Help LG Ally problems

[JCDenton771]

I have had my LG Ally for little over a year now and all of a sudden it has started having a lot more problems than it used to. For the past 2 weeks the battery has been overheated almost all of the time. The temperature app I have usually reads over 85F. The battery doesn't last very long anymore either it used to last from 6am to 10pm no problem now it barely lasts 7 hours and my coverage is even better now. Yesterday, I slid my phone closed after typing a message and the phone froze and restarted itself. When I turned it back on GO SMS was uninstalled. Today, my phone battery died in about 3 hours and then when I plugged it in again it turned back on and said it had 77% battery again? My phone has never had any of these problems especially since it got the 2.2 upgrade. I don't have an upgrade until April and I don't think my phone is gonna last that long anyway. Any ideas or comments??

 

[dautley]

Did you install any new apps around the time it started acting up or do you have WI-FI or Bluetooth enabled more than you use to ? Sounds like something is running in the background draining the battery if it is always hot.

 

[JCDenton771]

Yes I installed GO SMS pro but I don't think that is the cause. I know the GO SMS facebook chat plug in was even worse but I uninstalled that after like a day. I never have bluetooth or wi-fi on anymore.

 

[JCDenton771]

I replaced the battery and it is still having the same problems it just doesn't die as quickly....

 

[WhyMyAlly]

Check the running apps on the phone using Settings....Applications...... Running services and check for apps using processor time and memory. The phone will crash and restart and programs will dissapear and glitch out when the phone runs out of running memory. No memory, no app. Also wifi tether apps destroy the battery and overheat it. Another problem could be in the radio chipset overheating and causing issues if you have weak signals or issues with the phone radiating too much energy(very rare and my first one did that before it died on me and destroyed the battery making it useless even in my new phone). You could download a live stats program and check the processor usage in percentage because processor time which linux uses can be confusing at times. Also check data usage, the radio will work hard in 3g mode with heavy data throughput which causes battery drain. Do you talk a lot on the phone, talking on the phone for over an hour at a time is very hard on the radio, and battery. If the phone is a year old then it may even be the battery itself. With most smart phones the batteries suck and dont last long as you're basically running a laptop which is very hard on the battery itself and they last about a year on this particular model. Let us know what you figure out with it.

 

[JCDenton771]

Check the running apps on the phone using Settings....Applications...... Running services and check for apps using processor time and memory. The phone will crash and restart and programs will dissapear and glitch out when the phone runs out of running memory. No memory, no app. Also wifi tether apps destroy the battery and overheat it. Another problem could be in the radio chipset overheating and causing issues if you have weak signals or issues with the phone radiating too much energy(very rare and my first one did that before it died on me and destroyed the battery making it useless even in my new phone). You could download a live stats program and check the processor usage in percentage because processor time which linux uses can be confusing at times. Also check data usage, the radio will work hard in 3g mode with heavy data throughput which causes battery drain. Do you talk a lot on the phone, talking on the phone for over an hour at a time is very hard on the radio, and battery. If the phone is a year old then it may even be the battery itself. With most smart phones the batteries suck and dont last long as you're basically running a laptop which is very hard on the battery itself and they last about a year on this particular model. Let us know what you figure out with it.

I don't use any wi-fi tethering ever. I have a much better signal where I now live than when I first got the phone so it doesn't make sense that it still dies super quickly. After about a week with a new battery it's still having the same problems and even some new ones. It will restart itself all the time and the phone is still over 85F about 75% of the time. I hardly ever talk on the phone and am not running any apps or radios(wi-fi, bluetooth, gps). I think it's something with the phone now rather than just a battery problem. Good thought? Yes? No?
EDIT: The temperature is always above 100F while charging

 

[Zoandroid]

Are you overclocking?

 

[db2u]

When you say "when I turned it back on GO SMS was uninstalled" do you mean you did that intentionally or it was just gone when you turned it back on. If the latter, and the fact that this started around the time you installed GO SMS, I would have to think its that app causing the problems. I tired GO weather once and it completely screwed up my phone.

 

[JCDenton771]

When you say "when I turned it back on GO SMS was uninstalled" do you mean you did that intentionally or it was just gone when you turned it back on. If the latter, and the fact that this started around the time you installed GO SMS, I would have to think its that app causing the problems. I tired GO weather once and it completely screwed up my phone.

No I don't overclock at all.

It was still installed but just acted like it was uninstalled. I have had no problems with other GO Apps since I use GO launcher and it works much better than stock android(disappearing icons from portrait to landscape anyone?). I really like GO SMS so I would be sad if this was causing all the problems. Recently though it has been having lots of problems loading everything from the SD card and restarts itself all the time. I just replaced the battery and it is already beginning to have some of the weird wear marks that my old one has. I find it hard to believe that one app is causing all these problems.
EDIT: I also forgot to mention that my phone will randomly open apps while it is locked and in my pocket. How is that even possible? It also freezes a lot after I slide the keyboard closed.

 

[Zoandroid]

Presuming you are still stock, have you tried a hard reset and rebuilding it?

 

[JCDenton771]

No I have not because I have too many apps I wouldn't want to lose all of my data.

 

[Zoandroid]

No I have not because I have too many apps I wouldn't want to lose all of my data.

In every computerized device's life there comes a point where nuking and rebuilding is prudent. I believe you are there.

Save your data (the stuff that isn't cloud based already) to your SD card. Back up your apps with whatever program you like. Then copy the SD to your PC as a backup. Then start over. I'll bet you have some corrupt system files.

 

[JCDenton771]

Alright just reset my phone. Not happy because all of my stuff is gone and all the settings are reset. Yes its faster but I hate all of the bloatware crap and the stock home screen. And now I have to start over in Angry Birds.....

 

[Zoandroid]

Alright just reset my phone. Not happy because all of my stuff is gone and all the settings are reset. Yes its faster but I hate all of the bloatware crap and the stock home screen. And now I have to start over in Angry Birds.....

Are you not rooted? If you were then you could do this:


"How does one backup the specific file using Titanium Backup?
You can just backup the entire app and data. It is a one step process to restore. Load TB and then go to angry birds. Restore app plus data and bam you have angry birds and your save."

I found this info using Google.

 

[JCDenton771]

No I am not rooted. It is okay though no big deal. I have only re-installed one app though (GO SMS) and it has not caused problems like before so it is not that app that was causing problems as I previously thought. So I now believe there is something wrong with the phone itself since it randomly gets hot and drains battery really fast and other times it does not.

 

[Zoandroid]

I suppose you may be right. Since you already tried replacing the battery it pretty much seems to be a problem within the phone, like an issue with the charging circuit hardware.

This may be a long shot, but did you try charging it with a different charger?

I suppose there might be a chance the charger is malfunctioning. However, it looks to me like these Android phones are picky about what is used to supply the power. I have an AC to USB 1A power device made by ZipLinQ. I have used it for years to charge things like an old Palm PDA we use here sometimes. I recently tried to use it to charge my Ally, and it would not charge. The Ally never even recognized a charger being connected. I then tried it on the Droid X my son just gave me, and it won't charge the X either. But they will both charge on any of the LG AC chargers I have for my Ally.

That incident is what made me think to suggest trying a different charger. Or maybe one for your car, if you have one of those, just to see if it still gets hot when charging.

 

[JCDenton771]

I have two chargers I use. One is the LG charger that came with the phone. The other one is the old LG charger from my EnV2 I had prior to this phone. The only other way I charge it is through my computer. It seems that it gets hot when it first starts charging but then by the time I wake up and it is fully charged, it is nice and cool as usual. It does seem to be working a lot better since I cleared all that data though and the hot temperatures never interfere with the phone operation as far as I can tell. Sorry this thread is so repetitive I would just like to know if my phone is going to stop working eventually so that I can get a new one so that I'm not SOL all of a sudden one day.

 

[Zoandroid]

I have two chargers I use. One is the LG charger that came with the phone. The other one is the old LG charger from my EnV2 I had prior to this phone. The only other way I charge it is through my computer. It seems that it gets hot when it first starts charging but then by the time I wake up and it is fully charged, it is nice and cool as usual. It does seem to be working a lot better since I cleared all that data though and the hot temperatures never interfere with the phone operation as far as I can tell. Sorry this thread is so repetitive I would just like to know if my phone is going to stop working eventually so that I can get a new one so that I'm not SOL all of a sudden one day.

I would be equally concerned if it were my Ally doing this. My smartphone is an important part of my life (and I don't use social networking apps).

One thing you might want to do is try sometime charging with the battery cover removed. Then you could feel if it is actually the battery getting warm or the Ally itself.Rechargeable batteries often get warm when charging, but shouldn't get warm enough to feel really warm through the Ally case.

When you replaced the battery recently, did you get one from Verizon or get a generic battery? I have had bad experiences with some generic rechargeable batteries. If it is generic I would not rule like out the possibility of your having gotten a bad battery.

 

[rcozzi]

Same phone different programs, same problem. Verizon support was stumped. After two phone exchanges the same problem persisted after loading the same programs. A battery switch did the trick.

 

[JCDenton771]

I would be equally concerned if it were my Ally doing this. My smartphone is an important part of my life (and I don't use social networking apps).

One thing you might want to do is try sometime charging with the battery cover removed. Then you could feel if it is actually the battery getting warm or the Ally itself.Rechargeable batteries often get warm when charging, but shouldn't get warm enough to feel really warm through the Ally case.

When you replaced the battery recently, did you get one from Verizon or get a generic battery? I have had bad experiences with some generic rechargeable batteries. If it is generic I would not rule like out the possibility of your having gotten a bad battery.

Yes I agree with you very important part of my life once you have it.

I have done that and it is the battery that is actually hot and I can usually feel it through the battery cover if it is hot enough.

I bought a factory replacement from verizon that was new and sealed in the box.

 

[Zoandroid]

Yes I agree with you very important part of my life once you have it.

I have done that and it is the battery that is actually hot and I can usually feel it through the battery cover if it is hot enough.

I bought a factory replacement from verizon that was new and sealed in the box.

The fellow above has interesting info.

How long does it take to start warming up after you start charging it? If it's fairly quick, I wonder if you took it to a Verizon store if they would let you try a different battery on one of their chargers while you were in the store, to see if it still overheats? It would be nice to at least figure out which is causing the problem - the batt or the Ally itself.

 

[Zoandroid]

I just Googled "Ally overheats while charging"and got 9 million 200 thousand hits.

 

[db2u]

I just Googled "Ally overheats while charging"and got 9 million 200 thousand hits.

"I like to eat" generates: About 1,310,000,000 results (0.25 seconds)
thats one hit for every 5 or so people on earth I think LOL

Anyway, mine only gets hot when charging when I am doing something CPU intensive like playing a game. If its just sitting it does not get hot at all. I like the thought of trying to let it charge at a verizon store to try to narrow it down to battery or phone or charger.

 

[Zoandroid]

"I like to eat" generates: About 1,310,000,000 results (0.25 seconds)
thats one hit for every 5 or so people on earth I think LOL

Anyway, mine only gets hot when charging when I am doing something CPU intensive like playing a game. If its just sitting it does not get hot at all. I like the thought of trying to let it charge at a verizon store to try to narrow it down to battery or phone or charger.

Aha! You had never mentioned that before. You are putting a heavy load on the battery by gaming. My Ally has only ever gotten hot when I played Angry Birds for half an hour our more. I'm guessing if you played the same game without charging it would still get to the same temperature.

 

[JCDenton771]

Aha! You had never mentioned that before. You are putting a heavy load on the battery by gaming. My Ally has only ever gotten hot when I played Angry Birds for half an hour our more. I'm guessing if you played the same game without charging it would still get to the same temperature.

Actually Zoandroid that was a different guy. My phone never got hot playing games(I use past tense since I don't have them installed anymore).