Samsung galaxy s3 reset itself on its own randomly?

[scooter8484]

My dads galaxy randomly shuts off and restarts with some orange screen than when he gets to his home page, the background is back to stock one and all his pics and contacts deleted on their own.. He had it on lock too in his pocket. This is his first ever smart phone. He does not do apps nor texts. He just wanted a better camera and picture and he has only had it for a week or 2. He said it randomly went to this orange screen and when his home screen finally came up, it was back at default and all his pictures and contacts were gone. I said it must have randomly factory resettted itself. I told him to take it to verizon to make sure it doesnt happen again. He got the phone for free. What could be the problem? I said it could have pressed the combo of buttons for a factory reset in his pocket by accident being sensitive, but he said it is always on lock. He never installs apps so he wouldnt have any 3rd party apps on there. Just never heard of this with me having a lot of androids before.

 

[B. Diddy]

Did he get this brand new, or was it used/refurbished? If it was brand new, just ask for a replacement. If it was used/refurbished, it's possible that this was a reason why the previous user gave it up.

The orange menu was presumably the Recovery Menu. But in order for the phone to factory reset from that menu, you have to confirm a few different times, using different button presses, so it's unlikely that he did this all by accident while it was in his pocket. It sounds like a defect of some sort.