Help Blank screen but phone still on, hardware or software?

[confused-data]

Several times now my Desire's screen has just stayed black when pressing the power key to unlock it. It's like it's in a deep sleep with no way to wake it.

If you call it the screen will not light up but the phone will either ring with no way of answering it or just flash the missed call light. The call can still be silenced or rejected with the buttons.

So my question is this a hardware or software issue? I'm inclined to think software because pulling the battery then rebooting solves it, until it happens again, sometimes the same day others a few days later.

I always switch the phone off at night to give it a fresh start each day. I do not use any task killers or obscure apps.

Phone has minimal virgin mobile UK branding on it, and running firmware 1.15.405.4 with no option to update to the newly released version.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mr.hachi]

Since a battery pull seems to solve it for a little while it is possible you have something installed that causes the problem, unless you start eliminating suspects you will never really know. A full factory reset might be a good idea and then install minimal apps and leave it be to see if it does again.

If it does you can get it replaced, but you need to find out if it is something you have installed causing the problem because if you get another phone and install the same things you will be going around in circles.

 

[confused-data]

Thanks for the advice.

Is this a common problem that others are suffering from too? Anyone managed to track down the app that is causing it?

All the apps I have are popular well known apps and very little that runs constantly. My prime suspect is juice defender (because it activates/deactivates on a screen toggle) but it has been working perfectly for three weeks before I ever saw this issue.

 

[mr.hachi]

I'd remove JD, I've always found that program more of a hindrance than a help.

 

[confused-data]

I'm reluctant to do that as I find it very useful, plus the fact the phone has been fine with it installed for weeks. I hate having the data connection on constantly and I find JD makes a big difference to my battery life.

Is there a free alternative to JD that disables the connection when the screen is off? I don't want to use the manual toggle every time.

At first I did think the double twist media player was the cause but no improvement after removing that.

 

[TheTrueSpin]

Thanks for the advice.

Is this a common problem that others are suffering from too? Anyone managed to track down the app that is causing it?

All the apps I have are popular well known apps and very little that runs constantly. My prime suspect is juice defender (because it activates/deactivates on a screen toggle) but it has been working perfectly for three weeks before I ever saw this issue.

Never had this. I leave my phone on always and never turn off. Not once has the screen failed to turn on. It does indeed sound like a software problem as, if the screen was broken, you wouldn't expect a reboot to solve it. If all else fails, backup and hard reset.

 

[smarczii]

Thanks for the advice.

Is this a common problem that others are suffering from too? Anyone managed to track down the app that is causing it?

All the apps I have are popular well known apps and very little that runs constantly. My prime suspect is juice defender (because it activates/deactivates on a screen toggle) but it has been working perfectly for three weeks before I ever saw this issue.

I've got that problem too, I thought that I am the only one with that problem but if I remove the battery and put it back it doesn't solve the problem for me I contacted HTC support today so I'm waiting for the reply.

Sorry for my bad english

 

[philh51]

Also got same problem.

 

[Zarch]

Has happened to me once in 2 months, had to pull the battery to solve........ I'm not overly concerned by it.

 

[secretwings]

Same problem here - happening very frequently. I have three suspects:
1) my new, unbranded microSD card (problem didn't occur before I started using it)
2) Spotify, which is also playing up
3) Juice Defender, having read this thread

I will experiment, but please let me know if you work it out!

Cheers.

 

[HTC D]

Having the same issue and it is very annoying.
Did few factory resets but nothing seems to be working.

 

[HTC D]

Good news are coming on the weekend and I hope it will solve our common problems
Euro HTC Desire to get Froyo this weekend, 720p video capture too - GSMArena.com news

 

[Consumer]

I've got that problem too, I thought that I am the only one with that problem but if I remove the battery and put it back it doesn't solve the problem for me I contacted HTC support today so I'm waiting for the reply.

Sorry for my bad english

Hi smarczii,

I'm having the same problem. I've had my Desire for about 3 months now, and I've experienced the screen going blank about 3 times all within the last week. I'm not sure if it's something to do with the SD card, as that's been playing up as well. The phone says it's damaged for some reason, which has also happened 2 or 3 times already. After that, when I reformat the SD card, it starts the problem with the screen. I might try and send them an email myself. If you do get a response from HTC, please post it here. Thanks!

 

[MCS81]

After installing Mapdroyd (the install itself didn't go smoothly which should have been a warning) I tried to install a map, my focus was elsewhere and when I looked back the screen was black, assumed it was just because the phone hadn't been touched for a bit so pressed the power button to see how the map download was going and although the hard buttons along the base lit up the screen stayed black...
A quick google later and I pulled the battery out, removed and reinserted the sd and sim and put the battery back, sealed up the back, turned on and everything loaded up again fine. Un-installed Mapdroyd right away and hopefully wont be having the problem again. I'll post again if I do.

 

[master_yoda]

Just had this problem for the first time on my 3 month old Desire. Battery Pull has fixed it ...just hope it doesnt become a regular thing now.

Anyone have to get theirs fixed or replaced due to this? ..just wondering if its a possible hardware issue.

 

[bennarie]

I used to have this problem with 2.1, but after upgrading to 2.2, and installing whatsapp, it's occurrence has increased more than 3 times a day....it's so frustrating. I thought it was an sd card issue, but even after formatting it happens....in fact as i'm typing this reply my screen went dead and I can't get it back on.

Could anyone please enlighten on the problem?

Gonna update Whatsapp and see if it works...if not, will uninstall and see what happens....

sighz

 

[scottylook]

I seem to have the same problem but it only happens when I get a pop up from chomp sms. It shows the popup but everything else is gone behind it. I reply to the msg and then its just black. One time I hit the homescreen and it brought it back, I changed my background it it didn't happen again for a few days but it did it again today. Had to hit the power button then I got my screen back. Seems so weird. Thinking about uninstalling chomp and see how that goes

 

[SUroot]

I seem to have the same problem but it only happens when I get a pop up from chomp sms. It shows the popup but everything else is gone behind it. I reply to the msg and then its just black. One time I hit the homescreen and it brought it back, I changed my background it it didn't happen again for a few days but it did it again today. Had to hit the power button then I got my screen back. Seems so weird. Thinking about uninstalling chomp and see how that goes

I'd give that a go.

 

[scottylook]

Seems like that was it. Looking int he android market Im not the only one. Hope they get it fixed soon

 

[xxinyingxx]

i have this problem too. And my screen goes blank dead like every few hours. Fustrating. Pls help. Anyone knows how?

 

[j0k3r001]

I'm having the same problem and I got my phone less than a week ago! I rund advanced task killer, astrid, and little else..... what to do?

 

[hurin]

You can try connecting your phone to a computer via a usb cable, then do an error check and see if there are any errors.

 

[davecw]

Anyone got a fix for this?

 

[Budak Kampung]

I recently had this same problem on my HTC Desire running Froyo 2.2.
The only way to get out of the "deep sleep" was to remove the battery and restart the phone. However, the problem reappears almost immediately when the phones blanks the screen. Pressing the power button only causes the HTC's hardware buttons to light up but nothing appears on screen.

After some testing and I realised that the problem goes away the moment I removed the microSD! Hence the issues appears to be that Android was not able to read/mount the card correctly and hence exhibits this odd behaviour.

My solution:
1. Backup all contents of the microSD card (including hidden files)
2. Prepare a new card & format it as FAT32 (with checks to ensure no bad sectors etc)
3. Copy all contents to the new card
4. Re-insert into phone and restart
5. Enjoy!!

Hope this helps for those of you having the same problem.

PS. I realised the old microSD has a lot of issues and even reformatting it was not possible.

 

[Budak Kampung]

I recently had this same problem on my HTC Desire running Froyo 2.2.
The only way to get out of the "deep sleep" was to remove the battery and restart the phone. However, the problem reappears almost immediately when the phones blanks the screen. Pressing the power button only causes the HTC's hardware buttons to light up but nothing appears on screen.

After some testing and I realised that the problem goes away the moment I removed the microSD! Hence the issues appears to be that Android was not able to read/mount the card correctly and hence exhibits this odd behaviour.

My solution:
1. Backup all contents of the microSD card (including hidden files)
2. Prepare a new card & format it as FAT32 (with checks to ensure no bad sectors etc)
3. Copy all contents to the new card
4. Re-insert into phone and restart
5. Enjoy!!

Hope this helps for those of you having the same problem.

PS. I realised the old microSD has a lot of issues and even reformatting it was not possible.