I had been doing a great deal of tinkering trying to get my phone's battery life back in the last few days, and I made good progress, but I severely jacked up something related to the microphone/speaker/video recording.
PROBLEM:
The problem, as far as I can tell, is that every app that tries to access the microphone can't do it--this shows up when I try to use Google voice input in various text fields with a little "Can't reach Google at the moment." Same with trying to do a search by voice in Google Now--brief brief flash of the microphone red, then back to gray, with "Can't reach Google at the moment". Additionally, my Touchless Input cannot be enabled--the box has automatically unchecked itself, and pressing it makes the button get a little gray, registering the action, but no checkmark will appear.
Additionally, other apps which would use the mic don't seem to have that functionality--Evernote, for example, would crash if I attempted to record an audio clip. This was before I performed a factory data reset last night--and the problem has persisted regardless.
There are two other, seemingly related, issues. First is the inability of the phone to capture videos. The camera opens fine, and I can take fine stills with it, but pushing the video recording button makes the red "record" flash for a moment before a "Not able to record media" message pops up, and the camera returns to the still photo mode.
Second is the inability to play videos. I have tried playing videos in as many formats as I could try, from within several players, including the stock "Photos", "Gallery", and "YouTube" apps. "Sorry, cannot play video" pops up, or the app simply crashes. Similar story for attempting to play music through the stock "Google Play Music" app. And it gets worse. I can't make or receive calls. Actually, let me revise that. I can't hear anything being said on the calls, over the speaker, or through headphones (though I've yet to try BlueTooth). The call appears to connect, but I can't hear anything from them, and they can't hear anything from me.
So--that's the basic summary of the problem--threefold.
1. No audio input through mic
2. No audio output through speakers--my phone doesn't ring when I get a call, although it will vibrate and the options to take the call appear as they normally would.
3. No audio/video playback whatsoever for other media.
I'm running Android 4.4 on a Droid Mini, unrooted, and I just completed a factory reset last night.
ANALYSIS:
Here's the wrinkle. I know this isn't a hardware problem, because I have found a surefire fix that makes all of this work properly if I absolutely need it, it just sucks. Rebooting into safe mode is what does it. Playback resumes as it did before I had the problem. I can play videos, pump music, and Touchless Input works flawlessly--although interestingly, it has me re-enter the catchphrase three times every time I get into safemode, like setting up from scratch.
My consternation comes from the fact that, to my very limited knowledge, all that safe mode is doing keeping any user-added apps from running. Which is all well and good, but I just did a factory reset. Literally when I boot the phone no user installed apps are running, and yet there's a definite difference when I boot into safe mode, cuz everything works there.
So, safe mode must do something more than just disable user-installed apps--and I need to know what that is if I'm going to fix this thing. I have added 4 apps since then-- App Ops, GSAM Battery Monitor, BetterBatteryStats, and Button Savior (Non-root), all of which I know from experience to be very "well-behaved" apps.
Anyone know what safe mode is doing besides disabling user apps? Along those lines, does it revert updated stock apps to their factory state? I ask because very, very briefly, while my phone was slowly trying to upgrade the 40-odd pieces of Bloatware from the Play Store, the microphone was working. Which makes me think that the culprit is one of the system apps in it's updated form. If safe mode runs these apps as they originally appeared on the phone, that might explain it. It would also hopefully let me painstakingly disable these apps, one by one, to find the culprit and disable it.
I say culprit because of something I stumbled across trying to research this--weirdly enough, in a message from the devs of Shazam. devs of Shazam They say that the issue has shown up on 4.4 and the cause appears to be one app somehow monopolizing access to the microphone. I could see this breaking the video as well, and potentially the audio playback if, as I assume, Google uses the mic to help tweak the sound of the speakers.
Anyone know any more about any of the aspects of this? I will be posting back myself as I learn more.
What happens if you factory reset without restoring any apps? In other words, factory reset, choose not to restore your apps (or don't attach to a Google account on initial setup, and do it post-setup). In other words, do you have an app that is blocking this access?
doogald said:
What happens if you factory reset without restoring any apps? In other words, factory reset, choose not to restore your apps (or don't attach to a Google account on initial setup, and do it post-setup). In other words, do you have an app that is blocking this access?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying this now. Thanks for the suggestion!
Update: Tried this. Did another FDR, signed in to one of my Google accounts afterwards, but haven't updated a thing. The audio/voice/video/bugs seem gone; however, the ****ty battery drain I had before is back. I'm playing around with some settings to find out what can be done. I'm also going down the list and updating the system apps one by one.
Does anyone know a good testing process (ie, should I run the app? do I need to restart after install? run the app and close? etc) that will keep me from getting false negatives (ie thinking an app isn't causing the problem when it is)?
Update again: I'm working down in alphabetical order through the factory apps. However, after the most recent factory reset, it appears that my battery drain is back, and as long as the battery drain is there, the phone works normally. So, not looking good in terms of battery+functionality for me. Went through the 40ish apps that were on the phone stock--after the fresh reset, the phone is working, but the battery life is shot to **** all over again. Not sure what to make of all this, and now back to being frustrated with a 4 hour battery life from the phone that never sleeps. UGH
Update yet once more:
For kicks and giggles, tried unchecking the "Touchless Control" in settings, to see what effect that would have on my battery. But, reasoning that whatever wakelock was keeping my phone up all the time had to be persisting after it was needed, I guessed I needed to reboot to get rid of them. Booting up again, I'm back to battery life without audio/video/etc. Very confused here. Apparently it has nothing to do with the apps installed, period.
Facing the Same problem please someone tell me What should i do
Same problem! No audio call
Inviato dal mio Redmi Note 3 utilizzando Tapatalk
Please help me I have this same problem. No audio, cant play video, nd mic isn't working.
HI guys, I've got a real head scratcher and for the first time in every aspect of my life a Google search hasn't come through for me.
Background: Completely stock Nexus 4 - 4.4.3
Completely stock Nexus 7 - 4.4.2
No task or app killers
Problem: Out of no where when swiping away any music player (Google Play Music, Shuttle+, Wiizm etc) the music is killed!? The phone seems to be preventing the app from running in the background. I can hit the menu hot key and open other apps and music will play fine, it just won't continue playback if app is swiped.
I've also noticed I no longer get any form of mini player in the notification pull down or notification (headphones, play symbol etc) in the status bar if I have music playing unless I swipe the app but by which time the music has been killed!
What I've tried: Numerous searches, factory reset, uninstalling and reinstalling apps, cache and data clearing and even a different user account.
I could completely understand that something could corrupt or I could possibly hit a setting I've never seen before causing this to happen but surely a factory reset would resolve it? To add insult to injury my Nexus 7 has gone exactly the same way with the same symptoms. I don't even have the same music players on the individual device so I can't blame it on one particular app.
It driving me insane! Does anyone have any suggestions?
I experienced the second part of your problem, GPM no longer was in my notification bar+shade. Searched everywhere and your post was the only one I could find related to my problem. Curiously I checked the app under >Settings>Applications>Google Play Music and noticed that the notifications check box was not checked so I checked it and now everything is back to normal. Really can't remember if I turned it off myself or if upgrading to 4.4.3 had something to do with it.
adamrouse123 said:
I've also noticed I no longer get any form of mini player in the notification pull down or notification (headphones, play symbol etc) in the status bar if I have music playing unless I swipe the app but by which time the music has been killed!
What I've tried: Numerous searches, factory reset, uninstalling and reinstalling apps, cache and data clearing and even a different user account.
I could completely understand that something could corrupt or I could possibly hit a setting I've never seen before causing this to happen but surely a factory reset would resolve it? To add insult to injury my Nexus 7 has gone exactly the same way with the same symptoms. I don't even have the same music players on the individual device so I can't blame it on one particular app.
It driving me insane! Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Click to collapse
have you tried using 3rd party music players?
Not sure what is going on here...
Never had an issue until I got the S6. I pay for Google Music All Access, which includes the Music Key. I played videos in the background every day with my Note 4. Last week I purchased the S6 and now the "Background and offline" option isn't even in the YouTube settings. I still have Google Music All Access. I have no clue why the option has suddenly disappeared.
PS
You have no idea how much searching I've done.
v2.2v said:
Not sure what is going on here...
Never had an issue until I got the S6. I pay for Google Music All Access, which includes the Music Key. I played videos in the background every day with my Note 4. Last week I purchased the S6 and now the "Background and offline" option isn't even in the YouTube settings. I still have Google Music All Access. I have no clue why the option has suddenly disappeared.
PS
You have no idea how much searching I've done.
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Click to collapse
Did a search with my computer, instead of my phone, and switched the results to show "past week"....found some stuff....in case anyone sees this
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/0...sic-key-and-google-has-no-idea-how-to-fix-it/
I have some problems with my Z5, and they are starting to get really annoying.
Now, i havent looked for an answer for this one yet, but since i'm making a post, i will just throw it in here. The fingerprint scanner stoppes working sometimes, and i get this error message saying that "the hardware is not available" or something like that. It is in norwegian, so i just have to translate it myself. My device is rooted, but this occured while my phone wasn't rooted or anything like that. The problem fixes itself when i reboot. This is not a huge problem for me, since i can live without the fingerprint scanner, but i like to use it, and it is very annoying.
I have looked for an answer to this, and i have not found any other threads than for Z5 Compact, and there was no solution in that thread. 1 or 2 times a day i get this error message that says that it is unable to play the video. This is extremely annoying, as i use the app often, and the only way to fix it is to reboot the phone. This was also a problem before i rooted the phone. It stopped doing it for some weeks, but now, the last week or so, it has started again and it is driving me insane.
I have tried to:
Reinstall app
Force close app (and all other apps to see if that helped)
Clear cache
Factory reset
The only thing that helpes for a few hours is to reboot the phone.
Right now i'm using build 32.1.A.1.185 with androplus kernel. But i had the same problem the first days i had the phone before i rooted.
Sorry for possible bad grammar as english is not my main language
Nice to have someone raised this issue. I have the same issue from time to time and yes, the only solution for now is to restart your phone but it gets annoying. I think this is not related to if you're rooted or not. This may be hardware related or decoder related? After watching several videos from YouTube, all other streaming videos does not play. Fingerprint scanner stops functioning as well until you restart. Hope someone can find the solution.
I have the same problem when I watch 3 or more videos, and the "hardware fingerprint not avaliable" message appears after youtube report an error on reproduction, when I press the button "try again", the fingerprint won't work anymore (only reboot fix the error)
For the YouTube problem: have you tried turning WiFi on and off instead of rebooting?
that's your solution, if your phone is rooted: http://forum.xda-developers.com/xpe...back-issue-t3290793/post64763489#post64763489
not sure if it only works with unlocked bootloader.
Go to settings > apps > google play services > permissions. Then turn off body detecting. Worked for me.
Hey guys! For the past few weeks, there's a random clip of a song that will play on my phone, almost as if I have a notification. But, there won't be anything in the notification bar. Sometimes, I don't even have any apps open when this happens. The "song" sounds like something from an Indiana Jones movie. It's maybe about 10 seconds long, give or take. I've tried uninstalling apps that I've downloaded right before this started happening, but it still happens. I've also tried installing an anti-virus (AVG, Malwarebytes), as well as a notification logger (nothing out of the ordinary) and an app that forces a refresh similar to a restart (Fast Reboot). It's driving me up a wall, but resetting my phone to factory conditions is a lot of work, so I thought I would turn to you guys to see if anybody else has a similar thing happening to them. For what it's worth, I'm running the latest Android OS on the Pixel 2 XL. Thanks guys!