Help DROID Incredible random restart/reboot problem

[RedHotLama]

Yeah i think it is a corrupt section of ram and that when a critical part is run in that section is has the fatal error and reboots. Could also be made worse by higher heat.

I have seen this in products i used to work on at my last job, and the only fix is new ram or a new unit. And typically the new unit is cheaper as labor to repair is high, plus reflow problems. And since most people are past warranty HTC doesn't care.

 

[euph_22]

Good luck with that. I've seen a thousand such suggestions, none of which ever worked consistently.

It doesn't HAVE to work consistently. It only has to work for his phone. In all likelihood there is no software fix (since it is probably a hardware problem), but I listed some things he could try that MIGHT resolve the problem for him.

 

[euph_22]

Yeah i think it is a corrupt section of ram and that when a critical part is run in that section is has the fatal error and reboots. Could also be made worse by higher heat.

I have seen this in products i used to work on at my last job, and the only fix is new ram or a new unit. And typically the new unit is cheaper as labor to repair is high, plus reflow problems. And since most people are past warranty HTC doesn't care.

Would it cycle reboot if that's the cause?

 

[Incrediblian]

It doesn't HAVE to work consistently. It only has to work for his phone. In all likelihood there is no software fix (since it is probably a hardware problem), but I listed some things he could try that MIGHT resolve the problem for him.

By consistently I didn't simply mean that nothing has worked for everyone with this problem, but that even those who saw some improvement did not see the problem fixed such that they could count on their phone working consistently for them.

I have read about people having all sorts of theories and trying all sorts of things, including each one of your suggestions. I have yet to read of any real "fix" for the problem, or of HTC or Verizon even acknowledging that there is an issue.

 

[Jerethi]

I know this is a long shot, but I might as well ask: anyone who's received the OTA know or have any insight as to whether it allays, fixes, or otherwise addresses this problem in any fashion?

 

[AnotherHiggins]

I don't think rooting will help. This problem started on my phone when it was already rooted running CM7. That definitely suggests it's a hardware issue.

Here's my story for posterity:

I got my Incredible a few days after launch. I've been rooted for several months and have been rocking the CyanogenMod nightlies for a while.

A few weeks ago my phone started randomly rebooting once every few days. I thought maybe it was something with the Alpha releases I was running. So I fell back to the last stable release of CM7. My phone still rebooted periodically. I did multiple Factory Resets, flashing back to stable CM7 releases. When that failed I even tried falling all the way back to CM6, but the reboots persisted.

I unrooted to see if that would help: Nope.

Luckily (??) I have the extended warranty on it. I stopped by the Verizon kiosk at BJs Wholesale Club (which has much better service that the official Verizon store in the same shopping center) and told the guy what I had been dealing with. He ordered a replacement for next-day delivery (even though it was after 5PM!).

When I got the new phone, it immediately went into a boot loop the first time I turned it on. I sent that one back and kept my original.

To date, they've sent me 4 replacements and I've sent every one of them back because they've all been worse than the original I bought over a year ago.

I just got off the phone with tech support and now, all of the sudden, Tom seems to think he has the super-secret solution. He said he has the same phone in his pocket and had the same rebooting problem. He says that changing the gmail account associated with the phone worked for him, so he wants me to try that. I told him I'd try it, but I'll be really surprised if it works.

Backing up data from the internal memory now. I'll post back when it fails if it works.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Whaddaya know? It didn't work.

I just called back and they've given me the option of trying yet another "Certified Pre-Owned" Incredible or a different "Certified Pre-Owned" phone. From what I've read, this seems to be a DINC-specific problem, so I might choose the latter.

The last few weeks have been extremely frustrating, but if I can get a newer, functional model and retain my New Every 2 upgrade for when dual-cores come out that might not be so bad.

The non-sucky Androids they have right now in the "Certified Pre-Owned" section include:
- HTC Thunderbolt
- Samsung Droid Charge
- LG Revolution

Or I could throw in the towel and get an iPhone. Kidding!

Anyone have experience/opinions about which of the above phones to go with? I'd like to root whatever I get....

 

[91fatboy]

Got my DINC on roll out so it is out of waranty and not new for two till feb 14 2012. It started shutting off on me and then the other day it started with the random boot cycle except it wouldnt stop. I finally got it so I could do a factory reset, and it still didn't help. It would tell me htc sense needed to force shut down. Then it would start all over again into reboot cycle. I couldn't even use the phone. The next day happened to be Sept 8 and the MOTO BIONiC was being released. I went to the store to find out what they could do and they gave me a early new for two full discount instead of dealing with my broken DINC. I was the first one to walk out of the store with the BIONIC. I must say that it is a far better phone than the DINC. I just hope that it last better!!!!!

 

[Pianoman178]

I almost think we are talking about two separate problems here.

Some people are saying their replacement increds are restarting right out of the box. In my experience, it takes a good bit of use for it to restart. I've narrowed it down to heat.

My phone will restart when the battery's temp is somewhere between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius. I've installed the free version of Battery Monitor Widget which can keep a running log of temperatures every 30 seconds (the time is adjustable).

I can see the battery temp graph rise over time until it goes over 38 degrees. The phone will continue to restart (loop) until the temp drops below that. 38 degrees C is about 100 degrees F, which is not hot at all.

I've replaced the stock battery with the Seidio extended batt, and that didn't solve the problem.


EDIT: Idling temperature is around 25-30 degrees C. +/- 5C.

 

[onefourthgreek]

my dinc started fritzing a couple days ago. i assumed it was the battery and purchased a couple inexpensive replacement oem batteries from amazon. waiting on those to arrive.

my symptoms are thusly:

• a few days ago i *think* i noticed the phone being overly hot for no apparent reason (using gps always heated it up)
• then 2 days the phone wouldn't stay on, it just started turning off (not really a reboot bc it never powered back on)
• for about 1/2 day while trying to troubleshoot, i could use the phone while plugged into the charger, but immediately upon taking it off the charger, boom power off
• now, even on the charger it is stuck on the boot screen "htc incredible" in black on white bg, which is flashing/looping (i'm calling this the boot loop cycle, but not sure if it's exactly the same symptoms others have described)

So, I'll wait for the replacement batteries and hope my issue's as simple as that. If not...

Here's my concern, the phone is rooted with stock rom and wifi, nandroid, and titanium installed. does anyone have any advice on unrooting and restoring stock rom s-on if i can't get past the htc incredible boot screen? how do i take it back to the store if its rooted?

i'm willing to try a factory reset, but wanted to wait until battery arrived to see if that fixed it.

like many others really love the phone, when it works! (which btw has been since release day for mine, and it's been a joy...until two days ago).

regards, and hope you all found your solution.

 

[Incrediblian]

Your premise that they are different problems with older and new phones is an assumption, and one not necessarily supported by any real evidence. Agreed it is somehow heat related, but clearly enough people are experiencing it with new or refurbished phones to indicate it affects both.

In any event, while it is interesting to measure a particular temperature at which this happens, it unfortunately doesn't really give any better idea how to fix the issue, short of not using your phone when it approaches that temp. I suppose some people can possibly do that (my teenage kids for example), but the majority of users can't tolerate a phone that cannot be relied on when needed. Speaking personally, I had to dump mine after one too many inopportune reboot loops while trying to do business.

I still far prefer the UI of my old Dinc, but I have to admit my new iPhone does everything I need it to do, when I need it, and the battery power absolutely blows away the Dinc. The other day I was suing my GPS for a couple hours, along with lots of internet, calls, etc. and I still had about 70% battery charge by the end of the day. My Dinc would have (and preciously had) died by mid afternoon on a similar day.

I'm still pissed at HTC for not admitting or fixing this problem, but I had to just accept that the only repeatable solution is to dump the phone. Sucks, but there it is.

I almost think we are talking about two separate problems here.

Some people are saying their replacement increds are restarting right out of the box. In my experience, it takes a good bit of use for it to restart. I've narrowed it down to heat.

My phone will restart when the battery's temp is somewhere between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius. I've installed the free version of Battery Monitor Widget which can keep a running log of temperatures every 30 seconds (the time is adjustable).

I can see the battery temp graph rise over time until it goes over 38 degrees. The phone will continue to restart (loop) until the temp drops below that. 38 degrees C is about 100 degrees F, which is not hot at all.

I've replaced the stock battery with the Seidio extended batt, and that didn't solve the problem.


EDIT: Idling temperature is around 25-30 degrees C. +/- 5C.

 

[jaymz462]

Add me to list of people having problems. My Incredible's been great since I got it on launch day, but starting last week the random reboots started occurring out of the blue. I tried rolling back to a Nandroid backup that I knew was good with no luck, and last night I did a factory reset. Everything was fine until a few minutes ago. Ugh.

I have no useful information to share, just wanted to add to the chorus.

 

[Jerethi]

I gather this means the Gingerbread update is not fixing this problem then. Further evidence that it's a hardware issue.

 

[euph_22]

I gather this means the Gingerbread update is not fixing this problem then. Further evidence that it's a hardware issue.

not really. It could be a software issue they just haven't fixed/identified.

EDIT: ok, I actually believe that it's a hardware issue (atleast in most cases). Doing 18 hours of math in a day makes me a bit pedantic.

 

[splat]

Whaddaya know? It didn't work.

I just called back and they've given me the option of trying yet another "Certified Pre-Owned" Incredible or a different "Certified Pre-Owned" phone. From what I've read, this seems to be a DINC-specific problem, so I might choose the latter.

The last few weeks have been extremely frustrating, but if I can get a newer, functional model and retain my New Every 2 upgrade for when dual-cores come out that might not be so bad.

The non-sucky Androids they have right now in the "Certified Pre-Owned" section include:
- HTC Thunderbolt
- Samsung Droid Charge
- LG Revolution

Or I could throw in the towel and get an iPhone. Kidding!

Anyone have experience/opinions about which of the above phones to go with? I'd like to root whatever I get....

That's interesting. I've spoken with Verizon support a few times over the past two weeks, and the person I worked with said she couldn't find any CPO or refurb Incredibles in the system. Of course I don't have the extended warranty, so maybe any they have left in stock are being saved for insurance/warranty customers.

I may try rooting mine this weekend, but I think it will be a net waste of time. I wouldn't mind the reboots as much if they weren't trashing apps. I can no longer use any Amazon apps, and have had to reinstall a couple of apps repeatedly. It will take another factory reset to restore those, until the phone crashes again.

Reviews of the DINC 2 aren't exactly inspiring confidence, either.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Just following up....

When I called back I was told that I must have misunderstood - they were offering me an option to BUY a Certified Pre-Owned phone. Dammit.

My 5th replacement Incredible is here. I haven't powered it up yet. Fingers crossed.

That's interesting. I've spoken with Verizon support a few times over the past two weeks, and the person I worked with said she couldn't find any CPO or refurb Incredibles in the system.

Weird. Like I said, my 5th CPO Inc is on the way.

I may try rooting mine this weekend, but I think it will be a net waste of time.

My experience leads me to think that it would probably help, but not get rid of the problem all together. Either way, I highly recommend rooting. Titanium Backup would sure come in handy for you when an app gets trashed.

 

[golfbiz]

interesting reading through this thread as I have an inc and my daughter has an inc, both rooted and running stock roms. My inc started rebooting a few months ago a few times a day, not a big deal but an annoyance. Never understood why but thought maybe a heat issue as pretty hot here in the phoenix area. However a few weeks ago I updated to the 2.3.4 by way of the XDA board when I started to get the VZ nag update notices. Knock on wood have been totally problem free and the phone is running smooth as silk again. I bought the extended batteries and charger from amazon (no need for bigger back) and battery life is awesome as I easily start at 6 am and still have charge left at 10 pm when going to bed. Now my daughter's inc is doing the reboot and is much worse than mine, doing it as much as 5 times plus a day. So I am going to update her phone as well to 2.3.4 to see if that solves her problem as well...my brother has an iPhone and no way I would ever consider it, totally plain vanilla compared to my inc..

 

[Incrediblian]

...my brother has an iPhone and no way I would ever consider it, totally plain vanilla compared to my inc..

Agree that the iPhone is plain compared to a Droid, but I still prefer a "plain vanilla" phone that works when needed to a way cool one that doesn't work when needed. It's not about the iPhone - it's about a faulty product from HTC that they won't admit to, much less make right.

 

[golfbiz]

Agree that theNo iPhone is plain compared to a Droid, but I still prefer a "plain vanilla" phone that works when needed to a way cool one that doesn't work when needed. It's not about the iPhone - it's about a faulty product from HTC that they won't admit to, much less make right.

No worries as I fixed mine with update to 2.3.4 for root at xda. I'm going to work on my daughters tonight. If it was unfixable, I'd just get another Android model, waiting to take a look at vigor as have an upgrade still from summer but so far still think inc rocks especially with new GB..... GL!

 

[Incrediblian]

No worries as I fixed mine with update to 2.3.4 for root at xda. I'm going to work on my daughters tonight. If it was unfixable, I'd just get another Android model, waiting to take a look at vigor as have an upgrade still from summer but so far still think inc rocks especially with new GB..... GL!

Glad to hear yours is working again after the update, but if the fix actually lasts long term it will be the first time among the many thousands of such posts online that anyone has found a fix that actually stays fixed long term. Hope you found it, but that might be wishful thinking, so please keep us apprised over the coming weeks and months.

Good luck!

 

[golfbiz]

Glad to hear yours is working again after the update, but if the fix actually lasts long term it will be the first time among the many thousands of such posts online that anyone has found a fix that actually stays fixed long term. Hope you found it, but that might be wishful thinking, so please keep us apprised over the coming weeks and months.

Good luck!

Will do, updated my daughter's last night, so far so good, also formatted her SD card and set her CPU same as mine

My brother has had an iphone since it first came out at ATT, but his cell service was always spotty because he uses it mostly for calling for his business. I convinced him to go to VZ when the iphone hit there and he made the switch. Interestingly he has had nothing but problems with his VZ iphone, I think he is on his 3rd one, he finishes a call and the phone won't turn off at times which drives him crazy. I told him I thought they were pretty much bullet proof from what I have heard, anyway maybe the iphone 5 will work better which he is waiting for......I had him try out an android and he hated it, saying it was too complicated so hopefully the new iphone coming out works for him...GL

 

[RedHotLama]

Wondering if i should even bother with trying GB on my wifes phone. Maybe then some other issue will happen and we can complain to Verizon and get a replacement.

 

[Jerethi]

After several months of putting up with this frustrating problem, I went ahead and got a refurbished phone. I activated it last night and thus far I haven't experienced a reboot... But time will tell, of course.

Btw, I think they sent me a phone with a unit with an AMOLED screen. The colors seem much more vibrant. I much prefer this screen to the SLCD.

 

[shannonj]

Good to know I'm not the only one with this problem. I've wanted to smash my phone to bits and pieces many many MANY times over the last couple months. I keep putting off going to Verizon stores because I hate doing that but I suppose I'll have to soon. I think mine may actually be the battery though. Whenever it reboots, I take the battery out and its really warm.

I would also recommend getting the thunderbolt if your contract is up and you're getting another phone. My sister has it and its awesome. It doesn't reboot, has a lot of apps and if you get the extended battery, it lasts a really long time.

 

[Jerethi]

For what it's worth, I experienced rebooting with two different batteries, as have, I believe, a number of people who have posted in this thread. At least in my case, a defective battery was not the culprit.