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Help Constant sync symbol and battery drain

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I, been experiencing this issue for roughly a week now. Didn't realize it at first -- just had my phone unexpectedly "off" because battery had run out, and turning it on resulting in a white M reboot.

Did a little testing the other day. Turned off all sync (with settings widget). During 7-8 hrs overnight, battery usage was 30-40% standby, I think phone idle was next highest ?maybe 30% or so?, and "android system" was 4-5% of battery usage. Battery still mostly charged.

After charging, I then enabled sync. After less than 6.5hrs on with sync, battery level was down to 5-10% and reported battery users were: Android system 80%!, phone idle 10%, cell standby 8%, Google 2%.


I've tried deleting cache data (but not hard reset or pulling battery), but problem comes back. So now, I'm basically stuck without any auto-sync or else my phone will just up and die on me without warning. (While this problem is happening, phone does get a bit warm, and 3G symbol is on.)

How is anyone even supposed to tell WHICH program is stuck syncing?

At times during this process, I've seen the android system processes taking up 30-40% CPU (using process manager in Astro File Manager).

Phone didn't do any of this for the first couple weeks I had it! This is REALLY annoying.
 
@jkamentz
Go to settings->accounts & sync and then select your Google account. It will then list each service (gmail, calendar, etc) that is being synched. Unchecked them one at a time, waiting for several seconds to see if the sync icon in the status bar goes away. The one that does it will be the culprit (it will probably also have a syncing icon next to it too).
Next go to settings->applications->manage applications. Press menu and set filter for all. Find the problem application (or applications, there is both a calendar and calendar storage apparently). Go in and delete both the cache and data (not just cache). This should fix the problem.
 
I couldn't last a week with my autosync off, so I tried to do the solution suggested in this thread for the 4th or 5th time.

I went back and cleared my data and my caches again. However, this time, I deleted ALL 6 of them (Contacts, Contacts Storage, Calendar, Calendar Storage, Gmail, and Gmail Storage), even though I didn't have any data for my Google calendar, nor have I ever synced or used my Google calendar.

It worked this time! It took a while for the phone to re-download all my contacts and mail (I still had Google calendar unchecked, so it did not sync the calendar per my preference), but after that, the sync icon disappeared from the notification bar and it ended the syncing successfully.

It's been working normally the past few days, with normal battery life, and the phone doesn't heat up.

For those of you who tried this method but had no success, try deleting every bit of synced data regardless of whether or not you use that service. That's what did it for me.
 
@Demecles: I'd tried clearing cache and data once in the past, but.... I tried it again anyway. I cleared most apps data and cache. I definitely cleared email, gmail and calendar and contacts. However, I still have the problem. Even though my account summary page says sync is off (because I individually unechecked gmail, contacts and google calendar), the continuous sync still happens.

So, maybe it's something like checking for O/S updates, market app updates, etc.? I'm pretty sure it isn't newsrob, because I uninstalled that for a while and still had the problem. It could be O/S, market or google voice. I also have weather bug, but that doesn't seem to ever malfunction.

For some reason, advanced task killer often shows processes for Messages and Corporate email, which I typically kill. My phone plan doesn't include texts (so I don't send them), and I've never set up or connected to an exchange server.

On my account sync summary, like others with the problem, I do see an intermittent error message (which is too brief to fully read, but must be the same as what other people are seeing). When that message flickers, my primary google account also flickers a red sync circle for a fraction of a second. Funny thing is -- this occurred even when the summary listed both google accounts as "sync off" because I'd unchecked the individual options within each!

A little background info -- I have two google accounts set up. The primary one [would] sync gmail, contacts and google calendar. The secondary one would only sync gmail (I never checked contacts and calendar isn't even an option because I never set it up for the second account).

Are there any tools or logs to diagnose what things are syncing, or to perhaps log or determine which apps / processes are communicating?
 
Yes -- even when all of the account syncs are disabled, the sync notification icon stays on and I get the failure blips in the account summary.

If I disable sync altogether with the settings widget, then sync notification turns off. But, 3-20s after enabling it, it typically comes on and stays on. So, it's probably not any of the individual choices, but something else which actually honors the global sync settings.

Nothing seems to be overtly failing -- if sync is on, I do receive gmail notifications (if I've turned that on in the individual account sync options). I haven't changed any contacts or calendar stuff, but when I deleted those caches, the info came back with sync enabled.
 
You could try removing all synced accounts (Google, Facebook, etc) and then try setting them up again. At least that would be easier than a hard reset.
 
Could it perhaps be that there is another app (Mobile Defense, Anti DROID Theft, Social media services like Twidroid, Facebook, etc., or something else) that might be synchronizing that is not necessarily obvious when initially looking?
 
Possible, but I understand that the sync icon is only present when one of the accounts in the Accounts & Sync page are syncing.
 
That was my understanding as well - however, I can't see any other reason this is occurring, unless the OS itself is b0rked on that particular phone....
 
not necessarily - it could be something else that caused it to b0rk.

OP - are you using a magnetically clasped holster of any kind with the device? If so, is it a relatively powerful magnet? (Yes, it's a long shot - but unless we can show a lot more people having this exact issue, or else that we can pinpoint it to an app installed, IDK what else to consider).
 
After running the phone for over a week with the auto-sync feature turned off and noticing how much better the battery life is, I decided to try some of the newer suggestions in this thread.

Since my constant sync problem involved the calendar, I first "unchecked" it and turned auto-sync back on. No problems, gmail and contacts seemed to get sync'ed, just not the calendar, and battery life is decent.

As the next step, I deleted the calendar (data and storage) then powered off the phone, pulled the battery and took a break. After a few minutes, I put the battery in, powered up, manually sync'ed the calendar and left it in auto-sync mode. So far, the problem has not returned.

I know I tried deleting the calendar (data and storage) before, and also pulled the battery, although I did not wait as long before powering it back up, and that DID NOT fix the problem before, but now it has!

I will just monitor the situation and re-post if the problem happens again. One thing I know from experience, "If a problem can go away by itself, it can come back by itself!" And I have not seen any kind of definite explanation of what causes the problem.

And I am really puzzled how pulling the battery can make any difference. Are there capacitors that have to discharge? How long is "long enough?"

BTW - I took a complete inventory of apps in case I had to do a factory reset. I have 52 apps installed, and another 73 are listed when I check the "all" button in the app filter. Total is 125. All on one little phone, and it still has lots of room to spare. Amazing...
 
Ya, just started happening to my Droid over the weekend. Sync icon never goes away. The only temp fix is to disable auto-sync in settings. If not, my battery lasts about 3-5 hours.

As far as suggestions for deleting the cache goes, are you folks referring to the "Clear search history" option under settings for my Gmail accounts? I really don't want to do a hard reset. :)
 
You have to go through several steps (make sure auto-sync is off before you start
1) Go to settings and select applications
2) From that screen select Manage Applications
3) Use your options button to display "sort by size" and "filter" select filter
4) Change the filter options from Downloaded (default) to All
5) You will now see lots more applications in the list and you should scroll to the application that sync is getting stuck on (for me it was calendar)
6) There will be two application entries (using calendar as the example, there is calendar and calendar storage
7) Select each one in turn and touch the "clear data" button
8) When the data shows zero, power the Droid off and pull the battery out for several (not sure how many exactly) minutes - Good time for a coffee break
9) Replace battery - power up and re-enable auto sync

This should clear up the problem, as it has for me and several others.

I hope this helps.
 
First off i apologize that my situation is in the Moto Droid section but i used common sense and did a search to find the solution and led me to this forum.

I have an HTC Eris and i was having issues with my gmail, having the wrong email address, so i searched and found the solution via the forums, cleared the google and gmail cache, upon doing that i had to redo my gmail, it works now with no problem, but unfortunately when i cleared the cache i also deleted all my contacts, because when i had them switched over, they were all google contacts. At the time i didnt think about what was going to happen, thinking my contacts would be spared, to my surprise they were all deleted and when i redid my email, place all those contacts inside my address book, now im ticked and deleted all the contacts. once completed i got an error message stating i had deleted too many contacts, i kept hitting Delete the items, it eventually made its way down to 23, now i am getting a sync error Delete limited exceeded, i have tried Delete the items... no good, tried Undo the deletes... no good, Do nothing for now... no good, it cannot do anything and before i leave work for home in an hour and stop into verizon and have them figure it out, i was curious if anyone here has had this similar issue.
thanks.
 
My Motorola Droid was running hot today, synch icon staying on, battery rapidly draining. Tried the suggested calendar cache clear and battery pull with out success. Called Verizon and they had me reprogram the phone (*228 then option 1) then pull the battery with the power on. They said this was a soft reset. Restarted the phone and the synch icon is off and has stayed off. Hope this helps...
 
Hi,
I too have constant sync and heavy battery drain. when I got home today I installed a data counter app and in a couple of hours it transfered 4megs download and 2megs upload! on the home wifi, I hope it was a bit slower when I was out on the expensive 3G data.

disabling auto sync and background data did not make the symbol go away, had to put it in airplane mode to get it to stop.

my calendar was playing up, showing duplicate entries and being slow to update.

I've now cleared the caches (only browser showed anywhere near 4megs that had been downloaded in the last couple of hours) and removed battery, will try firing it up in a moment and see how it goes

...

powered up and need to sign in to google acount, which fails everytime. damn. factory reset here i come :(
 
skipcooney said:
My Motorola Droid was running hot today, synch icon staying on, battery rapidly draining. Tried the suggested calendar cache clear and battery pull with out success. Called Verizon and they had me reprogram the phone (*228 then option 1) then pull the battery with the power on. They said this was a soft reset. Restarted the phone and the synch icon is off and has stayed off. Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

After I wrote this my synch icon returned and my battery drain continued. Took the Droid to the Verizon store and let them do a backup and hard reset. That fixed it. Just had to reinstall and configure all my programs.
 
Hi guys, got my nexus one today and am stoked! That said, I had this issue as well, constant syncing. It turned out it was Google trying to sync my Picasso web albums (even though I have none)

Switched that off and all is smooth again :-)
 
I am also having this issue of intermittent sync hangs. It seems Calendar sync is particularly prone to hanging, and takes a long time compared to Gmail and Contacts. Recently my phone rebooted during a sync while I was attempting to change the screen orientation.

Another time I could not stop the Calendar sync, I did a Clear Data from the Manage>Applications for Calendar and Calendar Storage. That seemed to help; it is the second time I had to reload all data.

My current workaround is to leave Data Synchronization on for Gmail only. I do a manual sync of Calendar and Contacts once a day and watch it to ensure it completes.

GK :mad:

HTC Dream
Carrier: Rogers
Firmware: 1.5
Kernel: 2.6.27-d5acf552 u70000@Android-X1 #12
Build: 1.89.631.1 146733 CL#94714 release-keys
 
Just curious, does anyone here have ooVoo installed on their phone?

I had this same problem on my HTC Evo. Turns out, even with syncing off under ooVoo's accounts & sync settings, it was still causing it to hang.

I uninstalled ooVoo from my phone, and as soon as the Uninstalling screen showed, the sync icon went away...

Someone should mention this to the developer, along with giving us an option to stop it from opening on the phone's startup.
 
RESOLVED???
Google+ the culprit?
1) you connect your android to your gVoice
2) That gvoice is connected to your gmail
3) your google+ is connected to your gmail and creates a new contact group called "other contacts"
4) you have lots people you added to circles in your g+ account which go into your other contacts group
5) you sync ANY on your android: gmail, google+, gvoice = cannot STOP it from syncing the contact group Other Contacts even though it doesnt SHOW on your android it is downloading ALL those contacts - SUCKING UP SPACE ON MY ANDROID!

Also note... if you delete contacts from your OTHER CONTACTS group in gmail it will remove those people from your Google+ account and remove them from your circles...

THere are many ways google can fix this but will they?
 
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