Note4 crashing/rebooting seems widespread

[Robert Tarver]

I downloaded the newest NEW update. Praying...HOPING...that this would be the one that would fix my beloved Note 4. No. No it did not fix my phone. That miserable update put my phone into a never ending cycle of boot recovery. Pictures for details.







after 2 hours of "download failed to update", then booting into "update installation", then going into "recovery update", I took my phone into a local sprint store and told them in no uncertain terms that this new update f**ked up my phone. OK. The tech took my phone and said give him about an hour and half. 2 hours later I was given a loaner phone (LG tribute....not impressed) and was told it would be 5 to 7 days for ...whoever....to fix my phone.

So it goes.

 

[epolomsk]

Seems like this is only with Sprint phones...

Nope, my tmobile phone does it too.
Almost unusable at this point, about to send it to samsung for repair.

 

[bootlooped]

I have had the Note4 about 24 hours. Same bootloop issue I had on the Note3. T-mobile. Both refurbished. About to call T-Mobile. In both cases there is overheating in the vicinity of the main camera. Removing SD card does not help.

 

[bootlooped]

So they, T-mobile were going to process another replacement per my phone insurance but then another rep came on and asked me to replace the battery that had come with it. I was and am a still a skeptical on this option. Anyhow I bought a Cellio battery yesterday. so far no issues.

on the Note 3, I had two different batteries, neither helped. originally before the bootlooping started, my battery life had become sporadic, so that's why I'd bought one. I *think* both batteries in that case were Samsung OEM. I don't recall if that made a real difference as I think some updates may have come in at the same time.

 

[bootlooped]

So a week in with the replacement battery and no bootloop issues!

Now I am dealing with it losing access to the SD card all the time. I am going to try to reformat the card after I make it through a backup.

 

[CodyRU]

My phone out of the blue started having these same issues 2 days ago. Mine is a Sprint model, not rooted, no SD card, nothing physically damaged, absolutely babied for the 15 months I've owned it. 2 days ago it starts lagging/freezing while doing the simplest tasks like switching between tiles. Sometimes it would snap out of it, other times it would reboot. I even observed it rebooting when I wasn't touching it. I took it to Sprint store where the tech did a hard reset, which seemed to fix the issue. But a couple hours later the problems are back, and may even be worse than before.

I reached out to Samsung, they said mail the phone to us and we'll fix it free of charge! EVen though it is a few months out of warranty. It almost seems too good to be true. The other option is to take it back to Sprint and have them replace it because I have the asurion insurance on it. I'm wondering if in the case of manufacturer defect am I still liable to have to pay the $200 deductible in this case? If anyone has any insight into this process I would appreciate it. It's been years and years since I have used my insurance.

In the meantime I'm trying the wakelock fix. So far so good. Will report back in a few hours

 

[Jamie Hanrahan]

As with many others here my Note 4 started this random hang/reboot issue right after a major Android update.

As many sites suggested I tried clearing the cache partition. That helped for a day or two. I tried full reset and reinstall of all my apps. No reboots for about a week, then they started again. I tried several other things. Recently I found this thread and the rec for Wake Lock. It didn't help.

About a week ago (last Wednesday? I think) I got another update from T-mobile. It reports that it's on Android 6.0.1, Kernel version 3.10.40-9385989. But this update also caused an update of all of the installed apps. After it restarted I was greeted with a new, unwanted lock screen. AND there was a pop-up add after I'd gotten past that and my regular lock screen. A bit of Googling found that this was due to Peel Smart Remote. No doubt it had been updated to add this new, horrific behavior.

So naturally I went into Settings -> Applications, uninstalled Peel Smart Remote... oh wait, it's in the ROM image,
I can't really uninstall it, I had to settle for restoring to the original version. So I did that and then Disabled it (while uttering some choice words).

The phone has not crashed and restarted since!

This might be due to the Android update, or it might be from disabling Peel. Or it might be the combination. And I can't quite celebrate yet because a previous attempted fix did hold for about a week.

But it's as good a result as I've ever had before. You're probably not using Peel Smart Remote, so it's worth a try.

 

[bootlooped]

@Jim Hanrahan so it looks like Peel Smart Remote didn't cause problems for me other than inconvenience. have you considered replacing the battery? I've wondered if the fact I am now on non-OEM battery, is perhaps better in my case.
@CodyRU wake lock didn't help me with my bootloop issue on note 4. but I have had some lagging issues, esp on map. yesterday my map app went nuts, my son's phone was doing the same thing at the same time, he's still on the Note 3 which has started to reboot randomly. had to reboot in the middle of driving.

 

[Jamie Hanrahan]

[...] LSS: I suspected that Peel Smart Remote might have something to do with this rebooting problem. I disabled it and the phone stopped rebooting.

Update: With Peel Smart Remote disabled I had no reboots for a week (and, I did not have their never-to-be-sufficiently-cursed lock screen overlay and post-lock-screen interstitial -
Samsung and Google should ban this developer to the far side of Pluto forever for that!).

And then after a week the Note 4 went back to the same old random reboot problem.

Yes, PSR is still disabled.

ARGH.

(I would have posted this update sooner - like right after it started rebooting again - but I couldn't find this forum again; it's not one of my regular haunts. Oh, and: Yes, I've tried it with different genuine Samsung batteries. No help.)

 

[Marq Flournoy]

I just wanted to chime in and say my note 4 from verizon just started having this problem a day or two ago all of a sudden. Wiped cache, even did a factory reset, battery isn't loose, removed external SD card, nada! It still keeps restarting. Will head to the verizon store soon but I dunno how helpful they'll be.

Mines crashing too. It started months ago. .. did verizon resolve your issue, how?

 

[mroset]

I experienced the following issues with my VF-branded Note 4 (Android 6.01 / Snapdragon 805 / LTE) in the past week.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the device would freeze/halt , lag severely and do spontaneous reboots multiple times a day. It was close to unusable and hence very frustrating, also because I had been so happy with the Note 4 for 3 years before that.

I've tried the following to no avail:
- removing the external SD-card
- Disable Peel Remote (I'm using Sure anyhow, so don't need it...)
- NOTE: haven't tried replacing the battery (because most reported this not to be at the root of the problem),
- Removed all the Gear VR apps (would randomly get 'Oculus Home stopped' or similar, so thought I'd give removing everything from Oculus/Gear VR a go)

What now finally seems to have resolved the issue is indeed the Wake Lock app / Partial_Wake_Lock setting / Autostart = ON from 'darken'.
It literally made the difference between day and night.
I'll continue to monitor this in the next couple of days.
If you don't hear from me, consider this to be the solution used !

 

[flyingkytez]

Happened to 2 of my friend's Note 4 after update. Combination of hardware failure + software update that nailed the coffin.

They built the Note 4 hardware to last exactly 2-3 years, there's no reason for them to make a phone that will last a very long time. Same thing is happening on their printer. Supposedly the printer drum needs to be replaced after a certain period, but a simple DIY hack fixes it. My Samsung TV, while very beautiful, only lasted 2 years before it stopped working, cheap capacitors only lasting a short period of time. If you think about it, it makes "cents" for them. Just my theory. Never buying a Samsung TV ever again knowing they would do that to their customers, don't get tempted by looks. Also, I would avoid HP printers if I were you.

I decided today to get to the bottom of this problem with my note 4.

It is not a battery issue
It is not a SD card issue
It is not a corrupted OS issue
It is not a malware issue

It is an OS UPDATE CONFLICT issue

The Note 4 is the last Note to use a replaceable battery. The Note 5 and disastrous Note 7 both have an internal battery only. The Marshmellow 6.0.1 update will fault create a fault in the charging system of a Note 4, causing a standby failure whenever the Note 4 is not in use, ie, random reboot and freeze. This behavior will also happen when it is use. Go figure.

Solution 1
disconnect the charging cable inside the phone. Keep a spare charged battery and swap out when needed.

Solution 2
Install Wake Lock - Power Manager by Darken from the Google Play store.

I have installed the software on my Note 4 and so far, approximately 3 hours, it has worked. Will monitor.

Just my speculation but I think Samsung designed their chips to last exactly 2-3 years before failing. The software update with the new doze mode somehow causes problems on an already dying device. Strange to me, I have a Sega Saturn from 1996 with an internal memory card, system still runs perfectly fine. However, a technically more advanced smartphone can't? I had a Samsung TV that worked beautifully but ended up dead in 2 years. I don't understand why it can't last longer, tube TVs till this day are still working (I see them at the DMV and government buildings still).

Honestly your hardware is pretty much done, it's slowly dying and the software update is just making it die faster.

 

[bootlooped]

I've been pondering exactly the same lately. Had liked Samsung due to previous good experiences, now wondering if they have quality issues for whatever reason. We'll see how long my TV lasts (just used for PC display).

I'm here today because my Note 4 has rebooted at least 5 times since last night. Had been stable since my previous post. I can feel significant warmth near the camera that seems to come and go randomly. Will try wake lock again, if it persists.

I'm on t-mobile. have not called them about it yet. I had mentioned my son's S3 boot-looping... that stopped, kind of out of the blue. So he is OK for now.

On both model phones, issues seem to stem from camera area. Assembly issues?

 

[bootlooped]

status:
1. moved podcast addict files to SD card using it's feature to do so. that cleared up 10+ gigs of space from internal storage
2. T-mobile support cleared the phone cache remotely
3. I cleared cache partition and rebooted
4. tried wake lock partial and full

result: random rebooting continues...

conclusion: waiting for my 3rd phone for $5 via t-mobile JUMP.

 

[bootlooped]

Replacement Note 4 good so far.

I had realized the stylus which came with the bad Note 4 never seemed to work right and it's still messed up. I will post separately ...

 

[IamMrHart]

I just started experiencing the same issues with my Note 4 last week, all out of the sudden, it started to freeze up, then reboot, it seems when it's working hard is when it's prone to this. I took it home, removed the SD card, and sim, and did a factory reset, at the point where it asks you to sign in, it rebooted right off the bat. I'm thinking hardware? I don't remember getting any updates to the OS anytime recently, I had to go back to my note 3. I know this much, I'm not buying anymore Samsung devices, this is my 3rd device to fail suddenly for no apparent reason. I would have rooted it, but its AT&T, so yeah, yeah that's pretty much out the window, I just want my phone to work again!

 

[KK Bo barley]

Unfortunately the makers of the note 4 made some faulty. Some of them update and work just fine some update and have this exact problem. My phone has this problem its frustrating especially when youre trying to do something and it just shuts off. Theres really nothing you can do, you can try replacing the SIM card but that will only work for so long. No matter if you think you've fixed it it will happen again. Ive reset my phone cleared all cache and cookies, replaced SIM and it goes back to how it was.. unfortunately the phone store guy told me its only going to get worse before it crashes for good. You're lucky if you got one of the good ones!

 

[chanchan05]

I just started experiencing the same issues with my Note 4 last week, all out of the sudden, it started to freeze up, then reboot, it seems when it's working hard is when it's prone to this. I took it home, removed the SD card, and sim, and did a factory reset, at the point where it asks you to sign in, it rebooted right off the bat. I'm thinking hardware? I don't remember getting any updates to the OS anytime recently, I had to go back to my note 3. I know this much, I'm not buying anymore Samsung devices, this is my 3rd device to fail suddenly for no apparent reason. I would have rooted it, but its AT&T, so yeah, yeah that's pretty much out the window, I just want my phone to work again!

As far as I can tell from all the Note 4 posts is its a bad MMC module that fails early. So it's basically on whoever supplied Samsung with memory. It's sort of noteworthy that only Note 4's have widespread affliction as well. So it's more of a specific hardware issue with the Note 4 as opposed to a Samsung wide fault. We didn't see the Note 3 and Note 2 owners having these troubles.

 

[datum9]

My Verizon Note 4 has started lagging, freezing, then rebooting. It just started yesterday July 7, 2016.

Posted via the Android Central App

I've had 2 Verizon Note 4 models, neither had had anything like that- no issues at all.

Used one for a year, the other one for a few weeks.

Both had no SIM cards. Both had extended ZeroLemon batteries in the size of 10,000 mAh.

Thanks for sharing, I will keep an eye on it.

The overall issue sounds exactly like a battery with one or more failing/intermittent cells. If one cell is going and all the rest of the cells have a lot of charge, it's possible that the other cells can "carry the load" when the one cell checks out on you. However, if all cells are partly discharged, the other cells may be at a low enough voltage themselves that they cannot make up the difference, and the Battery Management System detects a dangerously low voltage and puts the battery in shutdown.

In general, when someone says "my battery dies at [insert number above 0% here]", my first instinct is "find a friend with a Note 4 and try their battery" or "drop 20 bucks on a new battery and see if that helps".

It's rare not to get a message "Yay!!! That worked!!!!" back.

I've noticed that the stock Note 4 batteries are just complete garbage. They are all several years old by now and Li-Ion batteries last 2-3 years at most anyway. Even when not used. This is not surprising at all.

 

[natehoy]

I've noticed that the stock Note 4 batteries are just complete garbage. They are all several years old by now and Li-Ion batteries last 2-3 years at most anyway. Even when not used. This is not surprising at all.

The OEM batteries are also ones that are the most subject to duplication. I've seen more than one "Smasung OEM" battery where they actually posted a picture that says "Smasung"!

I've had excellent luck with Anker.