ryancalif

I upgraded (reluctantly) a few weeks ago to Jelly Bean and started getting random restarts about once per day, sometimes less frequently.

After doing some research I found out it's a pretty common problem, but nobody can seem to figure out whats causing it. Most just assume its an OS bug/memory leak.

Anyway, I did a complete factory reset yesterday and haven't noticed the rebooting. Is this all a placebo? or have other people noticed the restart problem getting fixed after a reset?

Thanks

SebaKL

It's common that the old system leftover files, collide with the new once after the upgrade. While I had no problem upgrading the JB, I did experience that earlier with my S2 upgrade from GB to ICS. In which case, factory reset fixed the problem, and so it seems to be a solution for few others.

ryancalif

Thank you kind sir.

Rdjr74

I did a factory reset and after when running Pandora had a reboot. Other then that it's not as frequent but I'm still very hesitate to say it took care of my reboot issues. Still not a fan of JB over ICS.

And being on Verizon I'm sure to see a fix sometime next year.

joemonkey

like you, my s3 did an auto upgrade which i regretted. since the upgrade, sometimes incoming calls do not ring even though i did not set it to silent mode. then many a times, the phone freezes up and the only way to fix it is to remove the battery.
someone suggested a hard reset and i did that. it was a pain even though i backup everything first. it seems to be better but i seriously doubted it really fixes it 100%.
i suppose any time we upgrade whether for s3 or computer alike, there are always issues, bugs..etc

i never had the random restarts issue. i sincerely hope the reset fixes your problem.

ryancalif

The restart issue appears to be resolved... no incidents yet since I wiped it.

funkylogik

JB is fine tbh. Imo samsung made a mistake by not realising/telling people that they should reset their phone after the update.
So many people are left with bugs that a reset cures

__________________
GT-i9300 running Neat Rom with Siyah kernel.
A Scotsman. Be nice

bmoliver

I did a factory reset and my S3 still reboots once or twice a week.

funkylogik

Was it fine before JB mate? Id return it now incase it gets worse

ryancalif

.... that, or a common app among all of the affected phones out there not getting along with Jellybean.

Part of me thinks the reset is just a placebo. But who knows... so far so good!

funkylogik

Could be mate but the bugs i was having were definately and instantly cured by either the reset or the rom i flashed which is a very TW rom.
All my apps n app data were backed up and restored after it so it wasnt an app.. defo wasnt a placaebo lol

joemonkey

i never had a random restart until last night. JB seems to be pretty buggy to say the least because my s3 freezes a couple of times a day even after i hard reset the phone TWICE.

i suspect it coud very well be a common app for all the affected phones, unfortunately i can't figure out which app. it's almost impossible for people to identify which app because one has to install one app at a time after the hard reset and wait for however long to see if the restart/freeze comes back. the whole process could take a long long time and there is no guarantee one can isolate the APP(s).

bmoliver

Had the phone since last August and I don't recall any reboots before JB. Could be a rogue app I suppose. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to determine that without laboriously removing apps and then waiting for a week or so to see if things improve.

joemonkey

my point exactly. i often install new apps for fun, so there is no telling which app(s) step over each other or worst jelly bean. for starter, i have about 20 apps that need to be updated, so i suppose that is a good place to start as any in hope the updates for certain apps 'may' resolve my issues.

Rdjr74

I'm beyond frustrated with either Google's JB update, it's compatibility with Touchwhiz or both. I don't recall experiencing reboots on ICS while watching any videos, youtube, etc. Now it happens pretty much all the time. Who's to blame, Samsung, Google, Verizon or a little of all. You want as a consumer a smooth enjoyable experience and they claim you get that but it's just not the case here anymore. It's unacceptable and I really hope Google etc. figures this out very very soon. I understand there are a lot of different skins, Touchwhiz, Sense, Motoswitch, etc that android software has to play nice with and I'd think based off of that the finger has to be pointed at the manufacturer for lack of thorough testing. Either way something needs to be done and on a large scale to satisfy every owner of different devices. Maybe then all carriers could enjoy updates to software in a timely fashion. It's depressing to see this carrier or this version of phone get an update while others sit and wait.

joemonkey

i agreed with you wholeheartedly. i used to be a software developer as well as QA for iphone/ipad apps. though it's a bit difficult to point finger to google's jb or samsung s3 or just simply the apps we installed that happen to step all over google's jb.
nevertheless, it would be nice for google to allow us to downgrade back to the previous version with just a click of a button if we should decide to do so. after all, this is the technology age and everything should be easy from a consumer's point of view and not to frustrate us to no end.
on that note, both google and samsung should QA jb to death before releasing it and allow people to upgrade.
what a pain in the you know where

SUroot

You guys in the US have the short straw unfortunately. Each of your US carriers has a different combination of hardware and software specifications, making each version by far, the smallest market in the world for Samsung, compared to the GT-i9300 for example.

So because Samsung want's to service the bread and butter international version, that 70% of the world uses first, then mop up the rest afterwards, it means you guys are left hanging. Then the carriers add their crap... But this time, the international has had teh update you're STILL waiting for for 4-6 months.... so they rush it to the market.

Shame. Its the US carriers demanding a unique spec to ensure people don't get subsidised phones and use them elsewhere / tie you in / attract you in the first place.

__________________
"I am only responsible for what I say. Not for what you understand"

My S3 >>> [ROM] [KERNEL] [THEME] [RECOVERY]

Things to read >>> [JB Upgrade issues? Reset!][RAM. Who Cares?!]

"Android Fragmentation" is not a valid argument

Rooted Galaxy S3? Own Tasker? Check out these cool profiles
[root] [Script] Move /sdcard app data to /extSdCard [4.2.x]

joemonkey

hello suroot,
you are spot on with the US customers. i bought the s3 on ebay and i have the int'l version gt-i9300. yet, i believe the jb upgrade still screwed up my phone just the same. i upgraded it ota and unfortunately the auto upgrade was selected at the time. i personally do not jump right in when the software upgrade is available in fear of all those bugs that needs to be corrected.

oh well..what else can i say?

SUroot

Actually, you were right to upgrade if you have 4.1.2.

This will interest you but not many people on AF know about it.

Many of the international GT-i9300's have a bug called SDS (Sudden Death Syndrome) of which, I was one of the first sufferers back in November. The symptom is (often after a nights charge) the phone is completely dead. So dead it gets sent to the carrier or Samsung for a motherboard replacement.

What actually happens is the eMMC (Embedded MultiMedia Card) bricks. This brick is believed to be caused by the wear levelling in the eMMC firmware. Wear levelling is where to spread out the damage of data writes across the memory, it looks at historic data of which blocks have been written to and works out where is the best place to write next, to keep it even accross the card. Anyway, something happens where the firmware finds a bug, something wrong with the data and the entire file system on the eMMC just breaks. The phone OS is gone, everything - gone...

Ok you say, whats this got to do with me?

Well there is a fix, in the kernel of 4.1.2 ROMs. This fix (or work around) changes how the wear leveling works. It detects if you have the faulty eMMC (VTU00M chip with firmware 0xf1 if you're interested) and stops the bad blocks being written to, preventing the phone from dieing. How does this manifest? More often than not... In a freeze..

So, if you have the affected chip and your phone is freezing, you are actually witnessing your phone being protected from SDS. Every time you witness a freeze, if you were on ICS, that would be a new motehrboard. So if you look at it like that, it's not so bad after all.

Some believe that if you let the freezes run their course (dont force reboots etc) that they will be come less frequent, but I don't know.

Anyway to find out a little more about how to check if you are affected and to confirm where it is fixed, see my thread on XDA:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2091045

But there are also more ongoing discussions about the fixes and what they do here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993044



Edit > If you're not on 4.1.2 and experiencing freezes and reboots AND have the affected chip, these could be early warnings of SDS

Last edited by SUroot; March 1st, 2013 at 05:23 PM.

ryancalif

I haven't had a restart yet and it has been almost a week since I reset the phone. So far so good.

I have virtually the same apps installed now that I had before I upgraded to Jelly Bean.... except GSAM Battery Monitor, Subway Surfer, and Minecraft. All of my phone settings are the same (I went through the entire settings menu and set everything back up the way I liked it).

If it is an app conflict, I'm curious if it's GSAM. It's the only app I had that ran in the background constantly.

To any extent, an app conflict issue would be super easy to figure out. You just need a good number of people, and set up a design of experiments of sorts to do a statistical analysis on which apps people are using. In fact, I'm sure Samsung already collects this data from all of our phones through anonymous feedback and bug reports.

joemonkey

i just read your tread. i have the kernel XXELLA. does it mean i am 'safe' and there is nothing i need to do?

capta134

Update 4.1.2 Does NOT fix the reboot issue.

However after googling a LOT, I may have found the fix.

I had my phone auto rebooting 10 times a day. So in no more than 2 hours I had a auto reboot.

Per a Google suggestion I disabled Settings/Display/Brightness/Automatic brightness

and I have not been able to see the reboot issue in the last 6 hours!!!

If the above fix also works for you, Please post your feedback here.

capta134

Never mind. My phone got rebooted again.

At least frequency of reboots is seem to be much less.

capta134

OK, I downgraded from 4.1.2 to 4.0.4 but the reboot issue exists.

Called Verizon , they are sending me another phone.

capta134

Verizon sent me another phone. I think they are well aware of SG3 reboot issue.

To me seems to be a hardware defect as I was able to see the issue on the out of the box phone with the original Stock and as also rooted phones.(Also cyanmod10 and 10.1)

Bearsyzf

i dont think i ever got the prompt to upgrade to JB ?

funkylogik

Go to Settings, About device, Software Updates and check for an update mate.
Your Android Version (in About Device) should be at least 4.1.1 no matter what carrier youre on i think

ash06

Random restarts: My Story

Okay. In case anybody feels out of luck with the random restart issue I decided to tell you my story. I got my S3 November or December of 2012. Within a couple of months of having it I was forced to update to 4.1.1 (I could not find any cancel button anywhere). Since the update my phone will RANDOMLY freeze for a few seconds and then reboot. It can do it while I am on Facebook, writing an email or text message, playing a game, using the calculator, using the timer or stopwatch, or doing NOTHING at all (there have been many times it will reboot while sitting on the couch beside me or in the middle of the night while it is on the charger [the AT&T start-up music wakes me up]). It might only do it a few times a day..like 4-5 times. But there have been a few days I quit counting around 15 reboots. I had an iPhone before (oh how I miss it now) so had Apple Care vs. AT&T insurance on the phone. Since I did not have insurance AT&T said they could not do anything for me since I had had it for a few months at the point I decided to do something about it.

I tried a factory reset. No go. Problem persisted. I talked to Samsung via the live chat and on the phone, did everything they asked and every type of reset imaginable (factory, hard key, soft key, cleared cache, etc.) still to no avail. After all of this they decide I need to send it in. I absolutely HAVE to have my phone (my workplaces gives me a credit on my paycheck to help pay my bill...if that tells you how necessary it is) so I did ask around and found one to borrow. Off to Samsung my phone went...for 2 weeks. This was in March 2013 so I had had the phone around 4 months and it was already being serviced.

I received the phone back just in time to go on a weeks long vacation. Unfortunately for me within 15 minutes of turning it on it did the exact same thing. Back on the phone with Samsung. Back to telling all of these people I have done everything you asked of me and I am not doing all of the resets again...they should have fixed the phone. After several calls worth of griping (and them telling me I get to send it in again) I finally get to talk to a 3rd level person--an Executive Customer Service Rep. This guy at least gives me two options: they will send me a new battery free of charge to see if that is the issue or I can send it back for expedited service. Going on vacation and really needing my phone I chose the battery. When I got back from vacation I put the new battery in. Again....a no go.

I message Samsung Support and ask them to note the new battery did not work and I'm not sure if I want to send the phone in again as they should have fixed it the first time but that I am sorely disappointed. After about 3 weeks I finally decide to send it back. I go get a Go Phone (making a point to NOT get a Samsung) for $30 so I don't have to bother with borrowing a phone (and since AT&T no longer has a loaner phone program and Samsung had nothing to offer me). I called the Samsung reps back today...was on the phone for 42 minutes...spoke to 4 people....and finally got my promised expedited delivery and service and a promise they would switch out the motherboard which should fix any problem. Dear Lord I hope so.

Also a few days ago my phone did something very strange...well sort of. It rebooted (of course) but it did so for about 5 minutes straight. It would even reboot while it rebooted. Normal reboot: vibration, Samsung logo, AT&T, Samsung Galaxy S3 logo (may be a different order....whatever) but that day it might start rebooting on the Samsung logo....or during the AT&T song...or during the S3 logo. I took the battery out twice but even after a minute or so of being out as SOON as the battery made the connection to the phone it vibrated...no buttons pressed....and started up...while restarting. It finally settled down after several minutes. It was weird.

Here's to wishful thinking that a new motherboard will fix my problem and that my upgrade comes quickly so I can go back to my tried and true never-had-a-problem brand-though-a-little-dull-sometimes: Apple.

EDIT: After one of the resets Samsung made me do I did NOT download a single application. It froze/rebooted even running NOTHING but stock everything. The only thing I had done was text a few people and make some phone calls. So, obviously, there may not be a fix for some.

Last edited by ash06; April 19th, 2013 at 11:53 AM.