HTC Evo 4g Crash/Reboot Issues

[stefpap]

So since all the other threads revolving around this issue seem to be nothing more than suggestions of things to try rather than trying to determine what the problem is, I wanted to start fresh.

Here's my issue regarding reboots on my Evo (Hw 003). Simply put the phone will reboot (typically under moderate/heavy use, I've not once seen it reboot on it's own, although I can't say it hasn't when I've been asleep).

This issue has persisted regardless of HBoot Version (I've been on 0.76 ENG, 0.97, and 2.10), PRI, Radios or ROM. Trust me, I've tried nearly every combination. It even persists when fully unrooted and returned to stock.

I've obviously tried every type of wipe (both through CW and Amon's Recovery and using Calkulin's WipeAll method in both recoveries) prior to flashing roms and after restart/crashes. I've tried eliminating SD Card issues, and these issues persist regardless of whether the SD card is in or out, or whether it's corrupted or not.

Here's the only things I can definitely say regarding the reboot issue (which I do have to believe is a HW issue, although it may have something to do with the early boot sequence...see my reasoning below).

When the crash occurs, the phone ALWAYS attempts to reboot itself. Very rarely it will do this successfully (but it seems to only be successful in doing so when on customs ROMs, specifically CM7 nightlies, which makes me think that those crash/reboots are unrelated and are actually just software issues with the rom/apps in question and should therefore be disregarded).

If my phone is currently set to S-OFF, the reboots always ends with under 5 seconds on the white HTC Evo screen, then display goes black and I get five vibrates and a flashing green power LED. When this happens and the phone is connected to my laptop via USB, right after the 5 buzzes, I get a Hardware Growl notification that a Qualcomm USB device has been connected.

If the phone is currently set to S-ON, the reboots result in a bootloop that again, shows the white HTC Evo screen for less than 5 seconds, then the screen goes black, phone restarts and starts the loop again. In these cases I don't get the Qualcomm/HW Growl message.

With S-OFF the only surefire way to get a working phone back is to remove the battery for a few minutes (seems like it needs at least 3-4 minutes, which makes me think some form of volatile chip/ram needs to drain to a certain point before working again). I can always get HBOOT/FASTBOOT though, even if I just remove the battery for a second. It feels like I can get into Recovery with the battery removed for less time than it takes to actually boot into the OS, although this may be an inaccurate observation on my behalf.

With S-ON, while removing the battery seems to yield the same results as when the phone is S-OFF, occasionally if I let the bootloop play out, it will eventually hang on the white HTC Evo screen for some time, then restart and boot like normal.

---------Conclusions----------

From what I can tell this whole reboot/crash issue people seems to be having (when it isn't caused by bad flashing or improper use of the phone) can be narrowed down to two areas.

1 - There is an issue with the phone's RAM. This would make sense since there is a difference in the results of removing the battery for a short time or long time when trying to recover from a crash.

2 - It's an issue with the phone's early boot sequence. Perhaps the phone's internal memory (specifically the boot partition or wherever HBOOT/FASTBOOT is stored, not 100% sure where that actually is) has bad sectors or is otherwise corrupt.

I'm leaning towards the RAM being the culprit though, since it seems to be the only thing linking all of the different crash/reboot scenarios. And although I've heard rumblings that it may be a CPU issue, I really doubt this since I can always get into HBOOT/FASTBOOT and because when it crashes and give the 5 buzzes (which some have speculated is a Qualcomm error code for CPU's) it then seems to be communicating on some level through the CPU and USB with my laptop.

While I obviously can't replace the phone's RAM to check this, I just wanted to see what the opinion of those who are a bit more familiar with the phones inner workings than I am have to say about this.

 

[stefpap]

Always ran Stock HTC kernals, only non HTC kernals used have been the ones provided with CM6.1.1 and CM7 nightlies. Never been over/underclocked or undervolted.

 

[RUSH]

Occasional reboot with any device is considered normal(due to overload system).. however, what you're mentioning seem a bit abnormal.

If I were you... I would definitely return the phone as Defective

Best of luck.

 

[black_mamba#AC]

Thank you, I knew I couldn't be the only experiencing this. I have exactly the same problem you describe. I also have HW003 and have had my EVO since launch. I have been using CM6, now CM7, since it was first released. I have flashed other ROMs to test, but always come back to CM because I like it best. Regardless, just like you, it reboots no matter what ROM I'm using. I think the reboots started happening around Nov-Dec and have gotten more frequent since. It always happens when I am doing something with the phone. I've noticed when it happens the bottom part (where the capacitive buttons and kickstand are) feels a bit warm, but not hot by any means.

Hoping that it's nothing as serious as a bad CPU or RAM, I've been thinking it may be a bad battery. Maybe the battery drops to a low enough voltage that it shuts down and tries to reboot, but since the voltage is still low it can only get past the HBOOT/FASTBOOT before rebooting again (since OS boot might require more voltage). Pulling out the battery helps the voltage stabilize and probably back up a bit. That's why after waiting and putting it back in will have it boot up ok. Unfortunately I don't have another battery to test this and I'm too lazy to pull out the multimeter the instant this happens (not that I carry it on me 24/7 anyway). If you can test this theory I'd be very interested in your results.

 

[igotsanevo4g]

Moved you into the hacks section.

If you've tried all theses things, id suggest unrooting and taking it into sprint.

 

[AaronTV]

This happens to my phone (hardware version 002) as well and only started in the last 1-2 months (I've had the phone since launch). I also notice my phone feels warm around the lower third of the phone before this happens. Often the phone will get stuck in a reboot loop were it just restarts and crashes again several times before successfully loading back to normal. Other times it just gets stuck on the HTC screen and I have to pull the battery.

I have never used a custom ROM nor rooted. Hard reset didn't solve the issue. It always happens if the phone is getting used somewhat intensively for ten+ minutes or so it seems.

 

[anon(49767)]

I've had the same issues - there's a thread on XDA discussing this and my post last week re new findings of water damage.

Official HTC EVO Random Reboot Thread - Page 25 - xda-developers

Following up - immediately rooted the new phone back to Myns RLS5 (same as old phone) and have had no reboots - further evidence that it's hardware and not the ROMs/kernels

 

[IAmSixNine]

Thanks for the link to XDA. Going there now to check it out.
I have a theory about why some of them may be doing that. Now i am just looking for a few people to test it.

 

[illwood]

My original EVO (never rooted, Hardware 0003) started pulling some reboot loop crap when I was using it as a GPS with TeleNav (then Sprint Navigation). I tried a Factory Data Reset, brought it to a Sprint store where they "updated" the software (I'm sure they just went into Fastboot and selected "update").

None of that helped, any time I was doing something data hungry on 3G (Navigation, Pandora) the phone would go into a boot loop that required a battery pull. The 2nd Sprint store that was much more competent was able to get me a replacement phone after having it happen to them too. I had the benefit of the warehouse being out of refurbs so I got a new Hardware 0004 out of it.

 

[Androidkaye]

I have had the same problem as the one who started this thread. Gets really hot then shuts down and restarts a few times. Recently I replaced the battery to see if that was the problem since that was the area it gets really hot, the only thing that helped with is making it less hot when it crashes. I took it into a sprint store and told them all I heavily use is my hotspot, I used games like words with friends here and there. He sent me home saying turn down your screen brightness and such, because it is doing what it's supposed to do. Never crashed with them because they did not run a game to test it. I went home turned the screen to 20%, hotspot turned off. All I did was play a netflix movie and close to ten minutes it crashed, not even hot this time. He said if it crashes and gets hot again it may be the processor.

 

[Androidkaye]

So update on mine, today I erased the SD card which had music, photos, and apps I did not use. So far I was able to use apps for 30 minutes straight without the phone getting so hot it crashes and then restarts. This may help others

 

[les ordway]

I have read countless posts regarding the HTC EVO 4G reboot problem. While some rebooting may be normal, it is my conclusion that the "constant" reboot issue is an HTC hardware defect. Therefore, there is nothing more to do other than to get a new phone.

I have since upgraded 4 of our phones; 2 to Apple iPhones and 2 to the new Samsung Galaxy S3 phones. So far so good.

Neither Sprint nor HTC would replace my phone (it had been rooted but not over-clocked). Accordingly, I will avoid HTC products and would urge everyone else to do the same. In my opinion HTC should have bent over backwards to satisfy the customer, especially since it was their defective hardware that caused the problems.

 

[OperationA7X]

It all has to do with the way the Stock ROM anf the way it was made.

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