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What's up with disappearing ringtones???

karib

karib

Android Enthusiast
I have specific ringtones set for my favorite contacts, a notification for sms and one for email. I am CONSTANTLY having to re-enter these! For some reason, unknown to me, they just switch to some standard ringtone. When I go into the contact to check it will say "unknown ringtone" instead of the tone I had entered! This is extremely frustrating for me. I would also say that my notification sounds stay at what I set them at for a day or two at most! Has anyone else had this problem? I am I doing something wrong? I am saving it in the contact info when I edit it... :confused:
 
karib said:
I have specific ringtones set for my favorite contacts, a notification for sms and one for email. I am CONSTANTLY having to re-enter these! For some reason, unknown to me, they just switch to some standard ringtone. When I go into the contact to check it will say "unknown ringtone" instead of the tone I had entered! This is extremely frustrating for me. I would also say that my notification sounds stay at what I set them at for a day or two at most! Has anyone else had this problem? I am I doing something wrong? I am saving it in the contact info when I edit it... :confused:
Click to expand...

I don't have this problem.

I use 'Rings Extended' for my ringtones, and set songs for ringtones for people. Also, my contacts are listed as 'Google' contacts (when you open People, it will say 'Phone', 'Google', or whatever else. Are yours listed as 'Phone' or 'Exchange' contacts, or 'Google' contacts? Is your Contact list set to automatically Sync with Google? (in Settings > Data Synchronization?)
 
pkopalek said:
I don't have this problem.

I use 'Rings Extended' for my ringtones, and set songs for ringtones for people. Also, my contacts are listed as 'Google' contacts (when you open People, it will say 'Phone', 'Google', or whatever else. Are yours listed as 'Phone' or 'Exchange' contacts, or 'Google' contacts? Is your Contact list set to automatically Sync with Google? (in Settings > Data Synchronization?)
Click to expand...


When I open "people" it says Google next to every contacts name and I am set the sync with google... Also, when I get calls sometimes from a favorite contanct, not only does it not ring with their specifiec ringtone, but not even my default ringtone! Like yesterday, I knew it was F'd up again because my husband called, who should be "hip hop chicken" (I know, its just so cute) and my default is "boom boom pow" it just gave some normal ring, didn't even recognize it was my phone ringing!
 
Frisco said:
Are you saying they work for a while then stop working?
Click to expand...

I am... its so strange. I use mabilo ringtones and was assigning them right from the app and I thought maybe that was the problem, so I put them into my audio file. They show up with all the stock ringtones, and I then assigned them just by editing the contact and selecting the ringtone from the list. I thought I solved the problem, but last night, more than half of my favorite contacts (like 4-5) were back to "unknown ringtone"!! The other half were still showing up as the right rin gtones I assigned.
 
Perhaps this is a Malibo problem? I'm trying to discern what you're doing exactly.

Try just setting a normal default phone ring tone, that's built into your phone.

Then, set your Husband's ringtone to one of the built-in phone ring tones.

Then have him call you.

See if this ringtone stays, for a couple days. I bet it does.

For Malibo, you should 'Save' the ringtones, then use 'Rings Extended' or another program like it to assign the ringtone to each person. I don't trust using it to just set the ringtone to a contact.
 
karib said:
I am... its so strange. I use mabilo ringtones and was assigning them right from the app and I thought maybe that was the problem, so I put them into my audio file. They show up with all the stock ringtones, and I then assigned them just by editing the contact and selecting the ringtone from the list. I thought I solved the problem, but last night, more than half of my favorite contacts (like 4-5) were back to "unknown ringtone"!! The other half were still showing up as the right rin gtones I assigned.
Click to expand...

That is strange, Karib.

I am wondering if there is some sort of time-out mechanism in the tones you've been using; are you absolutely sure you got a version that is not a trial, for example (long-shot guess here :o).
 
Yeah, select stock ringtones for them for now. Then see if, in the next day or so, they go to Unknown, or if they stay how you set them.

I bet Malibo.

For Malibo, I suggest just 'Saving' the ringtone to your SD card, and using 'Rings Extended' to assign ringtones to people, right in their contact in the People app.
 
karib said:
I am... its so strange. I use mabilo ringtones and was assigning them right from the app and I thought maybe that was the problem, [size=+2]so I put them into my audio file.[/size] They show up with all the stock ringtones, and I then assigned them just by editing the contact and selecting the ringtone from the list. I thought I solved the problem, but last night, more than half of my favorite contacts (like 4-5) were back to "unknown ringtone"!! The other half were still showing up as the right rin gtones I assigned.
Click to expand...

There was another user (AlisonChains, IIRC) that reported problems assigning ringtones after they had been moved by the user.

That report seemed to indicate (maybe) that the "old" ringtone information in the contact database somehow was interfering with the ability to re-use a ringtone of the same (file) name, but stored in a different location on the SD card.

Returning the ringtone file to the original location solved AC's problem - and I suspect that renaming the ringtone file to a name different from the original might work, too.

One other thing to consider: If you mount the SD card on a PC, it is temporarily unavailable to the phone, and all calls configured to use a ringtone on the SD card will use a default ring. If you are having troubles with the SD card, that might be part of the problem... but honestly, I think the trouble comes from moving the ringtone around after you have already assigned it to a contact.

HTH

eu1
 
Karib - YES. I had the same problem!

Although, erisuser1, it seems that she was having the problem and THEN moved the files to the audio file, is that right Karib?

In my case, I had installed Astro, made my own audio file and moved everything over there. I started having issues so I uninstalled Astro. So, of course, the phone didn't know where the files were even if I did assign them from Mabilo. It did the same thing you describe in regards to ring and displaying unknown ringtone.

I ended up downloading a new ringtone and then moving all of the ringtones to the new folder on the card that Mabilo created, reassigned them from Mabilo and everything works fine now.

I also noticed that the same thing does happen if I just rename the default Mabilo folder. It will also create a new folder if I download more songs - same with the wallpapers.
 
I have the same issue with my wife's ringtone. I have set a ringtone that I created using the song from our first dance. The ringtone will work for approx two or three days, then the phone reverts to a standard ringtone for her. I have taken the custom ringtone completely off my phone, deleted it from the hard drive on my computer, waited a couple of days, recreated the ringtone, and finally reloaded on the phone and set it to her ringtone. I've done this more than just a couple of times. Still, no satisfactory resolution.

Oh, all of my other custom ringtones are perfect.

I'm about ready to name my phone Christine.
 
Once again

Let me rehash here.

"They show up with all the stock ringtones, and I then assigned them just by editing the contact and selecting the ringtone from the list"

They show up with all the stock ringtones.

I'm telling everyone here, that using Rings Extended to assign the ringtone INSTEAD OF the Stock ringtone assigning program, may well solve the problem.
 
erisuser1 said:
There was another user (AlisonChains, IIRC) that reported problems assigning ringtones after they had been moved by the user.

That report seemed to indicate (maybe) that the "old" ringtone information in the contact database somehow was interfering with the ability to re-use a ringtone of the same (file) name, but stored in a different location on the SD card.

Returning the ringtone file to the original location solved AC's problem - and I suspect that renaming the ringtone file to a name different from the original might work, too.

One other thing to consider: If you mount the SD card on a PC, it is temporarily unavailable to the phone, and all calls configured to use a ringtone on the SD card will use a default ring. If you are having troubles with the SD card, that might be part of the problem... but honestly, I think the trouble comes from moving the ringtone around after you have already assigned it to a contact.

HTH

eu1
Click to expand...

You are right about moving the file and the ringtone being gone... I knew that and reassigned them right away after I did that though. Keeps happening though. Not since Tuesday though, maybe they will stay now???
 
karib said:
You are right about moving the file and the ringtone being gone... I knew that and reassigned them right away after I did that though. Keeps happening though. Not since Tuesday though, maybe they will stay now???
Click to expand...

I'd sure like to see the reason for that behavior discovered and posted in here. It has not happened to me, yet, but I'll be doing the customized ring tone thing pretty soon and I'm wondering if that's a glitch in the Eris system somewhere.
 
pkopalek said:
Once again

Let me rehash here.

"They show up with all the stock ringtones, and I then assigned them just by editing the contact and selecting the ringtone from the list"

They show up with all the stock ringtones.

I'm telling everyone here, that using Rings Extended to assign the ringtone INSTEAD OF the Stock ringtone assigning program, may well solve the problem.
Click to expand...

I dl'd rings extended. When it happens again, I will assign them from there and see if they stick! I had that app on my moto droid... forgot about it to put it on my Eris :p Thanks for the tip.
 
Perhaps why Rings Extended doesn't illustrate this problem,

It will find a ringtone in ANY folder on the SD card, rather than in a particular folder. No moving around!
 
Lost my sms notification today! Poof! It just disappeared. I had it set as R2D2 through handcent app. I reset it using rings extended, lets see if this works. Grrrrrrr.....
 
I've been having this problem as well on my Droid (although in my case it seems to randomly re-assign ringtones to contacts and notifications), and it seems to only happen after I mount the SD card to my computer through the USB connection. Of course this isn't exactly something you can avoid doing, so I'm going to play around with the solutions people have suggested and report back!

Edit: When I re-create (and assign) my ringtones using Ringdroid, it works perfectly! Now if I could just get the notifications to stick...

Edit 2: Rings Extended also works for some apps, although it crashes when I try to use it in others (including Voice, Messaging, and both email clients)...does anyone know how to fix this?

Edit 3: OK, after a reformat of my SD card, settings now seem to be sticking even after mounting and unmounting from the computer. Something must have been messed up on the SD card filesystem.
 
I'm having a similar problem with my N1. I have a default ringtone (the fading telephone sound from Crank) and then my friend with a different ringtone so I can tell when it's her calling. About half the time, it doesn't use the custom ringtone for her, just the default one. Haven't been able to figure out any patterns, and I haven't moved / modified any ringtones for weeks.

Anyone else running into a problem like this?



http://nexusonederful.blogspot.com
 
I have a hunch ! It seems whenever I connect my phone to the pc using the USB cable (I use my HTC Desire as a storage device), SD card access from the phone is being blocked. Effectively this means whenever I'm being called when phone is PC-connected, I get another ringtone that is stored on the phone...
Not really sure if yet, if the phone will revert back to my custom ringtone as soon as I pull the USB cable...

Question (perhaps slightly off-topic): Is there a way to store that customer ringtone in the root/system directory (i.e. bypass the write-protection on the root)?
 
:)

Just got my HTC Incredible (Android 2.1 installed). The problem I HAD with the disappearing ringtones are fixed. Maybe this fix will help you:

Blue = Caution
Red = Warning
Green = Instructions

(Note 1: I'm using a microSD card to store my MP3 & Ringtones).
(Note 2: You should be able to do this with your phone's internal storage if you are not using a microSD card.)
(Note 3: When your phone is MOUNTED to the PC, you CANNOT select or assign ringtones from your phone until your phone is UNMOUNTED).

1. Mount your phone using the USB cable to your PC .
2. On the root of the card, create a folder called "media", then inside the "media" folder, create a new folder called "audio", inside "audio" create two folders: "notifications" and "ringtones". (DO NOT INCLUDE QUOTATION MARKS FOR FOLDER NAMES).

You'll have something like this after creating all these folders: e.g.
J:\media\audio\ringtones <<-- for RINGTONES
J:\media\audio\notifications <<-- for SMS/Alerts, etc.

3. Go back to your phone, UNMOUNT the USB connection, and select the app called "Music" (It's a STOCK application, so you should have it on your Android).

4. Find the music you like to turn into a ringtone, start up that music, press "menu" on your phone, and choose "Set as ringtone".

5. Now, you have the choice to trim the music file or not. (For this example, I suggest you trim the music to YOUR desire length; so that we can continue onto the next steps.)

6. After trimming, you can assign the ringtone as the Phone's default ringtone or assign it to a specific contact.

7. Now, MOUNT your phone again using the USB cable.

8. INSTEAD of going to your microSD card, we are going to go to the phone's Internal Memory. (On your PC, click on START, choose "Computer" (or "My Computer" for Windows XP users) and find your phone's internal memory).

9. Open up the MOUNTED drive (in other words, select your phone's internal memory), located in "Computer" or "My Computer" and locate this folder called ".ringtonetrimmer". Open up the ".ringtonetrimmer" folder and you'll see a folder called "ringtones". Open up that "ringtones" folder, and you should see all of the ringtones that you've created earlier using the "music" app.

10. Drag/Cut/Move (whatever you want to call it) all the ringtones files from the "ringtones" folder (residing on the phone's internal memory), to the "ringtones" folder (created earlier, residing on the microSD card).

(Essentially, you drag the ringtones from your phone storage to the microSD card).

11. Now, UNMOUNT the phone. Goto your contact list to re-assign the ringtone to a specific person. OR goto "Settings" on your phone, choose "Sound & Display", and choose "Phone ringtone" to set a default ringtone for all incoming calls.

Following this instruction, you should be able to keep your assigned ringtones without having it revert back to something else.

Hope this helps.
 
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