Has anybody ever seen anything like this? I'm experiencing a black box popping up maybe 20 seconds or so after booting that is unclosable with lorem ipsum text in it, here are some screenshots:
[xda won't let me post links yet so bear with me and fill in the rest of these urls]
imgur /LYCMosA.png
imgur /fsh6nWh.png
imgur.com /tde44HA.jpg
The box cannot be closed, and anything above it doesn't respond to touch input, but everything below it can still be used (like the shortcuts to chrome, contacts, etc. in the last screenshot). This box persists everywhere, including the lock screen.
Additionally, when I go to the lock screen the screen starts turning on and off rapidly, forcing me to reboot by holding the power and volume down key into maintenance mode.
I am able to start the phone in safe mode with no problems (safe mode disables all apps that aren't samsung or google), making me believe it's a third party app that is causing the issue and not something in android. But before I begin the awful task of uninstalling apps one by one to see which is the one that's causing the issue I figured I'd turn to reddit for help.
Additional info: I'm on verizon, the phone is rooted and I'm on 5.0.2
Flash with stock 5.1.1 ROM via odin.
Update: If you're reading this from the future it was cerberus, the security app. Really ****ing pissed because I uninstalled just about everything else because I didn't want to uninstall my security app until I had my phone back at my house (just tempting fate too much). Oh well, at least I've figured it out.
Related
All,
First time poster, frequent visitor of XDA Forums. I've come across an odd issue that I don't know how to solve and I'm hoping some of you smarter than me folks can get me squared away.
I have a Galaxy S8+ from AT&T running Android 7.0 and Samsung Experience 8.1.
Problem:
I've recently noticed a delay or completely non-updating interface on my phone. It updates on occasion, but I can't determine what triggers an update. For example, I will pick up my phone from the desk and when I press the power button it shows the accurate time. When I unlock the device, the sense flip clock I use on the main home screen shows an earlier time (could be 30 minutes... could be a few hours). I don't believe it's just the Sense app because I noticed this issue where I checked a facebook messenger app that came and and when I closed the app, it still showed I had 1 notification. I went back in thinking I had another new message, but I didn't. So it was still hanging on to the notification. It happened a couple times with a text message as well. Most importantly, my calendar doesn't alert me prior to an appointment either, even though it's showing in my calendar and an alert is active. If I save an event, and exit, I can normally see the event appear on the on widget immediately as well... but that hasn't been happening. I have to press the widget to open it and confirm it is there (which it always is). Eventually it refreshes and shows up. But that delay is likely the reason why I'm not getting my alerts.
All of this did seem to happen after a recent update Samsung/AT&T pushed out but I don't know for sure. I tried clearing the cache from the boot menu but it doesn't seem there is wide success with that.
And perhaps I'm just not a good enough user, but everything isn't all backed up in the cloud so doing the factory reset to me is always a fairly large task as I have many things to manually transfer out and then back in. Not sure if there are great tools that help with this on a stock phone.
BUMP
try disabling battery optimization for those apps.
It seems that you have several bugs and if they all start happening after you have installed the latest update, then expect a patch coming soon.
MINTED7 said:
try disabling battery optimization for those apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have actually done that. Found very limited success. I'm also finding very few results on this topic. Surely it's not just me though.
And I'm dreading the idea of a hard reset as I have many things on my phones, not all of which is sync'd to the cloud so it's a task to back things up appropriate. Specifically regarding "encrypted" apps like my password keeper app etc.
It would be great if there was a software application that allowed you to backup whatever is necessary to not lose data, then wipe the phone and instead of just simply restoring the full phone (which is likely to create the same problem one had before the hard reset), you could simply dump back in app data as needed. It would also help diagnose if the problem lies in a specific app's data.
High level overview of issues...
I have the Ring Doorbell app. I get notifications after "live". Could be 5 minutes, could be 1 hour... or possibly not at all. I have the app setup on my wife's iPhone and she gets them immediately. If I restart the phone, I will get notified right away (it's like it runs the app again and then I get the notification). Keep in mind, this is AFTER i disabled the battery optimization feature for the Ring app.
I also notice it occasionally with texting. I won't have any text notification in the notification panel, nor will my messaging icon have a little red circle indicating a message is there. But if I open the app, a specification conversation will have a red circle indicating a new text is unread.
All of this is leading me to believe the Samsung UI itself is not updating and therefore notifications that actually have arrived (from whatever app), are not displaying because of the UI and not because of their own delay.
Because of this concern I have turned off battery optimization for "System UI", "Themes", and "TouchWiz Home". I have not seen any change however.
[Solved]
I was able to determine by various other threads around the web (thought for sure I'd find it here, but I didn't) that the culprit might be the Google app. Supposedly it was fixed in some prior release, but it's not on my Galaxy S8+ w/ AT&T.
Once I disabled the Google app all the odd issues with notifications and clock interfaces and app icons not updating went away. The downside to disabling it is that I lose the Google Assistant functionality which stinks but otherwise there is no impact to using the phone. I re-enabled it at a later date and it worked fine for a few days and then started acting up again. Once I disabled it, the problems all disappeared. Clearly Google app is to blame.
All,
First time poster, frequent visitor of XDA Forums. I've come across an odd issue that I don't know how to solve and I'm hoping some of you smarter than me folks can get me squared away.
I have a Galaxy S8+ from AT&T running Android 7.0 and Samsung Experience 8.1.
Problem:
I've recently noticed a delay or completely non-updating interface on my phone. It updates on occasion, but I can't determine what triggers an update. For example, I will pick up my phone from the desk and when I press the power button it shows the accurate time. When I unlock the device, the sense flip clock I use on the main home screen shows an earlier time (could be 30 minutes... could be a few hours). I don't believe it's just the Sense app because I noticed this issue where I checked a facebook messenger app that came and and when I closed the app, it still showed I had 1 notification. I went back in thinking I had another new message, but I didn't. So it was still hanging on to the notification. It happened a couple times with a text message as well. Most importantly, my calendar doesn't alert me prior to an appointment either, even though it's showing in my calendar and an alert is active. If I save an event, and exit, I can normally see the event appear on the on widget immediately as well... but that hasn't been happening. I have to press the widget to open it and confirm it is there (which it always is). Eventually it refreshes and shows up. But that delay is likely the reason why I'm not getting my alerts.
All of this did seem to happen after a recent update Samsung/AT&T pushed out but I don't know for sure. I tried clearing the cache from the boot menu but it doesn't seem there is wide success with that.
And perhaps I'm just not a good enough user, but everything isn't all backed up in the cloud so doing the factory reset to me is always a fairly large task as I have many things to manually transfer out and then back in. Not sure if there are great tools that help with this on a stock phone.
Samsung smart switch works wonders, the only thing that doesn't restore is passwords, you have to have and external SD card for it to work, or plug it in to a computer
talonpetty said:
All,
First time poster, frequent visitor of XDA Forums. I've come across an odd issue that I don't know how to solve and I'm hoping some of you smarter than me folks can get me squared away.
I have a Galaxy S8+ from AT&T running Android 7.0 and Samsung Experience 8.1.
Problem:
I've recently noticed a delay or completely non-updating interface on my phone. It updates on occasion, but I can't determine what triggers an update. For example, I will pick up my phone from the desk and when I press the power button it shows the accurate time. When I unlock the device, the sense flip clock I use on the main home screen shows an earlier time (could be 30 minutes... could be a few hours). I don't believe it's just the Sense app because I noticed this issue where I checked a facebook messenger app that came and and when I closed the app, it still showed I had 1 notification. I went back in thinking I had another new message, but I didn't. So it was still hanging on to the notification. It happened a couple times with a text message as well. Most importantly, my calendar doesn't alert me prior to an appointment either, even though it's showing in my calendar and an alert is active. If I save an event, and exit, I can normally see the event appear on the on widget immediately as well... but that hasn't been happening. I have to press the widget to open it and confirm it is there (which it always is). Eventually it refreshes and shows up. But that delay is likely the reason why I'm not getting my alerts.
All of this did seem to happen after a recent update Samsung/AT&T pushed out but I don't know for sure. I tried clearing the cache from the boot menu but it doesn't seem there is wide success with that.
And perhaps I'm just not a good enough user, but everything isn't all backed up in the cloud so doing the factory reset to me is always a fairly large task as I have many things to manually transfer out and then back in. Not sure if there are great tools that help with this on a stock phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings and check if your time is setup to adjust automatically.
On Edge of Note
norbarb said:
Go to settings and check if your time is setup to adjust automatically.
On Edge of Note
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not the issue. As mentioned, it's not just the clock it's multiple interfaces.
norbarb said:
Go to settings and check if your time is setup to adjust automatically.
On Edge of Note
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not the issue. As mentioned, it's not just the clock it's multiple apps/interfaces.
High level overview of issues...
I have the Ring Doorbell app. I get notifications after "live". Could be 5 minutes, could be 1 hour... or possibly not at all. I have the app setup on my wife's iPhone and she gets them immediately. If I restart the phone, I will get notified right away (it's like it runs the app again and then I get the notification). Keep in mind, this is AFTER i disabled the battery optimization feature for the Ring app.
I also notice it occasionally with texting. I won't have any text notification in the notification panel, nor will my messaging icon have a little red circle indicating a message is there. But if I open the app, a specification conversation will have a red circle indicating a new text is unread.
All of this is leading me to believe the Samsung UI itself is not updating and therefore notifications that actually have arrived (from whatever app), are not displaying because of the UI and not because of their own delay.
Because of this concern I have turned off battery optimization for "System UI", "Themes", and "TouchWiz Home". I have not seen any change however.
[Solved]
I was able to determine by various other threads around the web (thought for sure I'd find it here, but I didn't) that the culprit might be the Google app. Supposedly it was fixed in some prior release, but it's not on my Galaxy S8+ w/ AT&T.
Once I disabled the Google app all the odd issues with notifications and clock interfaces and app icons not updating went away. The downside to disabling it is that I lose the Google Assistant functionality which stinks but otherwise there is no impact to using the phone. I re-enabled it at a later date and it worked fine for a few days and then started acting up again. Once I disabled it, the problems all disappeared. Clearly Google app is to blame.
So, banking on the kindness of some like-minded strangers.
I'm having issues with a Pixel freezing.
OS: Whatever the latest version of 8.1 is in the UK as of 28/03/18 (can't be sure due to issue but I update ASAP)
Not Rooted
Running a custom launcher (Action Launcher)
When I boot the device, Android runs normally for about 30 secs, and then freezes. It still appears to be running, a couple of notifications show and will display the power menu, but does not respond to touch input. I had the 'show touch' feature in developing settings enabled, and the screen is still receiving touch ok so not a hardware problem as far as screen is concerned. I have booted into safe mode, and same result. Recovery mode operates as normal, but doesn't appear to offer anything of use. Also, as it freezes, a FC notification appears, but will be for different apps. I don't know for it's linked, but only after it froze I got a notification saying storage was full, I thought I had at least 1GB but can't be sure. Also, it happened first as I was attempting to share a photo from GPhotos to a contact in Allo. The other day I tried to take a video twice, and both times the system crashed when I pressed stop at the end of the video. Both times the system worked fine when I restarted.
If anyone can shed some light, or has managed to sort same issue, or can direct to a good thread (couldn't find one that helped) I would be immensely grateful, and will send kudos and good vibes.
James
Hi All,
I've had the phone about 8 months, UK model.
About 2 months ago, when scrolling in Wikipedia pages on Chrome browser, the display would alternate between normal and blue light (eye comfort). It still does occasionally.
From a few weeks ago, the keyboard sometimes take about 10s to appear.
A few days ago when on voice call from the phone other person can't hear me but I can them while voice call on Whatsapp is fine both ways. Restarting phone seems to solved it for now.
Then yesterday while trying to access settings from either the home screen or app drawer, it fails but you can see its attempting to as you see the settings screen momentarily then a message comes up saying settings failed to start several times and whether to restore by clearing history. Doing that doesn't work. The only way that I can is to touch and hold the settings icon till the search option comes up and then type the particular setting I want.
Before I do anything to fix this, are these symptoms an indication the phone is on the way to a complete breakdown? Would it be a software problem and I suppose the 1st step to fix is factory reset.
Has anyone experience this on their phone?
Reset the phone to factory settings
weqr said:
Hi All,
I've had the phone about 8 months, UK model.
About 2 months ago, when scrolling in Wikipedia pages on Chrome browser, the display would alternate between normal and blue light (eye comfort). It still does occasionally.
From a few weeks ago, the keyboard sometimes take about 10s to appear.
A few days ago when on voice call from the phone other person can't hear me but I can them while voice call on Whatsapp is fine both ways. Restarting phone seems to solved it for now.
Then yesterday while trying to access settings from either the home screen or app drawer, it fails but you can see its attempting to as you see the settings screen momentarily then a message comes up saying settings failed to start several times and whether to restore by clearing history. Doing that doesn't work. The only way that I can is to touch and hold the settings icon till the search option comes up and then type the particular setting I want.
Before I do anything to fix this, are these symptoms an indication the phone is on the way to a complete breakdown? Would it be a software problem and I suppose the 1st step to fix is factory reset.
Has anyone experience this on their phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately it's the Oppo software that causes these issues... We hope we can unlock the bootloader soon and flash custom roms to remedy these problems since Oppo are just incompetent.
Chrome colour shift is fixed by typing into your chrome address bar and type: "chrome://flags" then search "Dynamic Color Gamut" and set it to disabled (or it was enabled, I forget since I didn't have the issue myself)
Oppo uses the wrong microphone on third party apps like whatsapp, signal, instagram etc. and we have to wait for an update to fix that. (Issue has been posted here before)
The rest of the issues you described sound like some software instability caused by the Android 11 update. You should save your data and do a factory reset.
If the issues persist after the reset and you didn't install any dodgy apps or modified the software using adb then consider sending the phone in for repair.
OK thanks for replies. So factory reset then...
I've come across an annoying problem with my new pixel 4a.
When within an app and I tap on something near the top of the screen, the screen switches to the view where all open apps are shown to choose from. (Like when tapping the little square at the bottom right)'
Is this a touchscreen bug, a gesture I need to turn off, or something I'm doing wrong?
It sounds like either there is a problem with the touch-screen (try rebooting the phone), or maybe you installed some app that has "added" that "feature" (so try uninstalling any "utility" app that might be adding that ability.
Thank you for the quick reply. It's a new phone and I'm still exploring it and android 11 before rooting it.
I rebooted and so far seems ok. Time will tell.
Spoke too soon. It just happened again one time after reboiting and I could not reproduce it again.
I was in Firefox and tapped the top right corner and the 'overview' screen appeared. I then tried to reproduce it repeatedly but it would not.
It's a brand new phone and I've not installed more than a couple of apps on it. I'm new to android 11 and didn't know if it was a new 'feature' I was unaware of. Will watch some more.
I would return the phone and get a new one.
I think I will.
Thanks.