Galaxy S3 keeps freezing. help!

[mezi1977]

my S3 freezes like every 10 min and i have to hold the power button to restart i even reset the device twice and no hope, what shall i do???

 

[MC_A_DOT]

Mines was doing that. I had to clear the cache for touchwiz. And it's never happened again so far

If she does that she'll have to redo her screens again though.

~Jae, Tap'n on my White Samsung Galaxy S3~

How do you clear the touchwiz cache? :-\

 

[nancybout]

Yes how do we clear that wiz cache. .
Now 2 just got and I had iphone for years. ..thatbought my memory back to black Berry. Happened once more phone loops beautiful. ..I love it but scared is gonna go glitchy.
Is only 5 days in. . Maybe Galaxy s4?
Yes is refurbished which is probably the bigger issue.
Maybe att can send another.
But. .of like to know how to clear the touch wiz cache.
Btw love to Swpe lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Android Central Forums

 

[meyerweb#CB]

To clear the cache of any app:

Go to Settings / Application manager
Scroll all the way to the right. Scroll down until you find the app, in this case "Touchwiz home" Tap the app name. Tap "Clear cache."

 

[Brooke Fassett]

Hi!
I have an S3 with Verizon.
My phone has been locking up since I have purchased it new in November '12
The stock apps are the ones that freeze the most. (messages, camera, calling..)
Most of the time I just have a blank screen when I try to use the camera.
As for messaging, it lags horribly. It will take about a full 5 seconds per letter to type. VERY frustrating.
Also, sometimes when I call, the screen just turns off and I can't hang up until it's done goofing up.
I have a sim & sd card inserted.
To restart it, the only thing that fixes these problems (temporarily) is a battery pull.
I've tried to provide as much info as possible, I'm really sick of dealing with a phone that wont cooperate!
Any suggestions please?
:-\

 

[meyerweb#CB]

If it's been doing it since new, in November, I don't understand why you didn't return it to Verizon right away. I would suggest doing so now.

But if you haven't already done so, remove the SD card and see what happens. If that solves it, then you have either a bad card or corrupt files or directory structure. If that doesn't solve it, try a factory reset and don't install any apps after. If it works fine after the reset, then you have a problem with at least one of your apps.

If none of that works, take it to Verizon.

 

[melevo]

I have also had my S3 since November 2012 and am having the same freezing issues.
My phone is stock standard with a sim and SD card inserted.
I only began having issues a couple of weeks ago.
Usually I can still swipe the screen but when I try to select a button they do not respond, camera, messages, contacts etc. Nothing responds.
My only option is to restart the phone, but I am now doing this 5 to 6 times a day.
I also cannot use the alarm as it doesn't go off, it just resets itself to the corresponding day in the next week. REAL pain in the *** as this is my ONLY alarm and I have been late to work twice in the last week.
Having read some of the responses I just cleared the cache for all of my apps so I will see if this makes a difference.
Its a bit hard as I don't really understand all the tech talk but I have been given the option of sending it away to be fixed but was hoping I could fix it with and update or something?
I thought I had read that there was an update to install on the S3 to give it the capability of the new S4?
Anyway hope someone can help...

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Try shutting down, removing the SD card, and then rebooting. See if that makes a difference. If it does, you've got a bad card or corrupted data on the card.

If that makes no difference, I'd suggest a factory reset, and then DON'T reinstall any apps. If it continues to lock up, it's a hardware problem, and you'll need to send it off. If it works fine, you've got a software issue. Don't install all your apps back at once. Do them one or two at a time, then use the phone for a day or two, then install one or two more, and use it for a day or two. If it starts locking up again, you've found your problem.

 

[Victor Kimetto]

I think i found a solution for mine... My s3 kept freezing every time... So i did a factory reset and still the same problem after i reinstalled the apps..... Nd after discovering it was the facebook app causing it i did a force stop on the app n presto.... No freezing for 48 hrs n counting! Stil dont y the app is causin this. I tried logging in with app again and the freezing resurfaced.

 

[tee23]

Hi ,
I have a samsung s3 , and for sometime now it has been frequently and suddenly turning of on me and restarting . But now it is also freezing completly and the only way i can fix it is taking the battery out of the back of the phone. I dont know what to do someone suggested maybe i had a bug and to download antivirus wear , which i ahve done but has shown no issues with my phone and hasnt helped
Please help its doing this up to 5 times per day
Kind regards ,
Tee23

 

[michael wilson6]

Please help me. Have s3 and last few days started
Freezing up. From once a day 3 days ago till every hour
Or two. Have to remove battery and reboot. Makes
No difference if using app, reading paper or general
Phone calls. So dammmm annoying

 

[phonesmasher]

Yep. This really makes me angry. I have this phone for my business. I can't put up with this any longer. How can I run a business with such an unreliable product. I've wasted hours on this stupid phone. I'd be better off with my old reliable Nokia I had 14 years ago. Even typing and predictive text worked better and faster way back then. Smartphone! What a joke. Why should we have to put up with this while they all get rich forcing us to upgrade. I should sue for the trouble this has caused to everyday life. About to have a nervous break down over a stupid touch phone. Gonna smash this thing. Taking it back wont solve a thing. The ***** technicians know nothing. If they did we wouldn't have these dodgy products in the first place.
Thanks Samsung. Hope you're happy with yourselves.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Freezing is NOT a common problem on these phones. It's possible yours is defective, but much more likely a software, media file or SD card issue. Since all you've done is vent, I have no way of knowing what you might have already tried in the way of fixing the problem, but since you appear to have little patience I'll suggest the following:

1. Back up any important data you have on the phone, ideally to a PC or other device, not the phone itself. Use Kies, or Helium Backup from the play store.
2. If you have one installed, remove the micro SD card. Make sure to unmount it or shut the phone off, first.
3. Factory reset.

Do NOT reinstall all your 3rd party software. Use the phone factory fresh for a few days. If it still locks up, with no 3rd party software and no SD card, your phone is defective, and needs a warranty repair. If it works fine, the problem isn't the phone.

Reinstall the SD card. If the problems recur, you have a bad card, a corrupt directory on the card, or corrupted file(s). Reformat it in the phone. If that doesn't fix it, buy a new card. If it does, start copying files back, but note that if you copy a corrupt media file back the problem could recur.

If the SD card doesn't cause the problem, start reinstalling your apps, a couple at a time. If / when the phone start misbehaving again, you'll know it's one of the recently installed apps.

 

[phonesmasher]

I've tried all that. As I said. Spent hours trying to fix i and reading through forums like this with people having same problem. . Shouldn't have to. Full factory reset stopped it from happening as iften but still happens at least 5 times a day. No sd card. Never had one. Never dropped the phone or got it wet. It was fine for the first few months. If it an app or something causing it then they shouldnt allow apps to install and cause such trouble. I Think its the facebook app has dine something ti it. Cant even type properly now. It still did it after I un installed fb and we shouldnt have ti put up with a phone that gets all buggy from something as common as fb.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I've tried all that. As I said. Spent hours trying to fix i and reading through forums like this with people having same problem. . Shouldn't have to. Full factory reset stopped it from happening as iften but still happens at least 5 times a day. No sd card. Never had one. Never dropped the phone or got it wet. It was fine for the first few months. If it an app or something causing it then they shouldnt allow apps to install and cause such trouble. I Think its the facebook app has dine something ti it. Cant even type properly now. It still did it after I un installed fb and we shouldnt have ti put up with a phone that gets all buggy from something as common as fb.

1. You didn't provide any details of what you've tried or haven't tried, so I offered some suggestions. I could have ignored your post, or told you to give us more details first, but I was trying to be helpful. If all you want to do is complain, warn us so we don't waste our time trying to help.

2. Who do you think is going to "not allow" bad apps? Do you really think Google or Samsung could test every possible combination of the 700,000 apps in the Play store? Get real.

3. I gave you directions on how to trouble shoot the issue. Until you do that, I have no other advice. If the phone works OK with a clean configuration, it's an app or combination of apps. And what apps you install is up to you, not Samsung.

4. If you want to try to fix it, you're going to have to figure out what's happening. Probably no one else here has your exact combination of software. If you're not willing to put a little work into it, sell the phone and try again with something else. But if you put the same apps on another device, you're likely to have the same issues.

 

[GSDer]

Have you looked at the reviews for Facebook: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...details?id=com.facebook.katana&token=RRspzcxV - it's got an overall rating of 3.6, and I generally wouldn't trust any app that has less than a 4.0 rating. On top of that there are numerous comments about it causing freezes. Perhaps you should ditch that; reboot the phone in Recovery and clear the cache; then stay away from apps that don't have great ratings.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 4

 

[tsenai]

hi guys,
I have a same problem with my s3 mini, it's freezing when on lock screen any button i will pres the screen won't turn on. but when it is connected to changer everything working well. i don't know what to do to my phone...can anyone help me? thanks!

 

[MuchNo]

Freezing is NOT a common problem on these phones. It's possible yours is defective, but much more likely a software, media file or SD card issue. Since all you've done is vent, I have no way of knowing what you might have already tried in the way of fixing the problem, but since you appear to have little patience I'll suggest the following:

1. Back up any important data you have on the phone, ideally to a PC or other device, not the phone itself. Use Kies, or Helium Backup from the play store.
2. If you have one installed, remove the micro SD card. Make sure to unmount it or shut the phone off, first.
3. Factory reset.

Do NOT reinstall all your 3rd party software. Use the phone factory fresh for a few days. If it still locks up, with no 3rd party software and no SD card, your phone is defective, and needs a warranty repair. If it works fine, the problem isn't the phone.

Reinstall the SD card. If the problems recur, you have a bad card, a corrupt directory on the card, or corrupted file(s). Reformat it in the phone. If that doesn't fix it, buy a new card. If it does, start copying files back, but note that if you copy a corrupt media file back the problem could recur.

If the SD card doesn't cause the problem, start reinstalling your apps, a couple at a time. If / when the phone start misbehaving again, you'll know it's one of the recently installed apps.

@meyerweb, I am based in Kenya, E Africa and my S3 (i9300) has been misbehaving (freezing every few minutes) in the last 2-months or so. Now that I think about it, it may have started this behaviour ever since I mounted an external microSD card.

Basically what happens is that I receive a phone call and as soon as I'm done, it freezes. Similarly, when I connect to the bluetooth in the car, inevitably when I leave the car the phone freezes. In addition, I've noticed that WiFi doesn't always connect - it indicates that there's an authentication error - and soon after that problem, the phone freezes. However, these aren't the only instances - it might be charging in the morning and when I go to disconnect it from the charger, it won't turn on. Also if it is just laying on my desk in the office, I pick it up to do something and it's frozen. Sometimes it freezes when it's starting up, and won't display the phone lock-screen. Other times it will freeze and when restarted it will work for a few seconds and then freeze on the operation I'm attempting - like if I'm trying to make a call.

When I say frozen, what I mean is that when the screen is off, it doesn't respond to anything - buttons, etc. If it freezes when the screen is on and I'm using it, it won't respond to buttons being pressed, or swipes of the screen, etc. Sometimes, it's only seldom that this happens, the in-built back and menu buttons might light up, but that won't mean that the phone will unfreeze. If it freezes when the screen is on, the freeze will result in the screen not changing at all - it will remain that way until I either remove the battery, or press the start (on/off) button for about 10 seconds.

I thought it was the stock Samsung Jelly Bean version (4.1.2), so I rooted my phone and upgraded to AOKP Jelly bean (4.2.2). It was initially fine for a few days, but then the problem recurred. I had read somewhere that the Samsung -XELLA update was the culprit and that's why I rooted and upgraded. I also read that the problem is with the flash memory on the motherboard that Samsung made some S3 phones with. Are either of those likely to be the problem?

I've tried clearing the cache and Dalvik cache but that doesn't solve the problem. My wife has the same phone (different colour), and way more apps on her phone (she lets the kids use hers to play games, etc), but she hasn't experienced ANY of the symptoms that my phone has exhibited. My brother has the exact same phone but hasn't experienced any of the problems either. My phone's protected by Lookout Security Anti-virus - would that catch all viruses?

I'm following your advice - I just removed the external SD card... from your directions above, should I / is it possible to unmount the internal card? Immediately, it appears that the phone isn't freezing as much, but I suppose only time will tell. As I was writing this, the phone froze again (so perhaps it's not the SD card) so I'll try to wipe the phone and start loading apps one-by-one and see if I can isolate the problem to an app...

Any advice you can provide will be highly appreciated.

 

[GSDer]

MuchNo,
I can't speak for the reliability of the AOKP ROM that you've loaded, but given that you had the same problems with the stock ROM, it sounds like you have a hardware problem. Since you're going to have to do it to get warranty service anyway, you should reload the current stock ROM (hopefully you can find the full 1.2GB package somewhere) and use it clean (no apps; no Lookout [although I don't think that's the problem]) for awhile. If you continue to have freezing problems then it's time to see if you can get a replacement from your carrier or bite the bullet and send it to Samsung.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 4

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I don't believe it's possible to unmount the internal SD card.

Do your wife and brother's phones have lookout installed? I think that these anti-virus apps often cause more problems than they solve. I'm not that familiar with Lookout, but I know some other AV apps definitely cause weird problems. I would try removing that app and see what happens. If that cures the problems, and you don't want to be unprotected, try a clean install of the app.

Since removing the external card seems to have helped, the next step I would try is to remove any and all media files from your internal card. Heck, if you can back everything up to an external device, like a PC, you could delete everything from the internal SD and see if that helps. There's no one cause of this, but corrupt files seem to be the culprit in many cases.