Serious ROM leak documented on video!! May Cause fatal sms issue.

[elguapo76]

BUG FIXED: If you guys are still suffering from this issue upgrade to the Maintenance Release, it fixes it for the most part, except for the occasional failure to connect. No ROM leak though.


During the past few weeks my my Hero has been exhibiting signs of a ROM memory leak. It led to not being able to receive SMS messages even after hard resetting the phone. See these threads for that issue:
http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/12643-htc-working-critical-sms-voicemail-issue.html


Intermittent Text Message Receiving - Deals more with intermittent issue, but has some fatal sms isuues in it too.


http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/12604-mms-sms-stopped-working-after-out-space-error.html


It appears a leak is being caused when rebooting (or turning off bluetooth) the phone when the phone is in a "connecting" status with bluetooth device. Basically the phone stays in a "connecting" status when it fails to connect, even though the notification in the notification bar says it is connected and your bluetooth device says it is connected. In actuality it is not and all calls and audio will be routed to your phone not bluetooth device. If you restart or turn off bluetooth while your phone with a "connecting" status active I have found when you reboot it will eat away at your ROM memory(not RAM). You may not ever notice the bluetooth connection failure if you don't get a call while when it should be active. The "connecting" status does not clear unless you unless it manages to connect after a while which is rare (either does it within a few seconds or not at all) . I made a video of this behavior because not a lot of people have been experiencing or at least catching on to it with their usage patterns.

Edit: It appears that the leak actually occurs even if you turn bluetooth off while the phone is in connecting status so a reset is not necessary for the leak to occur. This basically renders bluetooth use unusable as there is no way I can think of to avoid a leak if it gets stuck with the "connecting" status.

Sorry for the video orientation.

YouTube - HTC Sprint Hero ROM memory leak, possible SMS failure Part 1

YouTube - HTC Sprint Hero ROM memory leak, possible SMS failure Part 2

 

[ron]

FYI: I just exchanged my Hero for a new one and the intermittent sms issue persists. The phone has been out of the box for 20 minutes, and Bluetooth has not even been turned on - not ever.

 

[itsaddison]

Thanks for posting, although not sure I entirely understand what your argument is with regard to bluetooth. My phone completely lost the ability to get texts or voicemail and I never turned on bluetooth once in the entirety of owning the device. I certainly didn't try to connect to anything with bluetooth.

 

[ron]

Well you mentioned issues when your phone is restarted when it's in a "connecting" status with bluetooth device"

Just fyi on my experience.

 

[itsaddison]

ron I think you're confused! I was responding to the OP. It sounds like you read my post thinking I was the OP responding to you.

You and I actually share a similar experience!

 

[elguapo76]

Thanks for posting, although not sure I entirely understand what your argument is with regard to bluetooth. My phone completely lost the ability to get texts or voicemail and I never turned on bluetooth once in the entirety of owning the device. I certainly didn't try to connect to anything with bluetooth.

Did you get a low on storage memory warning? The fatal sms/voicemail issue appears to be tied into the phone not having enough storage memory. This is one of the paths that leads to that at least it did with my first hero and it is doing it with this one as well. I suppose it can also be cause by the user filling up the ROM with too many apps.

The intermittent/delayed sms issue is caused by something else, I have not experienced it.

 

[ron]

Got it Addison ;-)
And OP, yes these are different issues. What I have is the intermittent issue, not the out of memory issue.

 

[itsaddison]

Yeah...I personally didn't have any ROM issues. I always had atleast 90MB free and there was no intermittentness to my lack of SMS or Voicemail. There are obviously multiple issues here.

 

[Gambit]

Good find.

I haven't had problems with SMS or voicemail (that I'm aware of), but am having a ROM memory issue, and I do use bluetooth pretty extensively and have had the same "connecting..." issue with both Motorola SD9-HD and Plantronics Voyager 855.

A few days ago I gave up on Bluetooth working altogether because it was such a pain and just bought a pair of noise isolating corded ear buds. And today I factory rest my device to reclaim memory.

 

[Gambit]

Also, this should be a candidate to be added to the Confirmed Issues sticky in my opinion. The Bluetooth/ROM leak is an issue within itself whether or not it contriburtes to the SMS failure.

 

[pdragon]

I'm trying to wait til there's some sort of confirmation from Sprint or HTC that they're aware of the issue before I add it to the big sticky. If I went adding every issue that someone confirms independently, I'd have no free time.

 

[elguapo76]

I just performed a hard rest on my device. I did not load any applications or services. It still performs the same behavior if it gets stuck "connecting". On my device it connects 9 out of 10 times but those few times that it fails to actually connect it causes this issue. I suppose if you have a device that connects all the time you will not see it but if it ever gets stuck "connecting" check your memory.

 

[LTZguy]

I havent experienced this issue yet...

 

[elguapo76]

Will over at the Sprint Forum has been able to replicate this issue along with the Sprint's phone team on various phones. See following linkL

Serious ROM leak documented on video!!...

 

[pdragon]

Thanks elguapo76! I added it to the Confirmed /w Workarounds list.

 

[elguapo76]

Thanks elguapo76! I added it to the Confirmed /w Workarounds list.

Thanks! The only workarounds that I know of are not to use bluetooth or use it with a device that "always" connects correctly.

 

[marctronixx]

i saw this connecting issue on a BT 8010 headset.it would still try to connect even though the headset was connected to my other phone.

what i did was turn off BT. this released the phone from trying to connect, but later once i turned on BT the hero would still try to connect to the 8010.

so i unpaired the hero form the 8010 and of course no more issues.

i use the hero with my BT in the car. it connects and disconnects fine. no errors or issues.

i do not use the stock sms app to SEND messages, but i do receive messages (and that blasted 9103). i use GV for all messages...

no ROM leak.

also perhaps knowing what BT profile the headest one is trying to use may be helpful. if its an older BT stack that may be the issues.. so i can see a lot of variables herelll

 

[elguapo76]

@marctronixx

The bluetooth has to get stuck on "connecting" status for the leak to occur. If it does not it will not leak. Each time it happens and you turn bluetooth off or reset your Hero the ROM loses 5-15mb.

My Jabra SP700 is a 2.0 device.

 

[kinetic]

The memory can be restored with a factory reset, correct? From what I recall, I thought Sprint said you may have to take the phone back to them when this happens... as if the memory was somehow lost forever.

 

[pdragon]

Factory reset fixes it for some people, but not all.

 

[kinetic]

Knowing that a factory reset may not work is quite disconcerting... so does that mean whatever has a hold on the memory will continue to do so after a complete restore? In other words, did the factory reset report more memory than before but still not receive SMS messages, or was the memory still being allocated?

 

[WhiteWidow]

I can confirm this issue on my device. I have a LiquidAUX BT receiver for my car and I have had connection issues with my Hero since day 1. Most of the time it connects but other it just hangs. Then i started to receive low disc space warning most likely due to the reasons described above.

If this is not resolved along with the sleep issue, or 2.0 is not deployed before my 30 days Im returning the device and going to the droid.

Knowing that a factory reset may not work is quite disconcerting... so does that mean whatever has a hold on the memory will continue to do so after a complete restore? In other words, did the factory reset report more memory than before but still not receive SMS messages, or was the memory still being allocated?

A hard reset did return my memory to above 130Mb. I have not received any text yet, but i am pissed I had to do a hard rest to get it back

 

[elguapo76]

A factory reset restores your storage memory every time but if you get to low on storage memory before you factory reset our phone the problem is you stop receiving sms/voicemail. If that is the case it's looking like there is no recovering that functionality short of exchanging the phone.

 

[andy22]

This is very strange behavior. Butttt can that issue be exploited to open a back door into the root since this is obviously writing to the ROM if it actually persisting after a hard reset?

 

[WhiteWidow]

A factory reset restores your storage memory every time but if you get to low on storage memory before you factory reset our phone the problem is you stop receiving sms/voicemail. If that is the case it's looking like there is no recovering that functionality short of exchanging the phone.

Crap just tested SMS and i cant receive only send. Now to exchange it.