[AC Question]

Hello everyone,

I have Nexus 5, KitKat 4.4.4 and it's making this weird sound. (soundcloud.com/artemissia/what-the-hell-is-this-sound)

It starts by itself, sometimes when trying to make a call or even for no apparent reason. Sometimes it just sounds once, sometimes it repeats itself insanely. I have restored my device, just in case I installed something that's setting it on, but even after that, without installing ANYTHING that wasn't on the original Google pack, it started AGAIN!!! arghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! it's so annoying! can you please help me before I lose my mind entirely?

I need to mention that it began about 4 months ago. I moved from Israel (where it never happened) to UK and it started a few weeks afterwards. I don't know if it has anything to do with it. Anyways, my carrier is GiffGaff.


Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it.

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Wow, what the heck is that?

Try booting into Safe Mode and see if it goes away. If it does, then you know some 3rd party app is responsible (as opposed to the system). https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/2852139?hl=en

[Malka Finkelstein]

Thanks B. Diddy,


Someone on another forum suggested it was the NFC, so I toggelled it off and I'll update of any news.

Anyway, it MUST be a system app, because it started even after I restored the device. Anyway, it's so random that having the device on safe mode and waiting for it to set off again is somewhat uncomfortable.

I will try that though, if the NFC solution doesn't work.


Thanks again

[belodion]

Now that you've registered, welcome as a new member.

It sounds like a corrupt ringtone. If the Safe Mode ploy doesn't work, you might consider the possibly of a bad SIM card....although I've no idea whether that could produce such an effect.

Posted via the Android Central App

[B. Diddy]

Anyway, it MUST be a system app, because it started even after I restored the device

Not necessarily. If you did a factory reset, and then all of your previous apps automatically reinstalled, then whatever is causing that sound may have also reinstalled on its own as well. Hence the suggestion for Safe Mode, which will temporarily prevent all 3rd party apps from starting up.

[Rukbat]

I'm betting it's some app's notification sound. I wouldn't even try to guess which app, though.

You might install ES File Explorer, then use its search function to search for *.mp3. You'll get a list of MP3 files. Play every one and see if one of them matches the first few notes of that. (I think the two notes at the end are the beginning of another cycle.)

You might have to root the phone and start the search at / to find it. (That would search the entire data and system partitions.)

There are other ways, but you have to be comfortable with Linux. dd the storage space to an image file, then run PhotoRec on it for any sound file extensions. dd is one of the most useful tools in the toolbox - it's like a Swiss army knife on steroids. (Put it in the download partition and auto-enable an adb connection and I can recover files from a phone that's bootlooped, or one that has a smashed screen. You listening, Google?)

B. Diddy, you really made me work on this. I think I may pose the question over on XDA. If we can do this, there's no such thing as an existing, non-recoverable file.

[B. Diddy]

The file manager search is a good idea. Also look for .wav and .ogg files, since those are other sound files that could be used by apps.

[LeoRex]

Yeah.... I listened... it is definitely a notification sound of some sort. But it isn't a corrupted one, its too well formed and I don't recall any of the stock sounds sounding anything remotely similar.