Why are my default ringtones suddenly being ignored?

[FrancaV]

Default ringtone suddenly being ignored

I haven't seen this exact problem here yet. I've had my Samsung Galaxy S5 for a few months. Starting some time in just the past two weeks my default ringtone has been ignored. When people who are not in my Contacts call me my custom default ringtone should be used, but instead some Samsung ringtone is being used instead. The custom ringtones I have set for specific people in my Contacts lists are all still working just fine. It's only the default ringtone for unknown callers that has changed. ??? Tech support wants me to do a factory reset but I'm not sure the problem is quite annoying enough to warrant such drastic measures. Yet. But I would like my own default ringtone back and I can't imagine why the phone would suddenly start behaving this way. Phone is not rooted.

I have tried changing my default ringtone. No luck, still ignored. I have powered off and removed the battery numerous times. No effect. On tech support advice I have deleted the cache partition and rebooted. Still no joy. He said the next step was a factory reset at which point I balked. Any help?

 

[anon(5600632)]

Re: Default ringtone suddenly being ignored

Is this a factory installed ringtone or something you've downloaded? Have you done anything in your file manager?

I had a similar problem with a downloaded ringtone. I went into the file manager and removed it from the ringtones folder, then dropped it into that folder again. The phone seemed to rediscover the file and went back to normal.

 

[FrancaV]

Re: Default ringtone suddenly being ignored

Is this a factory installed ringtone or something you've downloaded? Have you done anything in your file manager?

I had a similar problem with a downloaded ringtone. I went into the file manager and removed it from the ringtones folder, then dropped it into that folder again. The phone seemed to rediscover the file and went back to normal.

Thank you for your reply! I will try your suggestion as soon as I figure out how to use the phone's file manager, but unfortunately I have a low expectation of success.

I have not used the file manager on the phone for anything at all. My custom ringtones are all my own music. They are not "downloaded ringtones" per se; I created them by using "Set as ringtone" from within PowerAmp (my music app of choice). The music was initially transferred to my phone by copying it from my computer using Windows Explorer via the USB cord. My phone knows where all of my music is - PowerAmp plays everything and all of the ringtones worked fine for months. They all still work fine for everything except for the default ringtone! It doesn't matter which of my custom ringtones I select as the default. All of the other problems I have seen online with custom ringtones have involved both default and contact-specific ringtones. It's just weird to me that the only ringtone affected is the default.

I have not yet tried switching to a different factory-installed ringtone - that might be an interesting test. If I can make that switch then I'll have more hope of a fix. If I can't even change to a different factory-installed ringtone that will be even more disturbing. Stay tuned....

Thanks again for your input - I will report back.

 

[anon(5600632)]

Re: Default ringtone suddenly being ignored

The file manager looks a lot like it would on your windows PC. But the factory ringtones will be in a system folder which you can't change (assuming you are not rooted). There will also be a Ringtones folder, or you can create one, for downloaded ringtones.

 

[FrancaV]

Re: Default ringtone suddenly being ignored

I was finally able to reset the default ringtone using ES File Explorer. I'm not sure why the default ringtone reset itself to the factory ringtone initially and I'm not sure why ES File Explorer allowed me to reset my own ringtone when the other two methods I tried did not, but for now I'll take it! Your encouragement prompted me to look for other ways to reset it and the third try was the charm. Thank you!