Droid A855 Screen takes a few tries to display.

[ki113dbysw0rd]

'Ello everyone,


This is a very strange problem, assuming low level software/firmware/bios(?) related.

Background: Phone is 3rd physical phone (same model) I have had. First was water damage, Asurion replacement was still locked to someones account (wtf) so sent back, now with 3rd. All rooted, current running Liquid Gingerbread 3.0.

Cracked digitizer once, cracked the replacement digitizer upon forgetting to actually connect it internally (haha). 3rd digitizer works flawless and still in use.

The problem is as follows;

The phone will turn on, everything functions normally (normal as can be i guess). The screen works beautifully, displays all colors, full brightness, flows smoothly with whatever is being displayed. It never turns off when the screen is displaying something (ruling out a loose/broken connection). Screen dims and shuts off when idle as it should, but upon waking the device, no picture is displayed. Pressing the power button wakes the screen, in that the bottom row of softkeys(?) lights up, and the main LCD itself has the blueish tint from the backlight. During this period, the phone functions normally and responds to touch corresponding to what should be on the screen (digitizer still works and OS recognizes what is where and hasn't crashed).

If I press the power button again, all lights out. Press it again to wake, same as before with blueish tint and lit home keys. Press it again, lights out. Press it a 3rd time, screen/graphics appear. Wtf? For the first day it was doing this, it was 100% consistent that it would work on the third try. Two or Three days have passed, and now it takes anywhere from 3 - 10 tries to get graphics to appear, luck really. Also, the screen displays no graphics but has power/blueish tint when booting. No Motorola logo, no boot animation, no screen when it finishes booting. Commence the on/off waking cycle. I was going to attempt to do a wipe/recovery, but the screen will not display anything during even this low level access. I would rather not "guess" what I'm doing in the recovery.

Oh, and if you want somewhere to start looking maybe, this problem seems to coincide with the same day I selected the option to disable boot animations (LGB3.0). This may have corrupted something, but I have not been able to fix it with these types of settings as of yet. Normally I would try and fix this myself, but I'm out of ideas, and I travel quite a bit. I would like to have a functioning lifeline should something ever happen. And plus the ladyfriend gets mad when I cant answer T_T...

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. If anybody feels up to it/wants more information, let me know and I will make a video depicting this issue and answer any questions. (have no access to video equipment atm, leaving work soon.)



-Ki113dbysw0rd

[Chizzele]

Well it sounds like what you are experiencing is low memory issues, the phones take awhile to load everything as the memory (ram) can't keep up with the OS requirements.. Having many widgets and apps running in the bg makes it even worse.

I would suggest two things, first try to lock your launcher app into memory, LP launcher and ADW launcher will give you that option... if that wont help 2nd thing i would suggest is to switch to a Froyo based Rom like Sourcery, PE 4.2 or UD Rom. Froyo requires less memory to function. Even with a Froyo rom i would suggest to lock your launcher app into memory as it will allow faster loading. Link to Sourcery in my sig and all the rest can be Found in the Droid 1 section.

Edit: Oh, and welcome to the Forum

[ki113dbysw0rd]

Thanks ^_^ and thanks for the quick reply!

I will have to try another Rom most likely, I already had stripped the majority of the applications off of the phone, and only one widget remains (google voice). Any settings I have tried do not improve the situation, not even locking home in memory (tried yesterday, and again today; did nothing). I still fail to see how memory issues at an application level would effect the booting process, going as far as to fail loading the Motorola emblem... but I do not know the depths of the kernel/OS . I will try Sourcery next (seems like a pun lol), and if that does not work I will just try random things until something works/improves it. I will report my findings no doubt

Thanks again,

Ki113dbysw0rd

[Chizzele]

Awesome, Sourcery works great on the D1, another thing to try before you flash anything new is give your phone a complete clean up following this thread
Its a bit lengthy but worth the hassle as you'll get you phone at an out of the box state ready to be flashed.

[ki113dbysw0rd]

Attempted to use RSDLite and the fixed SBF file at work, and computer would only fail out repeatedly. Something about RAM Loading (dont remember exactly). Once home, installed RSDLite, proper drivers, and redownloaded the SBF file FRG22D. This time, the phone will run all the way through the process, but RSD status ends on "Please manually power up this phone". The only method I found to read a SUCCESS result in RSD is to power the phone into the bootloader again while still plugged in. Tried this method 7 times, and still no improvement. The screen still fails to display anything during boot, not even the M logo (does not even display bootloader text until flashing process has started). It still behaves the same way inside the OS as well, numerous wake cycles to display "Welcome to Android" screen. The 6th and 7th tries were the only ones to require Activation post-flash. RSD still fails to see any information from the device's MEID/Technology/SW version/Flex version/DRM version. It also displays all "f" as AP public ID and all 0's as BP public ID. The device itself recognizes these values, but RSD does not. I will try a few more times, but if this still does not work I will just break down and buy a Droid RAZR tomorrow. Going to VZW store to chat right now. :P

Thanks for all the help, it is greatly appreciated. Seriously. I would be lost and the phone would be in pieces (a few more than it ever has been previously) if there weren't people like you helpin out ^_^

Much respect,

Ki113dbysw0rd

[thaDroidz]

If it's acting up in recovery it has nothing to do with the rom. So flashing another rom isn't going to help.

If recovery is fine then yes try another rom or wipe and try liquid again.
Sounds like its hardware issue. Maybe time for another assurance replacement, hopefully it's soon enough that you can say it was also defective.



posted tomorrow using the space time continuum app on my D1...

[bendystrawboy]

with used tbolts.going.for.200 might be time.to.consider buying one.

[ki113dbysw0rd]

with used tbolts.going.for.200 might be time.to.consider buying one.

Too late :[ already went and bought a RAZR... but dear lord is it amazing.