Nexus 5 Random restarts

[mysilly]

I've just moved to Nexus 5 from iPhone in the last week. My iPhone was solid and rarely rebooted itself, maybe once or twice in the 18 months I had it. I've had my Nexus 5 for three days and it has restarted itself maybe 5 or 6 times in the last 2 days. I have the phone encrypted so if I don't notice it restarting, the thing is offline. Not too happy, any way I can diagnose what might be causing it?

 

[Iggymart]

Was this purchased new? What apps have you I installed? There may be an app causing this conflict. Have you tried rebooting by holding down the power button until it restarts?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[dkhmwilliams]

I had the opposite. My iPhone would randomly start. Not all the time, buy it would restart. My Nexus hasn't restarted once.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[Kage_]

Are you rebooting it or is the phone rebooting itself? If it's the latter then that is not normal and may indicate an issue with the phone itself. Also, any particular reason you have the full phone encryption enabled?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[crxssi]

There are lots of threads about basic phone troubleshooting.

The basic procedure is to undo anything you have done, one thing at a time, until the phone returns more and more to stock, looking for changes in behavior as you go. Uninstall apps, change settings back to stock, etc, in a controlled manner. Finish it off by a cache partition wipe if nothing else works. As a last resort, wipe the phone back to factory defaults. If the problems still remain, you probably have a defective device.

 

[JohnnyBroccoli]

I have never had this happen with my Nexus 5. Would happen here and there with my jailbroken iPhone 4.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Jailbroken iPad 4 loves to restart even with one Cydia app installed - Controllers For All (the entire reason I jailbroke the device). Never had a problem with my Nexus 5.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[mysilly]

Getting really fed up with this phone. Went out today with my family, went to use the camera and the camera app crashed. Had to restart the phone. Two hours later it restarted itself. Battery life is crap, to be frank. After a few hours use the battery is nearly dead. I installed the Silence app, and it has never worked, always crashes. The Nexus 5 is a buggy piece of crap compared to my iPhone 4S and I'm thinking of taking it back to the shop and keeping the 4S. Very unimpressed.

 

[mysilly]

There are lots of threads about basic phone troubleshooting.

The basic procedure is to undo anything you have done, one thing at a time, until the phone returns more and more to stock, looking for changes in behavior as you go. Uninstall apps, change settings back to stock, etc, in a controlled manner. Finish it off by a cache partition wipe if nothing else works. As a last resort, wipe the phone back to factory defaults. If the problems still remain, you probably have a defective device.

I might factory reset it and not put any apps on it for a few days and see how it goes. If it doesn't behave itself for 3 days after doing that, it's going back to the shop.

 

[crxssi]

I might factory reset it and not put any apps on it for a few days and see how it goes. If it doesn't behave itself for 3 days after doing that, it's going back to the shop.

I think that is exactly what you should do.
I have only been using the N5 for a month, but mine has never crashed, has never rebooted, has never frozen, has been extremely fast, and battery life is reasonable.

 

[B. Diddy]

Any reason why you encrypted your phone? Encryption can sometimes cause the phone to slow down a little.

I agree with the advice above, and with starting from scratch with a factory reset. Out of many hundreds of thousands of devices, there are bound to be some that are defective. Maybe you have a defective one, because your experience isn't common. Hopefully you won't let the experience with this one particular unit color your opinion of the device as a whole and Android in general.

 

[mysilly]

I have factory reset the phone and left it unencrypted. I encrypt all my devices, just a habit. How will I know if it has restarted itself if I have it unencrypted? I will leave all the stock settings and apps for a few days.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I have factory reset the phone and left it unencrypted. I encrypt all my devices, just a habit. How will I know if it has restarted itself if I have it unencrypted? I will leave all the stock settings and apps for a few days.

Settings > About Phone > Status will tell you how long the device has been running since last boot.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[mysilly]

Starting to look a bit better, after the factory reset, and without encryption turned on it has been stable with much better battery. Not sure if it is the encryption or not. Will start to load apps gradually and see how it goes...

 

[crxssi]

Starting to look a bit better, after the factory reset, and without encryption turned on it has been stable with much better battery. Not sure if it is the encryption or not. Will start to load apps gradually and see how it goes...

You are on the right track. Just don't rush it. Add things back slowly... especially anything that is hacky, large, or service oriented. Also make note of any settings or configuration changes you make. If it continues to work correctly for the long term and everything is there, then consider the encryption and see what happens.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

You are on the right track. Just don't rush it. Add things back slowly... especially anything that is hacky, large, or service oriented. Also make note of any settings or configuration changes you make. If it continues to work correctly for the long term and everything is there, then consider the encryption and see what happens.

My method would be to add everything on and if there are problems without encryption you can try again with a reset. In my experience doing things in chunks to troubleshoot tends to be less of a hassle. Just my two cents .

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[ianhanson85]

I came from a 4s as well and what you are experiencing isn't normal. I found the battery life on the nexus to be a major improvement over the 4s, especially after iOS 7 update where it just went to crap. Also, I've had to restart the nexus every now and then from a buggy app but I never had it restart itself. Maybe consider exchanging your device if it keeps up.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[crxssi]

My method would be to add everything on and if there are problems without encryption you can and try again with a reset.

Actually, that will work too, if you are trying to find out if you can replicate the problem. I call it the method of "halves". Like if you are trying to guess a hidden number from 1 to 100. Just keep choosing half until you find it. 50. 25. 13, etc. It is a valid methodology, but can take more time if it fails repeatedly and you have to start over from a factory wipe over and over. My suggested methodology takes a lot longer, but is "safer" for a system where you need to keep using it and want to minimize starting over again.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Actually, that will work too, if you are trying to find out if you can replicate the problem. I call it the method of "halves". Like if you are trying to guess a hidden number from 1 to 100. Just keep choosing half until you find it. 50. 25. 13, etc. It is a valid methodology, but can take more time if it fails repeatedly and you have to start over from a factory wipe over and over. My suggested methodology takes a lot longer, but is "safer" for a system where you need to keep using it and want to minimize starting over again.

But... If the problem is encryption (Or a bad app install) then he is wasting time . Either way works. I just am not that patient I guess .

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[mysilly]

So the phone was stable for a couple of days and then I got two restarts within an hour of each other. I have uninstalled two apps:

Zeroblock
PrivateInternetAccess

Has not restarted in the 20 hours since I removed those. Will monitor for another couple of days, and if no restarts, put one of them back on and try and see if it was indeed either of those that caused the restarts. Zeroblock has been crashing on its own anyway, so I'm suspecting that one. Anyone else got these apps installed? Any issues?