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Help FM Radio problem

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woody75

Newbie
Hi all, first time posting on this forum

Had the Desire since last Friday and for the first time tried out the FM Radio on it. All seems well at first but after a few minutes use the app just stops responding completely and the Radio continues to play whatever your currently listening to. You can still manipulate the on screen buttons but nothing happens at all. You cant change stations, re-search for stations doesnt work it just effectively stops the current station from playing, neither can you change anything via the menu button. The app power off button on the top right stops working and the only thing you can do to make the Radio work again is rebooting the phone.

I have done a hard reset and at first it seemed to resolve the problem but after using the Radio again tonight the problem is back as before

This is very frustrating because i use the radio on my phone alot normally. Is this a software fault or hardware fault or something else im missing here?
 
Doesnt seem to do this when i was listening to the radio. Just to check, are you using a task killer?
 
Ok after the problem persisting i contacted Orange and got the handset replaced but to my disappointment the new unit is doing exactly the same thing :mad:

I havnt even been able to pinpoint what triggers this happening. Sometimes it happens after a few minutes with it on in the background whilst casually playing with other apps, other times it stops working and locks up after a phone call and other times after the Radio has been playing and the the phone is otherwise idle and you press the power button to bring the screen back on :(

The only things that are the same on both the old and new handsets are the sim, earphones, and 8gb SD card that were swapped between the old and new phone when i changed them over but surely they could not be the issue???

I have read on other threads/forums that a few other people are having identical problems but im really at a loss and cant believe i have had 2 faulty handsets in a row with the same problem
 
Not had this kind of problem with the FM radio, although I'm always dubious as to how well radio performs on mobile devices. I had a Cowon PMP not so long ago and it did the same thing that you've just described.
 
have you tried taking the SD card out and running the radio? id do some trials/tests if i was you and try to figure it out
 
Yes, tried without an SD card, with the original 4gb SD card and with an 8gb card i had for an old phone. Same problem on 2 different handsets. Surely i must just be the unluckiest bloke ever and had 2 handsets with identical software faults? Could it somehow be sim related? I feel like i have no choice but to give up and get yet another replacement :(
 
Woody, I just got my Desire yesterday. I've encountered EXACTLY the same problem. After using the FM radio for a few minutes, it locked up. I can't find an easy way of killing it. While the radio feature isn't essential to me, it's disappointing to hit such a problem within 24 hours of get my hands on the phone. So, you're not crazy or unlucky. I think that there is definitely a problem with it. Are you using the phone in Europe? I wonder if it has something to do with the FM chip scanning the european FM subcarriers.

Pls let me know if you make any progress.
 
I have the same problem - I got my Desire on Friday and everything seemed fine. I tried the radio for the first time on Saturday and I thought all was well... until it finished the scan, and locked on me. Tried again yesterday and the whole phone was disabled by it - I had to unplug the headset and turn off the phone completely.

Other than this, I am really impressed with the Desire and would be loathed to have to return it.

Oh, I'm in London, if that's of any help!
 
Im in London myself. I have a feeling that as more and more people get the phone and start really using the FM Radio rather than just testing it for 30 secs to see if it works this problem will become far more common place.

The frustrating thing is a family member and a friend have also got the Desire and have no problems whatsoever with the Radio (I tested the family members handset myself a couple of times over at least an hour period without an issue)

I have tried a hard reset, using with 2 different SD cards, no SD card, 2 seperate sets of supplied earphones, uninstalling the only app i had installed and the same problem happens time and again. I did leave it running for about an hour one time to test while i watched tv and then tested it and it was fine. I then physically picked it up a minute or 2 later and the player immediately locked up again. I cant help starting to think the problem seems to occur after physically handling the unit rather than just changing stations/manipulating the player whilst the phone is lying flat but that may just be clutching at straws

I had thought that it may be a problem with the Orange handsets as they muck around with the software quite a bit before shipping out, but both my friend and family member are also on Orange so that blows that theory
 
Interesting...

It does seem odd that the problem is exactly the same, don't you think - if the radio was just a bit temperamental, I'd expect a wider range of problems. Mind you, I also agree that it's early days and many people haven't even tried the radio yet.

What is the potential of firmware being able to fix something like this, should it be found to be widespread?

I am on T-mobile so no issues with the Orange thing - I know they can do something funny things.
 
I've just done an experiment... and had a breakthrough!

I brought my phone to work for the first time today, but forgot to bring the heaphones... so I used a pair I found in my desk (from my DSi, I think). I didn't expect them to even work...

I turned off all wireless and internet (just in case?!?) then went on to the radio app... believe it or not, the radio has now been playing, and I've been able to control it, for ten minutes!! I left the radio playing, came out of the app and turned on the internet... no problem. I don't believe it! (as Mr Meldrew would say)

Now, the question is, what does that tell us? Is it the supplied headset causing a problem, the headphone socket, the location... or something else completely random?

Woody - have you tried any of these changes? If not, give them a go and report on your findings...

I'll keep playing and see what happens.

We may be onto something here!!!
 
I've thoroughly had enough of this now. I caved and got a replacement handset so this is the 2nd time its been replaced and STILL have the same problem!!

I used the supplied SD card, supplied earphones and didnt download any additioanl apps. It worked perfectly for around 8 minutes and then the same old player lock up and so had to resort to a phone reboot :mad:

What does that tell me? Unless i really am the unluckiest guy in the world its more than likely a problem with the software in which case theres nothing i can do about it. I will dig out an alternative set of earphones and properly test those and see what happens...
 
I have found a different problem or feature depending on which way you look at it. I was listening to the radio and switched on the camera, this had the effect of turning off the radio. When I closed the camera the radio did not restart. Tried this several times and the radio always turns off. :(
 
OK, I have found the reason for the problem I was having with the radio...

Quite simply, it was the case.

I bought a silicon type case (sold for the Desire but with Nexus One emblazoned on the rear!!) which fits the back and sides of the phone, very snugly. What it does not do, however, is allow enough room for any headphone plug (but particularly the supplied set) to completely plug in.

After a suggestion by a colleague, I took off the case and re-tried the headset - the plug inserts and there is a definite "click" - it didn't do this before - and the radio came on and worked as it should.

So, if you have been using a case, try taking it off and launching the radio.

My solution is to use a scalpel to shave a tiny amount of the case around the plug socket - should do the trick.

Hope this helps!
 
Yes everytime, the earphones (all 3 replacement sets now) are inserting and being detected properly, that is definitely not the cause of the player lock up on my phone.
 
Hi all

Telstra just released the HTC Desire in Australia and after receiving mine today, I started using the FM radio. Initially everything worked fine - it searched and found the stations but then all the symptoms described by everyone else occureed - it locked up and couldn't be shut down; when trying to play music it just continued playing in the background,controls in application did nothing. I used different handsets and no case. Is it a problem with HTC and FM radio as I previously had a HTC Touch Dual where the FM radio initially worked and then just stopped and hasn't worked for two years. Interested to see if anyone else in Australia has experienced this problem and whether we should be getting handset replaced.
 
I've had the handset replaced 3 times and have the same problem on all the handsets. Orange technical department spent an hour on the phone to me going through things and testing it to see if we could pinpoint the cause. THe guy has submitted the fault directly HTC and will contact me after HTC test it out and get back to Orange.

It looks like a software issue though interestly he also said that apps can lock up like this on phones when they cant draw on enough power at a given point and seeing as the Desire is so resource heavy that would make sense but whether its the cause or not i dont know. Im willing to bet that all Desires have this issue at present and because the Radio Player works fine to begin with and seems to take a varying amount of time using it before lock up occures most people have probably just checked the Radio worked briefly and switched it off.

The only reason Orange have now looked at the issue and submitted the problem to HTC is because ive had a number of replacement handsets to try and fix it without success. Both Orange and HTC can only look into an issue with a phone if its being reported to them and i was told no one but me has reported this issue to Orange. I suggest everyone who is having this same problem report it to either HTC or their network or better still both as i dont think there is a quick fix
 
Woody's description matches exactly my experience, on another continent (I am in Connecticut, US), with another phone carrier (Verizon) and another model of Android from HTC.
Does anybody use FM radio without any problem on these phones?
 
AO06483 said:
Woody's description matches exactly my experience, on another continent (I am in Connecticut, US), with another phone carrier (Verizon) and another model of Android from HTC.
Does anybody use FM radio without any problem on these phones?
Click to expand...
I use my radio without any probs, I use it for around an hour at a time on the bus & walking.only niggle I have is the reception is a bit hit n miss,but this is the same with any mobile I have used.
 
I am in Spain and also get the same problems with the radio it must be a software issue I do not have many apps installed so lets hope HTC can get it fixed.
Just a thought I wonder if HTC monitor this forum??? lets hope they do.
 
woody75 said:
All seems well at first but after a few minutes use the app just stops responding completely and the Radio continues to play whatever your currently listening to.
Click to expand...

Me too. If you kill the task, then try to restart the radio, the "switching on FM radio" progress bar slides past as normal, but then it quits with no error message or anything. How rude!

Also, a scan creates LOTS of presets, most of which are just static.

Another weird thing - I noticed on two stations (STAR and HEART) that the FM radio somehow worked out the name of the station a few seconds after tuning, and the name was then stored in the preset and shown at the top of the orange area of the screen. It didn't manage this for any of the other stations I tried, including various BBC ones.

I'm curious why it takes so long for the FM radio app to switch on the FM tuner, or whatever it's doing during the progress bar at the start.

I reported it via the HTC website, who said, "we will pass this information on to our software development department, who will investigate the possibility of addressing these in a future software update."

Rob.
 
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