Note 3 Problem - 'IndexService has stopped' and screen freezing every 2 minutes

[juancharlis]

Sorry keith I really appreciate your help.You not think as I do that after more than a month, with so grave a fault , Samsung should have done something?.

 

[Keith Lim1]

Naturally I expect and want Samsung to fix this. But since I don't work in Samsung, I can only wait for them to release a fix.

The only thing I could do was to log this issue and escalate to Samsung Support. I'd call them twice and told them to escalate this. I hope other users in this forum are doing the same.

 

[scott matejka]

Patiently waited a month for a fix to this... seemingly simple glitch.
Samsung just lost a customer.

 

[Hussien R Qassim]

Hi Guys , please check my chat with SAMSUNG service in my region could that help some ....
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Welcome to Samsung Live Chat. How may I help you?
Hussein Qassim :
Hi
Hussein Qassim :
i have problem with my new Note 3
AE@#aeagent001 :
Good day sir. i had read your comment
Hussein Qassim :
its showing IndexService stopped , getting this message
Hussein Qassim :
every 1 minutes
Hussein Qassim :
ok good
AE@#aeagent001 :
so it appears every one minute in a pop up message
Hussein Qassim :
correct
Hussein Qassim :
yes
Hussein Qassim :
and freeze the phone
AE@#aeagent001 :
do you have dropbox account?
Hussein Qassim :
and come again
Hussein Qassim :
no
Hussein Qassim :
i don't
AE@#aeagent001 :
have you tried to restart the phone sir?
Hussein Qassim :
i did and i rest to default
Hussein Qassim :
but the issue still existing
Hussein Qassim :
from the second day i purchased the phone from DU
AE@#aeagent001 :
do you have any memory card on the device?
Hussein Qassim :
yes of course
Hussein Qassim :
16 G sundisk
AE@#aeagent001 :
can you test by removing the memory card and check if the error appears
Hussein Qassim :
ok ,
Hussein Qassim :
i will try that
Hussein Qassim :
and what if disappeared the error
Hussein Qassim :
its mean from the memory card ?? its brand new one
Hussein Qassim :
i read so much blogs on the net and many customer of Note 3 facing this crazy error !!!!
AE@#aeagent001 :
if it disappears.. try to copy its content to your pc and format the memory card first
Hussein Qassim :
ok , and then ??
AE@#aeagent001 :
its actually the first time i know this but we will be checking this issue.. nonetheless, if the problem persists even removing the memory card.. kindly report to us with screenshot of the error...
Hussein Qassim :
thats all !!! i bough costly phone and i can;t use it
Hussein Qassim :
to whom i report ??
Hussein Qassim :
give me email or contact number
AE@#aeagent001 :
sir, i apologize for this inconvenience... you can send report from the link below
AE@#aeagent001 :
Contact Us - Samsung
AE@#aeagent001 :
please do first the following
AE@#aeagent001 :
remove the memory card and copy the contents of your memory card to pc to make a back up..
AE@#aeagent001 :
return the memory card to the phone and format it there.. if possible, try to format again your memory card
AE@#aeagent001 :
i mean try to format again the phone
Hussein Qassim :
ok format twice from pc and mobile
AE@#aeagent001 :
yes sir.. but it must be formatted last in the phone
Hussein Qassim :
ok , got it
Hussein Qassim :
so you think the problem with the SD card ??
AE@#aeagent001 :
sir, may i know your location please
Hussein Qassim :
Dubai Airport Free Zone
AE@#aeagent001 :
index issue is with files being save on the device and phone
AE@#aeagent001 :
okay sir. noted with it
Hussein Qassim :
ok , i shall do what you instructed me and i hope this can fix the issue
Hussein Qassim :
bc i can't use the phone
AE@#aeagent001 :
just in case you still face problem, you can still contact us in Live Chat. non the less, you may call 800-7267864 to get more assistance or raise a complaint
AE@#aeagent001 :
i hope so sir..
Hussein Qassim :
ok , of course i will do
Hussein Qassim :
but i wish this can be sloved sooner as many of Note 3 facing same issue
AE@#aeagent001 :
800-7267864 is toll free number so please fell free to contact it
AE@#aeagent001 :
noted sir.. just in case it cant be solve, please send us emal also from the link i gave so that we can escalate to concerned team.
Hussein Qassim :
thanks very much i will do what you told me and hopefully it can be solved
Hussein Qassim :
thanks for your time and assistance
Hussein Qassim :
another things with this issue once its appear its killing the battery as well , just for your information
AE@#aeagent001 :
noted with it sir.. hence, please check first if problem is solved with regard to index..thus, if it is fixed, pls observe battery functionality
Hussein Qassim :
Thanks

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[juancharlis]

Hi Keith, Did you know something about the new note 3 116 mgb update.
Samsung has just started rolling out an huge update 116 mg but from what i have understood i think not correct this problem, so we,ll have to wait at least another month. I,ve been browsing allt that relates to this topic and there is no mention about index service problem.
Aviso de redirecci?n.

 

[juancharlis]

Aviso de redirecci?n

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.android.gs/android-4-3-jb-ota-update-available-galaxy-note-3-international-lte-n9005/

 

[Keith Lim1]

Actually I encountered this problem on my notes 10.1 (2014). I recently received an update but it did not solve the index problem for me.

 

[jandroiduser]

I think the "workaround" with the .Spen folder can work because the folder has a file called .nomedia. A file by that name tells the indexing service to skip the folder. Try adding a file (can be empty) to your folder of pdfs or to the root of the external sd card and see if that stops the indexing service

 

[juancharlis]

Keith try this, press the men? button till s finder appears, enter the program settings- select search category and deselect looked in my files. . After four days it seems like it Works for me. I hope it lasts so much.

 

[juancharlis]

i think when the search is indicated in my files , the program is indexing not only the pdfs names tittles but also the text inside of them, and them go crazy if you have a lot gigabytes like me

 

[Keith Lim1]

Thanks Juan! I'm going to try this.

 

[slothECV]

Ok, so I have a note 3 34gb internal and no SD card used whatsoever. My phone is 2 days old. I have had no problems until the serviceindex failure message and freezing about 2 hours ago. I searched the Web and found this thread and as soon as I saw the post about the PDF files I remembered that I had just downloaded 2 PDF's. I went and deleted all PDF'S and the problem has ceased. It's been over an hour with no more serviceindex message. I hope this helps.

 

[Marcus Ashcraft]

I think I have fixed the index error temporarily. Haven't had it stall out and the message hasn't showed up in 24 hours. You may have to repeat it whenever you have to restart your phone follow these steps.
1. Take your sd card out
2 go to settings-general- app manager- running apps
3. Find the app which starts with .com android there is like 3 of them on there but one of them has the index thing on there when you open it up
4. Stop the app
5. Exit out of setting and put sd card back in without taking the battery out.
It has worked for me hopefully it will work for you all until Samsung fixes this problem

 

[Olpc India]

I find that as long as IndexService runs, Note3 freezes every few seconds. Samsung has not found a remove it. I force stop it a hundred times a day to do anything with the phone. Am surprised others are not facing the same challenge. Samsung asked me to send the phone for servicing and sent an electronic tag for free shipping as well but that will keep me without a phone for three weeks. Quite unlike Apple where you go to the Genius Bar and they replace it or repair it as you wait. Samsung sucks. It's crazy that after paying $800 I don't have a working phone.

 

[Wayne Alldredge]

PROBLEM SOLVED!!! (so far)
First let me tell you that I had the Index Service error for 2 weeks, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't use the phone. I just hit okay and could use the phone again.
I had a huge amount of music, photos, PDFs, and I even used my phone to back up my work files. Total damage - about 28GB. I read the thread about the problem going away after a few days and I also read about PDFs causing the problem, but the real solution was in one post that talked about reformatting of the SD Card. I believe it is also important to move/copy files through the phone in addition to this. (My setup: SM-N900V with a SanDisk Pixtor 64GB microSDXC UHS-I Card with Class 10 video capability.)
Let me tell you what I did and what I recommend you try.
1- Turn off the phone
2- Remove the MicroSD and use the adapter to transfer all you files to the computer for backup purposes (this saves time over connecting with USB)
3- Retrun the MicroSD to the phone
4- Turn the phone back on and go to Settings>Storage>Format SD Card. You will be prompted if you're sure and that all data will be erased. Select yes and the card will be formatted by the phone.
5- Repeat step 4. Yes. Reformat the SD Card again. It is important that you do not use the computer to format the card. The phone must be able to read the format in order to index the files and this may be the root of why so many of us were experiencing this problem.
6- Leave the card in the phone and use the USB cable to connect it to the computer. The computer should see the phone memory and the card. Make sure the card is empty.
7- Transfer your files back to the SD Card on phone through the USB. I believe it is best to do this folder-by-folder due to the following reason...
8- During the transfer, you may come across warnings that certain files won't work on your phone and it will ask you if you want to copy anyway. Files will be files like .PNG, .OGG, .WMA, etc. (I had an HTC and certain files are incompatible. Although I don't believe it would cause a problem, there is no reason to copy incompatible thumbnails, ringtones, movies, etc. if you don't need to. Certain files, like my Quickbooks backup files for example, I copied over anyway for obvious reasons.

Results:
I was experiencing the Index error several times an hour, but now it has been 12 hours without a single issue.

Cheers!

UPDATE:
Still working great a week later- not a single freeze. Battery life is way better too. If you are still having problems, just try using the phone to format the SD Card and then reload your backed up files.

 

[Amr Nassef]

hey guys i had the same problem but i manage to solve it, was copying some files from an external hard disk to my note 3 and a error message show me that this file is not compatible with you phone and i choose continue and since that moment I had this problem and when I remove this file my note 3 works probably again the file was FLAC audio file and I think there are a lot type of files that maybe not compatible with note 3 as the existence of S-Finder on note 3 make note 3 index all files on memory so check the files you copy to note 3 before copying them to note 3

 

[cazwell220]

I just wanted to say that I have the Tmobile Note 3 and I was able to reproduce this exact problem consistently with one specific pdf file. I don't know what exactly about this pdf file the phone doesn't like, but it is certain that it does not.

It's a simple pdf manual of Populous 2. I'm including a link here if anyone wants to try and figure out the issue or confirm that it can be reproduced by adding this file and fixed by removing it

www dropbox com/s/qs3slcw43f6i6vi/POP2.PDF

I've opened it up on the computer without issue so I really have no idea what the cause is... All I know is it was a needle in a huge 30,000 file haystack... but all is good without it on my sdcard...

Note: It didn't matter if there was a .nomedia file or not in the folder... the indexer still seems to hunt it down regardless.

Good luck!!

 

[juancharlis]

Guys the problem is yet fixed with the latest 116 mg udmj6 update.

 

[Kim Young]

I was having this problem too, same message every 10 seconds and since everything freezes a few seconds before the error shows up, it meant I could use the phone all of 3 sseconds at a time. Took me several minutes just to open the browser and search for this thread! But, after reading a few posts on here and luckily being able to fix the problem relatively easily, it does seem that this phone just doesn't like certain files. Nothing to do with memory cards or how much is on them necessarily. Lucky for me I started getting the error after opening a pdf I had just downloaded and so it wasn't too difficult to figure out what file caused it. Deleted it from the phone and tada, no more error. Can't explain what was wrong with this pdf, I have downloaded several similar ones from the same site without problems. Something about it just pissed it off.

 

[Ko Khant]

I'm having a persistent issue and having trawled the forums I'm yet to find a fix. I have a Galaxy note 3 and, with or without 64gb memory card inserted, a 'Unfortunately IndexService has stopped' message keeps appearing and the phone freezes everytime the message comes up(roughly every couple of minutes!). It's draining my battery and rendering the phone almost useless. I'm stuck for what to do and would be very very grateful for any help or suggestions. I've tried removing the memory card to no avail. Help please.