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Help Phone Shutting off randomly?

charfoust said:
Here it is October, and I'm having the same problem with my new captivate. I love the phone but it suddenly started turning itself off. Two mornings in a row, I have awakened to discover that my phone (and alarm) were shut down. The phone lost about 25% of its charge overnight sitting on the nightstand. Has anyone found an answer to this? I just got the phone less than a week ago.
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You're in the same boat as me.

I'm taking the advice posted earlier and getting a new phone before its too late and you end up with a refurb
 
PS - all the sales people that I spoke to acted like they had never heard of the issue. I am pretty sure it is not that uncommon and they have been advised to fain stupidity to the customer who asks if anyone else has returned a phone for the same issue.
 
First, welcome!

I actually READ your version of War and Peace and am not surprised by anything you wrote. There's only one comment to be made regarding content, and that is...try another store, if possible, and make nice to a manager or assistant manager - not a salesperson. If he/she is in a good mood they'll call AT&T Warranty to get permission to swap out your device in the store (bring it up as a request). Don't give them any long stories about your trials and tribulations, but rather be concise while using your feminine charms to convince them that you're a damsel in distress seeking out a hero or heroine.

If that doesn't work, the potential silver lining to your cloud is that some believe that a refurb is superior to a new phone, the theory being that it gets more personalized attention. Could be...could not be. But at least there's hope.

Keep in touch.
 
I did ask if they would call for me and they said no.....the warranty department would not talk to them. I know that is BS. There is only one other store anywhere near here and I was out of steam. I just hope the refurbished phone looks new and work properly. Really, it is ridiculous to pay so much for something and then when it is defective to get treated like crap. They should be apologizing and jumping through hoops to make right if you ask me.
 
Customer service was certainly lacking all around. The misfortune you experienced with the random shutdown occurring just before the 30-day period expired, exacerbated by your CSR and store experiences combined to create the perfect storm of dissatisfaction.

Let's hope that your replacement proves satisfactory and, if not, exchange it again 'til you're content. Some folks have written that their replacements incorporated improvements not present in their original devices.

In any event, life's too short. It's obvious that you're pissed-off. I would be too. Call on the members of this forum with any subsequent operational concerns and we'll do our best to guide you in the right direction. In the meantime...:)
 
Please tell me: Did you have to pull the battery to restart?

What I have been consistently reading is that the only fix is to exchange the phone.
 
Hmmm...is it possible its the charging thats the problem? I bought a spare battery and separate charger from Amazon right after I bought the captivate and just realized that I've maybe plugged the phone in to charge maybe 2 times. A common thread is that the random shut off is after a full charge. The only full charge mine sees is when I swap the battery...just a thought
 
If you or others are convinced that the shutdowns occur at specific charging levels, there's a new free app available for you to try out. Check the Market for Captivate Keep Alive. Don't know how well it works...but it may be the solution for this particular flavor of shutdowns.
 
JudithK said:
PS - all the sales people that I spoke to acted like they had never heard of the issue. I am pretty sure it is not that uncommon and they have been advised to fain stupidity to the customer who asks if anyone else has returned a phone for the same issue.
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HI Judith, I'm a manager of an at&t store, I can tell you that every handset at&t sells has a known issues log that we as employees of at&t can all check. This known issue actually isn't "known" yet. I have a captivate myself and have experienced this issue on and off. The first place I checked was our known issues log and there isn't any direction on this issue as it is not listed yet. I have dealt with samsung level 3 galaxy S support on three different occassions where they have taken notes and even some of them have never heard of it. Your insinuation that at&t's official internal position is to "fain stupidy" is uncalled for and has no basis. At&t's mission statement is: "To connect people and their lives everywhere they live work and play, and do it better than everyone else." Not "sell stuff that doesn't work then fain stupidity." Are you really that synical?
 
JudithK said:
I did ask if they would call for me and they said no.....the warranty department would not talk to them. I know that is BS. There is only one other store anywhere near here and I was out of steam. I just hope the refurbished phone looks new and work properly. Really, it is ridiculous to pay so much for something and then when it is defective to get treated like crap. They should be apologizing and jumping through hoops to make right if you ask me.
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Judith you are correct as an at&t manager, I can tell you that the store should have called warranty for you, I would call customer service and let them know about your experience if i were you. I can assure you that your complaint will roll down hill.
 
@ wampro

Curious - if Judith had walked into your store within the 30 day trial period complaining of random shutdowns, what would you have told her? How about after the 30 day trial period?
 
wampro said:
You have a $200 phone, a computer with internet connection, and can't afford $5 for an alarm clock at walmart? Really?
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Wampro, comments like yours are probably what makes people cynical of management and support staff.

Ultimately, if it has a certain functionality, it should work. Period.
 
I determined my shutdowns were related solely to battery charge level.

I installed keep alive and have not had a shutdown in four days.

This is my second phone on during the 30-day trial period. I don't like having the phone essentially clipped at 85% charge, so may go back to IPhone :(
 
Jack45 said:
I think we can agree by now that it's not related to software downloaded from the Market. Each potential culprit has been ruled out, in addition to the fact that it's been happening with stock phones. That leaves us with pre-installed software, system settings, a bad batch of RAM or some other hardware issue that is not universally defective.

I've had my replacement for almost two weeks without a shutdown. My settings are as follows:

1. Wi-Fi is always on and is set to never sleep. The "never sleep" settings can be accessed via the Wi-Fi settings page menu, Advanced tab at the bottom. Reason: I'm attempting to generate additional under-the-cover activity (plus I do use Wi-Fi). As I'm not a technician, this may be nonsense.

2. Power saving mode is not checked. Reason: "Don't do me any favors, Captivate. Your idea of power saving may get out of hand."

3. I never let the phone go into sleep mode on its own. Default is 30 minutes, but I always push the button to get it to sleep. Reason: Just in case the built-in sleep timer thinks that "sleep" and "coma" are synonymous.

You can try these three mods to see if they work for you. I'm not saying that these settings will for sure fix the issue, but rather letting you know what's been effective for me...so far.
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I unchecked Power Saving mode and set the Sleep to 30 minutes. So now I push the Power button when I want to put it in sleep. I have not had it shut down unexpectedly in 3 days since making these changes.

I'm hoping these settings will prevent any more unplanned shutdowns. And hopefully this post will help troubleshoot the cause or at least confirm a workaround.

For what it's worth...
I do have ATK installed but I don't let the service run. I only use it when I feel I need it, then stop it's service when I'm finished killing apps.

Background
I had my phone a few days when it shut off for the first time (in my pocket). It shut off again a day later (again in my pocket). It seems that it began to shut down more frequently when I changed the sleep timeout from 2 minutes down to 1 minute. In other words, it would go to sleep before I was done using the screen. And it would randomly shut down when it was just on the desk (not in my pocket).

My phone is stock, not rooted, not unlocked, with less than 10 apps installed from the market (plus bloatware). According to Samsung, it was manufactured 09/29/2010. I kept the Power Saving option on until I read Jack's post. Now it stays off.

I do not necessarily want to root my phone (doesn't that "void warranty"?) But I will if needed. For example, I cannot log in to Skype on this phone (seems to be a common complaint for the Captivate). Using Skype for international voice is a top priority for me.

This is my first smartphone and first Android experience. (I was using iPod Touch as "smart" device.) Here's hoping Froyo is released soon on AT&T and that is solves these problems, upgrades user experience, and does NOT add more new issues. :)
 
First, welcome!

The random shutdown issue is very complicated. I've been following it since day one. What I've learned:

1. Unaffected devices have innards that are more robust and are better able to handle anomalies that plague other Captivates.

2. Some devices shut down when the percent of charge is high, say, above 80%. There's an app for that (sorry). Captivate Keep Alive, free from the Market. If you're technically inclined, all it's doing is holding a PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK WakeLock until the battery % is below the threshold you specify. The WakeLock is held by a service that manages the notification and receives the battery percent from a BroadcastReceiver.

3. Some devices react to LauncherPro (like mine). Easy "fix." Don't use it.

4. Some (all?) devices react to overly-aggressive settings employed with SetCPU.

5. Some devices react badly to the Captivate handling sleep issues on its own. Sleep becomes coma. I avoid that trap by setting the time-out to 30 minutes and always waking the phone and putting it to sleep using the side button.

Regarding rooting, I'm a believer (yes, it voids the warranty, but that's no biggie as the phone can be un-rooted if warranty work / exchange is necessary). Main reason for rooting (IMO) is that it enables the most complete backup of the device. There are other good reasons, too. See Root - CapFAQ for a more complete review.
 
I got my captivate last night and have already been experiencing this issue as well.
Within 15 minutes or so from sleeping, it would shut down.
Now that the battery has had time to drain-off some (I seem to be at around 80% or so), it's been on steady for an hour.
I'm going to give the Keep Alive app a try, but I'll be requesting a new unit.
 
First, welcome!

If you got your device last night and you're confident that it experienced a random shutdown, don't futz with CKA. Exchange it a.s.a.p. CKA is best used after the initial 30 day trial period has expired.
 
Jack45 said:
First, welcome!

If you got your device last night and you're confident that it experienced a random shutdown, don't futz with CKA. Exchange it a.s.a.p. CKA is best used after the initial 30 day trial period has expired.
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Thanks for the welcome.
I'll do that ASAP. I think they're open Sunday.
Thanks again!
 
Update:
Called ATT. They're sending a new unit (I'm a premier customer). They were great.
I installed CKA to try it anyway until the new one arrives. Charged it fully, clicked OK, went to bed. Phone shut down.woke up, turned it on and called my dad. Phone shut down while I was talking to him. Wow.
 
Copronymous said:
Update:
Called ATT. They're sending a new unit (I'm a premier customer). They were great.
I installed CKA to try it anyway until the new one arrives. Charged it fully, clicked OK, went to bed. Phone shut down.woke up, turned it on and called my dad. Phone shut down while I was talking to him. Wow.
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Wow...well, let us know how the new one works out!
 
Captivate keep alive really works! just installed it and was very confused earlier today about what i should do. thanks peeps who recommended the app! you people who are having the random shut offs install the app and set it to about 15% and it wont do it till it gets to 15%. its the best app you can get, and dont get a new phone till you try installing this FREE app.
 
Copronymous said:
I got my captivate last night and have already been experiencing this issue as well.
Within 15 minutes or so from sleeping, it would shut down.
Now that the battery has had time to drain-off some (I seem to be at around 80% or so), it's been on steady for an hour.
I'm going to give the Keep Alive app a try, but I'll be requesting a new unit.
Click to expand...
yes! try the app it really keeps your phone alive! youll see
 
bad news, Captivate Keep Alive felt like it was working, except when I turned on Wi-Fi (with default setting of sleep enabled) and phone shutdown in sleep mode. So now I have set the Wi-Fi to never sleep in advanced options for wifi and will see if that does not cause the issue. Per other valuable advice on this forum: I now have Captivate Keep Alive with settings of 1% (min value allowed), screen time off to 30 mins (i.e. use button to turn screen off), Power Saving Mode disabled and wifi enabled with "Never" sleep. I am at the latest 2.1 Update 1.
 
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