Child Item

Site Totals

61493 Questions Answered 271 Categories

Samsung Gusto Alarm Clock Problem

I recently purchased two Samsung Gusto phones... one in standard black for myself, the other in purple for my wife.

The alarm clocks in both phones are totally unreliable. Some days the alarm works... some days it doesn't. I returned mine to my local Verizon store twice for the same model. All three phones had the problem, so I finally exchanged mine for a Samsung Convoy which works great.

My wife loves her purple Gusto and wants to keep it, in spite of the malfunctioning alarm clock.

One of the tech advisors at the Verizon store told me that there is a known glitch in this phone related to this problem.

Is there, or will there be a "fix" for this problem?

Comments

Leslie1

Verizon Wireless has notified Samsung of issue with alarm clock malfunction. Once Samsung has notified as a known issue will send out a software update. Can call 1-800-922-0204 ; *611 or www.vzw.com to follow up on any updates.

corvairkid64

Thank you Leslie1. I will look forward to the update.

RojCowles

Hi Leslie.

Just a follow up. I purchased a couple of Samsung Gusto's last night, 11/4/2010, and had the alarm fail to go off at 6:00 AM this morining. We updated to the latest firmware just after we'd bought the phones.

Have you heard if Samsung, a) Are working on a fix (just because they're aware of the problem doesn't necessarily mean they're working on it ... as a software engineer I've learned to ask that question) , b) If theres a fix scheduled for delivery via a firmware update or c) If theres a workaround ?

I did read somewhere that alarms on the hours don't work but alarms a few minutes past the hour do but I haven't tried that yet.

Thanks!

Roj

Leslie1

Information is not available at this time on a software or work around on alarm clock issue on device.

Make sure are on latest software u360-dh26.

View software version:

From the main screen, press Menu.
Scroll to Settings&Tools, press OK
Scroll to Phone Info, press OK.
Scroll to Software Version, press OK.

Try resetting alarm clock by removing all alarm set ups first:

From the Home screen, press Menu; Settings & Tools; Tools; Alarm Clock.

Use the Directional Key (which is OK button) to highlight the alarm you wish to disable. Press the Right Soft Key and select Reset All to remove all alarms.

Set a alarm:

From the Home screen, press Menu; Settings&Tools;Tools; Alarm Clock.

Press OK button; Set, then use the Directional Key to

highlight fields to enter alarm details:

Alarm: Use the Directional Key to toggle the alarm on or off.

Time

: Enter the time for the alarm. Use the Directional Key

to select am or pm.

Frequency: Use the Directional Key to choose options:

Once: The alarm sounds only once at the specified time.

Daily: The alarm sounds every day.

Mon-Fri: The alarm sounds Monday through Friday.

Weekends: The alarm sounds Saturday and Sunday.

Ringer: Use the Directional Key to set a type of alert, and

select a ringtone. When you finish entering information, press OK to save.

kupuna

Some enlightenment on the alarm problem with the Gusto. A Samsung tech rep said that it is a randomly occurring hardware problem, not software.

The options seem to be: If under Samsung warranty, send it in for repair (no replacement) and they will pay the shipping. Samsung warranty is 1 year. If under 30-day return warranty with Verizon, Samsung recommends swapping the phone for one that works. Test it before you leave the store.

This is just what I was told in a phone conversation, your results may vary. BTW the Samsung tech number is 1-888-987-4357.

BTW(2) You can also get a full printed User Guide/Manual from this number.

On tech calls, they want to know much of the data hidden under your battery, so I suggest copying it out before the call if you only have one phone.

jlquinnan2

I have found the same problerm (I think). However, it seems that the alarms are totally unreliable if the phone is closed but they seem to always work if you can leave the phone open. That can work if you want to wake up in the morning but it is pretty useless during the day. This doesn't sound like a hardware problem unless it is somehow a design flaw.

AnthonyNugnes

I have done some tests on this with my Gusto and I think I have determined the cause. The phone actually does not know what time it is when it is asleep due to default settings. You can see this if you let the phone sit for a few minutes and then with the phone closed, hold down the down volume button. If your phone was set up as mine was you will see an old time stamp on the clock for a brief moment. Then the phone updates quickly to the current time.

My solution is the following, see if it works for you.

Go toSettings and Tools

Go to Keyguard settings

Set to Always Off

This seems to have solved the problem for me. Give it a shot.

Thanks,

Anthony

PAMELAGRIFFIN

Thanks for posting this. I've been having the same problem, and after reading all of your posts, I've run several "tests" and have discovered a reliable "work-around." (That's not the same as a "solution," but it is access to an alarm that works reliably.)

To get us all on the same basic page:

1) My Keyguard setting: 7 Seconds

2) My software version: u360.DH26

3) I have not been able to sneak up on my phone and catch it displaying the wrong time after it's been idle for even as long as an hour. (Although, I have had fun trying.) It comes up with the current time every time. Albeit, there is about a 1 second delay before it displays anything.

What is working: SET THE ALARM FOR ANY TIME OTHER THAN EXACTLY ON THE HOUR.

If you need to get up at 6:00 a.m., your alarm options are 5:59 or 6:01. Anything ending in ":00" WILL NOT WORK!!

(Perhaps this will be a clue for the Samsung folks. Should be sufficient info to pinpoint the software glitch. Obviously there's a "double-naught" programming language conflict.)

What I was experiencing before reading what everyone here shared was as follows:

DAY 1: Alarm #1 time 7:00 a.m., M-F frequency. Alarms #2 and #3 not set.

RESULT: No alarm sounded

(After a few test alarms, I wondered if the glitch was in the frequency setting. So I approached the problem from that angle.)

DAY 2: Alarm #1 time 7:00 a.m., M-F frequency. Alarm #2 time 7:05 a.m., ONCE frequency. Alarm #3 time 7:10 a.m., ONCE frequency.

RESULT: Alarms sounded at 7:05 a.m. and 7:10 a.m. No alarm sounded at 7:00 a.m.

(Curiously frustrating. ONCE works but M-F doesn't. I'm not happy with that. Am I really going to have to REMEMBER to SET the alarm every night? That USED to work -- sort of but not always -- before I started using my cell phone instead of the old-school alarm clock plugged in on my nightstand and almost keeping accurate time. Unwilling to accept that my Gusto is only teasing me with options such as DAILY, M-F, and WEEKENDS, I press on. Maybe the problem is Alarm #1.)

DAY 3: Alarm #1 time 7:05 a.m., ONCE frequency. Alarm #2 time 7:10 a.m., ONCE frequency. Alarm #3 time 7:00 a.m., M-F frequency.

RESULT: Alarms sounded at 7:05 a.m. and 7:10 a.m. No alarm sounded at 7:00 a.m.

That cleared Alarm #1 of all suspicion. At 8:45, I set a test alarm for 8:47 with the frequency on M-F, and it sounded right on time. That left me doubting my theory that the frequency setting was causing a problem. Still, I couldn't enjoy being relieved about that without some explanation for why the 7:00 a.m. alarm has consistently failed. When I read the suggestion here that setting the alarm on the hour might be the problem, I set an alarm for the next hour with a ONCE frequency (remember the ONCE frequency has consistently worked for me), and sure enough, the alarm failed to sound.

The "sleeping phone" theory has its merits, but I'm reluctant to set my keyguard to "always off" since it's designed only to disable the camera, speaker, and volume keys on the sides of the phone. I'm not interested in taking pictures of the inside of my pocket, and I'd rather not be pocket-dialing my last caller via speaker phone. (Consider that because my name begins with "PA" and "P" is the upper right corner character on a QWERTY keyboard, all my friends with exposed QWERTY keyboard smart phones have pocket-dialed me repeatedly. I don't want to participate on either end of those calls, but I digress.)

As I stated earlier, all of my attempts to sneak up on my phone and catch it displaying the wrong time have failed. I'm pretty sure that's because I'm not doing it right, and chances are my Gusto will wear out prematurely because I can't stop pushing buttons every couple of hours trying to catch it fibbing. Again, I digress.

Thinking through the "phone sleeping so soundly that it can't tell time" theory, the time and date are transmitted to the phone over the same network that calls and text messages are sent over. So it would follow logically that if the phone goes into such a deep sleep that it loses track of the time and therefore doesn't sound an alarm on time because it didn't "know" it was time to sound the alarm, it would also be sleeping too soundly to "know" if a call or text message was being sent to it. So far, no one has complained that they called and didn't reach me or texted and I didn't respond. But then, I've only had the phone since Saturday, and I've only been in touch with 6 people on my contact list since then, so who knows?

What I have been able to test and verify is consistent with the comment that the Gusto alarm does not work when it is set to go off on the hour. I have run enough tests to be satisfied that I can set an alarm for any time that doesn't end in ":00" and rely on my Gusto to sound that alarm regardless of whether it's Alarm #1, #2, or #3 and regardless of the frequency setting I choose. I will, however, continue to be cautious for a while to set back-up alarms. My testing has been random and I performed most of it before reading these posts and putting the "on the hour" factor into the equation.

It's logical that that is the only setting that would be problematic because of a possible "double-naught" programming language conflict. Given that I've been successful with alarms set for 10 after the hour, it's likely the only problem is on the hour. However, if it's really important, I recommend that you not rely exclusively on an alarm for any particular minute of the hour that you've not previously tested without also setting a backup alarm. For all I know, quarter and half hour settings are equally problematic.

I'm also curious about a possible "coincidence factor" that might be at play for the person who found that unlocking the keyguard worked. I unlocked my keyguard and set an alarm for the next hour, but that's 55 minutes away, and I'm signing off now. If it works, I'll sign back in to confirm. If you see nothing else from me here, then you can figure that it didn't work.

I hope this helps some of you because it took all of you to help me.

Thanks again for taking the time to post!!

GeneBurch

After reading the suggestions on how to fix the problem, I changed the times from even numbers to 10:02 AM & 9:02 PM and the Alarms went off like clockwork. <[ :smileysurprised: )

Thanks,

Child Item