Help Phone Randomly Shuts Down and Battery Level Gone Crazy

[swisslegacy]

i suspect that switching within gsm and w-lan network causes crashes.. i've heard of problems with switching between 3g and gsm but it could well be that w-lan and mobile network change are hard to handle for sensation.. i'll get in touch with swisscom network provider and see what they kniw so far.. good look for you guys meanwhile.. i'll post further infos asap..

 

[dipesh90]

I have the same problem. It makes the thing un-useable. I had a windows phone before this and I thought that was a bit crap, but at least it worked properly. Think I'm going to sell this and buy something more reliable.

 

[peterc10]

Have you tried Supersaukko's suggestion in his post above? Or my suggestion about a rogue app, also above?

 

[swisslegacy]

i've got 3g and GSM network switch turne off since the first day. permanently switching off w-lan didn't help much.
i'll send the phone back this week and keep fingers crossed for a new years gift..
i've tried any trick that i've heard and i have totally better things to do than messing around with a device that's supposed to work perfectly..
but i will definitely ask for the test results when i get the sensation back!

 

[Rhyz]

Just to give you an update on my problem. I decided to get in touch with HTC after weeks of this happening.

They arranged for UPS to collect it on Jan 10th, and I had it back by Jan 12th. Very prompt service, and didn't have to pay for the courier, obviously.

The phone was then fine until Jan 19th (I was getting around 40hrs battery life out of it), but then the phone reverted to doing the rebooting issue again. Along with the battery level fluctuating constantly. I've contacted HTC again, and they're going to arrange a courier to pick it up again. Which is great, assuming they can sort the problem!

Btw, what they did 2 weeks ago was "update with the latest software". And it was the same phone that came back, if that's any use.

 

[huy_lonewolf]

Can anyone help me confirm whether it is the problem with the battery or not? I have the same problems but I haven't found a solution yet. If it is just the battery then I can just replace it (it is my last available solution.

 

[StoneDeCroze]

I set my phone to WCDMA only 4 days ago,and not had any more problems since. I'll wait until I get ICS, set it back to auto, and see if the problem is still there. If it is I'll send it for repair.

 

[StoneDeCroze]

It's over a week now since I set my phone to WCDMA only, and I've not had a single crash, and it appears my battery life has improved, I seem to have by about 10% more left at the end of a typical day, but I'm not a heavy user.

 

[dannyq]

I changed my mobile network settings from auto to wcdma and it fixed the issue

 

[rifo]

I have the same problem and have found a solution for it. The Sensation shuts down when it changes to 2G GSM network. I found this out when I thought it might have something to do with the bad 3G singal in my house, so I changed my phone to 2G only mode and it couldn't stay on for more than 10 seconds. Then I tried to put it on 3G WCDMA only and it hasn't shut down since. It has worked for 5 days now. To change this go to the mobile network menu in settings and change the Network mode to WCDMA only. I'm still going to send my phone to maintenance though.

i dont have wcdma, i only have gsm,
when i switch it to wcdma only i have no signal, i can only run my phon on gsm, eny sugjestions?

 

[rifo]

hay i have tha same problem but i have only gsm in my area, eny sugjestions?

 

[scaremonger]

I'm having the same problem. I got the phone in September 2011, now I can't use my phone, it just shuts off suddenly when calling someone, navigating among apps, or taking a picture. Like today, it was fully charged, then when talking on Viber, it shut off and after rebooted back, it showed 10% battery left. Any updates about this issue? I suspect my battery is dead but it's been only 8 months, could there be any other possibilities?

 

[peterc10]

I'm having the same problem. I got the phone in September 2011, now I can't use my phone, it just shuts off suddenly when calling someone, navigating among apps, or taking a picture. Like today, it was fully charged, then when talking on Viber, it shut off and after rebooted back, it showed 10% battery left. Any updates about this issue? I suspect my battery is dead but it's been only 8 months, could there be any other possibilities?

It should still be under warranty. Get in touch with the company that supplied it and/or HTC

 

[dklee373]

Does anyone know how to set WCDMA only on Ice cream?? I'm having the same problem..

 

[willie0503]

Does anyone know how to set WCDMA only on Ice cream?? I'm having the same problem..

I have ICS. Just go into settings and then tap the mobile network box (to the left of the on/off switch) the tap "Network Mode" and set to WCDMA only. I just did this today and I have been having this happen since about 2 weeks after switching to ICS. Hopefully this works.

 

[andyk68]

I know this is an old thread but I'm posting with a solution in case any one does a search and comes across it. I've had all the same probs as above and the phone has been back twice for repair. On both occaisons they assured me it would now be ok but wouldnt tell me what it was. A few days after getting it back again it started happening. After the first time i'd sent it back i noticed a video on youtube of someone jamming a small piece of plastic between the batery and the body to stop movement but i didnt try it because i assumed is was a software issue. The second time i got it back i tried it after the crashes resumed and in 4 weeks it hasnt happened once, so it works. Bit frustrating tho knowing i have this expensive mobile that needs a piece of plastic to work, but work is what i'm after and work it now does.

 

[rctempire]

Interesting, ive had this since day one, kind of got used to it crashing 2-3 times a week. But when it crashes, it crashes.
Biggest killer is the camera, click sound and phone powers off completely. Interesting. So turned off flash, sound etc, all the same.
Ill try look for this video see what happens.
Also battery drain is there, but after a few reboots is fine and works a normal.

 

[wxninja]

guys..just see if the battery is bloated or not. Mine was bad...and after replacing the battery with $7 ebay 1900..it no longer shuts down on me at all. It worked for a while with the business card trick...but since changing to a new "flat" battery...I have no issues at all with the phone shutting off randomly on me.

 

[Shaster]

Mine started getting the reboot/crazy battery issues seen here, but once I disabled Quick boot, it seems to for now, have solved the issue.
Just wondering whether some of the app updates that have come through lately would have been affected by this, as it's definitely a power/reboot issue, hence the battery monitor going weird;.
My Anker battery is now reporting fine again since I did this, and have had no reboots to date since !

 

[Jhcx]

Hi,
My sensation has recently started acting up again. Very annoying when your waiting on phone calls and realise the phone is off.

I started getting this problem when it was on 2.3.5 then i got the upgrade to 4.0 and it has stopped switching off randomly. only once or twice it did happen but i noticed it was only when the battery was about 40c . then i recently got an update to 4.0.3 and the issue is back and nearly worse than ever.

The phone switches off when

I run out of reception
The battery is 39-41 degrees

I was in spain for a week and this was happening every few minutes so i decided to take out the sim card and not a single thing went wrong even the battery life was staying at near 100% for the whole day. charge it at night and then come the next night was down to only about 81% now thats the exact same usage cause i text over the WiFi mostly. But was shocked that a sim card can cause so many issues for a phone. Even on airplane mode the phone stays on. and if its on charge it also stays on. currently have it on charge now .

Is it really possible that the reception is causing the phone to keep switching off ? and does anyone know if there is a new update coming out because as i say all these problems have only come back since this new update.

 

[peterc10]

Other threads here suggest random switching on and off is caused because the battery is slightly too small and after a while the contacts oxidise and prevent good contact. Of course when you took your SIM out you had to remove the battery, thus maybe curing the problem for a while

I suggest you try cleaning the contacts and inserting a piece of stiff card between the end of the phone (furthest from contacts) and its holder, as both have seemed to cure many peoples' problems

 

[rootb33r]

Samsung Charge, almost exactly 1 year old... this just happened this morning for the first time:

• Woke up with the battery at 3/4
• All of a sudden it crashed while I was starting up my Amazon MP3's for my workout (have been doing it for a long time)
• When it came back on, it was "critically low" battery
• Turned it off until I got into work just now
• Started it back up and it's at 3/4 again.

Note: I checked my battery and there is no movement at all; not even a tiny shuffle. I'll try cleaning the contacts, but I don't think I can stick any kind of paper in there... it's really snug.

I'll report back with any findings.

 

[peterc10]

This is a forum for HTC SEnsations, not Samsung phones. Different manufacturer who does not use the HTC Sense skin for Android. Therefore not likely to be the same problem.

 

[enzored]

I got the solution for this.

Simply replace the piece of crap battery that comes with your phone with Anker.

The problem is definitely the battery. When this starts happening (on the HTC battery crap) and I just replace the battery, everything works fine. Cannot be more clear on this

 

[peterc10]

If you read the many other threads on the subject you will see that your solution worked at first for many users, but then, over time it started happening again to some of them. So it is not guarantee.

Seems pretty clear it is mechanical problem caused by manufacturing tolerances. If the battery bay is a little larger and the battery a little smaller you are more likely to have a problem. It can usually be cured by packing out the battery.

I have 3 batteries, 2 ankers and the stock and I rotate their use. I have never had the problem with any of them. But then I suspect that taking the batteries out and charging them on a separate charger tends to keep the contacts cleaner than if you keep one battery in the phone all the time.