Kyocera Brigadier Display breaks down roughly once a week. Only a Factory Data reset can repair it.

[WesleyK]

Once a week, roughly, my Kyocera Brigadier display goes to sleep and only a hard reset can bring it back up. I replaced 3 phones with Asurion and they all do it. I found a fix, resetting the phone to factory settings, including full data erase. Then it works for about a week. Another thing that makes it work is swapping the Launcher in Settings/Home to the Free Win 8 Launcher (only one that works). That launcher can bring up the display once it goes to sleep but no other. Have tried Next, Go EX, etc. No luck. Anyone seeing this as well?

This is driving me insane.I've tried to call tech support at Verizon for a couple of days with no luck. Yesterday I was on hold fol almost 30 minutes listening to their muzak then I was disconnected. Today, almost like clockwork, the phone screwed up again. I'd drive down to the Verizon Store and ask Support there but it's late and I have to get to sleep so I can go to work tonight. I need the phone so I'm firing off the factory reset now so tomorrow morning what is the point of going to Verizon when it will work ok? Like Asurion Tech support they will scratch their heads and tell me the phone works and they can't do anything until it messes up again.

I was very happy with my Casio Commando 4G LTE but when it was damaged in a machine I contacted Asurion because I pay for their insurance. They couldn't give me another Commando. I had no choice but to get this phone. Saddest part of this story, I love this phone. It is awesome EXCEPT for this display nonsense....sigh.

Sorry for whining. I'm a little frustrated.

--Wesley

[GalaxyClass]

I'm sure many of us are interested in this WesleyK  and I also like feedback on any working fix. 

[WesleyK]

Well, it's November 11th 2014 and the display just screwed up again this morning. I had a good run I guess....sigh

Problem is...the 'fix' I thought I had doesn't work this time. I don't know if it is because I did something different that first time or if it only works once. I doubt the latter. It has to work more than once because it should be a simple rewrite of that corrupted video file.

I see in my 'fix' post that I had tried that Star Trek LCARS Lock screen and that it had worked despite the corrupt display file. It was able to wake up the screen normally.

I'm going to try that....followed by the 'fix' I thought I had. Unfortunately if that doesn't work then I'll have to bite the bullet and fire off the Factory Data Reset because I need the phone to work.

[WesleyK]

GalaxyClass wrote:

glad your up and running again, & here is Kyocera tech link if needed. I would be looking for some possible updates for lock problem and maybe even new flash firmware down the road. But first shoot them off an e mail about your little bug, they may have a fix.   http://www.contacthelp.com/Kyocera/customer-service

This was the best answer, looking back on the problem now that is is finally fixed.  Thanks GalaxyClass and thanks for everyone's input and help. Take Care and have a great year! Enjoy the Brigadier! 🙂

--Wesley

[GalaxyClass]

I could not find any fix from Kyocera for your problem. I feel it's a possible ROM clock code issue but I don't see Kyocera doing a new flash for the phone. I think your down to LCARS & FDR. Post and give us your results.  

[WesleyK]

Hello again GalaxyClass, yes...I can't find anything from Kyocera either....

For now I'm stuck as you say, with either LCARS or doing the FDR. Although....this time I noticed something I did not the previous times, which is why I'm updating.

This time, if I go to the Lock Screen Options (when the LCARS Lock Screen Go App is off and the phone is using the default Lock Screen) and turn them off the display will work properly. Unfortunately, I can't leave the phone that way because the power button gets bumped in my pocket and all heck will be caused with the touchscreen, etc.

Right now, I haven't done the FDR. Since I can wake the screen with LCARS I can run down to the Verizon Store and get their input. If I disable LCARS I can show them exactly what it is doing by enabling and disabling the Lock Screen Security (including the simple Swipe).  I wasn't able to show them before because I didn't have time to go to Verizon immediately and once the FDR was done the phone worked fine for a week so what was I to show them? LOL

I think I'll get in touch with Kyocera again via the link you gave Galaxy, thanks for that again.

[GalaxyClass]

No problem Wes and I hope you and the others get this bug out.   

[chandear]

I don't know if this would help but I took out my SD card and now it works perfect. I just got the problem today and found this forum before resetting my phone. I thought of taking out the SD card and seeing what that would do and now the problem has stopped with out resetting my phone. Hope this helps

[WesleyK]

Hello Chandear,

At one point I was able to cause the screw up by plugging in the Sony 32GB MicroUSB/USB Micro Vault I think they call it. I plugged that into the microUSB plug (in addition to my 32GB SD card) to backup a few things and after a somewhat long copy the systemUI (I forget the name exactly but it was mentioned earlier in the thread) error popped up and the display was messing up again.  That made me suspect the SD card the same as you.

Unfortunately, the phone did work for a while but I did end having the phone mess up eventually. I don't remember how long it took that time so I can't say how much it helped.

That said, in my last posts I mentioned trying a Launcher and a Lock Screen app to see if it could fix it. I also thought I had a fix of sorts by switching the runtime from Dalvik to Art and back again in the Developer Options but it turns out that isn't exactly cut and dry either. It didn't work as it did the 1st time I tried it. The first time I switched from dalvik to art and it went through my apps "upgrading the phone" and then when I switched back it did the same thing but most importantly the display would work fine again. It would go to sleep and wake up without the Launcher or the Lock Screen app even being needed. I don't know what changed but it didn't work this time.

Now, as it stands, my phone is working just fine and my Last Factory Data Reset is shown in About Phone>Status as being 10/21/2014 10:48

Oddly enough, I don't know what I did to fix it this last time. I went through the fix as mentioned above and it didn't work so I left it alone for a couple of days. I left the LCARS Lock Screen since it was able to wake my screen and didn't do anything for two days other than normal use. Phone calls, texts now and again, audible audiobook listening, etc. Then I tried removing the LCARS Lock Screen app and the phone worked ok. I had the phone back to using the default lock screen and it worked just fine. I'm still scratching my head. I wish I knew what happened.

One last thing I thought I'd mention. I don't know if this would have done it back when it first started but going to Settings > Lock Screen > Screen Lock and choosing None would let the display wake normally. When I chose Swipe or any other Lock Screen Method it would mess up again and not wake. Simple turning off the Lock Screen ability and setting it to None was enough to wake the screen. This wasn't a good fix for me obviously because I can't leave it that way. When in my pocket for example the power button gets nudged and all kinds of things happen when icons get "pressed", etc.

Regardless, that alone was enough to get the display to temporarily wake up normally. I thought I had tried this at the start, back when this first started, and I thought it didn't do anything but I might be wrong....so much has happened since then.

Sorry for writing a short novel....I really should learn to better "sum up" instead of babbling on.....

[grguth]

Just found this thread. This is exactly what I am experiencing with my Brigadier. I have to use it with no lock screen or it will do the same exact thing as described above. This is my second phone as I had to send the first one in when it wasn't working and the second one did the exact same thing.

[WesleyK]

Hang in there grguth, I'm hoping Kyocera puts out a ROM update soon. We can't be that small a minority. I myself have sent back two Brigadiers and am on my 3rd so far. Tech support thought it was the phone as well and that by replacing it the problem would go away. Sad to say it did not but a problem that happens roughly once a week is difficult to pin down....

At least you know you are not alone. There is so much in this thread I don't know if you noticed but there is a Launcher that makes the Lock Screen work again, in cast you don't want to do the Factory Data Reset to fix it.  I do not like the windows 8 GUI setup so I don't use it but if you go to the Google Play Store and download "Launcher 8 Free (fakeWP8)" from the QiHang Dev Team the Lock Screen that Launcher uses wakes the screen normally.  There is also another Launcher that I like enough to use as my default Launcher, it is called the "Go EX - Most Installed"  and while it's default Lock Screen doesn't work I have installed the Star Trek LCARS Red Lock Screen and it works as well.  This last time when the display stopped working I changed the Lock Screen to the LCARS one for a couple of days and it seemed to fix the display problem. Now I have it back to the default Brigadier Lock Screen, which I prefer. Why or how it works and/or fixes the problem I have no clue...wish I did. I use this fix because I dislike having no lock screen at all and I don't want to do the Factory Data Reset and have to put everything back. My last FDR date is 10/21/2014

Hope this helps you grguth.

[GalaxyClass]

Wes, have you had any reply on the ROM flash at all? Kyocera makes a tough phone.. but they need more work on software issues.

[WesleyK]

Hello GalaxyClass! Nothing yet past the standard form letter. That came almost right away. I'm still waiting for actual information from them regarding this problem.

I am hoping they are going to release an update soon. Surely they must be aware of this by now.  I am curious to know if there are Kyocera Brigadier phones out there that do not have this issue.  I suppose there must be some people who don't want to use a lock screen so they wouldn't see the problem but that doesn't really count. Their phone would indeed have the problem but they just wouldn't see it.

If all of the Brigadier phones do this with this version of the software, how did it get past alpha and beta testing? Just a thought....I mean, wouldn't they have testers using the phone for at least 2 weeks which would be time enough to see the problem appear? Just a thought.

[Tadao93111]

I think I have similar problem but more serious. I just received the phone yesterday. Today, screen became all black with the back light on. I can't shut off the device with holding the power switch. I also tried holding power, then holding volume minus. I saw the dead android, with menu. All choices didn't work. Bad thing about this phone is I can't remove the battery. I will receive a replacement phone tomorrow, but reading this thread, I am inclined to change to other manufacturer's phone. Is there any way to force shut down this phone???

[WesleyK]

Hello, sorry for the delay in responding but the forum notifications don't seem to work for me properly. I have to actually login and check for anything new. Either the forums flood my email with every single post made each day in the entire Forum or I have to turn off notification.

Either way, this update they finally released on 12/11/2014 fixed my display problem. The phone now works 100%

Your question Tadao93111, you have to hold the Power button for at least 15 seconds I think it is.  That will force the shutdown.  It sounds like you got a phone that still had the old firmware?

Since you probably have the replacement by now, I'd recommend checking the phone's software version to make sure you don't have the old buggy firmware. Go to Settings > About Phone and look for Software version.  Make sure it is the 1.723VZ and not 1.102VZ.

If you have the 1.102VZ version then you should update it. That is the old version that screws up the display roughly once a week. Go to Settings and at the very bottom select System updates. The update will take a little while so make sure to plug in the charger.

I hope this helps.

--Wesley

p.s. The new update really seems to have helped my Bluetooth range and battery drain as well as the voice call quality. The call quality could still be better but it isn't as overly sensitive as it was. I keep forgetting to test it in the car, mainly because it is so cold lately (0 F recently and 9 F today) but before you couldn't really have a phone conversation if the windows were rolled down. The phone would pick up all the wind noise and although I could still hear the other person, they had a lot of trouble hearing me. That is the true test I think....

[KCandME]

I have the same problem with my Brigadier.

It's very disturbing when the 'cute perky ones' at the verizon store tell me that there is nothing wrong with my phone and there is nothing they can do anyway.

Another problem I had with this phone is that the kyocera 'driver software' or whatever it installs on the computer when you hook it up to the computer with the usb, made changes to my computer;

There was the syswow page incident, which took forever to find and correct.

Then there was the svchost.exe incident...

And the best one was the changing of a server setting which made my little laptop behave like some sort of node or something. Data use went haywire and I had an accrual of GB data use that was going to cost me $250 for one month. 27GB of data and the month wasn't even over. My normal usage is in the 4- 5 GB range.

This phone ha been a NIGHTMARE!

[nak500]

Worst EXPERIENCE EVER!!!

Within a week this happened & my buttons started failing--I figured software (same issue as listed) & simple hardware fix.  After being rerouted to Kyocera in error by my Verizon store, I just got my phone back after a month of waiting.  Through-out Kyocera had no idea what was going on in their repair center, avoided my questions; corporate would ignore all messages; finally after 20 days someone told me the Customer Service department was told they were waiting on parts from Japan; repair center was saying it was a bad screen; no one knew where it actually was & when it would be sent.  20 actual hours of phone time with Kyocera CS.  Received it yesterday & same day CS had said they still didn't know.  Website says same.  The phone came loose in an over-sided box with two thin pieces of foam; thing was rattling around.  Kyocera told me Verizon; Verizon dealer told me Kyocera; Verizon CS said tough.  This was ridiculous & phone is still having all the same problems!  Had the phone in working condition & in-hand for less than 10 days of the first two months owning it; in-hand at all maybe a month.  Verizon needs to get on this issue as Kyocera isn't.  This tough phone is shaping up to be a tough brick until we get a root or Verizon steps in.  Verizon only model?  Common Verizon & step up to the plate!  These software issues are YOUR problem as a buyer & supporter of these units!!!  Why are we getting punished for upgrading?  Paying?  Fail.

[WesleyK]

An update finally came out today! I'm not sure yet of it will fix the display problems but I've been lucky I think....no more display screwups since the last time I mentioned above in October.

Regardless, at least Kyocera had released an update. I hope everyone ends up with an awesome working phone.

[WesleyK]

Just an FYI.

I can't say if the display not waking problem was fixed with update just yet because it is too new; however, I was able to test something and I am hopeful as a result.

I used to be able to cause the "glitch" by connecting my Sony 32GB Microvault flash drive to the phone and copying large amounts of data to and from the phone and flash drive. Yesterday, after I restarted the phone a couple of times once the update was complete, I tried to force the glitch. I moved over 20+ GB worth of audiobooks to and from the phone with no problems at all.

I'm holding my breath for now but it seems to have worked. <grin>  I hope this is the end of the problem.

Good Luck everyone!