still suffering reboots? How many are suffering none?

For those of you with WiFi turned on, what are your WiFi advanced settings as regards WiFi sleep policy? And how often do you suffer reboots?

 

[Stevelord]

Mine has had a few I think. One happened today. Was in my holster and I suddenly heard the "Droid!" sound go off.

 

[nerdslogic]

I have had this phone for I dunno....a week now....and I have had zero crashes and zero dropped calls....zero multiple message....zero issues really.....I would advise you guys to call VZW if you haven't already done a factory reset. If you haven't then do the factory reset first.

 

[sholmes]

Mine has had a few I think. One happened today. Was in my holster and I suddenly heard the "Droid!" sound go off.

What are you Advanced Wi-Fi settings?

 

[sholmes]

I have had this phone for I dunno....a week now....and I have had zero crashes and zero dropped calls....zero multiple message....zero issues really.....I would advise you guys to call VZW if you haven't already done a factory reset. If you haven't then do the factory reset first.

What are your Wi-Fi settings?

 

[aramos87]

I have had my D3 since the day it came to stores (July 14th) and I was having the random reboots as well, I went in to Verizon and they gave me another phone (the next day) and when activating it I noticed that it did not ask to activate the phone first. It asked for Google account and Backup Assistant first, then wouldnt connect due to the phone not being activated and of course the Verizon employee had no idea what was going on so I just took the phone home and Factory reset it again. This time when it booted and I pushed the little green robot it asked me to activate phone first, then the rest followed. I did not restore my apps or select to keep it backed up through google until after the set up was completely done. And I havent had one reboot/crash since then, and my phone goes from wifi to 3g every time i leave my house. It could have something to do with the way the phone boots after factory data reset..??

 

[sholmes]

I have had my D3 since the day it came to stores (July 14th) and I was having the random reboots as well, I went in to Verizon and they gave me another phone (the next day) and when activating it I noticed that it did not ask to activate the phone first. It asked for Google account and Backup Assistant first, then wouldnt connect due to the phone not being activated and of course the Verizon employee had no idea what was going on so I just took the phone home and Factory reset it again. This time when it booted and I pushed the little green robot it asked me to activate phone first, then the rest followed. I did not restore my apps or select to keep it backed up through google until after the set up was completely done. And I havent had one reboot/crash since then, and my phone goes from wifi to 3g every time i leave my house. It could have something to do with the way the phone boots after factory data reset..??

Hard to know. It may be multiple issues intersecting. Maybe the factory reset clears something that's not working properly with the WiFi. I know that I have *not* factory reset my phone, I've begun adding apps back on, and with WiFi off, not a single reset.

It occurred to me that the first week I had the phone I was out of the country and playing with it on WiFi only. Frequently poor WiFi and in hindsight, it's certainly possible that as the WiFi strained to keep a signal, it was triggering a failure.

I'm only hesitant to factory reset my phone due to a single application which doesn't currently have a backup setting and is a PITA to set up (but well worth it once you've done so).

It may also be that some phones simply have bad hardware and so this defect only shows up on a handful of phones. The exact trigger is unknown as I have no way to trace it. Perhaps I'll find some time to give Motorola support a call.

 

[spillner]

I have had my D3 since the day it came to stores (July 14th) and I was having the random reboots as well, I went in to Verizon and they gave me another phone (the next day) and when activating it I noticed that it did not ask to activate the phone first. It asked for Google account and Backup Assistant first, then wouldnt connect due to the phone not being activated and of course the Verizon employee had no idea what was going on so I just took the phone home and Factory reset it again. This time when it booted and I pushed the little green robot it asked me to activate phone first, then the rest followed. I did not restore my apps or select to keep it backed up through google until after the set up was completely done. And I havent had one reboot/crash since then, and my phone goes from wifi to 3g every time i leave my house. It could have something to do with the way the phone boots after factory data reset..??

The exact same thing happened to me and I haven't had one reboot or crash since and I've been using my phone all day.

 

[aramos87]

Yeah my buddy bought the phone the same day I did from the exact same store and he had almost the same thing happen to him, so I factory reset it twice before it came up to activate before anything else. And since then he hasnt had any reboots or crashes either... hhmmm.

And my phone hasnt reboot/crash since my last factory reset, im just having a damn music playback issue now, music is just cutting out for no reason!! Damn Droids!! you gotta love them though!! take the good with a little of the bad!! haha

 

[spillner]

I have had my D3 since the day it came to stores (July 14th) and I was having the random reboots as well, I went in to Verizon and they gave me another phone (the next day) and when activating it I noticed that it did not ask to activate the phone first. It asked for Google account and Backup Assistant first, then wouldnt connect due to the phone not being activated and of course the Verizon employee had no idea what was going on so I just took the phone home and Factory reset it again. This time when it booted and I pushed the little green robot it asked me to activate phone first, then the rest followed. I did not restore my apps or select to keep it backed up through google until after the set up was completely done. And I havent had one reboot/crash since then, and my phone goes from wifi to 3g every time i leave my house. It could have something to do with the way the phone boots after factory data reset..??

Hard to know. It may be multiple issues intersecting. Maybe the factory reset clears something that's not working properly with the WiFi. I know that I have *not* factory reset my phone, I've begun adding apps back on, and with WiFi off, not a single reset.

It occurred to me that the first week I had the phone I was out of the country and playing with it on WiFi only. Frequently poor WiFi and in hindsight, it's certainly possible that as the WiFi strained to keep a signal, it was triggering a failure.

I'm only hesitant to factory reset my phone due to a single application which doesn't currently have a backup setting and is a PITA to set up (but well worth it once you've done so).

It may also be that some phones simply have bad hardware and so this defect only shows up on a handful of phones. The exact trigger is unknown as I have no way to trace it. Perhaps I'll find some time to give Motorola support a call.

Im pretty sure this is a software problem with 2.3

 

[aramos87]

yeah I'm not too worried about it, I'm sure that they will come out with an update soon to fix all these issues, they always do! Hopefully they can get the white balance in the camear app fixed as well!!

 

[nuclear_eve]

Just found this forum today, after my Droid went into a spontaneous reboot loop, again. This time, stranding me in an unfamiliar city with no reliable cell access. Here's what I know, in case it helps any of you:

It's not a D3 issue or a Motorola issue- it is happening on my HTC Droid Incredible. I have had this phone about a year. It just started at the beginning of June of this year.

It's not a rooting issue- my phone has never been rooted.

It's not related to the physical hardware- Verizon replaced my first phone, and battery. Everything was fine for a few weeks, but it's started up again.

At least on my phone, there does seem to be a correlation to heat. My phone usually feels quite hot when it reboots. I don't think this is the cause though- I think it's a symptom of how hard the phone is working.

The problem starts gradually and gets worse. A random reboot here, another there. Liveable, but the frequency increases until it does what it did today, spontaneously rebooting over and over in a continual cycle. It never makes it to the home screen when it gets to that point. It goes from the HTC screen to the Droid eye, back to the HTC screen, until finally the battery drains or I take the battery out. Taking the battery out, then recharging it, seems to fix it temporarily.

It's not necessarily related to how charged it is- this has happened to me with as much as half a charge left.

I'm guessing it's a software issue. I can't say what version of Android I'm running since I'm waiting for my phone to charge back up. I saw someone posted a list of apps. The apps that are in common with those on my phone are Barcode Scanner, Facebook, Google+ (but this was installed after the problem started), Skype and Angry Birds.

Verizon seemed to have no idea about the problem when I took my phone in. But when I searched today, it seems to be a problem a lot of people are having, so I don't know why they don't "know about it." Unfortunately, it has left me high and dry as my phone warranty expired at the end of June and I have another 6 months before I'm eligible for a new one at a reasonable price. Though it sounds like any Android phone may be susceptible to this problem. I'm not keen on moving to an iPhone but it's beginning to sound like a more attractive option when I finally can get a new phone.

Hope this helps someone else out there.

 

[mr4r4n]

I just had 1 accessing the camera, the only thing I changed where I saw a difference on the way my phone acted was when I enabled device encryption and sd card encryption there was a kind of speed difference, and I've known cityid to be a problem so I just disabled it, and hoping for no more issues

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[sholmes]

Just found this forum today, after my Droid went into a spontaneous reboot loop, again. This time, stranding me in an unfamiliar city with no reliable cell access. Here's what I know, in case it helps any of you:

It's not a D3 issue or a Motorola issue- it is happening on my HTC Droid Incredible. I have had this phone about a year. It just started at the beginning of June of this year.

Two different models of phones exhibiting similar behavior doesn't necessarily mean it's the same cause. For example, my phone has never gone into a reboot loop and I've never had to take the battery out to get it under control. Furthermore, mine has never felt hot when it rebooted. Often times the phone is entirely idle.

But it also doesn't mean that it's *NOT* the same problem, we just need to keep our wits about us for red herrings.

I've gotten to the point where I have *NOT* done any factory resets but I have re-installed all my software. I've been playing with the Wi-Fi sleep settings and found that I'm only having the reboot issue when I've got Wi-Fi to never sleep or never sleep when plugged in. If I have Wi-Fi shut off or set to sleep when the display shuts off, I have no reboot problems. So I'm still thinking it's an issue with Wi-Fi, either hardware or software. Just need to find some time to call Motorola.

 

[sholmes]

Motorola is turning out to be pretty useless in my attempts to get this fixed. However, searching on their own forums (which they apparently don't do) I did find this:

https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/441893#441893

That links to:

Issue 18460 - android - 2.3.4 frequent reboots of android layer - Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project - Google Project Hosting

Essentially, it's resetting the WiFi settings that may resolve the issue. I'm going to put this into play as well as set my WiFi to never sleep and see what happens. If this works out, then it likely will fix reset issues on all Android phones. It's still a bug but at least one which could be dealt with.