HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
synergy
Newbie

Like many of you unfortunate souls out there I have had my HTC Incredible go into a rebooting loop over the last month or so. The following recounts some observations and and a solution which appears to work.

 

First off, my son and I both have the same phone and software versions and apps. He does NOT get email on his phone because he does not want to. I do. His phone has NEVER rebooted. Mine has done so numerous times. My business partner also has the identical phone and software version, lives within 200 yards of me,  and uses the email and has had numerous reboots and has gotten them even sooner than I saw them at first. My partner and I have set up email attachments and downloads to go to the SD card. So much for background info. Here is what I did to fix the problem followed by some other observations:

 

  1. Open up the case of the phone and remove the battery
  2. Remove the SD card from the phone.
  3. Put it into an adapter that allows you to access files directly on your computer. In my case this was a Windows PC running Windows 7.
  4. Mount the SD card in your computer and open up the browser to see the files on the SD card.
  5. Look for a folder called ".Mail"
  6. If your phone is like mine you will see hundreds of files, some of zero length. This was even though I had deleted most of the emails I received on my phone.
  7. Proceed to directly delete any of the zero length files. For that matter, you may have other files like jpg's laying around of uncertain origin. I got rid of these and other strange files that seemed attached to no documents at all.
  8. Remove the SD card and reinsert into your phone. Put the battery back in and the cover on then restart the phone. Your phone should run properly and you should not see any negative consequences from the files you deleted previously.

 

Some other observations relevant to this solution that bolsters my theory that this problem has something to do with the email application and also a problem with file system corruption on the SD card as a consequence of it.

 

  1. I had previously seen the email application put some mail from a different account I was using into my main account. The files could not be deleted and even trying to do so would cause the mail app to force close.
  2. My son has never seen the problem despite being in the same environment with the same phone and software. Relevant difference to me was that he was NOT using email and I was.
  3. The email app clearly has bugs if it is leaving behind hundreds of files even if you delete the emails. Why? As a software engineer my first instinct would be to look to see if the file system locks were properly synchronized when the email app is writing to the flash file system. I am not conversant in Android OS programming nor the app code itself so this is speculative on my part. I would also look for a timeout on reboots if file system enumerations take too long. Lots of files on a system might trigger a premature timeout and reboot. Once again, this is speculative on my part but I sure wish I had the code to debug this myself.
  4. These issues seem to coincide with a rapid rise in network traffic most likely because of the iPad 2/iPhone support by Verizon. I wonder if this additional traffic load on the network is opening up timing holes in the software because of backoff and retry intervals for certain apps. Once again I suspect the email app especially because it is vulnerable to network traffic issues as it tries to get email account updates.

 

I could be wrong about my theory as to why the problem is happening. My solution seems to work. As far as pulling the battery and putting it near your AC in the car, that did NOT work for me at all. Leaving the phone out of its protective case also had no effect. Only screwing with the files on the SD card mattered.

 

I hope this helps. 

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
keyser
Newbie

There was nothing in my .mail folder, still rebooting like crazy.  Bummer....

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
synergy
Newbie

I have also seen instances where there were no email messages and rebooting but found that just by eliminating a file the phone would come back. The problem seems to be a corruption of the SD card. The phone has actually said that it was mounting my SD card read only because of a problem. The whole thing is a mess. Had the phone reboot 4 times today. Travelled to NYC with my PC solely so I had some way to put my SD card in a device that could modify it. Don't expect ANY help from Verizon, HTC, or Google in this lifetime apparently.

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
TBhouston
Specialist - Level 1

synergy wrote:

Had the phone reboot 4 times today. Travelled to NYC with my PC solely so I had some way to put my SD card in a device that could modify it. Don't expect ANY help from Verizon, HTC, or Google in this lifetime apparently.


There is no fix right now. none. There has to be software etc updated.. Not everyone is having the problem so finding the root cause may take more than the 2 weeks it has been.. I wouldn't be so quick to give up hope

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
synergy
Newbie

This problem has been seen for MONTHS now by people besides myself. My business partner is about to put a bullet in his phone because this has been happening for far longer than mine. I have little confidence in a fix anytime soon because this problem has been persistent for some time and there is a lot of denial in the field by Verizon. Verizon has to depend on HTC and Google besides themselves for fixes. How much would you like to wager on how this business relationship is working out? The first step in any solution is for a company to take some responsibility for it and so far no company has.

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
TBhouston
Specialist - Level 1

"MONTHS"

 

okey...

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
TBhouston
Specialist - Level 1

The device has barely been out for "months" and has only been having these reboot issues for a few weeks...

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader
@TBhouston
I think the thread is about the Droid Incredible 1 and not the Droid Incredible 2 or the Thunderbolt.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
AZSALUKI
Legend

Ann154 wrote:
@TBhouston
I think the thread is about the Droid Incredible 1 and not the Droid Incredible 2 or the Thunderbolt.


yeah....some of the inc's have had a reboot problem since last year. i had one for a year with no problems, but i've seen posts on reboot issues as far back as 2010.

0 Likes
Re: HTC Incredible reboot fix that works and does NOT require hard reset
synergy
Newbie

Yes this post was clearly about the Incredible 1 not the newest generation so I am sorry if there was some confusion about this. I thought most people understood this especially given the level of complaining and lack of concrete solutions about the rebooting problem. 

0 Likes