Unfortunately app stopped error on multiple apps

[Android Central Question]

My friend has a Nook, and has been playing games on it fine up until Monday. Now it won’t let her play FreeCell. I tested other apps, and most others also have the same issue (Firefox, Twitter, etc.).

I receive a message that says “unfortunately app (it names it) stopped, and it goes back to the main screen.

I don’t own an Android device myself, so I am having trouble trying to fix it. I cleared the cache on every single app on her device, have force quit every single app, and turned off and on her device. None of those things have helped.

Another strange thing is that there was somehow another profile with her name on her device. She said she didn’t notice it until Monday. I thought that might be causing the issue, so I deleted the extra profile too. It didn’t help.

Not knowing what else to do, I am posting here. She is letting me borrow the device to see if I can figure out what is wrong with it.

When you reply to me, please walk me through everything, as I am not used to using androids.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which Nook is it? I assume it's one of the Galaxy Tab versions, correct? Tell us the exact model number in Settings>About Tablet.

 

[Arwen4CJ]

BNTV400 is the model number

 

[B. Diddy]

That's a reeeeeally old device (released in 2012), so it's very possible that apps just won't run correctly on it any more. As far as I can tell that device wasn't officially updated from its initial Android 4.0.3 ("Ice Cream Sandwich"). Google dropped support for Jellybean recently (4.1-4.3), and I think KitKat as well (4.4). This means that as apps get updated, they may no longer work correctly with the software on the device. Another possibility is that with the age of the device, the hardware could simply be failing. I think it's just time for a new device (preferably one from the past couple of years).

 

[Arwen4CJ]

Thanks. My friend barely used the device until she bought a new cheap tablet from wall mart for $50. That device is incredibly slow, and this Nook actually worked better for her. As I said, everything worked fine for her until Monday. So, given that she barely used it (and only has been really using it for about 4 months), is it still likely to be failing? I have no idea what she did to it on Monday, but that is when she said the extra profile appeared too.

 

[Arwen4CJ]

Are there any tests to determine if it might be failing hardware?

 

[B. Diddy]

It's worth trying a factory reset first: How to Hard Reset Nook HD To Factory Settings. This will wipe the data on the device, so make sure your friend is ok with that.

 

[Arwen4CJ]

Thanks. Will do