Samsung Captivate Random Shutdown

[BottledRage]

I've had my phone for less than two weeks and without problems until today.

It turns out the phone will shut down completely a while after the phone goes to sleep. This seems to happen after a full charge, but very consistently. As long as I use the phone to keep it awake, it works fine (great, in fact).

I tried powering on/off myself, battery removal, and factory reset, but the problem remains.

Might have to replace the phone at this point, but it's hard to find stock right now...

Anyone else have this problem?

Other threads which address my problem...

http://androidforums.com/captivate-support-troubleshooting/130114-phone-shutting-off-randomly.html

http://www.samsungcaptivateforum.com/samsung-captivate-how-to/random-shutdowns/

http://www.attdroids.com/forum/samsung-captivate-forum/1547-captivate-issue-random-shutdowns.html

***edited labels***

[RogersJean]

Thanks James,

If that has stopped the random shutdowns for anyone else please let us know. If there is an issue with the software then we would need to escalate this through the proper channels at 1866-931-3282. Speak with technical support and advise them of all the troubleshooting and symptoms experienced.

The steps I provided are basic instructions that need to be followed in this specific scenario, this will be asked of anyone who calls in to have this escalated so it is important they are performed. I would just like to clarify my post outlines all possible scenarios including  "a more serious issue with the firmware itself". My mention of poor battery and physical defect along side software corruption is to share as much information regarding possible causes.

Having said that, thanks to everyone for all the detailed information regarding this issue. If this is a firmware issue we would need to have this escalated through technical support so sharing as much detail as possible is key. Is anyone else able to confirm that the GSM only fix solves the random shutdowns permanently?

[bigal77]

2 days with no shutdowns,  but i swtched from GSM only to HSDA only (edge is to slooooow)

Will this affect calls??? WIll i have  agreater chance of dropped calls on HSDA only?

I think the reason why my phone had shutdowns, and a few dropped calls was a failure to switch from gsm-hsda (auto mode)

I think will call Monday for a replacement (my 29th day) but I will keep testing, so far so good

[XKS]

I disabled keep alive captivate app and selected edge only and it works. Maybe when sleeping and changing between edge and HSDA it hangs/shuts down. So we have 2 solutions at this point. Keep it mixed and run keep alive captivate which uses a bit of battery life, or choose to use one of the two options (Edge only or HSDA only). I haven't tried HSDA only but I noticied bigal77 tried it and it works for him.

Any ideas what is causing it? I do not want to go back and get a replacement if it is a software issue... I will wait since I have the warranty.

I will keep you updated as I find more information regarding this issue. Let me know if any of you get any other information.

Thanks.

[Thumper3322]

Well I thought I would share my experience with this issue.

Got my phone since Oct. 27, and like others the first week I guess all was good, then it would start turning off. Thought it was from me having it in my pocket and hitting the button by accident. Then the full charge, take it off of charger and go to bed. Wake up in the morning and my phone would be off. Kinda a problem, when I rely on my phone for calls from work in the morning to work or not. Then I was having random shut downs, 2 or 3 sometimes in a row at different times in the day, but only after full recharge it seems.

Called Tech said to try a new SIM since mine was an '05 and as I thought, still the same problem. Next day Tech said wipe it, did that thought it was going to be good, and still the problem continued.

Went to future shop to exchange it for a new one (was over 14 days just), there for an hour, sent over to a Rogers store, waited for an hour with the manager on hold for Tech, which gave me a reference number and sent me back to future shop. Another hour there, after telling me they won't swap it, I got my new phone UNREAL!! Not so happy at this point.

Day 1 1/2 with the new phone, full recharge last night, and it was on this morning WOOT WOOT. I have all the same apps, back on my phone (including advanced task killer). Just hope this issue doesn't come back. I only have 7 days until my 30 days are up.

I love this phone, but VERY unhappy with this issue, and wasting my life trying to get it swapped.

[hemlock_0]

I called Samsung a few times one afternoon, asking the same questions in each case.  I had two people confirm that there is a documented fix for the random shutdown issue in the 2.2 Captivate Rogers firmware, and that while they cannot give a date for release, they both told me to look for it at the end of 2010.

Sadly, there was no mention of the overly-sensitive microphone issue in the firmware changelog...so no singing into your phone!  😛

-A

[WearySky]

Same problem here.  My phone was fine for the first couple weeks, only having random shutdowns once a week if that... But over the last few days the random shutdowns have gotten REALLY bad.  My phone has shut down at least once an hour this morning.  Not running any of the suspect apps (ATK or Launcher Pro), not rooted, nothing crazy installed.  Switching to GSM only isn't a viable option - I chose this phone specifically because of its HSPA capabilities.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a fix in the Rogers 2.2 build, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Senseless]

I too have the same problem as everyone described. And it seems like it's getting progressively worse. I get shut downs around 4-5 times a day now. I have also read online that one possible solution is to change the screen standby time to 1 min or 2 min. I have tried that, but hasn't worked either. I noticed that the shutdown suddenly got a lot worse after I installed my screen protector last week. Maybe this can explain why people are not getting shutdowns in the first two weeks (I am guessing that people order their protector after getting their phone, and shipping is usually 1-2 weeks). Anyways just sharing my experience. I am hoping froyo update will fix this issue. It should be here very soon. Bell's captivate S just got their upgrade late last week.

[Senseless]

My recommendation for people that needs their phone on throughout the night, I recommend keeping the phone on charger. My phone has never shut down on me when it is on the charger. As for the suggestion that the auto switching from HSPA to EDGE mode causing the shutdowns, in my experiences I do not think that's the case. I travel in and out of Toronto frequently (ironically I do work on Rogers' and Bell's cell towers). Switching between the two has never been a problem, or more so than when I am just staying in Toronto. It is interesting though that using HSPA/EDGE only mode fixes the problems. Unfortunately it is not a solution for me because of my travels.

[WearySky]

I installed Captivate keep alive on Friday... Set it to run till 85% battery time - so far so good.

[RogersJean]

This is definitely a serious concern, thanks for all your input and solutions for the time being.

Thanks to everyone for being patient, we hope to roll out 2.2 very shortly which should address this issue alltogether.

[hemlock_0]

I recommend keeping Captivate Keep Alive set to a lower value.  My understanding is that you're telling it to keep the phone awake above the set threshold and to let it sleep below that value.  For what it's worth, my experience has been very consistent:

- if I reboot my phone and wait about five minutes, my phone shuts itself off completely

- either plug in the phone and then unplug it, or manually run Captivate Keep Alive (either one will start the app)

- With Captivate Keep Alive set to 80%, my phone shut off once when I think the battery was below that point (not certain)

- Phone has never shut itself off with Captivate Keep Alive running since I set the value to 20% (I never let my battery get that low)

For what it's worth, I found a temporary solution to the microphone issue for recording voice, too.  While Samsung insists that the mic gain cannot be adjusted, "VirtualRecorder" (free in the market) includes a limiter that make the mic actually usable for recording your own voice at volumes over quiet speaking.  Wrong thread, yes, but I figured I'd throw this in since these are the two most common 'deal breakers' I've seen in various Captivate threads and the two reasons I still have some regret over purchasing this phone.

[Senseless]

k, the random shutdowns got so bad that I have tried a few things with my phone.  As mentioned earlier, my random shutdowns began shortly after I installed my screen protector.  Anyways, after a week of random shutdowns (yesterday I had about 7-8 shutdowns just in the afternoon), I decided it's enough.  I removed my screen protector, but random shutdowns continued.  After 3 shutdowns after, I decided to try out the new sim card that came with the phone (I was using my old sim card from my old phone, and there were reports that some issue resulted from using old sim cards).  This too did not work.  Finally I did a factory reset on my phone, and reinstated my contacts / calender / etc.   I kept the apps install to a minimum.  After the reset and putting stuff on my phone, an hour later, my phone died again.  I have to say I am quite disappointed.

Anyways, today however, my phone has not shut down yet.  I am hoping to keep my phone in the current state (no more apps install) until I get the Froyo update.  I hope the phone can hold up then.  Otherwise I am going to Rogers for a new phone. 

[Senseless]

Guys, seems like we'll have to wait a little bit now to get the Froyo 2.2 fix for these shutdown issues.  Explains why Rogers' updates are delayed:

http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/12/17/samsung-temporarily-suspending-galaxy-s-os-2-2-upgrade/

[WearySky]

That article specifically says it only affects the Vibrant, and not the Captivate. 

Having said that, my phone hasn't shut down since I installed Captivate Keep Alive, and set it to 85%.  And my battery life doesn't seem to be negatively affected at all.  So I'm in no rush for the Froyo update to come out, other than for the added functionality and speed 🙂

[CAPTIVATE_SUCKS]

"SENSELESS"

Hello,

In regards to the random shutdowns the only way currently to prevent this from happening is by using the "CAPTIVATE KEEP ALIVE" app.

I see you are also thinking of returning the phone as I also was going to do the same. I called Rogers tech support did all the resets,removed programs,etc.. and followed the advice of the tech support to wait a few days as the 2.2 update would be out soon , or I could search forums and such for an alternative fix(CAPTIVATE KEEP ALIVE) But by doing this it pushed me past the "ROGERS RETURN REQUIREMENTS" (SNEAKY,SNEAKY ROGERS) After searching and installing the Keep alive app I decided I had enough and wanted to just return my phone for a different make/model. But to my surprise when I made the next call to tech support I was informed that I was now past my 15Days or 30Mins.and am now only entitled to having my phone fixed or replaced with another Captivate even though my first call was to tech support was done within the return time frame. but I was also told that I can have the phone fixed/replaced over and over again until I get a model that doesn't randomly shutdown(YAAYY LOL) as it seems to only happen to a small percentage of the phones. So check your receipt date and total voice usage and just go in store and trade for a different one or even a different model well hopefully you still can.

Hope this helps.

[Senseless]

Thanks, I do have Captivate Keep Alive running now.  It drains my battery abit, so much that I would barely make it through the day.  Anyways, I have called Rogers two weeks ago for a replacement phone.  I was told that it's currently out of stock and will be shipped when available.  My guess is that this phone is not really out of stock, but that there are a lot of problems with this phone specifically with the shutdown issue.  I am speculating that Rogers is holding off these shipments until the 2.2 update is available, so that people won't come back with "broken" phones.  Anyways, it's only a guess, but I think a very reasonable guess at that. 

CAPTIVATE_SUCKS I am sorry to hear that you don't like your phone.  And furthermore, I am sorry to hear that you cannot exchange your phone.  The thing is, the Captivate is actually quite a nice phone, once this shutdown issue is resolved.  I guess I am a little different from you.  I like this phone, but just want it to run properly.

[BGrant]

I wanted to chime in and say that my Captivate has never shut down on its own.  I've had the phone since launch, and am unfortunately running the stock 2.1 image.  (As I'm *still* waiting for Rogers to release 2.2 - Dead last)

I'm sorry to hear others are having problems.  If you ask me, return the phones before your return period is up.

[cnruck]

Luckily I have not had my Captivate shut down but it does freeze everytimeI open my photo gallery. Any help on this?

[jameslavis]

I too had the shut down issue. I got my phone on launch. My shut downs were 1 per week, always in the 70-80 percent battery life range. My issue is that my phone is my alarm and I can't risk sleeping in for work.To me rooting a first gen phone is risky, and so I never did. Unistalled various apps to see if they were the issue. My imei was not in the range provided by samsung. I phoned Rogers, explained my case and will have a phone within a few days. no issues.

[chinesedevil]

I have the same issue with mine, at first when i got the phone it didnt do it, then it started doing it frequently.  Did a factory reset and it stopped after 90hour then started it again.  I gave rogers a call right away and getting a replacement.  Hopefully the new one is goood.

[WearySky]

Honestly - Captivate Keep Alive set at 85% has completely eliminated all random shutdowns of my phone, and I still get a full day's worth of use out of the phone.