Problem Solved - Freeze it
Hopefully this post will help people out, but before I begin, I would like to offer some background information...
- I would just like to say that i've owned this phone since this very first day it came out
- I am now currently on my third HTC Incredible
- I have always been a fan of this phone other than this very specific instance for all the reasons that are advertised (lets be honest... its a pretty awesome phone)
- I am not an HTC employee nor do I work for any other phone related organization
- I'm creating this post simply because I do have some legitimate concerns for the safety of people who own it and are having the same problem
When the problem begins...
Like most of the people on this forum you've probably been wondering why your phone keeps randomly restarting itself. Sometimes it'll happen when you're using Google Maps w/GPS, using moving backgrounds, downloading random content (videos, streaming music etc.) or perhaps you're just charging your phone or simply talking on it...
What the reaction is...
So it becomes incredibly frustrating (no pun intended) when you're trying to do something useful and your phone all of a sudden decides to do a "death-loop" cycle (as i've come to call it) ...rendering your phone useless for a set period of time (minutes, hours, or an entire day in my case). The phone shuts down, restarts, shuts down, restarts... etc. You try holding down the power, restarting it, doing a hard reset and even taking out the battery in the hopes that it'll solve the issue. And as almost everyone in this forum has noted... it doesn't really help.
What the problem is...
The problem is really quite simple. Your very very powerful totally awesome phone is doing waaaaay too much mult-tasking and processing to the point that it begins to overheat and becomes unstable. Much like a regular computer... it crashes, restarts, and will continue to do so until environmental conditions for the components change. If you've ever seen a laptop become clogged with dust and overheat you'll notice it does the same thing to the point where it wont even boot up anymore (most likely due to a fried motherboard).
How you can test this theory...
Multi-task it! Turn on wi-fi, gps, play videos, and literally anything else under the sun until the phone begins to overheat and crashes. On brand new phones (out of the box... not refurbs) this usually wont cause an issue right away, but I guarantee that on a long enough timeline... this will inevitably lead to a system/hardware crash and will perminantly cause irreperable damage to phone and increase the probability that such events occur.
Put it in the sun. Yes, believe it or not... you can even cause a death-loop cycle by leaving it on your dashboard while driving or even taking it to the beach and leaving it out in direct sun-light (usually longer than 10 minutes). My first perfect recipe for disaster occurred when I was driving to school (45 minute long drive to Santa Monica) and i had the phone resting on the dashboard while playing Pandora radio and charging at the same time. The phones starting restarting, was noticeably hot to the touch, and didn't get out of the "deathloop cycle" for about 20 straight hours.
Why did it keep going in the death loop cycle up for 20 straight hours...? I'll explain this next.
Newtons First Law of Overheating
An HTC Incredible in a deathloop cycle will remain in a deathloop cycle until acted upon by an outside force. Upon observation and taking some notes it appears that once a "deathloop cycle" starts it will remain in the deathloop cycle until the environmental conditions change. This means that your phone will continue to restart until it cools down.
"So why does it keep restarting, shoudn't that help?", you ask? Well, a restart actually causes the phone to do quite a bit of "work" and therefore releases a significant amount of energy similar to the conditions that caused it to restart in the first place. So instead of the "habitual restarting" actually solving the problem... it actually makes it worse by having a resonance like effect.
How you can fix it...
Quite frankly... you can't fix it. But what you can do to minimize the symptoms or to prevent a deathloop cycle is to stick your phone in the fridge or freezer until it cools down enough to become operationally stable. I say again... THIS WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM... but will at least make your phone usable for a short period of time (until it reheats again).
And yes, I do feel rather stupid for having been over at a friends house (who just so happens to own an iPhone) and tell him that I need to use his fridge to cool down my phone so i can use it.
What Verizon will tell you...
"We've never come across that problem before" is I'm sure the statement you've heard most often from Verizon employees. The truth to the matter is that they are all trained to say this because they have to be cognitively aware that other customers in the store might overhear you complaining and decide not to buy the phone. Likewise, I know this is true because its a theory i've tried and tested...
The first time I had a problem I brought my phone into the Verizon store and a guy (lets call him "Brad") said he had never heard of the problem (Keep in mind he also owns the same phone and is most likely legitimately curious about the problem). We went through the motions, ordered a new phone, and I was on my way. 2 months later... i bring it back to the same guy and again he states "Never heard of the problem".
Unless he's had a mild stroke and checking my customer record does ring a bell... he's completely lying to me.Very very poor decision...
Remember the Recall Formula
Take the number of phones consumers have in the field, (A), and multiply it by the probable rate of failure, (B), then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, (C).
(A) times (B) times (C) = (X) ...
If X is less than the cost of a recall, Verizon or HTC won't do one!
...in short, this deniability is all about money and Verizon/HTC will never come out with a recall or fix because quite frankly its too costly to their profit margins. Remember... they're a business and not the Red Cross.
Why this problem can feasible become dangerous and potentially life-threatening
Because I don't work for HTC i'm not entirely sure if they've been slapped with a lawsuit yet but I can guarantee that one is coming right around the corner (possibly even from myself). Believe me... there's a mountain of documented evidence on those Verizon systems and its only gonna get worse. But here's are a couple more observations...
The external temp of the phone, while on a deathloop cycle, can overheat in excess of 140 degrees (god knows what the internal temp is), which can be almost unbearable to the touch and will continue to sustain these excessive temperatures until you take the battery out. If you're not smart enough to do that (which I wasn't because I couldn't figure out how to get the cover off) this may inevitably cause internal combusion and can potentially start a fire. Leave it in a car, your house, or any other medium in direct sun-light while multitasking and I guarantee you're gonna have a major problem.
Verizon also can't claim they never heard of this problem because I brought it in to their store the other day and an employee also noted how "hot" the phone was. I made a side-joke and brushed it off, but did note that this was something they should seriously look into as it could potentially be dangerous.
Last thoughts
I really hope HTC looks into this problem and if anyone is willing to start a class action lawsuit, please let me know. I would be happy to construct a website (i'm a web developer) and begin an online petition for the recall or fixing of these devices. I honestly can't stand it when companies try to brush this off as if its nothing and then end up burning someones house down (literally).
I hope this has helped everyone who reads it and please be careful when using your device.
