Phone randomly rebooting - Problem Solved

[meyerweb#CB]

Over the last month or so, my S3 has been randomly rebooting. Generally only once, or sometimes twice a day. Never, I don't think, while I was actually using the phone. Sometimes in my pocket (frequently when riding my motorcycle), sometimes when I set it down on a desk or table. I did everything I could think of. All the standard advice: uninstall recently installed apps, factory reset and install no apps, etc. Removing the SD card, and deleting all media files from the internal SD. I even unrooted and went back to completely stock. Nothing made any difference.

It finally dawned on me that this might be a mechanical problem, since it often happened at times when the phone was under physical "stress" (vibration on the motorcycle, shock setting it down on a hard surface, etc.) So a couple of days ago I swapped batteries. I have a couple of cheap ebay spares that I rarely use, when the OEM battery gets really low and I can't plug in. Two days in on the cheap battery, and it hasn't reset once.

So I just put the OEM battery back in, dropped the phone onto a magazine sitting on my desk and "bam," instant reset. Try it a second time, ditto. Put the aftermarket battery back in, repeat the same test: no reboot, no worries. The OEM battery isn't loose, if anything it fits tighter than the aftermarket one.

I guess I'm off to the Sprint store tomorrow to see if they'll swap a battery.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Over the last month or so, my S3 has been randomly rebooting. Generally only once, or sometimes twice a day. Never, I don't think, while I was actually using the phone. Sometimes in my pocket (frequently when riding my motorcycle), sometimes when I set it down on a desk or table. I did everything I could think of. All the standard advice: uninstall recently installed apps, factory reset and install no apps, etc. Removing the SD card, and deleting all media files from the internal SD. I even unrooted and went back to completely stock. Nothing made any difference.

It finally dawned on me that this might be a mechanical problem, since it often happened at times when the phone was under physical "stress" (vibration on the motorcycle, shock setting it down on a hard surface, etc.) So a couple of days ago I swapped batteries. I have a couple of cheap ebay spares that I rarely use, when the OEM battery gets really low and I can't plug in. Two days in on the cheap battery, and it hasn't reset once.

So I just put the OEM battery back in, dropped the phone onto a magazine sitting on my desk and "bam," instant reset. Try it a second time, ditto. Put the aftermarket battery back in, repeat the same test: no reboot, no worries. The OEM battery isn't loose, if anything it fits tighter than the aftermarket one.

I guess I'm off to the Sprint store tomorrow to see if they'll swap a battery.

Hey, Meyer!
Do you have a slight bulge in the battery? Try setting it on a flat surface and try to spin it. If it does even a little, that me be the problem. I had this happen with my S2. OEM battery would spin like a top.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

No, the battery looks perfectly fine. I think there must be a bad internal connection, and the shock or vibration causes it to momentarily drop to zero output, then come back.

 

[Golfdriver97]

No, the battery looks perfectly fine. I think there must be a bad internal connection, and the shock or vibration causes it to momentarily drop to zero output, then come back.

OK. Just a thought.

Sent from a SlimROM S3.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Not a bad thought. This was definitely a weird problem, and probably not a common one, but it might help someone else who's phone is randomly rebooting. I'm now several days on the 3rd party battery, re-rooted and Nandroid backup restored, and not one single reboot (except the one I did on purpose).

 

[Golfdriver97]

Not a bad thought. This was definitely a weird problem, and probably not a common one, but it might help someone else who's phone is randomly rebooting. I'm now several days on the 3rd party battery, re-rooted and Nandroid backup restored, and not one single reboot (except the one I did on purpose).

Cool. Glad you're up and running.

Sent from a SlimROM S3.