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Help Did I just get a BAD Optimus V?

nyssa

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2011
114
12
Seattle, WA
Things my phone does:

1: Touch screen goes crazy. Imagine opening Paint and trying to poke the screen to make one single dot. Now imagine that dot, instead of looking like a dot, looks like a GIGANTIC HAIRBALL. Oh, and it was drawn a half inch from where your finger was actually touching the screen. This will happen for as much as an entire day, rendering the entire phone useless.

2: It turns itself off, several times per week.

3: It reboots itself, at least once a day.

4: When you hit "send" on a text message, sometimes it takes upwards of 30-45 seconds (frequently even longer) for the message to actually appear in the conversation list and start sending.

5: Relatedly, if you attempt to start typing a new message before the one you just sent has actually re-appeared, the entire SMS app will freeze, then crash entirely. Or sometimes it will just freeze the whole phone. This makes SMS conversations slow and difficult.

6: Orrrr....sometimes the phone will just simply freeze for no reason at all.

7: Oh, and for a while there, I was getting about 3 hours per charge. Even if I didn't touch the phone at all after pulling it off of the charger. I would go cook dinner and come back 20 minutes later to a half dead battery.

I battery pull about 400 times a day.


I seriously want to throw this phone against a brick wall. Did I just get a bad one? Or are these known problems with this phone? I'm considering taking advantage of the VM Cyber Monday deal - if I just got a bad V, I might just get a new one. If these are relatively common problems, I think I'll get the Triumph, despite its slightly lower overall ratings...


EDIT: Other info - it's rooted, but cleanly so. I have wiped everything many many times, backed up, restored, etc., and tried at least four different ROMs. The problems still happen.
 
It sounds to me like you have more than the normal issues. How long have you had the phone? If it has been less than a year:

From Virginmobileusa.com
One-Year Warranty
All mobile phones purchased directly from Virgin Mobile, or one of our authorized resellers, include a one-year warranty from the original equipment manufacturer. If you experience an equipment malfunction, call Virgin Mobile At Your Service at 1-888-322-1122 and we will arrange for a replacement mobile phone.


That being said, I am sure some of the wonderful people who regularly post here might have some other suggestions to help you fix some of this yourself. If it is a hardware issue, I doubt there is much you can do.
 
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Did you have any of those issues before rooting?

If you had the issues before rooting, I personally would not feel bad at least calling and talking to them about it. I would not lie and say I didn't root the phone, but I know a decent number of people have returned rooted phones for a replacement to Virgin Mobile (many of whom I believe even told them that if asked). If you didn't have any issues before, then I would say it's probably best to find another solution. I am not telling you to hide/lie about this to Virgin Mobile. Just be honest and ask if it is possible. You may get a replacement, or you might get told that because it was rooted that you are out of luck. In my opinion it doesn't hurt to ask.

Did you make a Nandroid backup of your phone in a previous state? Possibly right after rooting? You could always restore that if you did and see if that helps.
 
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There is a stock Virgin rom in the all things root subforum. You could try flashing that and see where things go.

You could also try flashing another rom (BACKside, Harmonia, Bumblebee) and see if there is an improvement.

I have (cleanly!) flashed all of those ROMs. None helped. I may try stock for a while, though.
 
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It sounds to me like you have more than the normal issues. How long have you had the phone? If it has been less than a year:

From Virginmobileusa.com
One-Year Warranty
All mobile phones purchased directly from Virgin Mobile, or one of our authorized resellers, include a one-year warranty from the original equipment manufacturer. If you experience an equipment malfunction, call Virgin Mobile At Your Service at 1-888-322-1122 and we will arrange for a replacement mobile phone.


That being said, I am sure some of the wonderful people who regularly post here might have some other suggestions to help you fix some of this yourself. If it is a hardware issue, I doubt there is much you can do.

Off topic, but I love your avatar.
Exterminate!!! Exterminate!!!!
 
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Seeing as how you're rooted, do you have a lot of installed apps, and have you moved any of them to the mSDCard? Is it the original mSDCard or some other brand/specs? How long have you had the phone, and at what point in its life did it start to act up?

They're all on the SD card. SD is not the original one that came with the phone, but it's not off-brand either (it's the one I used when I had a nookColor, which I had noooo problems with - so I doubt it's the card).

I've had the phone since the end of June. So just over five months. I've actively wanted to kill it for at least two months now, but it acted up well before that. Couldn't tell you exactly when it started though.
 
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What did you use to root your phone and what method did you use.

There's a slight possibility that you might have rooted in a manner that is not accepted for the "V",
Using a SuperOneClick version other than SuperOneClick v1.6.2, and hitting the Root button, instead of hitting the Shell Root button and pushing su and Busybox with a command prompt would be one example.
 
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