Screens getting stuck, buttons don't respond

[NavasC]

Hello AndroidCentral, my name is Craig and I'm new to this site, I recently acquired my Thunderbolt a little less than a month ago and (up to just this morning) have been loving it.

I am running a stock Thunderbolt with the latest OTA from Verizon and I woke up to a strange problem this morning that was plaguing my sister's phone soon after buying it and I was hoping someone here might have some experience with the problem. We ended up returning hers, so I hope there is another solution now that it seems to have affected my phone.

During regular use, the screen seems to get "stuck" when sliding between the available screens. To describe it more accurately, if I drag to go to one of my other Home screens, it seems to lag a little, get stuck in between, and then it will center on the proper screen, then begin to move back and forth on its own for a bit before finally settling down. The home, back, menu, and search buttons all cease to function while this is happening as well. Touching them normally gives a very slight vibrate feedback and when this is occurring there is no such response during this "stuck" behavior.

When my sister's phone had this problem, we tried using the Factory Reset under Menu->Settings->SD & Phone Storage, but that did not seem to alleviate the problem. If there are any other suggestions, I would be open to trying them, except for rooting. I am not knowledgeable in that area and not entirely comfortable with the idea of trying that yet. I've been a very happy Thunderbolt customer up to this point, I would hate to have a reason to start disliking it. I hope someone here can help me with this problem.

 

[FrankXS]

Hello and Welcome!

Based on your description, I really think this is happening because you have an app (or apps) that are working in the background while you are trying to switch screens. Even worse, they could be apps that require an Internet connection and if that is not present making things even worse.

I'd check every app you have and make sure it is set NOT to update in the background, ever. Turn off all syncs and sync manually. Check the Market and ensure it is not set to auto-notify. Check each app from the Market and check that it is not set to auto-update or notify. Remember, any "auto-notify" relies on an Internet connection to find out if it needs to "notify" you, so auto-notify is also the same as a "background Internet process". Get rid of all auto-updating Widgets, and see how it goes. If that "fixes" it, start turning on the auto-update apps you like one at a time until you find the issue. Also, do a restart after you have turned off all auto-updates to make sure you have a clean boot.

I have never had this issue between home screens. I've had this phone since release date and never ever have seen a "lag" when swiping between home screens. None. But, I use a lot off discretion when I set anything to "auto-update" anything. Including Widgets.

Widgets especially might be the culprit. If you have an auto-update Widget on each home screen it might be "lagging" while trying to update that Widget when you switch screens.

Food for thought.

-Frank

 

[NavasC]

Thank you for the quick response FrankXS, and thank you for the welcome. I've just found out that about 5 or so Google-powered apps were set to auto-update in my market. I have set that off for now and will see if that helps any. It's a random occurrence at best, there's no way for me (that i know of yet) to trigger it, so I'll keep this thread updated with that information. I am still open to other suggestions as well.


Also, while unrelated to my previous issue, I seem to be having an issue with my phone occasionally not connecting to 4G/LTE areas without a restart or, in a more annoying scenario, it "thinks" its connected to 4G/LTE when I'm at my house (which, is only a 3G area presently) and it won't load a page on a web browser until I either set it to 3G only mode/Airplane mode on/off/restart the phone and it reconnects to 3G. Any ideas what causes this or if its just an issue that's being worked on?

 

[FrankXS]

Also, while unrelated to my previous issue, I seem to be having an issue with my phone occasionally not connecting to 4G/LTE areas without a restart or, in a more annoying scenario, it "thinks" its connected to 4G/LTE when I'm at my house (which, is only a 3G area presently) and it won't load a page on a web browser until I either set it to 3G only mode/Airplane mode on/off/restart the phone and it reconnects to 3G. Any ideas what causes this or if its just an issue that's being worked on?

Yes, this is a relatively "known" issue with all 4G/LTE phones. And yes, it is being worked on. Make sure you have the latest system updates from VZW/HTC (Menu | Settings | Update Software | Check for updates. The last update (i.e. MR2) fixed most peoples issues such as you describe. But not completely. I understand the upcoming version of Gingerbread will also incorporate some more "radio" fixes that should help with this.

As for your "lagging" issues - one of the chief causes of these are exactly what you mentioned, losing data connectivity. So, that might be your whole issue right now.

Some have found (myself included) that you can get improvement by shutting down the phone (Power off) and then removing the battery and SIM card, wait 3 minutes, then reinsert everything and restart. This phone, as all LTE phones, provision themselves upon startup. The 3 minute wait is to ensure all cached data is removed from any capacitive devices before you restart.

-Frank

 

[NavasC]

This seems to have fixed it, at least for now. I have not had any stuck screens all day. Although I wonder, if it's a auto-update problem, why did a factory reset not help with the other phone in our house?