Samsung Galaxy S3 Problems

visual

Just ran the emmc check app and I have the insane chip too. It was away for repair a couple of weeks ago with a reported fix of soft ware updated. But still has freezing problem including rebooting.

Im confused why didnt Samsung repair centre identify this problem. Or are they hoping they can push out past the warranty period without replacing the motherboard ?

crazygeryy

any videos i record all come out in slow motion when played back.any ideas what might be wrong?

waynegalway

visual wrote: »

Just ran the emmc check app and I have the insane chip too. It was away for repair a couple of weeks ago with a reported fix of soft ware updated. But still has freezing problem including rebooting.

Im confused why didnt Samsung repair centre identify this problem. Or are they hoping they can push out past the warranty period without replacing the motherboard ?

Doubt it. Can't see why they'd want to mess up their reputation with that sort of messing.

Liklihood is that the repair centre cut a corner. I'd be onto Samsung directly myself about it if I were you.

Kev.

Over the past few weeks my SG3 became very unstable to the point I was going to send it back to get repaired.

It was constantly rebooting and freezing..

Anyway after searching around I found a fix that worked for me

I uninstalled Facebook App,Chrome and Swiftkey Flow.

This seems to have fixed my problem and I haven't had a reboot for a week now

Hopefully this will help somebody else

mumof2

I just solved a problem with mine when putting in the password for the wifi box, came up twice.

Im using a signal booster, and have the kids connected to this, so any problems and the wifi goes off!!

However to connect to this I and to enter both passwords of each router in order to connect, and all the time I was putting in the booster one in both boxes and wasn't connecting.

Simple, but easy to oversee!! Hope this helps anyone with password issues - if using 2 routers, or signal boosters :-)

Alpha Dog 1

Phone seems to freeze everything app updates arrive.
Have turned off auto update, will see how it goes.

theteal

The gf got one of these maybe 3 weeks ago. A couple of questions, if you please?

Does it normally take a full second for the phone to move out of an app back to the home screen when the physical home button is pressed? I'm using a 2 year old desire S that responds instantly and this was the first thing that was instantly noticeable to me.

Bigger issue. 2 mornings in a row now, her alarm has not gone off. I've just dropped her in just now, late. I checked the settings and all is set correctly, it just did not go off. I've done a quick google and see this is not an isolated incident. Has a fix been provided?

She's coming from a 2.5 year old iphone 3g and starting to regret her android experiment

danniemcq

theteal wrote: »

The gf got one of these maybe 3 weeks ago. A couple of questions, if you please?

Does it normally take a full second for the phone to move out of an app back to the home screen when the physical home button is pressed? I'm using a 2 year old desire S that responds instantly and this was the first thing that was instantly noticeable to me.

Bigger issue. 2 mornings in a row now, her alarm has not gone off. I've just dropped her in just now, late. I checked the settings and all is set correctly, it just did not go off. I've done a quick google and see this is not an isolated incident. Has a fix been provided?

She's coming from a 2.5 year old iphone 3g and starting to regret her android experiment

does this happen with all apps or only some of them? does it happen even after a restart or does it slowly build up a delay after time and use?

i had an issue (using cyanogenmod) where the alarm icon was gone from status bar every night so i had to turn them off and on,

have you set the alarm up for say 20:00 or when yous are both near it and awake so you can see what happens? If it goes off leave it as it is and see the next day.

Alpha Dog 1

I've never used the stock alarm. Have always used talking alarm clock. Never let me down and completely free. Can be set up to call out the time, weather and a personalised message. Very funny!

duploelabs

theteal wrote: »

The gf got one of these maybe 3 weeks ago. A couple of questions, if you please?

Does it normally take a full second for the phone to move out of an app back to the home screen when the physical home button is pressed? I'm using a 2 year old desire S that responds instantly and this was the first thing that was instantly noticeable to me.

turn off the double tap option to start voice commands, the reason why it takes so long is that the phone is waiting for the second tap. turn it off and you should go back to the home screen v quickly if you press the button

theteal

danniemcq wrote: »

i had an issue (using cyanogenmod) where the alarm icon was gone from status bar every night so i had to turn them off and on,

have you set the alarm up for say 20:00 or when yous are both near it and awake so you can see what happens? If it goes off leave it as it is and see the next day.

Alpha Dog 1 wrote: »

I've never used the stock alarm. Have always used talking alarm clock. Never let me down and completely free. Can be set up to call out the time, weather and a personalised message. Very funny!

I've not had too much of a chance to test it tbh, I've already pointed her in the direction of downloading a different alarm clock app

duploelabs wrote: »

turn off the double tap option to start voice commands, the reason why it takes so long is that the phone is waiting for the second tap. turn it off and you should go back to the home screen v quickly if you press the button

spot on, took me a while to find the setting but this fixed it, much obliged

cheers lads

HeidiHeidi

theteal wrote: »

I've not had too much of a chance to test it tbh, I've already pointed her in the direction of downloading a different alarm clock app



spot on, took me a while to find the setting but this fixed it, much obliged

cheers lads

Where did you find that setting???

I find the delay annoying, and am never going to use voice commands, so would like to knock if off and see if that makes a difference.

heyheyhey1982

My phone started to freeze tonight I cant believe it as ive had no problems for a year with it. Cant uninstall chrome. Can three fix it ?

theteal

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Where did you find that setting???

I find the delay annoying, and am never going to use voice commands, so would like to knock if off and see if that makes a difference.

double tap the button to open up S-voice, press the menu button, the setting is one of the first few there, untick it, can't remember specifically what it's called

Sonics2k

Welp, mine was just sent off for it's 3rd repair in a few weeks, with the same issue.

I wouldn't mind, but I work for O2 and know a hell of a lot about the S3 and known problems, and told the lads at Fonemenders it's obviously the SDS issue.

First they "repaired" it, they only reset the thing, something I'd done myself.
Second time, they replaced the digitizer from some bizarre feckin reason.

This time it's been sent off for a final repair, I suppose the plus side is that I can return it in a few days and get a phone of the same value or pay the difference. So it looks like I'll be getting an S4 soon enough.

I was considering going for another S3, but I'm concerned I'd end up with the exact same problem in a few months and the difference between the 3 and 4 price wise is about €50 for me.

Magnetics

Has anyone had any problems with the phone turning off in their pocket?

About half the time I take mine out of my pocket, it asks for the pin and effectively needs to be restarted. It's a right pain the hole

I notice that anytime I place it down on a table with any sort of force at all, it needs to be restarted aswel. I have a cover for it and I thought it would absorb what little shock is involved but its getting ridiculous at this stage

heyheyhey1982

Mine is freezing 4-5 times a day. Pain in the swiss roll. Bringing it to fonemenders tmro. Not sure what to expect. My friend has the s2 and has no issues. Was considering the s4 but now I'm holding out to see what issues arrise in 6 months. Loved the s3 until the last week.

ED E

Sonics2k wrote: »

Welp, mine was just sent off for it's 3rd repair in a few weeks, with the same issue.

I wouldn't mind, but I work for O2 and know a hell of a lot about the S3 and known problems, and told the lads at Fonemenders it's obviously the SDS issue.

First they "repaired" it, they only reset the thing, something I'd done myself.
Second time, they replaced the digitizer from some bizarre feckin reason.

This time it's been sent off for a final repair, I suppose the plus side is that I can return it in a few days and get a phone of the same value or pay the difference. So it looks like I'll be getting an S4 soon enough.

I was considering going for another S3, but I'm concerned I'd end up with the exact same problem in a few months and the difference between the 3 and 4 price wise is about €50 for me.

Further proof that fonmenders are a farce. Even as a member of staff you cant get stuff sorted.

The networks need to get a proper service partner.

If you can get your hands on the one for a few minutes to test you can check the chip version with an app and know if its safe or not.

heyheyhey1982

heyheyhey1982 wrote: »

Mine is freezing 4-5 times a day. Pain in the swiss roll. Bringing it to fonemenders tmro. Not sure what to expect. My friend has the s2 and has no issues. Was considering the s4 but now I'm holding out to see what issues arrise in 6 months. Loved the s3 until the last week.

Don't bother going to fonemenders, your phone just needs to be restored to factory settings.

Mine froze 6 times in two hours last Saturday, restored it to factory, and hasn't frozen since.

http://droidlessons.com/how-to-factory-reset-the-samsung-galaxy-s3/

heyheyhey1982

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Don't bother going to fonemenders, your phone just needs to be restored to factory settings.

Mine froze 6 times in two hours last Saturday, restored it to factory, and hasn't frozen since.

http://droidlessons.com/how-to-factory-reset-the-samsung-galaxy-s3/

I restored factory settings a few days ago. It had frozen maybe 20 times a day and since the reset it has froze maybe 2-3 times every day. It has got an awful lot better but its still not perfect. Are fonemebders that bad ?

heyheyhey1982

heyheyhey1982 wrote: »

I restored factory settings a few days ago. It had frozen maybe 20 times a day and since the reset it has froze maybe 2-3 times every day. It has got an awful lot better but its still not perfect. Are fonemebders that bad ?

I wouldn't be surpirsed if your phone came back worst from fonemendors.

Did you do a factory reset from recovery mode? Did you wipe the cache?

http://www.android.gs/recovery-mode-galaxy-s3/

Edit:
Just to add, when I restored mine, I flashed a stock rom to it, not just a standard reset.

Vego

apparently an update is due in the next few weeks to address the various problems etc

crazygeryy

so to all the people that are having freezing problems. do you all have the " insane chip" ?as was mentioned earlier in this thread?

touts

After 11 months my phone has started freezing while I use it. Seems fairly random but happens every hour or so and then I have to restart the phone. Been going on for about a week. Backed everything up. Did a factory reset and installed only a few apps. It was a NIGHTMARE to install the apps. Crashed every couple of apps. Eventually once I had the apps I wanted back on it it has settled back to the crashing every hour or so. Ran the EMMC check and I have one of the "insane" chips.

So what's the story. I'm going to call into a vodafone shop this afternoon. What do they need to do fix it? Can it be fixed or do I need a new phone? If they send it away what is the normal repair time? Days? Weeks? I don't have a spare phone that will take the SIM so I'm worried that I might be phone less for weeks.

Having experienced the freezing and now read this thread I've gone from a happy Samsung customer to a pissed off one. It looks like they sold us defective goods that should have been recalled and replaced months ago. HTC next time I think.

Kev.

touts wrote: »

After 11 months my phone has started freezing while I use it. Seems fairly random but happens every hour or so and then I have to restart the phone. Been going on for about a week. Backed everything up. Did a factory reset and installed only a few apps. It was a NIGHTMARE to install the apps. Crashed every couple of apps. Eventually once I had the apps I wanted back on it it has settled back to the crashing every hour or so. Ran the EMMC check and I have one of the "insane" chips.

So what's the story. I'm going to call into a vodafone shop this afternoon. What do they need to do fix it? Can it be fixed or do I need a new phone? If they send it away what is the normal repair time? Days? Weeks? I don't have a spare phone that will take the SIM so I'm worried that I might be phone less for weeks.

Having experienced the freezing and now read this thread I've gone from a happy Samsung customer to a pissed off one. It looks like they sold us defective goods that should have been recalled and replaced months ago. HTC next time I think.

uninstall Facebook App,Chrome and Swiftkey Flow.

touts

Kev. wrote: »

uninstall Facebook App,Chrome and Swiftkey Flow.

I un-installed facebook and never had swiftkey. But Chrome is a system app and it won't let me uninstall that. How do I get rid of that?

ED E

Kev. wrote: »

uninstall Facebook App,Chrome and Swiftkey Flow.

That likely just masked the symptoms by freeing up a chunk of internal.


If you have an insane chip *you need a new motherboard*. Make a titanium backup if you want then send it to be repaired(and make sure they actually do it, fonmenders are a joke of a service centre).

coach22

Same thing happening me as well guys. Phone was away for over 2 weeks getting the screen fixed through my insurance company. Got it back yesterday and the note that came with it from the samsung reapir center said that the LCD had been replaced and the software updated to V.19300NELK2

Initially i was pleases as all the three branding and bloatware had been removed. Then i started to reinstall my apps and constant freezing. Its an absolute nightmare. Everything is now installed but it still freezes randomly through use.

Contacted samsung and they said to bring it to fonemenders to get the software flashed. I think this is pointless myself as i have the most up to date software. i also have that crazy chip.

Whats the best advice. root and flash another rom? I've never done this before so don't no if its beneficial? Or should I bring it back to the three store? What are they likely to do?

Kev.

ED E wrote: »

That likely just masked the symptoms by freeing up a chunk of internal.

It solved the issue for me.

Sonics2k

touts wrote: »

Having experienced the freezing and now read this thread I've gone from a happy Samsung customer to a pissed off one. It looks like they sold us defective goods that should have been recalled and replaced months ago. HTC next time I think.

The issue cannot be pinned down to a specific batch of S3's though, nor even a specific batch of the motherboard itself.

It's a seemingly random occurance that cannot be detected without an app or being sent off.

The only way Samsung could have removed them all is if they recalled every single S3 in the world that was made more than 9 months ago. Which was about 30 million at the time.

The -vast- majority of S3 owners will never experience this problem.

touts

Sonics2k wrote: »

The issue cannot be pinned down to a specific batch of S3's though, nor even a specific batch of the motherboard itself.

It's a seemingly random occurance that cannot be detected without an app or being sent off.

The only way Samsung could have removed them all is if they recalled every single S3 in the world that was made more than 9 months ago. Which was about 30 million at the time.

The -vast- majority of S3 owners will never experience this problem.

They could have been proactive and rolled out an app to detect the fault and put a procedure in place for repair or replacement for the defective products. But they didnt probably because they were hoping most people with the defective phones would simply think it was wear and tear and upgrade to the S4.

Sonics2k

touts wrote: »

They could have been proactive and rolled out an app to detect the fault and put a procedure in place for repair or replacement for the defective products. But they didnt probably because they were hoping most people with the defective phones would simply think it was wear and tear and upgrade to the S4.

Should maybe read up on this whole thing.

Samsung came out and admitted to the problem the moment it was confirmed and offered to replace the device immediately for anyone with it.

Anyway, the app can give false readings quite often. It said mine was fine when it wasn't, and when I tested it on our demo one at work it said it was damaged, which it isn't.

touts

Sonics2k wrote: »

Should maybe read up on this whole thing.

Samsung came out and admitted to the problem the moment it was confirmed and offered to replace the device immediately for anyone with it.

Anyway, the app can give false readings quite often. It said mine was fine when it wasn't, and when I tested it on our demo one at work it said it was damaged, which it isn't.

Actually I did google the issue and on no discussion board or website did I see that Samsung are offering replacement phones. I see articles saying they will replace the motherboard which considering the device is under warranty is really just our original rights on purchase. Fair play if they are replacing the phones but can you point me to a link that says they will replace the phone.

Sonics2k

Apologies, I meant to replace device with motherboard, problems happen when I post on several forums at the same time :pac:

heyheyhey1982

Will finemenders replace the motherboard if you insist its tge problem ?

Captain Chaos

I'm having an issue with my S3 that I have 9 months now. The problem is that it's taking 12+ hours to charge the phone. I'm getting around 2.5 days out of it but it takes far too long to charge. I have tried different chargers and it's the same so I assume the problem is with the battery. It's holding it's charge fine though.

waynegalway

heyheyhey1982 wrote: »

Will finemenders replace the motherboard if you insist its tge problem ?

In my case, they spent a few days looking at it, decided they weren't qualified to repair a "level 3" fault, sent it to some other crowd in Dublin who replaced the board, then it went back to fone menders to be "cross checked" and updated, before being sent back to me. So, no, fone menders won't do it because they're not qualified to do it. But they'll handle the case for you.

Tbh, if you could just go straight to whoever they sent it to, you'd be much better off.

After it was "checked" by them, it was sent back to me with firmware that was 4 months out of date. I contacted Samsung directly and they said it should not have been sent out with such old software, especially seeing as how the new software was part of the fix. Samsung suggested sending it back to fone menders to get the latest version flashed. Needless to say, I wasn't going to have that. I found a new firmware update online and did it myself.

L-M

My S3's battery life is crap.

I could plug it out at half seven and come 5 o clock it could nearly be dead. And I might have used it for a max of ten mins during the day.

Any idea?

waynegalway

Limerick man wrote: »

My S3's battery life is crap.

I could plug it out at half seven and come 5 o clock it could nearly be dead. And I might have used it for a max of ten mins during the day.

Any idea?

Lots of things could be causing that. It sounds like unusually high battery drain. Get the better battery stats app and see of that helps identify the culprit.

Have you done the normal things like turning screen brightness down, turning off Bluetooth, GPS, wifi and 3G when they're not needed? Also, google plus and google now have a tendency to be doing lots of sh*t in the background unless you're really on top of how you use them.

ED E

Captain Chaos wrote: »

I'm having an issue with my S3 that I have 9 months now. The problem is that it's taking 12+ hours to charge the phone. I'm getting around 2.5 days out of it but it takes far too long to charge. I have tried different chargers and it's the same so I assume the problem is with the battery. It's holding it's charge fine though.

2.5 days with how much usage?

L-M

waynegalway wrote: »

Lots of things could be causing that. It sounds like unusually high battery drain. Get the better battery stats app and see of that helps identify the culprit.

Have you done the normal things like turning screen brightness down, turning off Bluetooth, GPS, wifi and 3G when they're not needed? Also, google plus and google now have a tendency to be doing lots of sh*t in the background unless you're really on top of how you use them.

If I turned all those of it would render the phone useless?

waynegalway

Limerick man wrote: »

If I turned all those of it would render the phone useless?

Arguably . But why have them on if you're not using them. Try an app called juice defender. It cuts out the wifi and 3g when the screen is off, and turns them back on a soon as you wake the screen up. Works wonders.

L-M

waynegalway wrote: »

Arguably . But why have them on if you're not using them. Try an app called juice defender. It cuts out the wifi and 3g when the screen is off, and turns them back on a soon as you wake the screen up. Works wonders.

I'll chance that and report back tomorrow. Thanks.

Although, if I was chatting to someone on facebook, would i have to constantly check to phone to see if a message has come through?

waynegalway

Limerick man wrote: »

I'll chance that and report back tomorrow. Thanks.

Although, if I was chatting to someone on facebook, would i have to constantly check to phone to see if a message has come through?

No, there's a couple of ways around that. You can set juice defender up so that it does a scheduled check every so often, say every 15mins, or you can buy a more advanced version that will allow particular apps like Facebook to be left on

L-M

Downloaded that juice defender and the battery seems to be at around 65% where as it would normally be almost dead!

Thanks for that, I'll see how it lasts the evening and tomorrow.

waynegalway

Limerick man wrote: »

Downloaded that juice defender and the battery seems to be at around 65% where as it would normally be almost dead!

Thanks for that, I'll see how it lasts the evening and tomorrow.

Glad to hear that it's giving you a result. There are lots of things that can drain the battery, so if you find juice defender starts to not be as effective, then you need to start looking at other culprits. Data connection is a big drain, but it's not the only one. Anyway, cheers for the update and let me know if you get stuck again.

errlloyd

So turned off my Galaxy s3 today for an exam.

Went in, sat the paper. Turned it back on, and it isn't detecting my sim card.

I tried restarting, cleaning the sim ect. Anyone else got recommendations

Edit. Other sims also not working. My sim works in other phones.

Vego

bring it to the shop you got it

ED E

Yep, thats a hardware fault. Will need to be replaced.

errlloyd

9 month old phone, its definitely dead is it?

It's o2, it's insured. Am I going to have to go through the rigmaroll of them spending 6 weeks sending it away before replacing it.