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TBolt bricked after software update

Hi All: I'm a newb to Android--migrated from HTC TP2/Windows 6.1 just 4 days ago. Early this morning I got a notification about a software upgrade from Verizon. Selected okay, watched the progress of the download bar for about five minutes. Phone then apparently started installing the upgrade as another progress bar appeared and completed. When it finished, phone powered off. Turned on and showed the first HTC screen. After about 20 seconds it powered off again. Turned on and showed first HTC screen. After about 20 seconds powered off again. You get the idea. This went on 10 or 15 times until I removed battery. Turned back on and same on/off sequence repeated indefinitely.

Called VZW tech support in hopes I could save my settings/customizations. No dice. They had me do a hard reset. Unfortunately, after that, the same on/off sequence started up again. They said there was nothing else they could do. Since I hadn't had my phone for 14 days, I was told to contact my vendor, which I did. They're sending a new phone due to arrive Tuesday.

FWIW, I had installed only seven apps on the phone: Juice Defender Ultimate, Juice Plotter, AppsInstaller (not yet used), AutoKiller Memory Optimizer (not yet used), SeePU (not yet used), and Advanced Task Killer Pro. In case it matters, I installed AutoKiller Memory Optimizer simply because it was recommended during the install of Juice Defender as an additional battery saver. Its blurb indicates that one of its features (setting minfree values) only works with rooted phones, however my phone was not rooted nor do I have any desire to do so.

My questions are (1) what did I do wrong if anything, and (2) I'd like to keep my phone up-to-date, but I'm understandably reluctant to allow another of these upgrades in the future lest I wind up with another doorstop. Are there any other options for updating firmware that are less risky?

Thanks for any help/suggestions you all can offer.

Comments

Wildman

From your decription this may not apply for your situation but I usually see this happen when the system reboots to enter OS after update complete and users do not allow the system to update all files and thinks the device froze and pulls the battery....

The device usually takes up to 5 minutes before it passes the boot screens after a update and the only thing I can thing of is to always remeber to allow the device to complete its process no matter how long it takes, also you may not want to use any auto app killer on a device you are updating because if configured incorrect it has been reported that it closes the update process in the background that can cause this.... You reported at least 3 apps that are used to close apps and multiple apps like that can cause issues.

Check out System Panel at https://market.android.com/details?id=nextapp.systempanel&feature=search_result, I have had a number of users here on this forum open my eyes on this app and since starting to use it I have put ATK to the dogs because it works better.... It does take a bit to get use to it but it worth testing..

pat3332

Just thought I'd pass this along also. Watchdog is an excellent app that is not really a task killer, but warns you when an app is misbehaving and gives you the chance to restart it as opposed to killing it along with several other options. Here's a link to the developers website. Even if you have no interest in the app, there is some very good information about how Android handles memory and why task killers aren't necessarily a good solution.

http://www.zomut.com/watchdog

HighPeaks

Thanks for the response Wildman. At the time of my firmware update, I had only used ATK to manually kill some bloatware tasks. It wasn't set up to autokill anything. I hadn't done anything yet with Autokiller Memory Optimizer. Whether it might have been running in the background or not at the time of the update, I don't know. I'll definitely check out System Panel and thanks for the link to it.

As for not giving the update enough time to complete, I let it go to the initial HTC screen-power off-back to HTC screen-power off, for at least six or eight times (probably about 8 minutes) before pulling the battery. It didn't just sit on the HTC screen for a long time. If it had, I would have let it cogitate for a while.

Once I receive a replacement phone on Tuesday, I'm sure I'll get a request to do another firmware update, and I'm a little nervous about that after the first crash. This time I'll definitely stop any app killers beforehand, but are there any other processes I should kill off or watch out for? This is a total newb question, but If I brick another phone, is there any way I can go to a Verizon store and get things flashed there instead of having to return it to the vendor yet again? Much as I like this device so far, having to return another phone would really start getting tedious.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

AZSALUKI

HighPeaks wrote:
Thanks for the response Wildman. At the time of my firmware update, I had only used ATK to manually kill some bloatware tasks. It wasn't set up to autokill anything. I hadn't done anything yet with Autokiller Memory Optimizer. Whether it might have been running in the background or not at the time of the update, I don't know. I'll definitely check out System Panel and thanks for the link to it.

As for not giving the update enough time to complete, I let it go to the initial HTC screen-power off-back to HTC screen-power off, for at least six or eight times (probably about 8 minutes) before pulling the battery. It didn't just sit on the HTC screen for a long time. If it had, I would have let it cogitate for a while.

Once I receive a replacement phone on Tuesday, I'm sure I'll get a request to do another firmware update, and I'm a little nervous about that after the first crash. This time I'll definitely stop any app killers beforehand, but are there any other processes I should kill off or watch out for? This is a total newb question, but If I brick another phone, is there any way I can go to a Verizon store and get things flashed there instead of having to return it to the vendor yet again? Much as I like this device so far, having to return another phone would really start getting tedious.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

verizon won't ever flash updates, etc. all they ever do is offer replacements, and since you bought it somewhere else, you will likely be stuck going through that vendor. it could just be bad luck. these things have issues sometimes....just like all electronics. if i were you, i would activate your new device when you get it and search for available updates before you customize it and download any apps. after it's activated and up and running, go to menu, settings, software update, check new. it is possible that they will ship you a new tbolt that already has the most recent firmware on it. if not though, and it does show an available update, it is up to you as to whether or not you want to install it. if the phone worked fine without it, i wouldn't. that last update didn't really improve anything on the tbolts that already worked just fine.

ChaunceyM_VZW

Hello HighPeaks! First off thank you to all the community members for your input. In regards to the problem encountered with your phone, I would not anticipate the same thing happening with your replacement device. However, I'm very interested finding out what the results are. If you run into problems please send me a PM and your contact number. I will call and address your concerns.

ChaunceyM_VZWSupport

Wildman

AZSALUKI wrote:
i would activate your new device when you get it and search for available updates before you customize it and download any apps.

This is the best method to do, update before customizing or loading any apps because issues with apps cause more issues and this is why I always suggest if the device has been modified heavily a hard reset may be wise before a major update to avoid issues.

HighPeaks2

First of all, I'd like to thank all who responded to my original post for your help and suggestions. I received a new phone about a week ago and it's working fine so far. I have so far avoided updating my firmware as I'm heading off into a remote part of the country for vacation shortly, and I don't want to take any chances of bricking another phone, at least not until I get home. Unfortunately, it seems Verizon is nagging me every day to perform this update. If there's any way to stop that, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Secondly, as you may notice, I have a slightly different user id today. I'm sorry that this portion of my post is majorly O/T, but I couldn't find any other forum topics to post this on.

I have tried and tried to log in using my earlier user id without success. I am able to enter my user id and password, but then, I'm immediately taken to a page asking me to complete my profile. Well, I did that when I originally registered. If I re-enter that original info., I hit a brick wall because that info. is already taken by another user (i.e. me). This very same page tells me I can browse forums without registering, but there's no option on the page to get me to the forums--only options are "Submit" and "Reset." BTW, I did enter the three digit code in my registration confirmation email, so that's not the problem. Also tried deleting all Verizon related cookies--again no help. As a last resort, I registered again with a different user name and email. So, if any of you have any idea what I need to do to be able to log on under my original id or can redirect me to a more appropriate page to post this question, I'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks again to all for your help.

pat3332

Welcome to the club. I haven't been able to log in all week end because every time I try, I get this error message.

"Page is unavailable

The page you are trying to reach is temporarily unavailable or the page may no longer exist. Here's what you can do:

Click your browser's Refresh button to try reconnecting
Check the spelling of the URL to make sure the address is correct (capitalization and punctuation are important) and then click your browser's Refresh button
Go to Verizon Wireless Home Page

Back to previous page"

There are about 3 different log in pages and the one that wants you to create a profile every time is the worst because it never seems to remember that I already have a profile. I usually just go back to the Verizon wireless homepage, log in there again even though it says I'm still logged in, then go through the Support/Community forums/Android/Thunderbolt routine again.

Like you, I had to change my user name and use a different email account to even get past the error message, into the forum and post a reply.

Can someone from Verizon please explain what's going on and fix the problems with your website because not being able to log onto your support forum isn't very helpful.

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