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Root Out of memory and other problems

J

James Blonde

Newbie
I've got a number of problems on my stock Orange branded Desire HD. I'm 2 months from end of contract, but to be honest, I've lost patience with the problems now as they're affecting my day to day use.

So, first problem is that I appear to be out of memory - or "insufficient storage available" when trying to update apps. This has been gradually getting worse and worse for the last month or so to the point where no apps will now update. I've tried using the memory wizard to clear caches, move lesser used apps to SD card, clear texts, etc but even after doing this once a week (and 2 weeks ago having over 200mb spare) I'm left with 106mb available out of 1162mb which is triggering the memory alert. Firstly, surely thats tons of space? Secondly, given I haven't added any new apps for months, what on earth is this phone doing with the updates? Surely they're supposed to replace existing files and free up the space once installed rather than keep adding on. Obviously I accept some of these files will be larger than the ones they're replacing, but still, it feels like the phone isn't freeing up memory?

Second problem is the good old Navigation / Route 66 continually loading and phone always on speakerphone. I've tried all the documented fixes (car phone dock, fluff cleaning, removing / reseating batteries, cards, etc) without any luck. I'm getting fed up with the whole office hearing my phonecalls...! ;) Has anyone actually come up with a sustainable solution for this yet? Obviously I have no options to uninstall, and I'm not paying for it.

Thirdly, I'm getting reasonably frequent "hangs" (for want of a better term) when closing apps, where the phone seems to white screen, and then a show loading home screen. This is taking a couple of minutes to clear, rendering the phone useless in the meantime. I'm also getting weekly full system crashes / resets, with no obvious trigger.

Any suggestions?

I was hoping that ICS would help resolve these problems, but they binned that grr. I'm toying with rooting and installing ICS anyway, but that would be a new one for me, and besides, I'm not sure it would fix any of the problems.

Incidentally, I do have insurance, although I understand that the excess has gone up.
 
Well since your nearly out of contract I would go the root way. I've always found branded software on mobiles to be full of crap and not stable. I'm with Vodafone and I've had similar problems like you in the past and the dreaded GPS problem that seemed to plague only branded Vodafone mobiles. Since rooting I've had no problems I can think of. But you could also hang it out for those 2 months and then trade your phone in with Orange for a newer handset. I take it you have the latest update installed on your phone?
 
Yup, Android 2.3.5 and Sense 3.

I guess the question is, how easy is it to root (I'm capable of following instructions, but I'm not a Linux kind of guy, so that side of things is alien to me!), and what (in terms of apps and data) would I lose?
 
To be honest, the DHD is now relatively straight forward to root. It is pretty much a one click affair.

If you're not a fan of Linux, it is possible to do it in a Windows environment, but you need to disable antivirus, etc. It is important to read (and re-read) the manual... if you need any help, ask questions - it's easier to try and point you in the right direction than fix problems.

Check this thread out first, as it is where we have talked someone through it :)
 
It doesn't take long to do as long as you follow the instructions correctly. Do that and in no time you'll be rooted and on your way to installing a custom rom. Can't say 100% that it will solve all of your problems but like I said in my last post since using custom roms I haven't had any problems apart from the non working apps as said in the rom details. Remember if you do root you'll lose everything on your phone apart from what is stored on you sd card, that's safe but I would back it up on your pc anyway.
 
Well I appear to have rooted successfully! Huzzah!

So now I guess I need to figure out what to do with my rooted phone! Custom ROM is the obvious answer, but what one?

I'm not massively fussed about constantly changing ROMs and playing around with it - I just want a relatively stable phone that performs well, isn't too bloaty (lets be honest here though - I've most likely got rid of all the Orange bloat now!) and has nice flashy bells and whistles! ;) I'm happy with Sense, but I don't know anything different - I've been on HTC phones for about 5 models, and Hero before this, so haven't seen anything other than an HTC interface since say 2004...!
 
When it comes to ROM's, it depends what you're after... if you want a Sense (stock HTC) based ROM or if you want to try a Vanilla Android ROM (something more similar to what would be on one of the Nexus phones).

There are some who prefer Sense ROM's and some (like me) who prefer Vanialla Android ROM's. The best part of being rooted is, you can try a different ROM as often as you like - ask ral... he became a bit of a flashaholic! :)

(moving this thread to the root section, as it's become root related :))
 
I'll have a look through the threads in the root forum now I think! I sense (see what I did there... ;)) I'll probably stick with Sense for the moment but as you say, the world is now my oyster!
 
This'll probably be my last question(s) on this thread hopefully!

I've downloaded a few ROMs - Jellytime, IceColdSandwich, Blackout ICS and TrickDroid - they seemed to be the most talked about and hopefully most stable. I've gone with Blackout ICS initially, but I want to check I've got this right...

I took a backup of the clean stock ROM as advised.

So, once I've configured a new ROM with my apps, settings, etc. what do I do? Take a backup of that through 4ext? Obviously I would prefer not to start from scratch every time I flash! I also don't really want to have to have effectively another 4 ROMs taking up space, so can I / do I delete the downloaded ones?

Finally, I note that "Locations" is on the Blackout ICS ROM, which is the premium navigation app that finally tipped me over the edge! Please tell me its not going to start causing problems again??! Can I actually remove it now I'm rooted? If so, how?!
 
I'm just on my way out James (and have no experience with Sense ROM's), so I'll leave this for one of the others to answer :)

Only one thing to mention... I only have a ROM on my SD card until I have flashed it, then remove it. I only put a new one on when I'm ready to flash a new one :)
 
You can use titanium backup to backup apps and data. It can be found in the play store. This way you will not have to start from scratch each time you flash a new Rom.

I have not used locations so I am not sure if the issue will happen again.. give it a try and if it does you could always find an app to freeze it I think (he paid version of titanium can do this) or try an AOSP/AOKP rom.
 
The paid version of Titanium also allows you to batch restore apps (rather than one at a time) and a recent update also brought the functionality of a flashable zip of your apps.

Also, be aware to only restore user apps, not system apps, to avoid issues) :)
 
I disable HTC Locations. Best to just "Freeze" the app first (several apps on Google Play, but Titanium Backup can do this also) to make sure you don't delete anything you need. After an app is frozen for a few days, and your sure you don't need it, you can uninstall it.
 
Well, first full day of "normal" usage, and wow, what a difference!!!!! Battery life has increased by I'd guess 3 times on an out-the-box ROM! Now that's saying something! Not had a problem so far with Locations starting up, BUT...

When plugging into the car charger / 3.5mm jack, the phone is no longer staying awake as it used to - the screen times out. Thats a real pain when I want to change songs as its my main MP3 player. I've installed Car Dock Setting v3 which is showing timeout disabled, so at a loss as to what I can do? Any suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions re: backing up apps and data - I'd been reading that it was best to install from scratch, but I guess that referred to system apps, which are already there.
 
the screen times out. Thats a real pain when I want to change songs as its my main MP3 player. I've installed Car Dock Setting v3 which is showing timeout disabled, so at a loss as to what I can do? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a bug in the ROM. There is a toggle in the quick settings labeled "Screen On". It keeps the screen on. Not a great solution though.
 
I think it was in blackout where toggling screen off actually just meant it never locked.

Like after a period of time the screen dimmed, and increased in brightness when I tapped it.
 
I've "discovered" tasker and set up a task based on power state which seems to be doing the trick! I think I can probably live with that work around if its a ROM problem! Thanks again! :)
 
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I thought I'd come back to this thread after a couple of months with a rooted DHD. After all, my contract is up which means its new phone time...

However I don't know if I desperately want one! Rooting the DHD is the best thing I've ever done with a phone, and I wonder why I've never done it before! It's like I've got a new phone, but it does leave me asking some serious questions.

Like why has my batterly life doubled / tripled? I know that's a (really!) good thing, but why the hell was the battery life so bad before I rooted it? I get 2-3 days of decent usage out if it now on a stock batery (as opposed to 8 hours), and it charges quickly! So really, why?

Why is it so much faster now? Surely a newer ROM should require better hardware to run it optimally, so surely I should have lost some performance? Similarly, my memory issues have gone!


Can I get the same benefits with every phone?

Why on earth did HTC not make these changes?!

These things leave me wondering where to go next, and make me more confused.

I like the fact I can replace the battery. I like the SD card slot (and given I'm using 25Gb of a 32Gb card, I need the memory!), I like sense(!) and given I've been on HTC phones for probably 10 years, there is probably a little sense of loyalty there. I can't rely on cloud storage, cos I can't rely on getting a reception, particularly where I work.

However HTC can't give me any or all of that any more unless they're changing direction. It also rules out the Nexus 4. But then the 64gb HTC One X+ might be OK even without the replacable battery and SD card, particularly if rooting an HTC phone can potentually vastly improve battery life!

I hear HTC are looking at a Note type device and some new monster flagship phone (M7?) due out in the next couple of months. It does also leave me looking at Galaxy III, Galaxy Note II, or AN Other droid (I've probably ruled out Windows 8...) phone that might be on the not too distant horizon.

Urgh! But at least I'm not feeling forced into it! ;)
 
James Blonde said:
Can I get the same benefits with every phone?

Why on earth did HTC not make these changes?!
Click to expand...

One of the hardest things to find in a high end smartphone these days is a user replaceable battery. The Galaxy S III and Note II have a user replaceable battery and so does the LG Optimus 4X HD.

My DHD is 24 months old in a week or so. I would not have been able to keep it this long without a user replaceable battery. As a counter point, the new phones do have longer battery life.

The main reason for the built in battery is to keep the profile as slim as possible.

As for microSD cards, the trend set by Google was to phase them out. This trend is not continuing. The latest phone, the HTC Butterfly has a MicroSD card slot.

If you can hold on a bit longer it seems to make Sense to get one of the new Android with a 1080p display.
 
Yeh, I can happily wait a wee while for the right phone. I sense that a new release cycle is about the start, so don't want to rush into an existing model.

With non-replacable batteries, if the battery in the device will a) provide sufficient power to easily last the day and longer (unlike the DHD) and b) last the life of the device, then I'd probably be OK with it
 
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