Signal loss, unresponsive screen, please help.

[austinography]

Hello all, thank you for looking.

I have had my GS3 (SGH-I747) for a couple weeks now and I love it to death! I only have one issue that pops up intermittently. Every once in a while, usually after my GS3 has been on charger or in my pocket for a while, I will pull it out, hit the power button, and the lock screen will come up, but the touchscreen will be completely unresponsive to input. When this occurs, there is usually a circle with a diagonal line through it in the upper right of my notification bar near the clock. I believe this is an indication of no 4G or 4G LTE service being detected, but I am not 100% sure on that. This has occurred at home though, where I use my WiFi connection all the time and never 4G or 4G LTE. I have also soft reset and power cycled the device when this occurred, only to have it continue to occur when the device powered back on. It ends up resolving itself as soon as the 4G or 4G LTE signal is picked up, but sometimes that will take 1-2 minutes. I know this may sound minor, but I think some of you will agree that it's quite an annoyance when you've just purchased the best smartphone available!

So, I am wondering if anyone else on AT&T or another provider has experienced this or a similar issue. I am wondering if I should exchange my phone at the AT&T store or to just keep it. It seems if it's network related, it would affect any phone, but this has not been experienced yet on my wife's GS3. For reference, I am in St. Louis city, which generally have very good LTE coverage everywhere.

EDIT: I have done a lot of searching about this issue. So far, this is the most relevant post I have located. http://forums.androidcentral.com/galaxy-s-ii-skyrocket/150645-4g-dropping-out.html

Thank you.

 

[SenseMonkey]

No problems here man,you should take it to at&t and have it cheaked out. Only place i lose lte and fall back on hspa is deep in a building and even so i still have signal just not lte. I havent lost a signal since iv been w/ at&t.

Sent from my S3

 

[austinography]

I am thinking now that it might be an Android system crash b/c when the screen becomes responsive again, it seems like all services are restarting and widgets loading. Thats probably why it is trying to acquire signal too. Anyone know if this is possible for Android to crash like that? Would this type of crash be logged anywhere I can access?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[austinography]

Ok, judging by the lack of response here, I guess this is not a widespread issue. I spoke with an AT&T rep who indicated that it may be due to the fact that I purchased my phone in a different market than I am using it in (Purchased in Decatur, IL, using in St. Louis, MO). While I could see this being an issue, b/c Decatur is all 4G, Edge, or HSPA+ and St. Louis is 4G LTE, this doesn't explain why my wife's phone which was purchased the same way does not have the issue.

Just to clarify what is happening for example. Today, grabbed my phone off the charger, straight into my pocket. I felt 2 vibration notifications while driving (5 minute drive). I get out of the car, pull out my phone and swipe the little txt notification circle on my lockscreen. The messages app loads, but then everything freezes, screen unresponsive, and crossed out symbol in notification bar that signifies that I have no signal. Even after it indicated 4G LTE signal, it was about 20 more seconds before the screen became usable again, and when I hit the home button, I noticed that all my widgets were showing as 'loading widget...'.

It looks like I may need to possible swap for a new S3 since I am still in my 30 days. What's the best way to back up all my apps, settings, contacts, photos, configuration, etc.? Kies?

 

[Gamer_Radar]

Ok, judging by the lack of response here, I guess this is not a widespread issue. I spoke with an AT&T rep who indicated that it may be due to the fact that I purchased my phone in a different market than I am using it in (Purchased in Decatur, IL, using in St. Louis, MO). While I could see this being an issue, b/c Decatur is all 4G, Edge, or HSPA+ and St. Louis is 4G LTE, this doesn't explain why my wife's phone which was purchased the same way does not have the issue.

Just to clarify what is happening for example. Today, grabbed my phone off the charger, straight into my pocket. I felt 2 vibration notifications while driving (5 minute drive). I get out of the car, pull out my phone and swipe the little txt notification circle on my lockscreen. The messages app loads, but then everything freezes, screen unresponsive, and crossed out symbol in notification bar that signifies that I have no signal. Even after it indicated 4G LTE signal, it was about 20 more seconds before the screen became usable again, and when I hit the home button, I noticed that all my widgets were showing as 'loading widget...'.

It looks like I may need to possible swap for a new S3 since I am still in my 30 days. What's the best way to back up all my apps, settings, contacts, photos, configuration, etc.? Kies?

they seriously gave that excuse? the market shouldnt matter... its an att phone.. it should work within thr country... its like going from nys and going to ct and loosing service because its a diff state.. it wont do that..

my phone has been dropping to edge a lot and my area is a heavy h+ market... I also talked to att and they told me it was towers bei g worked on... I told them its all over my island (long island ny)... they just kept telling me its bc of tower maintence.. its funny tbh..the bs excuses theyre giving for this shotty phone...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Hmmm yeah its probably not a widespread issue, but try doing a factory reset to pretty much "refresh" your system...there maybe something that is crashing when your phone is being unlocked...do you have any apps that are messing with your connection (such as apps that auto update when you unlock your screen)?

I would try doing a factory reset and see if it helps...make sure you back up all your data though

 

[Angelsnecropolis]

Before returning the whole phone ask the local ATT rep for a new sim card. If you have bad sim card this could be a result of losing your connectivity. But not sure about the unresponsive touch screen. I've never had that issue. I agree with Smooth4lyfe to do a Factory reset and also update your software if needed. Just dont forget to sync your contacts to gmail or back up contacts somehow. If you factory reset try using it with no apps installed for a day or two to see if the same problem occurs. If no issues occur then begin to reinstall all of your apps. If then the problem occurs then its most likely a problem with one of the apps you use. You'll have to try uninstalling several apps to narrow down which is the bad one. If you have the same problem after the factory reset and no apps installed, and there's nothing wrong with the sim card, then it's definitely a phone issue and I would try to exchange it.

 

[anon(986387)]

I'm having this same problem with no resolution. If you stumble across the solution before I do, please reply! I've done online chats with Samsung Technical support but that hasn't help much either.