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Google Play hangs on all updates/installs

gmev

Lurker
Jul 6, 2011
8
0
I have a stock, unrooted Photon 4G with Go Launcher EX.

Since a few days ago, most or all application updates and new app installs in Google Play will fail. They generally download, then hang forever at "Installing..." and the update never completes.

Any ideas? I'm using one brand new app that I'd really like to get updates for as it was just released and they're fixing bugs like mad. Plus, I can't install anything new.
 
Hi OstrichSaK,

I hadn't thought of that, but I'm using Elixir widgets to keep an eye on my disk space. Supposedly I have 2.2GB free on 'internal storage,' 6.2GB free on /mnt/sdcard, and 3.7GB free on /mnt/sdcard-ext ... should be plenty, no?

I did try clearing app data and cache and rebooting... now it just hangs at "Downloading" forever, whether I try to update a single app or all the ones that need updates. That could be Market fail, though, I've seen the inability to download resolve itself before.
 
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I hadn't thought of that, but I'm using Elixir widgets to keep an eye on my disk space. Supposedly I have 2.2GB free on 'internal storage,' 6.2GB free on /mnt/sdcard, and 3.7GB free on /mnt/sdcard-ext ... should be plenty, no?

No. The total space available on your storage isn't indicative of allotted space for apps since it's different and doesn't just fill up your available space. It just has to do with the way things are partitioned.

I did try clearing app data and cache and rebooting... now it just hangs at "Downloading" forever, whether I try to update a single app or all the ones that need updates. That could be Market fail, though, I've seen the inability to download resolve itself before.

You really just need to follow the steps I mentioned and I have a feeling you will find that things work just fine afterwards.
 
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Annnnnnd the problem resolved itself in between my second-to-last and my last reply. I was charging the phone and restarted a sync that had died this morning (I use iSyncr Wifi to sync back and forth from iTunes, upload my photos and videos automagically, etc). I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but iSyncr had decided it needed to nuke and resync like a thousand songs last night.

Got it going, let it sit for an hour transferring, came back to reply to your reply just now, and went over to implement your suggestion, and Play had autoinstalled all the apps it was refusing to install before.

Maybe iSyncr Wifi was chewing up a ton of space in the app partition and thus blocking Play? I looked before all this with App 2 SD Free and it didn't say it was using a ton of space.
 
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Ugh. I'll give it a go and see. This did all start after I downloaded a 10MB app.

Why ugh? It's not that difficult and usually when someone has the symptoms that you've described this is the problem & solution. If you just installed a 10MB app just before this started then that makes perfect sense and goes along with what I've been saying.
 
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Annnnnnd the problem resolved itself in between my second-to-last and my last reply. I was charging the phone and restarted a sync that had died this morning (I use iSyncr Wifi to sync back and forth from iTunes, upload my photos and videos automagically, etc). I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but iSyncr had decided it needed to nuke and resync like a thousand songs last night.

Got it going, let it sit for an hour transferring, came back to reply to your reply just now, and went over to implement your suggestion, and Play had autoinstalled all the apps it was refusing to install before.

Maybe iSyncr Wifi was chewing up a ton of space in the app partition and thus blocking Play? I looked before all this with App 2 SD Free and it didn't say it was using a ton of space.

You're using too many apps to do what you can already do w/o them. This is part of what's going to get you into trouble. From your home screen hit menu then settings->Applications->Manage applications. Now, look at the bottom of your screen and it will show you how much space you have for apps and how much is used. I usually go ALL at the top then sort by size and start from the top (largest) down to either delete, move to SD (done by clicking the app itself and then 'Move to SD') or leave where it is. This is where you start whenever you have space issues that will lead to the issues you were having. Apps are nice but just remember that the more you install the more it bogs your phone down and costs you battery life amongst other things.
 
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729MB used, 2.2GB free.

I do need to clean house somewhat, my phone was wonderfully stable for about 3 weeks and I got everything arranged how I wanted it, and then it got cantankerous again.

No, that's not the right one. That's why I spelled out exactly the steps you need to follow to see what your available application space is. It's different (much smaller) than your overall storage space as I've already mentioned. Don't be surprised if you have around 400MB of total space for apps which may or may not be close to full currently.
 
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OstrichSaK said:
From your home screen hit menu then settings->Applications->Manage applications. Now, look at the bottom of your screen and it will show you how much space you have for apps and how much is used. I usually go ALL at the top then sort by size and start from the top (largest) down to either delete, move to SD (done by clicking the app itself and then 'Move to SD') or leave where it is.

This is exactly what I did.

No, that's not the right one. That's why I spelled out exactly the steps you need to follow to see what your available application space is. It's different (much smaller) than your overall storage space as I've already mentioned. Don't be surprised if you have around 400MB of total space for apps which may or may not be close to full currently.

I did it again just to be sure. Home > hit menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. Hit All, or other tabs at the top, doesn't matter, when I look down below it's "Application Storage" "729MB used, 2.2GB free."

The Photon is a weird phone. It has a large amount of internal storage, THEN an 8GB internal flash chip mounted at /sdcard, and any actual SD card you put in (it does not ship with one) is mounted at /sdcard-ext. So, perhaps they've allocated more space than you usually see or something else is unusual.
 
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This is exactly what I did.



I did it again just to be sure. Home > hit menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. Hit All, or other tabs at the top, doesn't matter, when I look down below it's "Application Storage" "729MB used, 2.2GB free."

The Photon is a weird phone. It has a large amount of internal storage, THEN an 8GB internal flash chip mounted at /sdcard, and any actual SD card you put in (it does not ship with one) is mounted at /sdcard-ext. So, perhaps they've allocated more space than you usually see or something else is unusual.

Ahh.. alright. I wasn't sure what phone you were using because that's a LOT of app space for most phones. My guess is that your app that's syncing is probably your issue then. It may lock use of that section while it's doing it's thing. I don't use anything like that so I can't say for sure. Sorry for thinking you were looking in the wrong place because the #'s you posted seemed way too high.
 
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haha, no worries... I spent the $$$ on this phone because I'm a very heavy user and the Evo couldn't meet my needs any longer. Not enough RAM.

I have noticed that newer versions of Android are making apps like App 2 SD Free obsolete, I just kinda was using them out of habit since I'm used to them.
 
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haha, no worries... I spent the $$$ on this phone because I'm a very heavy user and the Evo couldn't meet my needs any longer. Not enough RAM.

I have noticed that newer versions of Android are making apps like App 2 SD Free obsolete, I just kinda was using them out of habit since I'm used to them.

Yeah, as much as I love my Evo 4G and as well as it meets my needs the limited RAM (512MB I think) is a big pain in my butt. I'm thinking I may go ahead and pick up the new Evo 4G LTE when they are available Friday. I messed with a One X (AT&T's version) in-store and the thing is amazing. I love the size of the display and it was SO fast and smooth. I thought I would rock the Evo 4G for years like I did the Droid but it seems as though the things I can't fix are the things that bother me the most.
 
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