4.0.3 SGH-I777 response from Samsung Tech support

[screamloud]

After reading multiple threads over and over in regards to the glitchy and unstable nature of the 4.0.3 ICS update for AT&T SGH-I777 and reading is should be resolved with firmware 4.0.4 I contacted Samsung Tech Support today rather than just complain about it in hopes it would magically get fixed.

I have sad news for all of you. This is not the answer any of us want to hear.
I've pulled my battery. I've done a factory reset. The firmware is glitchy, my phone locks up and freezes when I get a sms text, a google talk msg, an email. I'm unable to access my email account that is not gmail. Also my battery life has dropped to almost lasting 40% of the time now. This is ridiculous.

Short version is, they claim there is NO documented issues with 4.0.3 having any problems and their solution is if a battery pull or a factory reset doesn't work. You should send in your phone. This is not a solution for a faulty firmware.


Here is my chat session with Samsung Tech Support:

You are now chatting with 'Daniel'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK56401351923X

Daniel: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Daniel: We have not heard from you. Do you wish to continue the chat?
Visitor: sorry was waiting
Visitor: I have a SGH-I777
Visitor: This weekend I upgraded to the firmware via kies to 4.0.3 from 2.3.6.
Visitor: the new OS is very glitchy, my phone freezes up and I have to force quit apps. Also my battery life is now severely decreased.
Visitor: I have done a factory reset and it has not resolved any of the issues I'm experiencing.
Visitor: If I receive a sms txt msg, it will freeze up my phone for 2-5 minutes until I can use the phone again.
Daniel: As per our records, there is no known issue for the same at our end. However, I will forward the same issue to the concerned Samsung department.
Visitor: If I receive a google talk message the phone will freeze also from 2-5 minutes along with the notification tone will not stop unless I force quit the application.
Visitor: I've been reading several threads on the android forums. This is a known issue and some issues are resolved with firmware 4.0.4
Visitor: What would my next course of action be to resolve these issues with firmware 4.0.3 until an official 4.0.4 is released for the SGH-I777?
Daniel: Not to worry, As this is a Samsung technical department we troubleshoot the technical issues on the phone. Let us try performing some troubleshooting steps and check the result from our end.
Visitor: ok
Daniel: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
Visitor: ko
Visitor: ok
Daniel: Let us try to resolve the issue by performing a Soft reset on your device and check the result.
Daniel: By performing soft reset, settings on the phone will refresh and this might fix the issue.
Visitor: ok. how do I do a soft reset?
Daniel: I will provide you with the steps.
Daniel: Please follow the steps mentioned below to perform a soft reset on your Phone.

1. Turn off the handset.
2. Remove the battery and wait for 30 seconds.
3. Reinsert the battery and turn ON the device.

Visitor: Ok. I've tried this several times already but I will do it again now.
Daniel: Thank you.
Visitor: ok, the phone is coming back on now
Daniel: Okay.
Visitor: I just swipped to change screens and the phone is frozen.
Visitor: I just received the msg "Unfortunately, Email has stopped"
Daniel: I am sorry about that.
Daniel: Are you able to charge the device?
Visitor: Yes
Daniel: Okay. As you have performed soft reset on the device and the issue persists. Let us go ahead and perform a Hard reset on your device.
Daniel: Most issues can be solved by performing a hard reset on the phone.
Daniel: However, by performing a Hard reset on the device, the information like texts, pictures, videos, contacts, any downloaded applications saved on the phone gets erased.
Visitor: so a hard reset is a factory reset?
Visitor: I've done a factory reset already and it did not resolve the problems Im experiencing with firmware 4.0.3
Daniel: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
Daniel: I am sorry about that.
Daniel: As we tried with every possible step and you have already done with the factory reset and the issue persists, In this case, I recommend you send in the device to Samsung Service center as the device needs to be examined physically by our technician to fix it.
Visitor: This is a known issues with firmware 4.0.3. I've read several threads in regards to this. I don't understand what sending my phone in is going to change with a firmware that has bugs. Is there a patch for the firmware or is there an ETA for when 4.0.4 will be released for the SGH-I777 for AT&T phones?
Daniel: I am really sorry, we do not have any information on the update details.
Daniel: I would have surley helped you in this regard if I had the information with me in our database.
Visitor: Outside of sending in my handset there isn't any further advice you have for resolving the issues with the 4.0.3 firmware for the SGH-I777?
Visitor: How would I go about making sure this case is documented so that someone there can look into this issue. I'm not the only one experiencing the issue. I've read literally over 100 posts in regards to the 4.0.3 glitchy firmware..
Daniel: As I have informed you that we do not have any issues recorded in our database in regards to the 4.0. update.
Visitor: Could we start with this being a documented case then?
Daniel: I apologize, As this is a Samsung technical department we troubleshoot the technical issues on the phone. We do not have any access to accessing any sites rather than Samsung website from our end
Visitor: Ok. I'll will go ahead post this to document the issues and will contact Samsung again in regards to the issue that it is not being documented there. Thank you for trying but simply a soft reset and a factory reset are not resolving the issues. The firmware 4.0.3 is not stable on teh SGH-I77.
Daniel: In this case, as you have done with the troubleshooting steps on the device and the issue persists, we can send in the device to Samsung Service center for a service/repair from our end.

 

[gianmarco]

And I was jsut about to how I was having similar issues in terms of temporary freezing.....

It is very ineresting to hear that there are no previous documented issues.

Also:

Daniel: As per our records, there is no known issue for the same at our end. However, I will forward the same issue to the concerned Samsung department.

Daniel: I apologize, As this is a Samsung technical department we troubleshoot the technical issues on the phone. We do not have any access to accessing any sites rather than Samsung website from our end

What? But they WILL send this over to the concerned Samsung department right?

 

[screamloud]

Personally I call BS on no previously documented cases. I don't remember the actual forum I read the information on but someone had talked to a level of support at Samsung and said the resolution of the issues is firmware 4.0.4 but they did not have a release date for it yet.

I did ask if they did not have any documentation upon this being an issue to start with mine. I got the blow off of "they only troubleshoot technical issues in this department". I say its a from a check list for tech support and they exhausted option 1 & 2 so option 3 is send in your handset. No real working knowledge of problem or solutions much less a way to notate there is a problem. It's sad.

 

[wing2012]

I also had a problem upgrading my phone from GB to ICS when Samsung first released it. The response I got from the Chat Support was almost identical to yours. At the end, I simply rooted my phone and flashed CM9. It is running great right now!

HTH.

 

[maxmaxter]

I also had a problem upgrading my phone from GB to ICS when Samsung first released it. The response I got from the Chat Support was almost identical to yours. At the end, I simply rooted my phone and flashed CM9. It is running great right now!

HTH.

Is this the CM9-RC1? Do you see any issues with this release? (I've been tempted to do it...) Wifi works? Exchange works? etc...
thanks!!!

 

[wing2012]

Is this the CM9-RC1? Do you see any issues with this release? (I've been tempted to do it...) Wifi works? Exchange works? etc...
thanks!!!

No, I am using the 6/25 nightly which I believe really close to RC1 which released on 6/26, AFAIK.

I have no issues with this nightly. Everything works including Wifi. I don't use Exchange so can't say anything about it. The only issues I am having are the Auto Brightness and the Apollo player. Auto Brightness needs to be manually tweaked and I have a tough time creating PlayList in Apollo player. Other than that, it is great and stable for daily use.

HTH.

 

[Grobar]

screamloud, I believe you talked to a bot and not an actual person.

 

[maxmaxter]

No, I am using the 6/25 nightly which I believe really close to RC1 which released on 6/26, AFAIK.

I have no issues with this nightly. Everything works including Wifi. I don't use Exchange so can't say anything about it. The only issues I am having are the Auto Brightness and the Apollo player. Auto Brightness needs to be manually tweaked and I have a tough time creating PlayList in Apollo player. Other than that, it is great and stable for daily use.

HTH.

Last 2 questions... 1) Are you experiencing a decrease in battery life, as reported with the AT&T update to ICS? 2) Do you have the same notification sound issues that are currently being reported in these forums after ICS update?

Thanks!!!!

 

[wing2012]

Last 2 questions... 1) Are you experiencing a decrease in battery life, as reported with the AT&T update to ICS? 2) Do you have the same notification sound issues that are currently being reported in these forums after ICS update?

Thanks!!!!

The battery life is great! I have wifi on all the time and with light use (emails, music, SMS, calls), it can last for at least 2 days. With heavy use (GPS, photo, in addition to light use), it can last until evening. The AT&T ICS (4.0.3) still hasn't really fixed the wifi bug from v2.6.3 as I read from XDA Entrop512 mentioned from one of his threads. That's one other reasons I ran to CM9.

I don't know about the "stock" SMS. I use Google Voice & WhatsApp for SMS all the time. I always get notification sound from GV. I turned off group notification from WhatsApp but leave individual notification on, and it works perfectly.



Edit: Forgot to mention that I have Account Sync turned off for all accounts. I like to check them manually! I think it does make a difference.

Sorry screamloud, kind of hijacking your thread.

 

[screamloud]

Not a problem at all w/ hijacking the thread. I called AT&T and after going multiple tiers of tech support they talked to Samsung who basically said, the have no ETA on 4.0.4 for the SGH-i777. They were very polite but the short version is, I can either receive a refurbished sgh-i777 with 2.3.6 installed or keep my 4.0.3 but there is no turning back.

After mulling this over for a week. I like my phone. I know what I've put it through and haven't. I'm really considering doing an update to a custom rom. I've read about several ShoStock and Mystic Glory. Both seem to be stable from what I've read in the reviews. Anything has to be more stable than my 4.0.3 stock release from Samsung. It's garbage to say the least.

With that said, never rooting my phone or flashing a custom rom I'm hesitant and don't want to brick my phone but 4.0.3 is beyond annoying.

Grobar- I'm not 100% sure if it was a bot but if it was, it was the most responsive bot I've ever interacted with. They were very polite and at times took a while for a response when I would stump them. Either way.... Samsung obviously doesn't have an answer nor want to accept their official 4.0.3 is not stable and shouldn't have been released.

 

[2acclaim]

there are a lot of stable roms out there for our phones. I even have a dual boot option on mine(although I seldom use it).

Anyhow screw waiting for the official fix and fix it 'yourself' by using someone else's custom rom.

 

[lunatic59]

With that said, never rooting my phone or flashing a custom rom I'm hesitant and don't want to brick my phone but 4.0.3 is beyond annoying.

It's very hard to brick most current phones. The most common way is to flash incorrect firmware or to interrupt the flashing process. In any case, the risk is minimal and it's quite empowering. If you'd like I'll be happy to walk you through it.

 

[westie66]

I have the same issue, my phone wont last overnight without running out of battery (sgh-i777 AT&T), in fact if I just let it sit idle, screen off, it heats up...doing nothing! Had no problem with GB at all. I also rang AT&T then the tech guy and I had a conference call with Samsung, same story, "not a known issue". When I asked how it could not be a known issue they replied "until a sufficient number of people complain about it it is not registered as a known issue" so in other words they know about it but will not acknowledge it or even act on it until there are enough complaints. The AT&T guy told me I was the first to complain to him so the message is, if you are having a problem make sure you register your complaint so they will action it. Samsung don't even do it, they get Google to do it. I asked if they can flash it back to GB but they told me this was not possible, options are, send it in to Samsung, refurbished replacement or wait for v4.0.4

 

[Halofromsue]

I spoke to an AT&T techie today. He said his phone also got the ICS, however, he doesn't have a G S2. He said it worked great for his phone but has had numerous people call him who owns the G S2 with problems. I just dont get why samsung would not send out a patch to fix this crap they've given us. I will NEVER get another samsung phone again if they dont do something. I promise

 

[westie66]

Hang in there, the hardware is good but agree, how dare they issue an irreversible firmware update that claims to make your phone perform better but actually turns it to crap?! For me, I have discovered a temporary work around. If I start the phone in safe mode the battery life returns to normal. The only issue is that apps in the apps folder are not loaded i.e. safe mode! Apps on my home screen still load though. I will use this till they release a patch. To start in safe mode, power phone off, turn back on and hold down the menu button, bottom left. You will see the words "safe mode" appear in bottom left corner of screen. I have not yet discovered which app is causing the battery life issue but it may well be an android system app or AT&T app you can't remove.
Hope this helps