Found what causes SILENCE AND LAG!!!

[scary alien]

What is the "silent bug"?

When I got a call last night, and I hit the answer button, I got nothing. The person called back several times, with the same behavior. I tried turning the volume up, but that didn't do anything...as in, it wouldn't control the volume, at all. Even the ringer volume wouldn't go up and down.

So I tried calling back, and the touch screen wouldn't respond. I would hit a button, and it took forever before a number would actually "register."

Had to power down the phone, and power it back up.

So is this the silent bug?

Oh, yeah!

 

[Eric2]

OK...so I have it, too. Oh joy. Glad I wasn't left out, ha ha.

 

[jerms]

Yup this one is definitely going around since the 2.1 upgrade let me know if anyone figures it out.

 

[Eric2]

And the reset-to-factory doesn't fix it, I think I had read. Is that right?

 

[Romparoo]

Foccer,

the headphone jack solution sounds like a very valuable solution. I think I will go ahead and use my camera so I get the silent bug and see if plugging in and unplugging my headphones works instead of a reboot.

MOS, I could see that the audible selection perhaps working, but I agree with you that that sound is annoying!

On my first Eris I never had this problem and never did my wife's. Then I get a replacement 3 weeks ago and after about 2 weeks it starts happening. My wife got a replacement 2 weeks ago and it is not happening on that phone either.

 

[Demache]

And the reset-to-factory doesn't fix it, I think I had read. Is that right?

Yes. It seems to be a bug in the software itself. Until it is patched, there is no permanent fix. And for some people, it has never happened, or happens rarely, like in my case. That's what makes it so mysterious. There is no clear-cut reason why it does it.

 

[xx_bishop_xx]

Yes. It seems to be a bug in the software itself. Until it is patched, there is no permanent fix. And for some people, it has never happened, or happens rarely, like in my case. That's what makes it so mysterious. There is no clear-cut reason why it does it.

I had read about a Verizon CSR suggesting a change to the voice encoder from EVRC to EVRC-B. I don't see how this would make a difference though. I think this is just for speech quality.

 

[Demache]

I had read about a Verizon CSR suggesting a change to the voice encoder from EVRC to EVRC-B. I don't see how this would make a difference though. I think this is just for speech quality.

Yeah, that only changes the encoding for voice. Generally the silent bug affects all audio on the phone when it occurs.

 

[xx_bishop_xx]

Yeah, that only changes the encoding for voice. Generally the silent bug affects all audio on the phone when it occurs.

Understood. Thanks man.

 

[thenestor]

Found what causes SILENCE AND LAG!!!

Yeah, me too: Faulty handsets that need to be replaced.

Had mine replaced a month ago. No silent call bug since then, even using the exact same software in the exact same ways.

 

[foccer]

Got mine to do it again, all I did was take the phone away from my ear while on a call and lost all audio. Hung up and tried to call back and had the lag with the keypad.

I wanted to give it a few days to see if it worked itself out buy had the verizon rep put a note on my accoint that I could get another replacement phone so that's what I'm gonna do.

The last one I had sent back didn't have the 50% w/o signal bug but wouldn't charge. What's the next one gonna have?

I'm starting to think they just take the phones we send back, box em up and slap a "like new relacements" sticker on the box.

 

[eghill1125]

^ ^ ^ ^

This has been the culprit for my wife since the beginning. I told her before that she was taking the phone away looking at it during a call and try to stop doing that. She was getting the silent phone every 2 or 3 calls EVERY day. Since she has been more aware of this and stopped moving the phone away and looking at it during a call, she has now gone through 23 straight calls and NO silent phone...

 

[hallstevenson]

I haven't had the silent issue in a few days now... A record number of days recently. Of course, this morning my phone was dead (battery) so the clock has to restart again. Without jinxing myself, I won't say what's different yet.

 

[Gongadin]

^ ^ ^ ^

This has been the culprit for my wife since the beginning. I told her before that she was taking the phone away looking at it during a call and try to stop doing that. She was getting the silent phone every 2 or 3 calls EVERY day. Since she has been more aware of this and stopped moving the phone away and looking at it during a call, she has now gone through 23 straight calls and NO silent phone...

Interesting..... I thought I tried everything to duplicate the bug, but never got consistency. I did try your approach today of not making the screen turn on while on a call (actually using a plug-in headset, but keeping the phone face down until I was finished) and I was sure I would get the silent bug when I hung up and I didn't! I just got a replacement phone from Verizon about a week ago for this issue specifically, and the replacement one had the same bug about three days in. I'm definitely going to try the "screen staying off" approach for a while and see what I get.

 

[lewa]

Yeah, pulling the phone away mid-call seems to cause it for me.

However, not always, and sometimes it happens without that cause.

My current theory:
HTC probably has their own sound-controlling service running on the phone. Perhaps, when other processes and services are used in large quantity, this service gets autokilled by the android system. No more memory/cpu, so it gets pushed out.

 

[Demache]

Yeah, pulling the phone away mid-call seems to cause it for me.

However, not always, and sometimes it happens without that cause.

My current theory:
HTC probably has their own sound-controlling service running on the phone. Perhaps, when other processes and services are used in large quantity, this service gets autokilled by the android system. No more memory/cpu, so it gets pushed out.

That as good as anyone else's guess. And makes sense.

 

[DDustiNN]

I've had the silent bug twice, and both times it was after I turned my ringer volume back up from being on vibrate (after a movie or something). Both times, there would be absolutely NO SOUND from my phone at all. No "click" sound when I select something (I have that option turned on), no sound from my Rimshot Button widget, no sound in calls, absolutely nothing.

So the first time this happened, I had just turned my ringer volume back up after leaving work. Then I opened Navigator because I was heading to dinner, to somewhere I'd never been. I got the route set, but there was no sound on the turn-by-turn screen. I checked the volume, and there is actually a "Navigation volume" when you use the volume rockers on that screen, but it was already all the way turned up. Irritated, I restarted, but I still didn't have sound for some reason. I ended up finding out that ALL of the volumes magically turned all the way down. Ringer, media, system... everything. I turned them back up, and everything was fine after that.

The second time was today, after a movie... I had my phone set to vibrate during the movie, then when I got home I turned the volume back up. Later on, I looked at my phone and saw that I missed a phone call and I had a voicemail. Weird, I never heard anything... So I hit the volume rocker, and it was already all the way up. I clicked on stuff, tested my widgets, and sure enough... no sound. Suddenly my phone got tremendous lag, and then completely froze and wouldn't do anything... Then, for some unknown reason, my phone just decided to reset itself... the HTC screen showed, then the Verizon screen, and Sense reloaded... I have no idea why. Everything was fine after that though.

 

[JAS_21]

I have narrowed the cause of silent phone/dialer lag issue down to only one possible cause. I've tested all possible theories in various situations. I've used a leaked v3 phone, and a refurb for a control. After eliminating all possible explanations, I have come to the conclusion that the Amish did it. (They don't like smartphones).

 

[locoandroid]

I'm already on my 3rd Eris due to the same issues,I don't get any hassle from VZ costumers Rep indeed but is getting old this problem with no fixing ideas and dealing with the problem all the time.

 

[Gongadin]

To me, the "pulling it away from your face while on a call" seems to be the most likely culprit. Some sort of conflict with the proximity sensor and the dialer software or something like that. I've had an instance where I pulled it away while on a call to turn on speakerphone, pushed speakerphone again to turn it of, and it said it was off but the audio was still only coming from the speakerphone not the earpiece. After that call ended, all audio was lost. If this is the bug, it would also explain why it happens to some people and not all. It's likely a software bug in everyone's phone, but the difference in people's behavior is the variable. Some just keep looking at the display (like myself) and others don't.

That's my 2 cent theory anyway

BTW, since I've been paying attention to "not activating" the screen while on a call until I'm hanging up, have not had the bug yet. Going on several days now.

 

[wobblin]

In my personal experience with my Eris, I've found the silence is caused when the phone lags on dial. I'll open up my contacts and begin to dial whoever I'm trying to call, and the phone freezes for a few moments and then all of the "keys" I pressed fill in, but when I send the call no ring, no nothing. Then all incoming calls after have the same silence, and I need to reboot. It's a bummer, this phone is great and could be amazing without the lag. I still stick by it.. but I need to find a fix!

 

[xx_bishop_xx]

^ Agreed. It lags when it becomes "confused".

 

[Demache]

In my personal experience with my Eris, I've found the silence is caused when the phone lags on dial. I'll open up my contacts and begin to dial whoever I'm trying to call, and the phone freezes for a few moments and then all of the "keys" I pressed fill in, but when I send the call no ring, no nothing. Then all incoming calls after have the same silence, and I need to reboot. It's a bummer, this phone is great and could be amazing without the lag. I still stick by it.. but I need to find a fix!

Maybe that's why I never get the silent bug. My dialer never lags. And any lagging in phone functions is minimal. I think you might be onto something.

 

[Gongadin]

In my personal experience with my Eris, I've found the silence is caused when the phone lags on dial. I'll open up my contacts and begin to dial whoever I'm trying to call, and the phone freezes for a few moments and then all of the "keys" I pressed fill in, but when I send the call no ring, no nothing. Then all incoming calls after have the same silence, and I need to reboot. It's a bummer, this phone is great and could be amazing without the lag. I still stick by it.. but I need to find a fix!

I don't think the phone lag is the "cause" of the silent bug, but more of a "result."

My dialer doesn't normally lag, but if I hang up a call, I can check to see if the silent bug has been "activated" by using the volume rockers. If I do get the "blip" volume level confirmation sound, then all is good including the dialer. If I don't get sound, I know the bug has sprouted, and my dialer is terribly slow also, about 5-10 seconds between button press reactions. I think the phone becomes "confused" to quote xx_bishop_xx, and that internal conflict is affecting the dialer and the audio driver.

To me the bug is being activated while either on a call or as soon as the call ends. You can find out if you get it by immediately checking for it after ending a call (using anything with audio: volume rocker, etc), instead of waiting for making the next call.

 

[thetingster]

This is just a thought, but those of you having the silent bug issue do you run Advanced Task Killer? I am wondering if you use the setting that kills apps when screen turns off. I use ATK and set it to kill apps every half our and my lag and any other problems have mostly gone away.