Droid 2, virus or ghost?

[jhearcht]

I've had my Motorola D2 for a couple of weeks, and all was well up until yesterday. Then, I noticed the battery wouldn't charge beyond 30% - 40%. The battery icon indicates that charging is ongoing, and the battery gets warm. But the status still never shows over 40% charge.

After removing and reinserting the battery, no change. Tried charging in car with USB. No change. The next day it finally charged up to 100%, but then began to go back down to 80%, then 70%, even though the phone is not in use.

Later, I turned the phone on and opened Contacts. Before I could select a contact, it brought up the text window and began typing nonsense, like "kooboo" . . . I wasn't touching anything. When I went back to the home screen, it began to scroll, jump to various windows, and type non-sense again. Eventually, I couldn't even turn the phone on. So I simply removed the battery, in hopes that would stop the insanity.

I'd like to check for running apps, but all this craziness won't allow me to use the phone at all. I can't even go to the Android Play Store to download an antivirus app. I'm new to smartphones. Does this sound like a virus, or is my new phone about to self-destruct? What can I do about it? Thanks for your help.

 

[Thom]

Welcome to Android Forums.

Where did you get your phone? From your carrier or a third-party? Was it new? Who is your carrier?

For charging ... the basic rule is ... use the wall charger and cable that came with your phone and that should establish the best possible charging. You can experiment from there if you choose but get the foundation established.

... Thom

 

[jhearcht]

The new-in-the-box phone was bought from Amazon with no service contract. The pre-paid service provider is PagePlus, which uses Verizon circuits.

I normally use the standard wall charger, and leave it connected only for a couple of hours. I tried the car charger just to see if it would work after it failed to charge-up on the wall charger, which had worked fine for the first couple of weeks.

Due to the other non-battery related craziness, I'm wondering if a Trojan is playing with the system. All of my apps were downloaded from Google Play Store, and I don't accept requests for unnecessary permissions. So I don't know how it got in there. With the battery discharged and the screen jumping around, I can't use the phone at all. Not even to download a virus checker.

 

[Thom]

I always suggest starting with a Factory Data Reset as the first step with a new-to-you phone acquired from any place other than the carrier. This assures that some strange app was not added to the phone that you don't know about.

When attacking your problem ...

Try rebooting ... power off followed by power on.

Still a problem try a soft reset AKA battery pull. With power on open back and remove battery. Then replace battery.

If still have the problem do a Factory Data Reset.

If still have the problem return the phone to where you got it.

(I don't have the Droid 2 and perhaps someone who does will also chime in here.)

I run ... Norton Security ... on my phones. I don't know that it is needed. I figured it might help someday.

... Thom

 

[jhearcht]

I always suggest starting with a Factory Data Reset as the first step with a new-to-you phone acquired from any place other than the carrier. This assures that some strange app was not added to the phone that you don't know about.

When attacking your problem ...

Try rebooting ... power off followed by power on.

Still a problem try a soft reset AKA battery pull. With power on open back and remove battery. Then replace battery.

If still have the problem do a Factory Data Reset.

If still have the problem return the phone to where you got it.

(I don't have the Droid 2 and perhaps someone who does will also chime in here.)

I run ... Norton Security ... on my phones. I don't know that it is needed. I figured it might help someday.

... Thom

Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried all of the above, except for a factory reset, which would wipe out everything I've setup for the last three weeks.

Right now the phone won't even turn on when I press the On button. Looks like I'll have to contact the seller for a replacement.

 

[Thom]

If you get it replaced the last thing you will do on the old phone is a Factory Data Reset to remove personal information.

... Thom

 

[jhearcht]

If you get it replaced the last thing you will do on the old phone is a Factory Data Reset to remove personal information.

... Thom

Thanks. I've done a factory reset and removed the SD card. Now I'm waiting for Support to approve the return.

I'd still like to know what could cause such weird behavior. I can't imagine how a bad battery could make the screens jump around like that, and take control of the keyboard. And why would a Trojan or Worm cause such obvious interference with normal operation, unless just to mess with my head? I thought they were supposed to be subtle.

 

[Thom]

Its the little things that can cause the big problems that you never think about ...

Damp screen.
Lint in a connection socket.
Aging battery.

... stuff like that.

... Thom