FYI, major battery draining issues resolved through hard reset

[torbach1]

Hi Folks:

In recent weeks, I've had major issues with the battery draining far more quickly than normal and making the phone close to unusable. This started after the most recent update from T-Mo.
I tried various things like clearing cache, disabling the usual culprits like FB, etc. Nothing worked. Primary culprit officially was Screen, and Android OS.

I eventually did a hard reset/factory erase, and restored from my Gmail and Samsung backups. That resolved the issue.

Thought I'd post in casr anyone else has the issue. I searched but didn't see it show up here.

Cheers
Tamir

 

[djrakowski]

Thanks for letting us know!

I can't believe we still have to resort to the nuclear option on occasion just to keep our phones running smoothly.

 

[scottbeamer]

Hi Folks:

In recent weeks, I've had major issues with the battery draining far more quickly than normal and making the phone close to unusable. This started after the most recent update from T-Mo.
I tried various things like clearing cache, disabling the usual culprits like FB, etc. Nothing worked. Primary culprit officially was Screen, and Android OS.

I eventually did a hard reset/factory erase, and restored from my Gmail and Samsung backups. That resolved the issue.

Thought I'd post in casr anyone else has the issue. I searched but didn't see it show up here.

Cheers
Tamir

Your Gmail backup?

 

[torbach1]

Your Gmail backup?

Sorry, meant Google.

 

[Almeuit]

Thanks for letting us know!

I can't believe we still have to resort to the nuclear option on occasion just to keep our phones running smoothly.

Usually it is the easiest way. Back in the day it was a huge pain to re-setup but now a days it has gotten a lot easier.

 

[torbach1]

Usually it is the easiest way. Back in the day it was a huge pain to re-setup but now a days it has gotten a lot easier.

True. With both Google's and Samsung's backups, everything is backed up including the layout, WiFi networks etc. It took me about 3 hours of waiting for the restore and I was back to normal. This is with Nova Launcher's backup too.

 

[djrakowski]

Usually it is the easiest way. Back in the day it was a huge pain to re-setup but now a days it has gotten a lot easier.

True. There are tons of ways to back up now - Samsung, LG, Huawei and others offer their own solutions, and Google's backup works almost flawlessly in my experience.

Still, it's bad software (in my opinion) if it requires a complete reset to get it working again. We shouldn't have to do this in 2018, and especially not with phones from a company as significant as Samsung.

 

[Almeuit]

True. There are tons of ways to back up now - Samsung, LG, Huawei and others offer their own solutions, and Google's backup works almost flawlessly in my experience.

Still, it's bad software (in my opinion) if it requires a complete reset to get it working again. We shouldn't have to do this in 2018, and especially not with phones from a company as significant as Samsung.

Yeah the whole "This is year (X) we should't have to do this!" argument never made any sense to me. The year has never once mattered when it comes to tech and software. The fact is you say you shouldn't have to -- you are right but if you think about it... you don't have to. You could try and troubleshoot all your apps and figure it out. Therefore you don't "have" to do it.

The big thing is ... is it worth the time to try and troubleshoot that much or just do a simple wipe / re-setup? Especially since it has gotten way easier then in the past? That is where you have answer the question personally and go forth.

Also this isn't a Samsung only thing. iPhones have this issue as well. Hell even Microsoft with their massive windows servers / PCs in the workforce and home have to do it... So I don't see how Samsung is expected to be immune to such a thing that the other WAY bigger players haven't fixed yet either.

If I were to have an issue at home with my PC I would just wipe it. Back in the day I would troubleshoot since wiping was a huge pain and meant hours and hours of time to re-set it back up. Now a days? I can wipe it / re-install Windows in 20 minutes or so. I can then re-download hundreds of GB of games and such in an hour or two thanks to Gbps internet... so troubleshoot an issue that could take me hours to fix or just re-do? Just depends on the time factor. For phones I simply don't want to invest in troubleshooting it to death. A PC I may to learn stuff but a phone? Ehh.

 

[torbach1]

Yeah the whole "This is year (X) we should't have to do this!" argument never made any sense to me. The year has never once mattered when it comes to tech and software. The fact is you say you shouldn't have to -- you are right but if you think about it... you don't have to. You could try and troubleshoot all your apps and figure it out. Therefore you don't "have" to do it.

The big thing is ... is it worth the time to try and troubleshoot that much or just do a simple wipe / re-setup? Especially since it has gotten way easier then in the past? That is where you have answer the question personally and go forth.

Also this isn't a Samsung only thing. iPhones have this issue as well. Hell even Microsoft with their massive windows servers / PCs in the workforce and home have to do it... So I don't see how Samsung is expected to be immune to such a thing that the other WAY bigger players haven't fixed yet either.

If I were to have an issue at home with my PC I would just wipe it. Back in the day I would troubleshoot since wiping was a huge pain and meant hours and hours of time to re-set it back up. Now a days? I can wipe it / re-install Windows in 20 minutes or so. I can then re-download hundreds of GB of games and such in an hour or two thanks to Gbps internet... so troubleshoot an issue that could take me hours to fix or just re-do? Just depends on the time factor. For phones I simply don't want to invest in troubleshooting it to death. A PC I may to learn stuff but a phone? Ehh.

I don't know that I agree with you 100%. For example, in my case, I restored the phone with the exact same apps, and I no longer have the battery issue. So it wasn't likely an app issue. You're right it happens with iPhones too, but way less frequently. I believe it does happen a bit more with Samsung phones than with iPhones or even Pixels. But I believe this is primarily because Samsung simply offers so much more functionality than most phones, so it has more room for errors. But that's just my view. I'm willing to live with it.

 

[Almeuit]

I don't know that I agree with you 100%. For example, in my case, I restored the phone with the exact same apps, and I no longer have the battery issue. So it wasn't likely an app issue. You're right it happens with iPhones too, but way less frequently. I believe it does happen a bit more with Samsung phones than with iPhones or even Pixels. But I believe this is primarily because Samsung simply offers so much more functionality than most phones, so it has more room for errors. But that's just my view. I'm willing to live with it.

It could have been an app issue when the OS updated not working right. You never know until you find out.

Either way re-doing has just gotten so easy it is usually better time wise to do it. Also the year has zero to do with having said issue.

 

[dpham00]

I always recommend a fdr if you are having significant issues after an update and other troubleshooting hasn't solved the problem