Droid 4: ICS = screwed up

[Dog_Face]

I looked at my phone this morning and there was a notice that an upgrade was available, so I proceeded to install the ICS upgrade. What a mess. The battery life on my phone can now be measured in minutes--well, around 90 minutes. The phone feels physically warm all the time. It doesn't ring at all when I receive a call. I can't change any ringtone or set the alarm clock. In all, it's a big mess. Can I "downgrade" back to Gingerbread? If not, this device has become practically unusable.

[demmo86rt · Accepted solution]

There is no way to roll back to Gingerbread, you may want to try a Factory Reset.

[Dog_Face]

Is anyone else having similar problems after "upgrading" your Droid 4 to ICS?

[DebGo]

I've been waiting anxiously for my notification to pop up, but now I'm not sure I want to risk it. I thought the soak tests showed there were no problems with this upgrade. Have you tried a factory reset and reinstalling the upgrade? Maybe something went wrong the first time. Have you called Verizon for tech support? I (and many others) would be very interested to hear how they respond.

~debgo

[bebekins]

I'm having the same issue. I started the update, it stopped in the middle and now it's a huge mess. I hate it. There has to be a way to undo an update??

[shambo]

I don't have the droid 4, but a 3 month old Razr.....after trying everything, Verizon shipped me out a refurbished one. Same issues, overheats, battery dies much quicker....factory resets didn't work, texting with my Ford Sync no longer works and loses connection. Gingerbread worked flawlessly. Have read that Verizon and Motorola are trying for a bug-fix update by end of August, but we'll see.

[Dog_Face]

I called Verizon tech support and after a few minutes, they said the only solution was a factory reset, which appears to have solved my problems.  It was a pain to set my phone back up from scratch, but at least I have a working phone now.

[silver6056]

It would be good if Verizon spread this more widely, but Motorola have said on their forums that after installing a major update, there will be a period of time where battery life is much worse and the phone can get very slow (and hot).  Basically a lot of syncing is going on, applications are getting updated etc.  After a day or so, this should all go away.  This was the case going from Froyo to GB and now from GB to ICS.  

The problem is that people don't realize this, see the phone is behaving badly, and then do things which often make things worse, like a factory reset, which can cause the process to start all over again.  My suggestion is to wait two days, if things are still bad or unstable, do a cache wipe (which doesn't remove your data) and only then, if still needed, do a factory reset.

[valhein]

I too, am having problems after doing this "upgrade" a few days ago.  Several things changed, I am confused (as a new user) where to go to get help.  Hard to know what to ask online.  It would be great to be able to talk with someone like tech support.  I never see a phone number?

Is there a place that walks you through all the steps necessary to get your phone back to normal?

[RHaggard]

My Droid 4 was updated last week and it has been a constant problem keeping it alive since. Battery consumption is out of control. With a full charge on it it will almost last two hours. If I put it to sleep it wakes up on its own after a few minutes. Today has been worse than ever. While hooked up to a charger it still ran itself flat and cannot be charged to the point where it will start running again.

How does one accomplish a 'factory reset'?