Help Random Reboots: Replace the SIM Card

[gearhead64]

Phone/Configuration: Atrix 4G, pretty much the way it came from AT&T (added a few apps from Google Play, adjusted settings, etc.).

Symptoms: Random reboots regardless of how it was (or wasn't) being used, EXCEPT in Airplane mode, in which case it wouldn't reboot.

Timeframe: I noticed it happening a few times when I first purchased the phone in July 2011, but chalked it up to having purchased "bleeding edge" technology. Somewhere around April 1, 2012 it started rebooting approximately once per hour.

AT&T sent me a replacement phone this week. It rebooted while I was setting it up. It also rebooted at least once per hour. I used the "Reboot Logger" app to track the reboots.

Thanks to the following threads for helping me narrow it down (since I'm not a frequent poster I can't post links, so do a search for the following):
"Atrix Random Reboot Issue Poll"
"3 different ATRIX phones all rebooting"

I did quite a bit of searching on this topic, both when I first got the phone and recently when it got bad. I didn't find the last thread above until yesterday. I had AT&T replace the SIM card yesterday evening and it seems to be working fine now.

If this is common, it's difficult to believe it doesn't seem to be more well known by either the carriers or Motorola. Maybe the Atrix is just more sensitive to bad/sketchy SIM cards?

I'll try to remember to edit this post with updates, but at this point it seems to be case closed. Hope it helps some frustrated users.

12 hrs with no reboots.
24 hrs with no reboots.
48 hrs with no reboots.
1 week with no reboots (this will be the last update unless problems start again).

 

[shalemail]

I got my Atrix in the first week or 10 days it was out ... been about a year now WOW time flies :shot: ... Anyway never had the reboot issues I seemed to be reading about all the time.

That said, when I got mine I demanded a new 4G sim card. They looked at me like I was crazy and said they had no such thing and said the phone would work fine with my existing sim. (The was the local corporate store mind you.)

I knew better and checked back every week for about a month and a half, finally got my new 4G sim and I have never had an issue.

Might indeed be a sim related issue.

 

[lsterman]

Thanks for the great research. My phone was rebooting about every 15 minutes and had a variety of other odd problems (disappearing icons, disappearing notification bar). Brought my phone back to Best Buy where I bought it and they were totally indifferent to the problem and told me to call Motorola. After reading your post, went into the local AT&T store and they were far more helpful, replaced the SIM, and all seems ok now. Thanks again.

 

[dagarland]

Didn't work for me. I've been plagued with the random reboot problem for many months. AT&T replaced the SIM card, and no difference.

AT&T says they know of the problem, and Mot is working on a solution. I don't know about you guys, but that doesn't seem like quite enough. I paid $500 for a phone that's unusable, and all they can say is that someday I might get it fixed?

It's time for a class action suit.

 

[James1977]

Replacing the sim card has worked for me so far. This is my third phone with the same random rebooting issue. It hasn't rebooted for several hours since I replaced the sim card 6 hrs ago.

 

[iacklink]

For months I also had severe problems with sudden reboots (up to 15 per day). After I recognized that the amount of reboots depended on the SIM card inserted, I found out that there was a contact problem. After inserting a small piece of board (thick paper) between the retaining clip and SIM card (to press the card tighter to the contacts) all problems vanished. The atrix is stable now for about one month.