Factory Data Reset Made Phone Worse!

[bigtex19]

so i had been having problems with the whole random rebooting issue that some people on the droid x have been having, so i called tech support and i had tried everything that they had suggested except the factory data reset. i was hesitant to do that because it just seems like doing something like that would never let me get my phone to working the way that it used to work. you know the way i had everything set up. well after the phone kept rebooting on its own i decided i would give it a shot. sure enough the phone just doesnt seem to be running the same as it did before. the phone seems to lag more, i am having to touch icons several times at times to make them work. task killer isnt running the way that it should. it just seems like the factory data reset made everything on the phone work just a little bit worse. has anyone else had this experience?

 

[bigtex19]

also forgot to mention that it seemed like it was having problems staying connected to the network (market place kept saying that there was a problem connecting to the network)

 

[Deleted User]

Turn off your task killer.

 

[bigtex19]

i reinstalled task killer and it doesnt run the way that it used to. before i could tap the icon on my screen and it would kill all running apps, now it makes me bring up a menu before it will let me do that. i mean its nothing major but still, i dont want to have to go through the menu. i just want to be able to tap the icon and have it do its thing

 

[Deleted User]

No, seriously. Turn it off. Stop using it.

There is a good place for task killers, but they should only be used for specific purposes. If you're having phone trouble, uninstall the task killer. It is a frequent cause of system problems because it kills tasks that the system wants open.

Uninstall your task killer, and see if your problems cease.

 

[bigtex19]

if i dont have task killer, how am i going to shut off apps after i quit using them. they will just stay open all the time

 

[2horses]

The X self-regulates. You don't need a task killer. Just try it without it and see what happens.

 

[bigtex19]

alright we will give it a shot

 

[Deleted User]

if i dont have task killer, how am i going to shut off apps after i quit using them. they will just stay open all the time

They shouldn't - if they do, they are misbehaving.

There are lots of links on this, but briefly, apps go to sleep in the background. When they're sleeping, they are using virtually no system resources, just some memory to stay resident. When you switch back to them, bang, there they are, up and running again. That actually reduces CPU consumption because you don't have to keep opening them.

If an app is behaving badly, it could stay open and consume resources - but that's an app problem, and means it was poorly written, just like a computer could have a poorly written program.

I run a task killer, because I'm a little compulsive and like to kill processes that I know I won't be using again soon. But I do that all manually (no automatic scheduling), and am selective about what I kill. Task killers aren't inherently bad, but they're used far too frequently and most people don't understand how/why to use them.

 

[bigtex19]

i didnt know all of that stuff. some of the apps that come on the phone like amazon mp3, the music app, the alarm and timer app, and other stuff that i dont use always boot themselves back up when i use task killer anyway. that is always one of the first things that the techs have asked me when i call in is are you using a task killer, i have always just heard it is a must have one the phone to keep it running smoothly and to save battery. but this is my first android phone so i am still new to all of this

 

[Martimus]

One of the unfortunate (sometimes) aspects of the Android operating system is that it is intelligent enough to self manage many of it's processes. When a task killer application is introduced some will simply terminate applications without consideration to why that app is there in the first place. When Android see's that the process has terminated it has the ability to restart the app. Then the task killer kills it again. Android restarts it. and the vicious cycle begins.

 

[Frisco]

One of the unfortunate (sometimes) aspects of the Android operating system is that it is intelligent enough to self manage many of it's processes. When a task killer application is introduced some will simply terminate applications without consideration to why that app is there in the first place. When Android see's that the process has terminated it has the ability to restart the app. Then the task killer kills it again. Android restarts it. and the vicious cycle begins.

+1

This has been reported ad infinitum around the forums, especially quite often in the Eris forums.

But I can't understand what would cause a person to add that crazy app to a device with the robust processor of the X, of all things. So some apps may run in the background for a while, the system knows what to do and when to do it.

It's a bit like having a cleaning service come to your house and leave with the jewelry or, worse, your beer.

 

[Deleted User]

Also, it doesn't help that Verizon appears to be chock full of idiot support personnel in whose opinion the only way to keep the phone running smoothly is to keep a task killer set to mercilessly and indiscriminately kill all apps every 5 minutes

 

[jcash3]

I also had the problem of the Droid X randomly rebooting, and some apps opening extremely slow. Once I uninstalled task killer the problem wend completely away.

I now use System Panel in case I have to stop a program that is giving me problems. My X runs a lot faster now and I have not had a random reboot.

ATK was definitely the cause.

 

[Frisco]

Also, it doesn't help that Verizon appears to be chock full of idiot support personnel in whose opinion the only way to keep the phone running smoothly is to keep a task killer set to mercilessly and indiscriminately kill all apps every 5 minutes

Another +1.

I don't know if some of that cadre is untrained or pranksters or what, but (not all) reports coming from users who've attempted to get assistance from them seem to include quite a range of bad advice and misinformation, and from device to device (I'd at first thought it was just regarding the Eris because of its lower-end position in the Verizon lineup, I was mistaken).

 

[bigtex19]

i really appreciate all the help, this has cleard a lot of stuff up for me. is the system panel thing an app you need to download?

 

[Szadzik]

No, seriously. Turn it off. Stop using it.

There is a good place for task killers, but they should only be used for specific purposes. If you're having phone trouble, uninstall the task killer. It is a frequent cause of system problems because it kills tasks that the system wants open.

Uninstall your task killer, and see if your problems cease.

Task killers are usually not set up to auto-kill tasks by default when you install them, and thus it is not the app's fault if it kills tassks, it is user's fault as they set it up. Uninstalling is not a solution, rather setting it up not to auto-kill is.

If the wallpaper on you PC is not the one you like do you format the C drive or do you chang ethe wallpaper? If your antivirus software runs too often do you uninstall it or set up the way you want it to run?

 

[quojo]

Task killers are usually not set up to auto-kill tasks by default when you install them, and thus it is not the app's fault if it kills tassks, it is user's fault as they set it up. Uninstalling is not a solution, rather setting it up not to auto-kill is.

If the wallpaper on you PC is not the one you like do you format the C drive or do you chang ethe wallpaper? If your antivirus software runs too often do you uninstall it or set up the way you want it to run?

My Task killer had all of my calls goign straight to VM.

 

[Deleted User]

Task killers are usually not set up to auto-kill tasks by default when you install them, and thus it is not the app's fault if it kills tassks, it is user's fault as they set it up. Uninstalling is not a solution, rather setting it up not to auto-kill is.

I agree with you, but there are many task killers available and they work in different ways. The good ones don't kill any tasks by default. Advanced Task Killer is very nice in this respect - it just sits there happily until you tell it to do something, whether it's killing a task or setting up an auto-kill.

So you're absolutely right, but the easy answer is "uninstall it" rather than figuring out which one they have, whether they set it up to auto-kill or if it came that way, and whether or not they know how to turn off the auto-kill options.

And, in fact, the first thing I said was "turn it off" but confused that message with ending the post, "uninstall it." In point of fact, either solution will work.

 

[bigtex19]

i had advanced task killer. i only had it because i was told that it helped you save a lot of battery life on the phone by closing out the apps that you werent using. if it is is the reason that my phone is randomly rebooting though i will do without it. i have created a habit of killings apps as soon as i am done with it and locking the phone, my thumb just tends to head in that direction when i get done doing what i want to do lol

 

[Frisco]

A task killer that is set to kill tasks in the background is doing as it is intended to do, but that causes some of those tasks to restart because they are often not finished with their processes; this leads to sluggish performance, etc.

If the user defeats the task killing, then why do they have the task killer installed at all?

Let the system run as it is intended to run. The Android system is quite efficient, as long as it is not over loaded or otherwise abused with conflicting configuration input, such as running an app that attempts to take over important regimens already built into the system.

 

[bigtex19]

the system panel app is pretty friggin sweet. and it just lets me choose a specific app if i want to end it. i like that it gives you details that although the app is open it is not active or doing anything so you know its not slowing the phone down or eating battery

 

[Frisco]

the system panel app is pretty friggin sweet. and it just lets me choose a specific app if i want to end it. i like that it gives you details that although the app is open it is not active or doing anything so you know its not slowing the phone down or eating battery

There you go.