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Continous Rebooting

My brand new Vox is continously rebooting. The only way I can get it to boot is to take out the microsd card, then put it back in after it boots. The microsd card works fine afterwoods, but its really annoying.
Anyone else have this problem?

Looks like you installed something which the Vox doesn't like.
Perhaps facade? (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=307378)

Had the exact same problem. Removing the microSD worked also.
Afterwards it was working fine. The problem started after installing
BatMonitor on the device. Removing it solved the problem permanently.
I would suggest you go through the programs you installed and check
to see wich one is causing the issue.

Thanks guys, I have a feeling you are both right and it is a programs I have installed. I wonder if it's newsbreak as my data file is on my microsd card. I guess I should wipe the device and start over....

For a temporary fix, remove the MicroSD, boot, then put the MicroSD back on.
For a more permanent fix: Install SKTools Lite and run the "Notifications Queue" tool. Then Press ACTION > Mark Duplicates. If you scroll down you will see some duplicates checked. Next press ACTION > Delete marked.
That should keep you running for a while. If the problem re-appears in the future, repeat this procedure.

Thanks. I read that post on Modaco too, but it didn't work for me. For now I just remove the microsd card when I reboot. I guess I will wipe the device and start over at some point...just had everything I wanted loaded right
ayan said:
For a temporary fix, remove the MicroSD, boot, then put the MicroSD back on.
For a more permanent fix: Install SKTools Lite and run the "Notifications Queue" tool. Then Press ACTION > Mark Duplicates. If you scroll down you will see some duplicates checked. Next press ACTION > Delete marked.
That should keep you running for a while. If the problem re-appears in the future, repeat this procedure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Had the same problem. Thought it was the Facade, but it turns out not. I don't know what it is but I basically did a hard reset. Put everything I wanted back into the phone and than turned on without MSD card. Once it rebooted, I put the card back in. Since than no reboot problems so far.

I had the same problem, although I am not sure if it is related to installing any particular program. Initially the phone was fine and then it started re-booting on startup. I saw a suggestion of running SKtools and removeing duplicates in the Notification table, this worked for a while, then it came back again.
At first the only cure appeared to be to re-boot without the sd card inserted - inserting it again after the phone was running (I even had the same problem if a blank sd card was card inserted)
I then read about someone putting the phone in Flight mode before turning it off - this also solved the problem - better than removing the card each time.
Mike

yep, this happened to me, although i have no programs installed on my S710! (tho it did have a nasty drop onto the ground - which shouldnt realli affect it)took out the card, and it booted up fine! i keep my phone on 24/7 normally but had run outta battery!
Cheers!

Formatting the MicroSD card worked for me

Problem came back again today, and sett flight mode did not fix it, then i found this http://www.modaco.com/Continuous-reboots-t256186.html
which suggested renaming omap850_sdhc.dll to omap850_sdhc.dll.ol
but in my S710 I only have omap850_sdhc_mux.dll and that file is in rom and I can't copy or rename it.
Looks like it might be a sd card driver bug.
Mike

wizgnome said:
Problem came back again today, and sett flight mode did not fix it, then i found this http://www.modaco.com/Continuous-reboots-t256186.html
which suggested renaming omap850_sdhc.dll to omap850_sdhc.dll.ol
but in my S710 I only have omap850_sdhc_mux.dll and that file is in rom and I can't copy or rename it.
Looks like it might be a sd card driver bug.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried to edit the file with a copy of total commader??? sorry if it's such an obvious question...

I did try this with Total Comander!
Looking around at other posts/forums it looks like it is a WM6 problem. Probably related to the SD card driver.
At the moment the only consistant suggestion, is to reboot with the SD card removed and insert it when the phone is back up and running.

I managed to get the phone to boot with the SD card inserted!
I know that when booting that I do not run any applications which are installed on the SD card. But the home screen does display things which are located on the SD card - in particular the skype plugin, and the mru list display icons from files located on the SD card.
I change my homescreen to "Sindows Simple" which does not contain either of these and re-booted.
The phone came back up first time!
- Is windows trying to access the card too soon - before the driver has loaded maybe?
Mike

wizgnome said:
I managed to get the phone to boot with the SD card inserted!
I know that when booting that I do not run any applications which are installed on the SD card. But the home screen does display things which are located on the SD card - in particular the skype plugin, and the mru list display icons from files located on the SD card.
I change my homescreen to "Sindows Simple" which does not contain either of these and re-booted.
The phone came back up first time!
- Is windows trying to access the card too soon - before the driver has loaded maybe?
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if its trying to access it to soon but with my HTC Herald I had similar problem. By removing and home screen plugin's related to the memory card, as well as any other links to the memory card such as storing PIE cache and saving pictures it seemed to work for a bit, but just as I thought I solved it, the problem re-appeared. Paul seemed to have fixed the issue for ppc's (sdhc dll that was causing the problem)but it doesn't seem as though the solution can be carried over because the vox is not SDHC. Another cause the some speculate is that there are multiple notifications that boot at the same time, maybe cleaning these would help.
On another note I have just upgraded my friend's vox to the dopod rom and it seems as if the problem has disappeared (hopefully for good.) I will try to invoke the problem again by running programs from the memory at boot and see if this nag has been squeezed out by HTC sister company. Has anyone else tried to upgrade to the dopod rom???
cheers

Hi,
I had previously removed duplicate notifications and ensured that no applications on the SD card were run at start up, including setting the browser cache back to the phone memory.
I can now cause the problem to occur or boot normally just by switching homescreens.
I edited my home screens xml to remove all plugins that refered to applications on the sd card, including the mru list - this home screen allows normal boot. The other version causes the re-boot loop.
Mike.

I can confirm that my numerous attempts to invoke the boot-loop after upgrading to the dopod rom have thankfully failed.
neptune 1
boot loop 12083798
Ok so maybe the boot loop has gotten the best of me (atleast 40 hard resets) over the past couple of months, but the problems have been choked to death on my herald and the vox...any last words...
EDITS if this mf'er pulls an Arnold like "I'll be back" I swear ima go all terminator on this phone and blow it to pieces with a pack of m-80's

I managed to solve this problem on my phone by renaming the directory "/windows/Autorun/Storage Card" to "/windows/Autorun/OldStorage Card"
Maybe it would help in your cases..

[Q] Apps on SDcard go missing? usually??

Is anyone running into a problem with apps that have been moved to sdcard just disappearing? Most of the time I see little green droid icons all over my launcher (ADW), and lots of missing apps in the app drawer. I can reboot several times and eventually all show up.
I'm running ee4_debloated-v421 / 0730_charge_voodoo kernel / sdcard_patch. Am on my second handset (first one had a clicky button go dead). The earlier handset occasionally did the same thing.
I presume the sdcard is the culprit, as it is the common element. But I have popped it out, run fdisk and defrag all with no errors.
Any theories??

I had this happen when I first got my charge. How I fixed it was I took the SDCard out of my phone and put it into my flash media reader, and then did a full format using HP's Format tool with default device settings. It took a long time to do the full format, but after doing so, I didn't have any more issues with apps disappearing that were installed to the SDCard.

Full format, huh... (gulp) well it's certainly worth a try! I'll report back.
Thanks,
Larry

ljcorsa said:
Full format, huh... (gulp) well it's certainly worth a try! I'll report back.
Thanks,
Larry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know when the phone first came out, there were several users with SDCard problems. I'm not sure how others fixed them, but a full format and a half hour or so fixed mine

Well, I'm disappointed to report that the problem did not disappear :-( Could it be the contents? I copied *everything* from the card before full formatting with the HP tool (which tooks hours as you said), then copied it all back. Same result... if I reboot enough times it will come up with all apps showing.
I've ordered a Class 10 card. Plan to use the HP tool on it straight away. What else would you recommend? Maybe move all the apps back to the phone? Would you start from a fresh load of the ROM?
Many thanks,
Larry

ljcorsa said:
Well, I'm disappointed to report that the problem did not disappear :-( Could it be the contents? I copied *everything* from the card before full formatting with the HP tool (which tooks hours as you said), then copied it all back. Same result... if I reboot enough times it will come up with all apps showing.
I've ordered a Class 10 card. Plan to use the HP tool on it straight away. What else would you recommend? Maybe move all the apps back to the phone? Would you start from a fresh load of the ROM?
Many thanks,
Larry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that DroidXcon over in the Android Central forums advises NOT to move apps over to the SDcard because of problems like you have experienced...the higher (class) speed card may help. I've noticed that on my stock class 2 card when I view a subdirectory that contains large wallpaper files using QuickPic or Gallery, the thumbnails will often "time out" and not display towards the end of the list unless I refresh the listing several times. I would assume it is for the same reason that recording video to the class 2 card will time out after a few minutes.
Good luck with the Class 10 card...keep us posted!!!

Well, the Class 10 arrived in time to try again, so formatted with HP Utility and copied all the saved files over. Same behavior.
If it's the sheer quantity of apps on the SD card and there is a timeout involved, that might explain it! Reformatting the card would effectively defrag it which would speed it up, perhaps explaining imnuts' observation. And if reading in all those apps at startup is not I/O bound but maybe CPU bound, that would explain my experience.
I'm going to try moving apps back to the phone just to see.

Wow, this is persistent. Moved all the apps from SD back to phone using TiB, which seemed to hang sometimes. Tried different access methods with no clear winner. Anyway, after a reboot, the situation was unchanged. Unreal.
So I am starting from scratch with a freshly-formatted Class10 card, a full data/cache wipe, and a new ROM: GummyChargedFE1.9.1. Haven't had a problem yet, but haven't restored anything to SD either. Proceeding cautiously.

Ok, I'm converted. GummyChargedFE1.9.1 solved this problem. Everything seems to run better. Added the V6 SuperCharger thing which tweaks minfree levels and much more, and the combination runs extremely well.
Biggest problem for me is that I'm satisfied... spent the last two years trying to get my "original" Droid to run well, then got the Charge, started over. What do I do for an encore?

Fast Boot option may be the culprit
In case anyone is following this old thread ...
I did not need to install a new ROM
CUT TO THE SOLUTION BELOW -- SEARCH FOR ////
Some (not all) of my apps moved to SD (all by Titanium Backup Pro) have begun to disappear and (sometimes) reappear without warning after I began to add and delete large Virtual Machines created in QEMU from my 16GB SanDisc class 10 microSD card on my HTC Droid Incredible running rooted stock Verizon Android Froyo 2.2.3. I know this thread is far from my phone's "home base", but from what I can tell this problem with disappearing apps located on an sdcard is NOT determined by hardware or even Android version.
I also happen to use LauncherPro by Federico Carnales instead of the built-in HTC Sense launcher. I noted elsewhere on XDA that a user had suggested that because at least some (maybe all) launchers start before the SD Card that this may be a problem, especially if changes are made to the sdcard that the launcher did not perform, or was not active during their performance by other apps such as Titanium Backup. That fits my situation, because I unmounted the SD, physically removed it to a PC, and added/deleted large VM files to save (lots) of time. No problems of this sort before I did this, so there must be some connection.
I noted that other users have tried reformatting SD, substituting different brands of SD, using newer/older SD etc. None of these reliably helped. So I skipped these options.
//// The (simple!) solution I tried that SEEMS to work (only time will tell!) is buried in the main Android Settings (accessed from the Menu button while in Home screen). Under "Applications" there is a setting "Fast Boot" that I checked long ago and forgot about (it seemed like a good thing to do at the time). The text warns "Turn off to use some Market apps" (that shows the age of my 2-yr old used phone and Android OS -- ohmygosh!-- because it refers to Market rather than Google Play Store!) Anyway, I unchecked the option and rebooted the phone.
Yes, it took a bit longer to boot (maybe a whole minute!), but after waiting about another minute ALL my home screen apps had normal icons and loaded properly. Titanium Backup Pro batch scenarios confirmed there were no apps in a forced uninstalled state (i.e. I had not done the deed, the system somehow had done it or at least rendered the apps "invisible" to Titanium, which decided they needed reinstallation).
The only odd behaviour was that auto brightness was turned off after I unchecked Fast Boot and rebooted. Going into Android Settings > Display and rechecking "auto brightness" took care of that. No other oddities or strange behaviours thus far (but it has only been about an hour).
I will report back here on this thread only (Samsung Fascinate > Fascinate Q&A > What just happend? apps on sdcard) if anything else requires reporting. Silence implies success!
link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1873670
(I am copying this post to other relevant threads, but will not post anything further elsewhere -- only there. This is a bit arbitrary (although this thread appears to be the most recent active one on this topic), but I hope this approach pleases the XDA sysops/admins) :angel:

Soft reboot when Ext SD card in Cap

I am having maddening issues with my Cap (running KJ3 rooted). When the SD card is inserted, it becomes very unstable and soft reboots - usually on startup (and repeats ad infinitium). If I start up without the SD card, I am stable, but I have many apps that KJ3 defaults to installing on the SD card. The problem occurs whether I insert the card before boot up, or insert after it has started up.
I have the same issue with 2 different cards. I tried a brand new class 10, 16GB. I restored apps from my TiBu backup which I had copied from the old card to new (on PC) - not sure if that is the issue...
Anyone have any ideas?

Well, if I am not mistaken, apps which are installed to SD are not on the removable SD card, but on the captivate's "Internal SD", which is the 16GB... well actually about 13GB after the phone's "internal Storage" partition is lopped off of it.
I would try a reflash and then test it before you install the apps.

rfound said:
Well, if I am not mistaken, apps which are installed to SD are not on the removable SD card, but on the captivate's "Internal SD", which is the 16GB... well actually about 13GB after the phone's "internal Storage" partition is lopped off of it.
I would try a reflash and then test it before you install the apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been down that road more times than you can imagine - flash, wipe in recovery, and reload. I had thought that it was the .androidsecure directory on the external SD that held the parts of the apps that move. what is clear is that this only happens with the external SD card inserted and mounted, and almost always happens within 10 minutes of startup or the previous cycle, i.e., before any program launches other than TouchWiz and often before any email sync (this is my work phone, syncs with Exchange 2007 server).
I did get a list of all apps that have the start on boot permission, not sure if any of these are regular problem children, they are, on my phone (not sure why some of them need that permission, but that's a different story):
Amazon MP3
Amazon Appstore
Contapps
Dolphin Browser
Finance
FIOS Remote
FilghtView Free
Folder Organizer
GetJar
Gmail
Goggles
Google Voice
Handcent SMS
iCookbook
Lookout
Maps
Market
MLB.com At Bat 11
Office Talk Free
OfficeSuite
Pocket Casts
Pocket Informant
ReadItLater
ScoreCenter
SeekDroid
Super Manager
Superuser
Titanium Backup
TuneIn Radio Pro
United Airlines
Wordsmith

Did you move the apps back to internal memory after restoring them? Iirc, when using the later leaks, they install all the apps to external sd(if there is one in the phone).

mrhaley30705 said:
Did you move the apps back to internal memory after restoring them? Iirc, when using the later leaks, they install all the apps to external sd(if there is one in the phone).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to start doing that, the next time I have a stable spell with the card in. The problem is that the failure is intermittent. It doesn't fail every time I have the SD card in, but every time it does fail, I have the card installed, and it usually takes awhile before it starts working again. Thinking about another factory reset and then reinstalling apps without TiBu help or the card in, at least until I get all of the ones that startup in main memory to eliminate that possibility.
Of course with the Epic finally getting the official upgrade, kind of want to hold off until the Captivate image finally comes out, that way if it is a hardware problem. I'll be on stock for the warranty exchange.

Arggh... maddening problems continued.
The phone stayed up (with SD card in for about 16 hours), during that time I moved every app with the permission to launch on boot to main memory. I then had the kernel panic, or whatever the soft boot actually is, occur while in Pocket Informant.
I then watched it cycle through display PIN-lock screen, start media scan, screen shut off, and then re-boot seven times, approximately every three minutes while never touching the phone. Some times I saw on the status bar "Media scan completed", sometimes it had the icons.
After powering down, and starting up from off - it is now up again, who knows for how long.
So unfortunately, I can now say this is not just a startup issue; I can also say that something that happens during startup (or at least the kernel launch) creates the conditions for this reboot cycle to occur.
Anyone out there have any ideas?

stoobie-doo said:
Arggh... maddening problems continued.
The phone stayed up (with SD card in for about 16 hours), during that time I moved every app with the permission to launch on boot to main memory. I then had the kernel panic, or whatever the soft boot actually is, occur while in Pocket Informant.
I then watched it cycle through display PIN-lock screen, start media scan, screen shut off, and then re-boot seven times, approximately every three minutes while never touching the phone. Some times I saw on the status bar "Media scan completed", sometimes it had the icons.
After powering down, and starting up from off - it is now up again, who knows for how long.
So unfortunately, I can now say this is not just a startup issue; I can also say that something that happens during startup (or at least the kernel launch) creates the conditions for this reboot cycle to occur.
Anyone out there have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
question what kind of sd card do you have in there as in what class? class 10s can cause issues . wait i see .. have you tried a class 4 or 6? I had mutiple 10s cause issues like this and exchanged for a 4 and all issues went away .. or you can format the card on your computer using fat32 and set to 32k sectors but that did not work for me ..

xhozt said:
question what kind of sd card do you have in there as in what class? class 10s can cause issues . wait i see .. have you tried a class 4 or 6? I had mutiple 10s cause issues like this and exchanged for a 4 and all issues went away .. or you can format the card on your computer using fat32 and set to 32k sectors but that did not work for me ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a 16GB class 4 (Patriot) in. I just replaced it with a PNY 16GB Class 10. Both have had the same issues (currently using the Class 10). Both were formatted in the phone itself - so assuming they are FAT32.

[Q] Apps gone

Hi after having to switch my phone off, when I turned it on again it appears that all the apps I moved to the SD card are no longer there. I have just spent some time downloading them from the market again.
Question is why has this happened and how do I stop it from happening again
Thanks in advance

Solution
Hi Nexus.
I think you'll find that the apps still exist, they're just fragmented on the SD
card. This has happened to me plenty of times.
I've found it's only apps that are installed on the SD card and it's never
happened with apps on the phone's internal ROM.
A good way to check is to go into: Settings- Applications- Manage applications-
then tap the SD card tab. That list shows all of your apps installed on the SD
card. I found that when apps here got fragmented/corrupt they didn't show their
original app icon. Instead they showed the stock android app icon. This is a good
way to tell if the missing apps in question are still there but are just fragmented.
The way to solve this, the way that's worked for me, is to plug the phone into a
pc and mount the SD card as a disk. Then on the PC access the SD card via
explorer and right click- properties- tools- then click de-fragment.
This may take up to 30 mins as it's not as fast as a HDD.
From using this technique my apps have always returned and I can use them
with no problems again.
I've also noticed that this issue only happens if I restart or turn the phone off. I
don't understand what is corrupting the apps as the SD card is mounted
correctly and is the one supplied as standard.
I hope I've helped, and I guess this will save you from re-downloading all of your
apps again.
I'm happy to hear anyone's thoughts/suggestions onto why this is actually
happening in the first place too.
Cheers, Dms

Hi thanks so much for the answer. This has been bugging me for ages and even though I have been searching I have not had any joy solving it until your reply.
As you said it only seems to happen to apps on the sd card, and I would like to know why they are not "persistent" There must be a developer who understands the Android system who can explain why this happens and what you can do to make apps you have on your sd card permanent.
As you said it only happens to me when I re start my phone.
Thanks again for the answer

Hi. It's no problem. Yes I havn't seen anything about this issue being mentioned either.
I'd like to know what's causing it. Whether it's a hardware fault or something in the software.
It's a real pain having to hook it up to my pc to sort it out. Especially when I'm away from a pc, I can't use half of my apps.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

[SOLVED] Apps suddenly unable to access SD card for seemingly no reason

SOLVED
Found the thing!
This bug is caused by activating the option Disable permission monitoring in the Developper Options.
This is an option that is specific to a handful of phone manufacturers (Oppo in my case).
Enabling this option is needed for using some tweak apps such as Shizuku. However, if it is enabled on phone boot, SD card will be unaccessible.
FIX
Disabling this option and rebooting the phone fixed it.
If you still need to use this option, you can enable it while the phone is on and disable it before rebooting. It will work fine despite this minor inconvenience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solution answer
So this one is weird.
Everything was working fine untill I rebooted my phone earlier today.
For some reason, since this reboot, apps are unable to access my SD card storage. As far as I know, no update was applied with this reboot. I do not recall tinkering or changing anything related to this recently.
Symptoms
SD card is still visible in the storage tab of the settings (there is no available option to unmount or eject it) or in select cases when choosing a folder from an app, however the content does not show up past the root.
My music player (Oto music) sends an error message "Cannot play this file" while trying to play a song from the SD card
File explorer will not show the SD card directory at all
Resillio Sync has a synced folder on the SD card. It now says "Can't open the destination folder". If I try adding a new synced folder on the SD card and select the root of the SD card, I get the message "Android OS restricts access to this folder"
Google file is stuck in a loop trying to get permissions to access the card
SD card works just fine on another phone.
Other SD cards have the same problem with my phone, not just this one
SD card does not show up when using file transfer with a Windows PC
Rebooting the phone did nothing
Removing the card and putting it back in again did nothing
Formatting the card did nothing
I factory reset the phone. It worked, but the problem came back at the first reboot.
Current state of investigations I have reset the phone a second time and reboot it every time I install an app, uninstall or disable a system app or change some settings. So far the SD card is still accessible so I know what it's not:
it's not the fault of disabling system apps
it's not related to using a work profile (Insular)
still haven't found an app that causes it
Apps I have not tried re-installing on my second reset and that might be the curlprit:
Shizuku (I have my suspicions on this one, let me know if this one is known for causing similar bugs) Not Shizuku per se but a developper option needed for it (see solution answer)
I have no idea what could cause this, all I know is it's related to my phone in particular and it appeared out of nowhere.
I am using Android 13 on ColorOS.
Thanks to anyone who can help.

Format card in phone before using. Do Not share the card with other devices; upload/download to the card through the phone.
Hardware or firmware issue. Inspect phone sd card contacts.

blackhawk said:
Format card in phone before using. Do Not share the card with other devices; upload/download to the card through the phone.
Hardware or firmware issue. Inspect phone sd card contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering.
I did format the card to no avail.
I did not use the card on other phones before it stopped working.
As I previously mentioned however, the card WAS working fine until now, and unless I am mistaken you seem to address the problem as if this is a new card or something. The card has been in this phone working fine for months.
It seems pretty clear to me this is a permissions issue so firmware perhaps indeed.
How would I go about checking the phone SD card contacts?

Iune said:
Thanks for answering.
I did format the card to no avail.
I did not use the card on other phones before it stopped working.
As I previously mentioned however, the card WAS working fine until now, and unless I am mistaken you seem to address the problem as if this is a new card or something. The card has been in this phone working fine for months.
It seems pretty clear to me this is a permissions issue so firmware perhaps indeed.
How would I go about checking the phone SD card contacts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.
If other cards don't work... regardless just stating things that can cause issues.
Light and magnification if needed to inspect the contacts. Use anhydrous isopropyl alcohol to clean if needed.
I sort of doubt it's firmware. Try a hard reboot and clear the system cache if possible.

blackhawk said:
You're welcome.
If other cards don't work... regardless just stating things that can cause issues.
Light and magnification if needed to inspect the contacts. Use anhydrous isopropyl alcohol to clean if needed.
I sort of doubt it's firmware. Try a hard reboot and clear the system cache if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I believe it is firmware is that when setting permissions the SD card IS shown in the list. For instance in my music player if I use the option to authorize access to the SD card it is here. It just does nothing when I authorize it.
I am leaning towards a permissions issue because when I use one of these permission windows to try and create a folder on the SD card, I get an error message that says "Android OS restricts write access to this folder". Hence the problem is not that the SD card is not detected, but that apps are somehow not allowed to use it.
I currently not have what it takes to check the contacts (neither the tools nor the knowledge). This phone is only a couple months old so I also doubt the contacts are damaged as they have been working fine until now and I had never removed the card or opened the tray since day one.
A hard reboot should be last resort, but anyway I did it. It worked and my SD card was accessible again, so I reinstalled all my stuff. But then at the first reboot the problem was back. I am now pretty sure this is a software issue as on my second phone reset, the SD card is still usable as long as I don't isntall the wrong thing (still trying to figure out what that is). I added my investigations to the main thread.

SOLVED
Found the thing!
This bug is caused by activating the option Disable permission monitoring in the Developper Options.
This is an option that is specific to a handful of phone manufacturers (Oppo in my case).
Enabling this option is needed for using some tweak apps such as Shizuku. However, if it is enabled on phone boot, SD card will be unaccessible.
FIX
Disabling this option and rebooting the phone fixed it.
If you still need to use this option, you can enable it while the phone is on and disable it before rebooting. It will work fine despite this minor inconvenience.

Iune said:
The reason I believe it is firmware is that when setting permissions the SD card IS shown in the list. For instance in my music player if I use the option to authorize access to the SD card it is here. It just does nothing when I authorize it.
I am leaning towards a permissions issue because when I use one of these permission windows to try and create a folder on the SD card, I get an error message that says "Android OS restricts write access to this folder". Hence the problem is not that the SD card is not detected, but that apps are somehow not allowed to use it.
I currently not have what it takes to check the contacts (neither the tools nor the knowledge). This phone is only a couple months old so I also doubt the contacts are damaged as they have been working fine until now and I had never removed the card or opened the tray since day one.
A hard reboot should be last resort, but anyway I did it. It worked and my SD card was accessible again, so I reinstalled all my stuff. But then at the first reboot the problem was back. I am now pretty sure this is a software issue as on my second phone reset, the SD card is still usable as long as I don't isntall the wrong thing (still trying to figure out what that is). I added my investigations to the main thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A hard reboot is not a factory reset! It simulates pulling the battery... It's always better to find the root cause of a problem than to factory reset because the problem is likely to reoccur
Sounds like a trashware 3rd party app is to blame... try in safe mode. If it fails to function in safe mode start uninstalling the 3rd party apps one by one until (if) the problem resolves to find the app that screwed up the hidden user settings*. If that fails to work, another factory reset and start over, being careful what you load, then rebooting and checking after each install.
Meh, you got a real can of worms to play with...
*poorly coded apps can alter hidden user settings and fail to revert these settings to default even after the offending app is uninstalled. Alternatively see if the behavior caused by the offending app can be corrected using the settings in that app.
ADB editing could maybe be used to correct to hidden user settings misconfiguration but finding that setting may prove difficult. Beyond anything I ever had to do.

blackhawk said:
A hard reboot is not a factory reset! It simulates pulling the battery... It's always better to find the root cause of a problem than to factory reset because the problem is likely to reoccur
Sounds like a trashware 3rd party app is to blame... try in safe mode. If it fails to function in safe mode start uninstalling the 3rd party apps one by one until (if) the problem resolves to find the app that screwed up the hidden user settings*. If that fails to work, another factory reset and start over, being careful what you load, then rebooting and checking after each install.
Meh, you got a real can of worms to play with...
*poorly coded apps can alter hidden user settings and fail to revert these settings to default even after the offending app is uninstalled. Alternatively see if the behavior caused by the offending app can be corrected using the settings in that app.
ADB editing could maybe be used to correct to hidden user settings misconfiguration but finding that setting may prove difficult. Beyond anything I ever had to do.
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Click to collapse
Well I searched on Google about hard reboots and the explanations literally described a factory reset haha. I have yet to understadn the difference. Wipe all data VS wipe all data ?
Anyway I investigated and found the cause of the problem, so marking this post as solved! Thanks for the help

Iune said:
Well I searched on Google about hard reboots and the explanations literally described a factory reset haha. I have yet to understadn the difference. Wipe all data VS wipe all data ?
Anyway I investigated and found the cause of the problem, so marking this post as solved! Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay! Well done. So many settings...
Traditionally a hard reboot is killing the power to the mobo... I believe, or maybe I just watched too many sci-fi movies You do it by holding the power button (or combination of buttons) down for 20-30 seconds.
On cams and older phones you simply remove the battery for a few seconds. It clears any volatile memory settings in the chipsets or semiconductors by cutting to power to everything.