Help HTC Desire Z shutting down by itself everyday

[necrotic]

Hi,

I just bought a HTC Desire Z about one week ago. I love this phone and the Android OS. I have only one very annoying problem :

It shuts down by itself everyday and I must remove the battery to get it running again. When it happens, the phone is in my pocket or idling on my desk at work. It never turned off when I was playing with it, only when it's locked. Also, it does it even if the battery is fully charged. The phone is also up to date with the latest updates.

It is annoying since I bought a hard case for it and I need to remove the case each time in order to do the battery pull...

Well, I did a hard reset yesterday. I did not install any other apps. The same problem occurred again this morning.

Is my unit faulty or it might be just the battery ? I'd prefer not bringing it back to Bell since they're going to send it to HTC for repair and they won't replace it right away...

Anyone had this problem and managed to resolve it ?

Thanks

 

[artinsh]

I have the same problem, still don't know what to do... actually hope this could be solved without bringing back to manufacturer, because i have uploaded the apps i need and customized phone in style what i like...

 

[necrotic]

Got it replaced yesterday, no shut downs yet so I'll cross my fingers hoping it doesn't happen!

 

[strikedamic]

Do you perceive the battery as being quite warm when you remove it?
Even if not, I've read of cases with a faulty battery temperature sensor or faulty batteries. A Desire Z has a safety function that shuts it off or reboots it when it senses the battery to be too warm. From what I know, that is around 60

 

[Boosh63]

I had unlocked and rooted my DZ some time ago and was running custom ROMs. I reverted back to stock and was experiencing what is described here.

I discovered that when I had a "live" wallpaper selected, it would do that and not when I just select a "normal" wallpaper image.

Hope that helps!!!

 

[Bucktop]

Randomly at a party talked to a guy that worked for Telus even though mine is a Bell phone. Once I uninstalled 'LiveProfile' for chatting with my Blackberry buddies, my phone doesn't shut off anymore. The LiveProfile program is quite a hog for some reason on processor. Hopefully this helps some of you

BT

 

[fc3sbob]

my Desire Z does this also, Only when idle, never when I'm using it. I have to pull the battery to reset it.. When I was running the stock rom it did this, same after it was rooted, and now I'm running the CyanogenMod 7.0.3 and I thought it was good but it has done it twice since I put this rom on yesterday. I have checked the SIM card and it is fully inserted, the battery terminals are clean, Live wallpaper is off (as per instructions from another thread)
unfortunately it's a network unlocked phone from BELL still under warranty but since I'm not the original owner they refuse to warranty it.
I hope there is a DIY solution..

 

[fc3sbob]

I found a fix that kind of works.. it has cut down on the amount of times it shuts off.. I installed SetCPU and set it to run at the lowest cpu speed when the screen is off. it still does it once a day though.
is the battery temp sensor controlled by Android or the bios? is there any way to disable it?

 

[fc3sbob]

bump: still happening, especially in this hot weather.. sometimes it manages to stay on only for a minute or two before shutting down. But if I use it in a place that has the A/C on, it never really does this. It seems to do this when my battery temp reaches mid 30 degrees. which sucks because it's usually always around 29 to 32 so it's always just a few degree's away from shutting off. so if I stick it in my pocket and walk outside then I guarantee it will be off when I go to use it a few minutes later.

 

[stax65]

I have a Desire Z, that has been doing this since I bought it in May. It upgraded to Android 2.3 a week ago and I was hoping it would help, but it still does it, about once every 2-4 days. Sometimes it happens while it's charging overnight (phone is dead when you want to turn it on in the morning), but always when it's idling.

Strangely enough, my wife bought a Samsung Ace a week ago, running Android 2.23, and that phone is now doing it too. So it seems Android-related, not Desire-specific!

 

[MjrDainBramage]

Hi.

I'm experiencing this only when the phone is idle, but lately I have spotted a pattern. This has not been tested extensively yet, but it seems that it happens to me within an hour or two after using GPS/Waze-app. If i perform a reboot shortly after I'm done navigating, the problem doesn't seem to arise. It's too soon to say for sure just yet, but this may be the explanation (or at least part of it). The GPS creates some heat when in use, and it could be that this is causing issues with the temperature sensor if it's not reset (by a reboot). Just my two cents.

 

[midian]

I have the same issue.

I have noticed that my phone slows incredibly down right before this "shutdown" happens. In reality is does not shutdown, it just kind of hangs. I had a "shutdown" with my green notifying LED flashing.

It looks like an app or the OS is leaking on CPU usage.

Any idea on how to solve this? Apart from having my phone changed? I'd like to keep that as a last option since I bought it from abroad :/

Thanks

 

[nuke49]

My phone has done this since day one and it drives me nuts, fortunately I have a Motorola Razr which I am now using while Bell attempts to fix it the 2nd time.I sent it away about 6 weeks ago and it came back after a month and worked fine for two days and it started all over again so now they sent it away again and lent me an HTC legend that didn't work. I am fully frustrated with Bell as they don't care and won't do anything to help. I talked to the HTC people a few times and finally sound a sympathetic ear and he had me run it on safe mode and it did it again so they determined that it was a hardware problem and I informed Bell about it and gave them the ticket number for HTC. They didn't even bother checking with them as they only did a ROM re-flash when they tried to fix it the 1st time.If it comes back this time and doesn't work I don't know what I'll do but I can't wait until my contract is up so I can go to another provider! Does anyone have any idea how you can get a replacement phone from Bell and I have lots of warranty left?

 

[Pilgrim778]

My Desire Z power down occasionally. Recently I have discovered that when I turn my phone on again, there is a icon telling that some apps have new updates ready for download. I have now switched off all automatically updates. This seems to help a bit (power down is not as frequent as before). But still it do power down once in a while. And when I turn it on there are some apps ready for update...I will remove these apps 1 by 1 to see if the power down stops and try to locate if there is a special app causing this... If anyone have experienced this please post it...I'll post the problem app if I find it...

 

[Stuntman]

I seemed to have narrowed down this random shut-off issue to something more common. I keep my phone in a holster and I have suspected that the shutting off may be in some way due to some physical stress on the unit. It has shut off when it is in my holster. The last time it shut off, I had the music on the speaker and I flipped the phone over. When I put it down on the table with a little bit of a bump, the music turned off. I examined my phone it was turned off. I think that at least with my phone, some physical stress on the chasis may cause it to turn off.

Now, physical stress on my phone does not cause it to shut down all the time. I have dropped it on a few occasions and it hasn't turned off those times. I think in the 15 months that I have had this phone, it has shut off maybe once every 2 months on average. It seems to come in bunches and then I go several months without any issues.

 

[ngh007]

So, we dont really know whats happening or how to have it not shut down randomly?
Ive had mine for about 8/9 months now - had this issue from the start. Reduced frequency somewhat by putting a bit of cello-tape on the sim card so that wasnt loose. But usually it kills itself when its doing nothing AND not charging. When I hard-reset (take battery out) start it, its got enough battery, so its not a low battery issue. I think its a heating up problem as the batterys been quiet hot when I have noticed it kill itself. But not sure how to not have it go that hot - specially when Im not using it!

 

[Stuntman]

A couple of months ago, it was happening somewhat frequently (every few days). I just did a battery pull and cleaned the contacts and put it back in. It's been fine after that.

 

[Advt86]

Hi Everybody,
I found a solution which is working fine so far (2 weeks)
First of all you need to wipe off your HTC desire Z, and reinstall the factory image (PC10IMG)
Start your phone, and jailbreak it again.
Install rom manager and super user
Download mimicry (currently using the 1.3.2 fine with android jelly bean) and put it on your sd card.
Restart the phone and install mimicry
Go to into your settings; performance;
Processor : min 1024 max 1612
Memory : zram--> disabled
Allow purging of assets : enabled
Kernel samepage merginge: enabled

Hope this help
Ad

 

[Advt86]

Reboot and you will be fine

 

[shbr67]

Hello, I am new to this forum and I have had the same problem with my Desire Z. I bought it in Aug. 2012 and from the beginning it would freeze, reboot, shut down , lock up, screen goes blank or white, run slow, wouldn't charge properly,etc. This would happen almost every day or even several times a day requiring several battery pulls. Really annoying!
Well everyone, I think that I have found the solution. It's your old, slow, junk memory card. I bought a Sandisk Mobile Ultra 16 GB Class 10 card and instantly the problem went away. ($18 bucks ebay). I have been without incident for 8 weeks straight! I also bought an Andida S710e extended life battery which also works great. I love my phone now. I hope this info will help. Good luck!

 

[harithalam]

I had unlocked and rooted my DZ some time ago and was running custom ROMs. I reverted back to stock and was experiencing what is described here.

I discovered that when I had a "live" wallpaper selected, it would do that and not when I just select a "normal" wallpaper image.

Hope that helps!!!

Well Boosh 63 I can't thank you enough!! I have been searching forums for weeks for a solution to my problem:

I got my HTC Desire (same issue really for many Desire subtypes) just under 3 years ago - loved it and so did many people as it was then the top smartphone around. However, last year just before my Orange 24 month contract ended someone stole it !! Fortunately I had insurance and got what looked like a brand new replacement (must have been refurbished in reality). Anyhow it worked perfectly for the last month or two of use before I upgraded to a SGS3 (heresy I know for HTC fans) mainly for the bigger memory and screen real estate - both of which are excellent I must say. Anyhow, the s3 had many issues of its own - the brand new one I got (blue) the wifi wouldn't work, so they sent me a new replacement the next day (I certainly hope it wasn't a refurbished one). That worked ok for a few months but for the last 4 months or so it has been plagued by sound dropping whilst making calls (this issue has plagued many other S3 users sadly too).

So I've had to send my S3 off to Orange 3 times now for repair. The first time I was lookiing forward to getting reacquainted with the old Desire again, which I'd kept as a spare for such rainy days. However after I set things up on it, it soon started this horroble cycling on and off. I tried soft and hard resets. I then for the first time ever flashed Gingerbread onto it via Odin hoping it would cure the problem - just seemed to slowly get worse. I tried several of the other things suggested in the forums - paper next to battery, paper by sim card, new batery, reset it again - all failed miserably.

I was tearing my hair out this morning, when I thought I'd have a look at 1 last forum and came across your suggestion. Then it occurred to me that I normally keep a very simple black background but for some reason this wasn't available on my Desire replacement when I went back to use it again, so I had chosen one of the Live wallpapers instead. Could it be something as simple and as stupid as that???

Well I took a camera close up pic of my black desk and switched to that as my homescreen wallpaper. Hey presto....... it's fixed and it's working fast and smooth like my original Desire used to before it was nicked!

I agree with many of the HTC users about how awful and rubbish HTC have been in terms of tech support. I'm not sure if every Desire subtype user has exactly the same issue - clearly the hardware/software combo in many of them just can't cope with many issues - wallpapers, batteries, sim cards or sd cards or whatever they may be.

Although I am soooo happy my HTC Desire is back up and running again, I will probably never go back to buying one again for the hassle I''ve had. Although my SG3 saga continues -we'll see if they actually send me a replacement this time or not and whether that fixes that issue. Who knows might have to switch to Nexus or Motorola or something next time...

If you too have been plagued by this issue and have live wallpaper as a homescreen, then please try turning it off and choosing a still picture instead. Let me and this forum know if it works for you too.

Thanks,

Harith

UPDATE: OK so it proved to be a false dawn in the end of my HTC world nightmare.... a few hours later everything is working swimmingly well - I've even installed several apps I was deliberately avoiding whilst the phone played up, and then when I try to make an international call, it starts doing it again like crazy!

What now?? I'm not sure, but something I know for certain is that I won't be buying another one of these again. I'll try putting in my S3 memory card and see if that combination helps...

UPDATE: ok tried new SD card from my s3 - failed. Tried old sim card (new s3 one is a micro with an adapter for the desire - thought it might be something to do with that - failed. Am running out of options - my next plan is to move some apps back to phone from sd and see if that fixes it. Failing that it will have to be factory reset and reinstall FROYO original ROM with no apps added. I'll even take the SD card and SIM out and make sure live wallpapers not selected - if it's still doing it, we know for sure it's a hardware isssue.

 

[harithalam]

OK so I did a factory reset using clear storage option from bootloader: phone kept cycling off from then onwards and never restarted properly!

Put phone in freezer for 5 mins cos it felt hot. Called HTC UK technical support for first time ever - turns out my phone ran out of 2 yr manufacturers warranty just over a month ago - doh! They were actually very pleasant and helpful - they said if I could get Orange to acknowledge in writing they sent me this HTC only last year, they would honour its warrantly from the date it was sent. They also said they will always be happy to give me free technical support through their hotline from 8am to 9pm Mon - Fri and 9am to 1pm on Sat. Now looking at comments online and on a BBC watchdog programme about their rubbish customer service in the past, clearly they have improved a lot in the last year.

I'm not sure the guy was selling me the complete truth however - he said this fault is usually caused by mobile virus which the phone tries to clear by switching off. Factory reset doesn't always fix it. He suggested I go to recovery option and clean cache partition and then reboot, which I have done. He asked me to install free lookout with antivirus programme.

The phone has finally turned on again after all that and is working again - phew.., so I will now switch off live wallpaper - in case that has anything to do with this vulnerability and install lookout with antivirus. Then we'll see how we go. I'll also ask Orange to send me confirmation letter stating they sent me the Desire as a replacement last year - the guy confirmed btw it was a brand new phone although it was manufactured in Dec 2010 - not bad eh!

If this recovery business has fixed this once and for all, I'll let you all know, although I have my doubts - since it affects so many HTC's I reckon it is a common hardware/software,SIM/SD card compatibility issue.