Support my pal EVO is having weird wifi/3g issues...

Alright - greetings forum. Got an evo issue I would love some help with:

I've had, nay, *loved* my EVO since mid-August (6 months). Great device, no problems whatsoever. I use it for everything... until:

Last week I started having a very weird issue with connectivity. Sort of.

Say I'm connected to my home wifi network (which serves a number of other devices without problem). I can get onto the internets fine, but when I'm on a web page, the little url bar drops down every 10 seconds or so, but does nothing. The phone kind of freezes when this happens. So then, say I have a text input open, the same thing will happen, but I will get bumped out of the input, as if the "back" button had been hit (which it certainly did not). This is also repeatable if I turn wifi off and am just on 3g (or 4g - but its not yet in my area, so i wouldn't know).

So theres that.

Then, if I happen to be playing a game, lets say "Jet Car Stunts" (which is awesome), the same thing will happen (phone freezes for a second), but the "pause" button gets triggered, and I am bumped into the pause screen, obviously, rendering most games unplayable. This seems to be pretty repeatable over a number of games. I thought it was openFeint, but I uninstalled it, but the unwanted pausing continues.

So then, at least as far as games are concerned, if I enable Airplane mode, the unwanted pausing stops altogether.

Clearly the network adapter is choking on something.

Going though the Adroid System Info (App) system log, I can't be sure if anything in particular is causing problems. The only things that look reasonably suspicious is:

"
02-11 10:13:38.647 D/WifiService(103)
realeaseWifiLockLocked:
WifiLock{NetworkLocationProvider type=2 binder=android.os.Binder@4630ab08}

02-11 10:13:38.667 D/WifiService(103)
enable and start wifi due to updateWifiState
"
and

"02-11 10:19:19.785 E/Tethering(103)
attempting to remove unknown iface(usb0)
ignoring
"
otherwise, it looks like a lot of garbage collector calls and other standard system stuff...

I've run through antivirus scans, coming up clean, and removed other network-centric apps, like dropbox. I have not made any changes to system settings that I can think of, so its odd that this behavior would just randomly start after months of happy mobile devicing.

I can't, for the life of me, figure out what is going on, and I can't seem to find anyone with this particular issue on the interwebs...

So, I come to you guys. (And not, sprint, apparently...)

Thanks in advance

 

I do leave wifi on, normally, unless I think to turn it off. 'Notify me' is currently activated.

As far as a factory reset, I assume, should I do that, my phone goes back to nill and I need to set it up again with all my info for it to function, and then add apps / media etc... seems like a nuclear option, but if it will work, might be a good plan.

This phone continues to be buggy, and its getting really annoying. I can either have smooth running apps, or be connected to a network, but apparently not both. Which is somewhat self-defeating for a device like this...

I really hope its nothing in the hardware... but I suppose the sprint store might be able to assist. I do have hardware insurance (that I've yet to use)...

Thanks for the help.

 

Will definitely check out the 'notify me' fix. I definitely do have several neighbors with wireless.

Is the factory reset essentially like a format and reinstall of the os? Computers obviously benefit from that once in a while... I've definitely noticed my evo has slowed as its gained remnants of crap over the last six months...

thanks for the help, its much appreciated.

 

Alrighty - got around to doing a factory reset today. All told - took a couple hours to get the phone prepped, reset, and resituated. Seems to have worked out - - - so thats good. Still don't know what the issue was - but i seem to be back up to speed.

FYI - prior to factory reset:
contacts synced via google accounts.
pulled sd card, so no changes.
took note of important account info and the like.
reinstalled only apps that i was using.

System seems more responsive and uncluttered, as one would hope. Will be watching it closely over the next few to make sure this issue doesn't return (seems to have not been a hardware issue, which i was kinda spooked about).

Thanks for the help Mr Ed

btw: what is your feeling on "system info" / "app killer" apps or antivirus apps. I have reinstalled a couple, as having some control of whats running seems kind of important... but I wonder if it causes more problems than not. And as far as antivirus goes - my isn't Android built on linux, which is somewhat "immune" to attack?