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Help Unfortunately, the process android.process.acore has stopped

Lotski

Lurker
Hi there,

Two hours ago I suddenly got the error 'Unfortunately, the process android.process.acore has stopped' on my Samsung Galaxy S2. Two minutes earlier I was showing someone a picture on my phone. It started after that.
At first, there was about 1 minute between the error messages. Now I get it every 2-3 seconds (screen freezes first) and other errors are following the main error sometimes (like 'Package Helper has stopped working' and some other ones). I started searching on the internet and read about clearing data from Contacts in Settings. Unfortunately I couldn't do that. The data kept computing (stuck at 'Computing...') and I couldn't select 'clear data'. I went to my Contacts, and they were updating. Never had it before. It also was stuck on that screen and didn't change.
Since half an hour I can't even go into my Settings or an app without the phone having a black screen and returning to the home page, freezing for a second or two.

I have absolutely no idea what to do and I'm getting really frustrated because my phone was just working fine two hours ago. It randomly started giving this error. Is there a solution for this very very very annoying problem?

Thanks!
 
The first and simplest option is to try a reboot. If a reboot doesn't help, then clearing the data for Google play services might help. (settings> apps>all(tab) - locate google play services and clear data. Then reboot.)

are you rooted?
Are you running the stock rom, or a custom one?
Is there anything else you can think of that changes around the time this error occurred?
 
It seems to be fixed. After restarting the phone 3-4 times and trying to get into Settings, I deleted the Google Play updates because I was getting errors from it. It took a while, because the screen kept going black and kept returning to the homepage. But nope, still errors. I restarted my phone again for like the 10th time after I tried to back-up
files on my laptop, and it gave an error too (device not working properly). And suddenly it's fixed... Weird, but I hope the problem won't come back. This was such a random 'solution'...

Thanks for the tips, though.
 
Glad you got it sorted. For future reference in case it happens again, clear cache on the Contacts app (that's what android.process.acore is).

I'm having the same issue and I've cleared the cache on the Contacts app (and more) and I can't get rid of the pop-up, nor can I use my phone.
 
This happened to me three times already after Lollipop upgrade.
I searched and cleared caches and rest apps preferences to no avail - but I found one solution that worked for me ---- Disable Facebook App.
After I disabled Facebook - it reverted to factory installed version and deleted all updates, but after that I had to clear cache and disable the app anyway.
Unfortunately, it comes to life by itself periodically - when I installed some apps or opened an additional email account - somehow Facebook re-initialized.
I had to go into settings->Apps->all apps and kill it again (three times now).
I do not know how to uninstall factory installed app without rooting and I am not comfortable rooting, because it is a corporate phone and has company security and email on it.
I wish either Google issued a new update that improved compatibility with existing apps or app providers made revisions to their apps.
 
FACEBOOK APP!!! The latest version (mid August 2015) conflicts at a system level with standard Android apps (SWAG).

Once uninstalled my Oneplus One was back to normal.

Gee whiz I hate that app. They just do not test enough.

This is it for me. I will not download that crapp app again.
 
IT'S THE FACEBOOK APP!!!
I have had this problem- tried the various suggested fixes:
-Deleted Contact data (lost ALL my contacts as my security app TrustGo, which I had for years, and said it had recently backed up- had ZERO contacts when I went online- come to find out this happened to a lot of people- so FYI - if you have that- get rid of it too!!!)
-Deleted a few recently downloaded apps, didn't work.
Finally got further down this post and discovered the mentions of Facebook. Tried that and it's gone!!
Unbelievable that a tech company has an app that screws up your phone so badly...can't tell you how much time I wasted on the issue- it screwed up my photos downloading from Google drive (couldn't find them- weren't going to Gallery) Just a huge cluster f*!!!
And still w/out a ton of contacts-
FB bites!
 
Ive tried everything suggested here, even uninstalling facebook, nothing worked. :( and no my phone isnt rooted, I dont even know how to root it…
 
Ok, here's what I did to fix this (YMMV - Your mileage may vary)
Here's a photo of the process and where it comes from (contacts):
http://imgur.com/a/vZyLt
So, we KNOW that it's from Contacts.

What I tried (and didn't work.. that I know of).
1) Clearing data from Contacts in Settings, and Contacts Storage
2) Press "Reset App Preferences"

We see a lot of replies mentioning to do a system restore to factory. Don't! Not unless you do this first.

Go to SAFE MODE !!!! (To get there will vary depending on your phone.. Mine is a LG G2).
In Safe Mode, see if Contacts work. EVERYTHING worked on my phone in Safe Mode.
Which meant to me, some ratty app is corrupting the contacts. Now, which one is it?
To figure that out, I needed to know which apps have permission to update contacts.
To find that out, I used the free app: "Advanced Permission Manager" and looked to see which apps were able to "Modify Your Contacts"

One by one, I deleted them.. Went to Safe Mode, went back.. Soon enough, I'd get that error again every few seconds . UNTIL I deleted "Contacts +"
Once I delete it in Safe Mode, and went back to Normal mode, the error went away.

I don't know why it went bad? Have no idea. It started yesterday when I was messing with IFTTT (which can send emails). Somehow I think it created a bad contact.
 
Delete any apps you recently installed that require permissions to contacts, particularly those with permission to write to contacts. Facebook is one that is notorious for creating this error. There are others as well.
 
*Note. Above, I posted my fix. The fix didn't hold though. A few days later, it came back, and I could not get rid of it. Every second, I would get the pop up.
What I ended up doing, was to root my phone, and add CM13 (cyanogenmod) , which is their Marshmallow version. Time consuming to do, but it did work. Especially, as the carrier no longer provided updates to my LG G2. By the way, I love CM13!

*Interesting enough, it would always work in Safe mode. Why?

**There's many posts on FB causing it. On this phone, I never, ever had FB on it.
 
*Note. Above, I posted my fix. The fix didn't hold though. A few days later, it came back, and I could not get rid of it. Every second, I would get the pop up.
What I ended up doing, was to root my phone, and add CM13 (cyanogenmod) , which is their Marshmallow version. Time consuming to do, but it did work. Especially, as the carrier no longer provided updates to my LG G2. By the way, I love CM13!

*Interesting enough, it would always work in Safe mode. Why?

**There's many posts on FB causing it. On this phone, I never, ever had FB on it.

FB is a common culprit, but not the only one. I've encountered this problem on my LG G2 many times and somehow managed to fix it each time after a lot of trial and error. Facebook was the first app that seemed to trigger the problem on my phone. I only recently figured out the problem can be caused by any app that has access to modify contacts. The problem may not occur immediately following the installation of the app, but usually the behavior will manifest within a day or two.

The easy solution to get the problem to go away is to look for, and uninstall any apps you recently installed, especially any that have access to modify contacts. Hopefully you won't have to uninstall an app that you can't do without.

This is of course, not a "solution", but merely an avoidance. Based on upatnight's note above, it appears a permanent solution is to upgrade to Marshmallow. Unfortunately this isn't an option for everyone. It's technically possible to update my LG G2, but if I were to do that, I would be banned from receiving work email on my phone because I'd have to root it. The company I work for does not allow rooted phones to access corporate resources.

I assume it must work in safe mode because safe mode prevents apps from accessing/updating contacts?

This is probably not a bug of the applications, but rather a bug in the OS itself. Why carriers won't push Marshmallow to phones like the G2 is beyond me. Oh, wait. I got it. The reason they won't update older phones is because they want people spend $600 on new phones, even though their current phone is perfectly fine ...or would be with a new OS. It's all about the dollar, nothing about the loyal customer.
 
When I reboot in safe mode, I can only use the apps that originally came with it.
UNLESS, you had used it recently. The recall button still works, so any apps that I had previously used.. I'm able to open.

Anyway, phone, messenger, and contacts definitely use contacts. With them, all contacts are there. Boot up normally, and all contacts are gone. So, what the heck is that? The app that I'm pretty sure caused it was IFFF (if this, then that.) I deleted it, but the result was the same.
There's absolutely no way to delete all apps that have access to contacts. I just checked. I have 70 apps that can read contacts, and 50 that can write to them.
*I used "Permission Info Manager" for it.

Back up everything, and tell your boss your phone no longer works (or break the screen on it if you have to...)
 
You shouldn't have to delete all the apps, just the ones most recently installed. I start with the most recent and work back until the problem goes away. This has always worked for me, without fail. Unless you've installed a lot of apps recently, it should be easy to find. One other thing you might have to do is clear the cache and data from Contacts and Contacts Storage. This will wipe out your contacts, so back them up first. All my contacts are stored in my google account, so they're backed up automatically, and will automatically re-sync to my phone.
 
That, and "SMS backup and restore" Easy to do It backs up all calls, and messages at 2am, and backs up to Google Drive, and keeps the last 30 days worth, so the Google Drive doesn't get "too" many backups.. and yes, it's free.

*When I put CM13 on it, I lost a few months of call logs.. which is why I do that now ;p

Why post this? As we all get frustrated, and trying.. every possible thing.. deleting what we can, and rebooting.. You never know. The backup is basically, "set it and forget it."
 
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