Database Develop

[Q] Some basic questions...

Being rather new to android based tiny wee computers that just happen to make phone calls I am just a bit reluctant to 'experiment' with my shiny SGS (hence not previously applying anything but normal apps). Having said that, last week after reading of the whizzyness of FROYO via the registry hack, I went and convinced kies that it was swedish and popped FROYO on my phone. After some nail biting it whizzed along like a new-new toy and I was one happy bunny.
Although I am still very happy with it it has one or two niggles such as Skyfire, as of today, locking up and FCing after 30 secs of use for some reason (not tried just reinstalling yet so that may help) and the odd freeze with Angry birds etc requiring a reboot. I am Vodafone contract in the UK (but not with a branded phone even before the froyo) and was told ages ago i would get an OTA update when it came out.
I saved a copy of the original kies registry keys just in case but just wondered (a) is reverting to Eclaire is possible, and if so how? (b) will popping the old settings back into the kies registry cause WWIII and an alien invasion if i reconnect my SGS (c) When, eventually, i get the OTA notification will this overwrite the current OS no matter what or will it just go meh...i can't be bothered?
All relevant data/contacts etc were backed up on the PC prior to the update.
Cheers
Herne

I have some other basic questions for my new Galaxy 5 which I am very close to hurling at a wall.
First and foremost, how do I turn off the "always on mobile?" I can find the always on button, which is green for on, but pressing it doesn't turn it off. That box appears to be greyed out. I know it seems odd that I'd have a phone like this and not use the internet, but I buy minutes instead of contract (typical here in Dubai) and I went through about 3 months worth of minutes in about 4 days. grrrrrrr
Second, on my old phone (a Treo) to check my minutes, I dialed *121#. In a second or 2 a screen would pop up telling me how many minutes I had left. On this phone, it seems to go through the process, but never actually pops up an answer screen.
Third, in setting up my phone, I told it I have a gmail account, which I do. It pulled a massive and utterly out of date address book from my gmail account and made it my default address book. How can I delete this or at least make it NOT my default?
Fourth, I've been promised that I will adjust to the pad of finger press process instead of my perfectly good and utterly accurate fingernail. When am I going to stop pressing the wrong buttons? Is there a way to make it sensitive enough for a fingernail instead of a sausage finger?
Fifth, I'm trying to sync my outlook calendar with the phone. It's erroring out, saying Execution Privilege prevents accessing Outlook. Please try again with Administrator .... (I lost the end of this because I decided to kill the phone and start from scratch)

[Q] Woke up to a less functional Captivate..

Long time lurker, first time poster.
I woke up today to see my captivate screen showing blank screen (active black screen with buttons lighted up) being unresponsive. It was on it's charger from the night.
I pulled the battery to shut it down. It rebooted. I thought nothing about it until I tried to use it about an hour later.
I have had it on stock Froyo, with no root. Never have flashed any other ROM besides updates through kies.
Problems and things I've noticed so far:
No puzzle lock screen. Can't find it under "set screen lock". Only None, Pattern, PIN, Password available.
Home button and search button do not function(they light up like they are pressed, but not action occurs in any apps or home screen).
No data. Usually i'd see edge or 3g, but I have no data connection.
Text messages wiped. None available through "Messages"(though call log shows history of messages).
Keyboard was on stock android rather than swype(since changed back to swype).
Holding power button only shows "Power off" option. Before there was at least Airplane mode.
GPS was on(I hardly ever use it).
Location settings seemed to be default("use wireless networks" was unclicked)
Most other settings/app data seems fine.
About phone info:
Model Number: SAMSUNG-SGH-i897
Firmware version: 2.2
Baseband version: I897UCKB1
Kerner version: 2.6.32.9
Build number: FROYO.UCKB1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other related things:
Day or two before I received a text message from AT&T to download Kies and use Froyo(Don't remember exact wording, lost the text message, but something to the effect it looked like a mass mailing text to update to Froyo using Kies). I was already on Froyo(flashed as soon as I found out it was available few months back).
I also got a text message about downloading their at&t app to manage my minutes and pay my bill(also already had that app).
My Captivate would randomly freeze/unresponsive a few times, but I didn't think much of it.
Google Music app seemed to randomly start playing the audio file i paused(just in my pocket, or once when i put headphones in to make a call).
Searching the forums, haven't found too much related.
One thread suggested using "home switcher", which I have tried(both Froyo and regular versions, though can't press home button for Froyo version). Neither seems to know what my default Home App is, but it only sees TwLaucher(I only have TouchWiz).
Tried installing an alternative launcher(ADW,LauncherPro), still no home/search button.
I'm without my computer for the weekend, so I can't backup my files and reset to factory just yet.
Anyone have any thoughts to fix this or know what may have went wrong?
I might finally make the jump to a Custom ROM if it'll fix this.

Yes, you should either flash a custom rom or do a factory reset. I will say an event similar to this, also involving text messaging, is what made me make the leap to Assonance, and then Serendipity, and I haven't looked back.
Sent from a state of Serendipity

At the least, try a master reset.

You're not alone....
Two Saturdays ago, I woke up, grabbed my phone to see what time it was and my phone was going haywire. It as blinking, flickering and rebooted on its own a couple of times...without me touching it.
When I DID manage to access the phone after a reboot there was no connection. I couldn't call, send/receive texts, nor could I access most of the features (during one of the haywire moments, the phone popped open my "Gallery" folder and started running a slideshow and then shut down. Again, all without me touching it!) There was a distinct blue circle with a slash where the 3G bars used to be on the top right corner of the phone.
I did a factory reset and didn't help. Wiped everything off the phone, but the device was still going nuts.
I got the phone in mid-December and have absolutely pampered that thing. Never dropped, never scratched, never abused. So I was surprised when I took it into the AT&T replacement center that the lady told me that my battery was wet! Not the phone, but the battery. Those two white-that-turn-pink indicators are so close to each other on the phone that I can't see how one gets wet while the other doesn't.
So they give me a new phone. One thing I noticed right away was that my data usage went WAY UP with the new device. To put it in perspective, I used 100 mb of data in 29 days and 64mb IN ONE DAY with my new phone. I thought it may be a one-time fluke, but it's not. I am only 10 days into my new month and am already at 164mb out of 200mb in my plan. I have NEVER used 164 mb in the 6 months previous, let alone in 10 days.
Fun's not over yet. I noticed a lot of crashes and "Force Closes" with the new phone too. I didn't even have any apps downloaded yet and things were still crashing. Last night I pull my phone out to take a picture and...nope. Screen was all kinds of whacked out and it crashed. And still does now every time I open the camera function. I managed to get in camera mode fast enough to do a reset, but didn't work. The screen is fine otherwise. So looks like I'm back to A&T tomorrow for another round.
I'm glad you posted this, cause the same morning all this happened -- literally, within 10 mins of me waking up -- my computer (brand new - 2 days old) went berserk and shut off and my stereo started flipping channels, turning the volume, treble, bass up and down..BY ITSELF without me touching ANYTHING! It was pretty freaky. I wondered if I was struck by lightning the night before.http://media.xda-developers.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

I was finally able to get back home today and do a factory reset. This (somewhat) solved the problem. Everything is mostly back to normal(home button and search button work on home screen, lock screen is there).
Lost a couple of game saves as I had no method to pull a save file(was doing adb pull on some known file locations).
I did run adb logcat before resetting, and home button and search button seemed to trigger something, just not follow through(Search button did work in a card game as a forward button and home button worked in the kies app to exit, just never as a return to home button in apps).
I'll be looking to root and flash a custom ROM, especially root so I can do a proper backup in case anything like this happens again.

I just want to say thank you posting in q&a and doing research before and after your flashing started. Then searched after your problem. You're a new member of a breed that are few and far between. I will hit your thanks when I get on my computer, app doesn't have it. You will go far here.

[Q] Captivate with TONS of problems, want to replace the phone (less than a year old)

Ok. Posted a couple months back about having a lot of problems such as GPS being completely not functional. I got a great response with many people claiming that a custom ROM should help with many of my issues. I took the time to research here on XDA and learned a lot. I flashed my phone with Serendipity and it really improved my speed.
HOWEVER, I still experience many issues that make me really want to get away from this phone.
- GPS still is completely broken. AT&T told me the problem is not in their hands, but Samsung's, and that they cannot do honor my warranty if it's a GPS problem.
- About once a day, my phone decides that it can't play any of my audio or video files (internal memory; I have no SD card for my device). It gives me an error about how the media player (I've tried stock and many others) cannot play this file type, even if it's an .mp3. When this happens, YouTube videos also refuse to begin playing, saying there was an error and to tap the screen to retry, although that never works. In addition, when this is happening, I cannot record videos. It says "Recording failed" when I tap the record button. I can take photos however. To fix all of these issues, rebooting the phone temporarily solves it but it will appear again in a matter of hours.
- Sometimes the phone will simply go black and refuse to come back on. I can only sit and wait, as the power button is useless in making the screen light up. 30-45 seconds later, it'll light back up.
- Battery life is awful. My phone will sometimes be almost completely dead in about half a day of moderate use. When I wake up and unplug my phone, the battery immediately goes to 97%. Then it's at 90% by the time I leave my house for class 30 minutes later. I always keep brightness on minimum and all GPS/wi-fi/bluetooth/sync disabled. I use no task killers. I had worse battery life and speed using those.
- Apps often hang and force-close.
- Calls drop very often even in good service areas, such as while sitting in a chair in my home with 3+ bars.
- Often takes several attempts to make a call. I press "call" and it simply hangs for a few seconds and returns me to the home screen.
This phone is really driving me up the wall. I got it in January and have not had much fun with it since. Also note that I am extremely careful with my electronics. This phone has been in a hard shell case since day one and has been dropped VERY few times.
The only thing that Serendipity helped me with (for the most part) is the general speed of my device, which it REALLY beefed up. The phone is still quite fast most of the time, but I just hate constantly dealing with these above issues all the time.
Any input is appreciated. Tips on fixing any of these problems or tips on how to get AT&T to replace my phone with something else.

c0ncept said:
Ok. Posted a couple months back about having a lot of problems such as GPS being completely not functional. I got a great response with many people claiming that a custom ROM should help with many of my issues. I took the time to research here on XDA and learned a lot. I flashed my phone with Serendipity and it really improved my speed.
HOWEVER, I still experience many issues that make me really want to get away from this phone.
- GPS still is completely broken. AT&T told me the problem is not in their hands, but Samsung's, and that they cannot do honor my warranty if it's a GPS problem.
- About once a day, my phone decides that it can't play any of my audio or video files (internal memory; I have no SD card for my device). It gives me an error about how the media player (I've tried stock and many others) cannot play this file type, even if it's an .mp3. When this happens, YouTube videos also refuse to begin playing, saying there was an error and to tap the screen to retry, although that never works. In addition, when this is happening, I cannot record videos. It says "Recording failed" when I tap the record button. I can take photos however. To fix all of these issues, rebooting the phone temporarily solves it but it will appear again in a matter of hours.
- Sometimes the phone will simply go black and refuse to come back on. I can only sit and wait, as the power button is useless in making the screen light up. 30-45 seconds later, it'll light back up.
- Battery life is awful. My phone will sometimes be almost completely dead in about half a day of moderate use. When I wake up and unplug my phone, the battery immediately goes to 97%. Then it's at 90% by the time I leave my house for class 30 minutes later. I always keep brightness on minimum and all GPS/wi-fi/bluetooth/sync disabled. I use no task killers. I had worse battery life and speed using those.
- Apps often hang and force-close.
- Calls drop very often even in good service areas, such as while sitting in a chair in my home with 3+ bars.
- Often takes several attempts to make a call. I press "call" and it simply hangs for a few seconds and returns me to the home screen.
This phone is really driving me up the wall. I got it in January and have not had much fun with it since. Also note that I am extremely careful with my electronics. This phone has been in a hard shell case since day one and has been dropped VERY few times.
The only thing that Serendipity helped me with (for the most part) is the general speed of my device, which it REALLY beefed up. The phone is still quite fast most of the time, but I just hate constantly dealing with these above issues all the time.
Any input is appreciated. Tips on fixing any of these problems or tips on how to get AT&T to replace my phone with something else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best thing you can do is return it to stock and do a master clear (Gets rid of just about everything on the phone). Then go to your local store, tell them all your "problems" that you have been having and they should replace the phone and GPS is their problem, if they refuse then contact Samsung and get them to replace the phone for the faulty GPS.
BTW: be careful if your phone had 2.2 on it, you might want to avoid going to 2.1

I had no problem replacing my phone with at&t. do you have a warranty center near by? got to your local at&t store, and ask them where a warranty center is. Mine is close 10 minutes away.
I drove there, told them my gps is whacked, walked out with new phone plus that phone has at least 90 days on warranty. If you less than 90 days on original warranty, this will extend it up to 90 days.
i just did it again, and have another 90 days on warranty. I was actually past the 90 day warranty by 2 days and they still let me swap it! so after all is said and done, i will have extended my warranty by 6 months! This time I bricked the phone trying to flash something. I told them the phone said I had an update and it failed. I actually did this twice on the same day. I told them the new phone said I had an update too, they bought it. ROFL
Anyways, dont try calling at&t unless you have no warrant center around.
Good luck

Tell At&t you have the random shutdowns issue. Its well documented enough.

Sorry for the delayed response. I appreciate the replies. I do have 2.2 on this phone. Would returning it to stock and doing the master clear revert me to 2.1 or just a fresh install of 2.2? I don't want to do anything to reduce my chances of getting a replacement.
Unfortunately, after checking on the AT&T store locator, there aren't any Warranty Centers within 50 miles.
I supposed I'll just call about it (again), but I hate dealing with phone reps.

[Q] Captivate loop soft reboot???

I am a broadcast engineer and have been a Linux user for the last decade. So when Android hit it was only a matter of whose device. After a lot of research and waiting for 6 months for the initial “teething pains” to pass selected the Captivate for several reasons.
As a broadcast engineer 24/7 reliable cellular communication with data is a professional necessity not a convenience. For that reason my wife always has the same phone as I carry as a backup. If mine gets broken or unusable for any reason we switch SIMs and I am back to work. So we both received our initial “trade up” Captivates at the same time. About 25 days after receiving our phones mine started randomly shutting itself off. After three warranty replacements finally got one that stayed on. Six months later wife's was replaced due to no audio from the speaker. Later after my father past my mother merged into our family plan and choose Captivate as well.
So we have three Captivates in our family. Love the phones. Mine by my nature is loaded with “all the bells & whistles.” Lots of app, widgets and rooted. As soon as I am comfortable with my choice and feel prepared will take the plunge and try flash a custom ROM. More than likely several through ROM manager of some kind. I really like to looks of the four tap lock and other features only a custom ROM is going to get you. Besides I am a “power user,” which my wife thinks translates to “if it works, it doesn't have enough features.” My wife has a few widgets & apps as well as my mother to a lesser degree.
In the last 90 days we all three have been experiencing something that I describe as a “loop soft rebooting.” Started with my wife, she described it a “loop rebooting.” Every weekday from 10:00 to 10:20. Once I had a chance to observe I found it does not do a complete reboot. It does not show the shut down animation like a controlled shut down. Or the turn on animation like a power up after a complete shut down or OS crash. I would describe it as more like a “soft boot.” Almost like a launcher crash, but it also has to rescan the SD media. It vibrates once with the screen off or on, in use or out. then twice more, another 8 to 10 seconds another vibrator alert then the launcher appears and starts to load widgets, apps & scan media. Completely unresponsive to any key input until after the launcher reopens. The wife has never used anything but the AT&T/Samsung stock launcher. I did all the usual things. Backup, factory reset, restore. Still does it. Backup, Hard reset, restore, still doing it. Hard reset, rebuild from scratch, no restore, stayed completely vanilla, no apps or widgets at all. It still does it. Then mine started doing it. I was using ADW Launcher, switched to Launcher Pro, have even dropped down to using the original launcher since it acts like a launcher crash. No affect. Went through all the above same process with the same results. Mine does it's act between 5:00 & 5:20. About a week later my mother reported hers does the same thing between 4:00 & 4:20. Interesting side note, if we turn off the radio (airplane mode) it does NOT do it, completely stable in PDA mode. But when we turn the phone back on, it then starts the process and runs for 20 minutes and stops. I have been collecting logs off my wife and my own phone but work duties have not given me the opportunity to read through the thousands of lines of logs to find a “smoking gun.” Now in the last week we see the same activity more often and for longer periods. Because turning off the radio stops the activity there has to be a trigger from the network. It also uses lots of data during these periods. Maxed out my wife's data plan the last 3 months. We have Lookout Security installed on all three phones and it reports no Trojan's, viruses etc... Also the Hard reset should have killed anything like that. I have done hard resets three time on my wife and my own phone and rebuild from scratch now. We have left her phone completely factory fresh only adding back her contacts through Gmail. I have Titanium Backup and have tried “freezing” & unfreezing” everything I can think of. Nothing but turning off the radio seems to effect this issue.
Has anybody out there experienced anything like this???

Damn dude, can I get the cliff notes?

If you're thinking of taking the custom rom plunge, I would say to go for it. The reason I suggest this is that most custom roms will also flash a different modem, which might allow your phone to connect to the towers in a way that will prevent the hot reboots you're seeing. Just make sure to do the normal backups (Titanium backup) of stuff you want to save before flashing.

^ +1
sound74145,
yeah since ur rooted, i would suggest flashing a different modem (radio) if u don't want to flash a Dev Rom yet.
What is ur Baseband version now... i897uckb1 ?? If so try i897ucKH3.
Check the modem stickied thread. It should be attached behind the paperclip at the title of the thread.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda premium

hysterical

[Q] Is my motherboard done, and am I screwed?

Two hours spent scouring the Net has produced no satisfactory answers. To summarize: my phone is unresponsive, and I assume it's because I've dropped it too many times.
I (and my two small children) have, admittedly, been pretty rough on my Captivate. Last night, after (accidentally) dropping it for the 37824962nd time, I picked it up and plugged it in to speakers. The song played for 2 seconds before the phone cut off. I tried to start it up. The AT&T screen flashed, and then it went black again. I did this a couple times before finally assuming my phone was dead. I plugged it in, and the charging screen came up. It most certainly was not dead. I tried to start it again. Same thing. Except this time, instead of going back to the charging screen, it went black again.
Vol up/down and power does nothing.
Vol up/down and plug into USB does nothing.
My computer does not recognize the existence of my phone. At all. My phone will not turn on. I've taken the battery out a million times, let it sit all day -- no dice. Yes, I've already downloaded Kies and updated my phone a few months ago. (Since then, nothing but HEADACHES.)
Question 1: Is my motherboard, as I suspect, crap?
Question 2: Is there any way to save my music, my pictures, etc etc that I hadn't yet transferred to my SD card?
Warning: I'm computer literate, but I have hardly any experience with smartphones beyond texting, surfing, listening to music, and fooling with apps, but I pick things up quick.
Also: My phone has been taking longer to start up since the update. The speakerphone goes out constantly but comes back on if you tap the phone. It immediately closes the dialer and messaging upon opening the majority of the time. I'm so exhausted, and I've got a month left on this stupid contract (after this, I quit AT&T), and I seriously just want the pics of my kids that I hadn't had a chance to save.

Check my sig link for Linux mode detector. Idk if the link is still good, as I've not checked them lately. It well require Linux, but will tell you if your hard bricked