What exactly is the meaning of the dead android boot screen

[nickdalzell]

This symbol comes up whenever my device (usually a cheap device) either freezes, crashes, or has a sleep of death (SoD) forcing a reboot with the reset hole. What I should see is the normal 'happy droid' icon



Whenever the 'dead droid' appears, it is always after I use the reset hole to force boot it, then the icon shows in place of the above logo, almost reminding me of the 'Sad Mac' from the classic Mac OS days, is this the Android equivalent? Almost each time the 'sad Android' shows, I simply reset again and all is well, with no data lost.



Also the fix for Sad Mac was a reboot, as well

 

[SulkyAndroid17]

It means something didn't save/shutdown/restart correctly. So it takes you to recovery instead. There could be any number of reasons why you get it.

 

[argedion]

That is the default recovery picture. Generally only see it when in default recovery

 

[Adauth]

Are you rooted or have you tried to root? Also maybe you messed with a system app/command without knowing it?

 

[mikedt]

This symbol comes up whenever my device (usually a cheap device) either freezes, crashes, or has a sleep of death (SoD) forcing a reboot with the reset hole. What I should see is the normal 'happy droid' icon

BTW I've never actually seen it myself.

 

[nickdalzell]

I haven't rooted no. Although devices made in you-know-where usually come rooted out of the box. I've seen the 'sad android' a few times, including a new device I got to mess around with (no way am I chancing it with a $599 device!) which did it straight out of the box. If this is recovery why does it simply freeze at the dead android and not give me any options? Why is my data still intact when I power off and back on again? Either way I have always pondered its meaning or if it harks to the Sad Mac days or copies it. I do know Google Chrome has a 'sad tab' that makes fun of Apple, curious if they did it too with the Sad Android...not much info on Google and tons of 'guesses' as to what it actually means.

 

[SulkyAndroid17]

We already said what the "dead Android" means. The reason it appears is the guess. Cheap devices get cheap development. A lot of things could trigger it. This is why programs use log files.

 

[Slug]

Let me try to be a bit more helpful....

I would expect to see text in the recovery screenshot showing the options available e.g. reboot system, wipe data, install update.zip etc. Do these appear on the device or is the image as shown here, without these?

As to the "why?", i'm guessing that the reset doesn't register as an orderly shutdown. I've pulled the battery on my GS2 numerous times though and never rebooted into recovery unless I explicitly commanded it, and you'd think that would have the same effect.

 

[nickdalzell]

Whenever I get a dead android, it is often after I attempt to reset it after a freeze, or a crash. Instead of the normal 'Android' boot animation it comes up with the first image I posted, that of an android robot lying on his back, tummy open and a red (or yellow) triangle with exclamation point inside of it. It doesn't do anything at that point, nor do buttons respond. I then have to turn the device OFF by either holding down power, or using the reset button again, then it often boots fine without a problem.

It truly reminds me of a similar screen in a classic Macintosh desktop, when it froze, I'd hit Command, apple key and some other key to reboot, and I'd get the sad Mac, and chimes of death. Another reboot works just fine. I'm just curious if Android is doing the same thing, in a way. I love messing around and learning about the OS, and just tackling the meaning of certain things.