S3 keeps dying

HeidiHeidi

I have an S3 for about 18 months, and in the last few weeks it keeps conking out on me.

If I take the cover off and remove the battery it seems to reset it, but I'm worried that the cover isn't designed or robust enough to be pulling it on and off that often....

Plus, I don't know it's died until I go to use it, so could be missing calls for ages without knowing.

It happened this morning, I removed the battery, got it going again, made a phone call, and as I finished the call it died again. Rinse and repeat - but noticed that there's no record in the log of that call.

Is this only going to get worse? Is there anything I can do about it? I've seen talk of resets and suchlike - these terms mean nothing to me, and I'm afraid of losing stuff (apps, photos etc) from the phone if I do.

Can anyone advise me, in nice easy layman's terms, please???

waynegalway

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I have an S3 for about 18 months, and in the last few weeks it keeps conking out on me.

If I take the cover off and remove the battery it seems to reset it, but I'm worried that the cover isn't designed or robust enough to be pulling it on and off that often....

Plus, I don't know it's died until I go to use it, so could be missing calls for ages without knowing.

It happened this morning, I removed the battery, got it going again, made a phone call, and as I finished the call it died again. Rinse and repeat - but noticed that there's no record in the log of that call.

Is this only going to get worse? Is there anything I can do about it? I've seen talk of resets and suchlike - these terms mean nothing to me, and I'm afraid of losing stuff (apps, photos etc) from the phone if I do.

Can anyone advise me, in nice easy layman's terms, please???

Could be the start of the dreaded sudden death syndrome. It's a well known fault on early models of S3

Try the following app to see if you have a bad chip, and if you do, make a backup right now of files you want to keep. If the phone dies for good, you'll lose everything off it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.vinagre.android.emmc_check

HeidiHeidi

Cheers for the reply.

When I open that app, there's a list of gobbledegook (to me) which includes

SGS3 Sudden Death?
YES. Insane chip.

Does this mean I have a problem?

I've seen other threads talking about this, and to the best of my knowledge every single person who checks has an insane chip. Is this not just some scaremongerer having a laugh???

Anyway, assuming I DO have an insane chip - is there anything I can do? I don't have phone insurance, I'm pretty sure the shop's warranty is up (although I'll check obviously) - is there any point in contacting Samsung?

And as for the backup.... how do I do that? When I plug the phone into my laptop, I get text boxes saying that the software can't be found. I have never succeeded in actually finding whatever software it is I need.....

Sorry I'm a bit thick around all of this, I have the most tenuous of handles on all of this tech stuff, and when it doesn't just work as it's meant to, I'm a bit (well, a lot) lost!

waynegalway

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Cheers for the reply.

When I open that app, there's a list of gobbledegook (to me) which includes

SGS3 Sudden Death?
YES. Insane chip.

Does this mean I have a problem?

I've seen other threads talking about this, and to the best of my knowledge every single person who checks has an insane chip. Is this not just some scaremongerer having a laugh???

Anyway, assuming I DO have an insane chip - is there anything I can do? I don't have phone insurance, I'm pretty sure the shop's warranty is up (although I'll check obviously) - is there any point in contacting Samsung?

And as for the backup.... how do I do that? When I plug the phone into my laptop, I get text boxes saying that the software can't be found. I have never succeeded in actually finding whatever software it is I need.....

Sorry I'm a bit thick around all of this, I have the most tenuous of handles on all of this tech stuff, and when it doesn't just work as it's meant to, I'm a bit (well, a lot) lost!

I wouldn't think it's scare mongering, TBH. Not all chips come up insane with that app. When my S3 died and came back from repairs, the chip came up okay.

Samsung have a 2 year warranty on their handsets, so your options are to go back to the shop/network where you bought it, or contact Samsung directly. The thing is, they may not do anything for you until it completely dies, but it's worth asking anyway.

Depending on what you want to back up and how much of it you have, you might be able to back stuff up without connecting to your laptop. For example, if you use Google Photos app, you can back up all your pictures over wifi to your Google Plus account. Emails will be safe, they'll be sitting on the google cloud already. So it's mostly pictures, videos and music that you'll want to back up.

What do you have that you want to save?

HeidiHeidi

Mostly pictures.

I had disabled the google+ function as much as possible as it suddenly started eating into my battery life at a shocking rate a few months ago. But I might just do a one-off transfer of all my photo gallery today (if I can figure out how!)

I phoned a Carphone Warehouse number and got through to some UK call centre where the fella sounded like he'd deny his own existence as a matter of policy, never mind the fact that I had a problem with my phone. I might call into the physical shop this evening.

I've also emailed Samsung via their website - in fairness to them, they played a blinder when my TV sat down and refused to play a couple of years ago, so I'm hoping their support for phones will be equally good.

Thanks again for the replies, like I say I'm a complete technophobe so my eyes are glazing over here. I just need this stuff to just.... work!

waynegalway

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Mostly pictures.

I had disabled the google+ function as much as possible as it suddenly started eating into my battery life at a shocking rate a few months ago. But I might just do a one-off transfer of all my photo gallery today (if I can figure out how!)

Google+ is your friend here so. It's very straightforward to use. Some might point you in the direction of other apps like flickr or flayvr, but keep it simple. The only thing to be aware of is that if you have a lot of photos, it will take a while to back up and will eat into your data/wifi allowance.

I'm with Three, and when my S3 died, I went straight to Samsung via their website rather than dealing with a shop. I thought that by cutting out the middle man it would speed things up (like it does with Apple), but Samsung sub-contract their repair work out the the same people that Three use, so it didn't save me any time at all. I was without the phone for 6 weeks, but that was purely down to the incompetency of the repair centre that Samsung/Three use. I believe that the Samsung/CPW contract is with a different repair centre, so you might not have such a bad experience.

HeidiHeidi

6 weeks :eek::eek::eek:

Did they give you a replacement phone? Even a dud old non-smart one? Jaysus.....

Have enabled auto-backup on the phone, and set it to upload..... now it's saying uploading 192457 of 197426.... I know I've a lot of photos on the phone, but I definitely don't have nearly 200k! any idea what those numbers might mean?

I have a lot of pics in Picasa anyway, which to the best of my knowledge is (part of) Google+, so hopefully it won't the the rest of the day uploading those that are only on the phone......

ilovespudss

Is your battery swollen by any chance?

Exact same thing started happening with my S4. Take the battery out and spin it on a table, if it spins, it's swollen and I'd imagine that's your problem. (a flat battery won't spin)

I didn't bother going back to samsung as I didn't want to be without my phone, so I bought a battery on Amazon for €20.

HeidiHeidi

It's in the middle of the mega-upload now, so I won't stop it in case I break something else!

But thanks for that tip, I'll check later - or next time it dies!

What would cause a battery to swell

waynegalway

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

6 weeks :eek::eek::eek:

Did they give you a replacement phone? Even a dud old non-smart one? Jaysus.....

Have enabled auto-backup on the phone, and set it to upload..... now it's saying uploading 192457 of 197426.... I know I've a lot of photos on the phone, but I definitely don't have nearly 200k! any idea what those numbers might mean?

I have a lot of pics in Picasa anyway, which to the best of my knowledge is (part of) Google+, so hopefully it won't the the rest of the day uploading those that are only on the phone......

No replacement phone. I bought the cheapest PAYG phone that would handle emails, a basic Nokia job for 50 quid. Did the job, but I was glad to have the S3 back.

Mine died during the very early days of the problem....about 6 months after first activation. So I think the delay was due to the techies and repair centres not being familiar with the issue and trying different ways to fix it when all it really need was a new motherboard. I'd imagine that at this stage, Samsung have known about the problem for so long that they've instructed repair centres to just throw in a new motherboard as a matter of form the minute an S3 shows up with this problem. That should mean you'll get it back much quicker than I did.

Another option is to bring it to fonfix (in Stillorgan I think). They charge a premium for "over the desk" warranty repairs. I think it's about €15. The repair itself is covered by warranty, but for your €15 you will probably get the phone back within 24/48 hours.

Not sure about the numbers you're seeing, but they look high. You'd have to have a serious memory card to get 200k photos on there, unless they're extremely low resolution. It looks like it has about 5k photos to upload, which is still a lot to have on a phone. I'd say just leave it and see how it gets on for an hour or two. Then check on your laptop to see if recent photos you took on the phone are showing up on your Google+ page. If your most recent stuff is there, you should be in the clear. It'll only back up photos that have not been previously uploaded, it won't re-upload everything AFAIK

nc19

My S3 has the insane chip

It takes an age to open pages and apps. I use a torch app for work. Sometimes it takes 15sec to open! It has turned off on its own from time to time. Recently the battery is discharging very quickly.

What are my options?

waynegalway

nc19 wrote: »

My S3 has the insane chip

It takes an age to open pages and apps. I use a torch app for work. Sometimes it takes 15sec to open! It has turned off on its own from time to time. Recently the battery is discharging very quickly.

What are my options?

Back up everything as soon as you can. If it's going to go completely dead, it'll happen without any warning and you'll loose everything that isn't backed up elsewhere.

It should still be covered by the Samsung 2 year warranty.

waynegalway

Just to save time going over old ground, there is another thread that will help you answer your questions on Sudden Death:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82353191

Wayne

HeidiHeidi

nc19 wrote: »

My S3 has the insane chip

It takes an age to open pages and apps. I use a torch app for work. Sometimes it takes 15sec to open! It has turned off on its own from time to time. Recently the battery is discharging very quickly.

What are my options?

Yep, I've noticed pages and apps taking longer and longer to open as well.

Oh dear!

ilovespudss

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

It's in the middle of the mega-upload now, so I won't stop it in case I break something else!

But thanks for that tip, I'll check later - or next time it dies!

What would cause a battery to swell

I presume it was from over heating, its a known issue with the S4, so maybe not related the the s3 but worth checking out

HeidiHeidi

OK, I'm well impressed with Samsung so far.....

Got a phone call within about an hour of sending off my email - they'll log a repair, send me out a freepost jiffy bag, I send the phone and battery to them and I should have the (hopefully repaired!) phone back in about 10 working days.

O2 will allegedly and hopefully give me some sort of a loan phone, depends on what's available in shops at the time.

I'm assuming the phone will be wiped when I get it back - any way of holding on to apps I've got, or do I need to start again?

Putting my phone in the post will be like giving away my first-born :eek: (if I had one, that is!)

But I suppose it has to be done.....

waynegalway

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

OK, I'm well impressed with Samsung so far.....

Got a phone call within about an hour of sending off my email - they'll log a repair, send me out a freepost jiffy bag, I send the phone and battery to them and I should have the (hopefully repaired!) phone back in about 10 working days.

O2 will allegedly and hopefully give me some sort of a loan phone, depends on what's available in shops at the time.

I'm assuming the phone will be wiped when I get it back - any way of holding on to apps I've got, or do I need to start again?

Putting my phone in the post will be like giving away my first-born :eek:

But I suppose it has to be done.....

If they replace the board, it will be wiped. Have a look at helium or titanium apps, they might help you to back up your apps. Otherwise you can just download them from the play store again when you get the phone back.

Duiske

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I'm assuming the phone will be wiped when I get it back - any way of holding on to apps I've got, or do I need to start again?

Trying something like Helium should work. Wish I had known about this when I changed phones a few months back. Its easy to get your apps back, the pain comes from losing all the app data.

HeidiHeidi

Well just an update on this....

Following total and utter confusion on the part of An Post - not helped by Samsung mangling my address - I got my beloved phone back today, and all appears to be well.

(An Post delivered the jiffy bag no problem even though the same mangled address was used - some enterprising postman had guessed right and altered it. But when the phone was posted back to that same address, the system ground to a complete halt, and the package got lost in a black hole somewhere in Ballymount Industrial Estate, from where I had to retrieve it myself this evening)

Seems to have shiny new software on it, so hopefully everything works as it should, and there are no more problems.

Happy days