Why is my alarm not making a sound? Just showing alarm dialogue?

[donutchan]

Hi - this problem started happening on my HTC One m7 (KitKat) a couple weeks ago and hasn't stopped since. Essentially, I have 2 alarms set for every morning. The 1st alarm will go off, but if I dismiss it, waiting for my next alarm (30-45m later than the 1st), it actually doesn't make a sound. Instead, it shows a silent dialogue on the screen as if I had been actively using the phone when the alarm went off listing Dismiss/Snooze as options. Sometimes, this exact experience will happen even after just a simple Snooze.

Also, I cancel all my "Recent Apps" (via double-tapping the home button) before sleeping, so it doesn't seem that there are active apps running. I also ensure to turn off the screen between alarms.

Perhaps unrelated, but I also noticed that my phone sometimes doesn't have a full charge overnight either (although it's plugged in all night). Is this somehow related? These don't always occur in the same evenings, but wanted to mention in case they were related.

This has happened everyday this week, and I've woken up 30 minutes late for work each of those days. Any ideas?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Sorry for the basic question but you've checked to make sure the 2nd alarm's tone is set correctly, right? What happens if you disable the 1st alarm, and let the 2nd alarm still go off--is it still silent?

 

[donutchan]

Hi B. Diddy. Thanks for the welcome!

The 2nd alarm *does* have its tone set. Sometimes the 2nd alarm will go, but its snooze will do the silent notification. If I disable the 1st alarm, the 2nd alarm works but again, the snooze might not.

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, try wiping the cache partition, which is a general troubleshooting step, and which won't erase any personal data: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-6526. If that doesn't work, try booting into Safe Mode, which disables all 3rd party apps. This can tell you if one of the apps you installed is interfering with the normal function of the alarm. Steps for Safe Mode are at the bottom of that link.

If all else fails, consider installing a 3rd party alarm app like Timely.

 

[donutchan]

Thanks for the advice... I've gone ahead and wiped the cache partition, so we'll see if it helps tonight.

Last night, prior to wiping the cache, my phone was plugged in all night (>6hrs), but the phone actually lost charge and had 15% left in the morning. Does that mean an app is keeping the phone active and perhaps affecting the way the alarm behaves? I looked at the battery usage over that 6 hour period and 2 apps were the biggest offenders: Gmail and Sonos. Google Services was #3.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[B. Diddy]

That battery drain should not be happening, unless those apps were going crazy. Was the phone very warm? How much percentage of battery were those apps using?

I'd be a bit more concerned about a failing battery, or possibly a faulty charge port. Have you already tried using a different charging cable and wall plug?

 

[donutchan]

I tried a different port and the existing port over the last 2 nights. They both seemed to actually do fine (the battery charge issue seems to be more random than the alarm) at charging the phone up to 100%.

The apps were using ~20-25% of battery each. I tried uninstalling Sonos, but the alarm issue happened again last night (this is even after the cache wipe).

I'm still suspicious that perhaps something - whether a particular app or something else - is keeping the phone awake, making the alarm go off in silence. I'm just at a loss as to what the cause is.

 

[B. Diddy]

I've seen some instances where setting an alarm actually causes increased battery usage, seeming because the system keeps waking itself up to check if it's time for the alarm to go off. Check your battery stats in the morning--is the phone awake for most of the night?