Problem: Everything Force Closes

matthimrod

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I've had my Xoom for about a month, but over the past week or two, I've had this recurring issue where after a period of time of not using it, I'll pick it up and try to launch an app and the app immediately force-closes. Now, when I say "an app", I should say "any app". The only solution is to force-reboot. Has anyone else had this type of issue? I'm getting ready to do a factory reset because I'm not sure what else to try -- I'm usually pretty good at troubleshooting -- but I'd like to avoid it if I can!
 

2CupsWithString

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I've had my Xoom for about a month, but over the past week or two, I've had this recurring issue where after a period of time of not using it, I'll pick it up and try to launch an app and the app immediately force-closes. Now, when I say "an app", I should say "any app". The only solution is to force-reboot. Has anyone else had this type of issue? I'm getting ready to do a factory reset because I'm not sure what else to try -- I'm usually pretty good at troubleshooting -- but I'd like to avoid it if I can!

Welcome to android central!

That sounds like a PITA.. Can you remember installing any apps recently right before you have started noticing this? Or have you changed any system settings?
 

matthimrod

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Welcome to android central!

That sounds like a PITA.. Can you remember installing any apps recently right before you have started noticing this? Or have you changed any system settings?

Nothing that I remember specifically. I know I've installed and removed several apps over the past few weeks, so narrowing it down to one or two isn't going to be easy. It just happened to me again -- this time a bunch of icons were missing from my home screen.

The only pattern I've noticed is that usually the app that force closes will disappear as if I've clicked the button to force-close it, but then in front of it, there will be a force-close box for Gmail or Gapps.

I might end up wiping it and reloading everything rather than trying to troubleshoot since I've done so much installing/removing apps. It might take longer to get to the root of the issue unless it starts recurring after a wipe.
 

matthimrod

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Nothing that I remember specifically. I know I've installed and removed several apps over the past few weeks, so narrowing it down to one or two isn't going to be easy. It just happened to me again -- this time a bunch of icons were missing from my home screen.

The only pattern I've noticed is that usually the app that force closes will disappear as if I've clicked the button to force-close it, but then in front of it, there will be a force-close box for Gmail or Gapps.

I might end up wiping it and reloading everything rather than trying to troubleshoot since I've done so much installing/removing apps. It might take longer to get to the root of the issue unless it starts recurring after a wipe.

Now I'm starting to suspect that it was the Yahoo Messenger that I side-loaded from my OG Droid. It seemed to be working really well, but now I'm thinking it would make everything crash when it tried to sync my contact list. I'm going to give it more time, though, to see if that was it.
 

pwscott

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Loading Messenger when it's not out for Xoom sounds like the culprit. I'd get that off of there, reboot and see what happens.
 

matthimrod

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Loading Messenger when it's not out for Xoom sounds like the culprit. I'd get that off of there, reboot and see what happens.

Yeah, I took it off, but then it froze up later again. I just did a factory restore so I will never know what the culprit is (unless it happens again).
 

matthimrod

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I'm going to start with the Market apps first and not sideload anything for now.

It looks like the latest Scruff beta might have been the culprit. The problem recurred after my reload, and knowing that was the only thing besides the Amazon App Store that I sideloaded, I uninstalled it. The problem hasn't happened afain, but there is still a bit more daylight left today.
 

matthimrod

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It looks like the latest Scruff beta might have been the culprit. The problem recurred after my reload, and knowing that was the only thing besides the Amazon App Store that I sideloaded, I uninstalled it. The problem hasn't happened afain, but there is still a bit more daylight left today.

Finally... we've gotten somewhere. It wasn't Scruff or Amazon App Store... it appears that my device is defective.

I was looking at an apartment today using the Xoom's camera to take pictures of some of the rooms. I started noticing some blue pixelation in the photos I was taking, and after about 5 photos, the media storage app crashed and the camera force-closed. The device was back in the state that I described where everything was force-closing, specifically apps that accessed my Google account. I rebooted my Xoom and resorted to using my Droid to take pics. When I got home, I noticed that my Xoom was still rebooting, so forced a hard reboot and, again, noticed the pixelation in the camera as well as some trailing that came out in my pics. After another minute or two, the apps started force-closing. I decided that it was time for a trip to the Verizon store.

Here's where the story gets a little more disappointing. I expected that since I purchased my Xoom on 2/28 (less than 30 days ago), I could just swap it out. However, since Verizon changed their return policy to 14 days, I have to go through the warranty... which means Motorola is shipping me a box to send back my Xoom within 2 business days and I'll receive it back either repaired or replaced (or possibly determined to be not faulty? hopefully not!) within 3 business days.

I did go through some "troubleshooting" over the phone, which involved checking some unrelated settings. The guy was in good humor about it -- recognizing from the way I described the problem that I was a savvy user and sparing me the painful step-by-step instruction of each setting. We even went through a factory reset and the camera issue persisted, and after a short period of time, the force close came back. And after another few minutes it just spontaneously went into a reboot loop.

So... to make a long story ... a little less long? It looks like something is defective with my Xoom. I'm disappointed that I pretty much can't use it now... I have to wait to get the box... and then I'll be without it for nearly a week. I just hope all of this has happened early on enough that I won't get stuck with a refurb if they determine that mine needs to be replaced.