Jelly bean update on razr maxx = problems!!! (may be encryption related)

[ladeeda]

WARNING: ANYONE UPDATING TO JELLYBEAN, BACKUP ALL YOUR FILES FIRST & DISABLE ENCRYPTION IF YOU USE THAT FEATURE!!! As i've seen several people on other websites with the EXACT issue i'm having and they all use the encryption setting on their RAZR's.

I had a message today (3/22/2013) that the Jelly Bean update was available and ready to install for my RAZR MAXX. During the update something went awry. I didn't touch my phone or do anything on my end, I just noticed that I had a totally black screen and only the toolbar/pulldown menu at top.

I powered down the phone, it asked for my encryption code & the phone got hung up on the "red droid eye, fireball icon" thingy. I let it continue and after an hour I knew something was wrong. Tried everything, clearing the cache, reboot, reset etc. Calls to Verizon and Motorola were fruitless with both admitting either the update goes through seamlessly, or is fraught with problems. They had no answers.

As I wasn't prepared for problems, I hadn't backed up my internal phone storage which included precious photos, documents, music etc. I know now I may need to do a
factory reset but I needed to get to my files. I have literally been working on this phone all day and finally found a fix that let me into my phone.

If your phone is hanging on the "red droid eye" after you enter your encryption code, call your phone using another phone. For some reason this stopped the hang time. I hung up my cell, pressed power button briefly & immediately back on and now could access my phone. Mind you, my phone is now a black screen with only a pulldown menu at top, no app's no nothing...just black. However, you can now access Settings from pulldown menu, undo encyption, screen locks and set display for 30 minutes...anything to help keep that screen open. DO NOT TURN PHONE COMPLETY OFF or you will need to call to interrupt the hang time again.

Once you disable encryption, the phone will power off to dark gray...just leave it alone it takes a few minutes then it goes black when it's done. Power back on and you should be able to get into your phone. You may still have a black screen, but the pulldown menu is still there. Hook up your USB as "mass storage" and move all your files into your PC. Once done you can factory reset or try other fixes knowing at least your data is safe.

At this time, I have the weekend to try and get my icon's, apps, homescreen to come up but it's not looking good. I hope someone else will find a fix as I dread factory resetting my phone and redoing all my settings, installing app's etc. Verizon did say a factory reset is the last straw and may not work...they will send me a new (refurbished) phone with a warranty. However, I would rather keep my current phone and find a fix. They also stated that this update has a lot of problems and wished Motorola would have worked them out first. Many people are losing app's, data etc.

The weird thing is I can take incoming calls but can't access my keypad or ANY app from the phone to make outgoing calls. The screen is totally black except for the pulldown menu. I can also see the applications and everything else is on the SDcard. I also get the "key" icon and factory wallpaper when initially turning on the phone. But nothing after that.

Please anyone that figures out how to get this phone working post a fix ASAP...So jealous of everyone that got the update without problems:happy3:

 

[bocabean]

Sorry to hear about your experience. It is good that you brought it to others' attention. I am no expert, but just a thought. What would happen if you try to simply clear the cache by, I hate to say, powering off and then starting up again, holding down the power button, along with the volume up/down settings. I do not see what harm could come from that, but someone else with greater experience may want to comment on that suggestion.

The other suggestion is that if you have an adapter available for your external SD card, perhaps you can also back that up while you have your phone powered down and so that you do not have to go through the mount/unmount process.

Also, you might also be able to boot the phone and connect to your PC so that somehow you can physically back up your internal drive, as well.

Interested in knowing how successful you will be in recovering, however I am hopeful that you will be one way or another.

Good luck.

'Bean

 

[mlwotring]

I too am experiencing the exact same issue. My phone was previously encrypted but I immediately decrypted once I realized Motorola's version of encryption was a joke. I still have to enter decryption password upon powering off and back on my phone. After the OTA JB install, my phone now becomes stuck on the red ball. I am so disappointed that my important text messages supporting a court case have now been lost. I am contemplating doing a FDR but am so hesitant for obvious reasons. I will remain somewhat hopeful over the next several days and reactivate my Droid 2 until I figure out what I am doing with my Maxx. I sure hope Motorola will fix this issue for us.

 

[jaseman]

Wow, I really feel for you people! My wife has a maxx that does not have the serious issues you are facing but it does appear to "drop" a sent text now and then. She will send me two texts in a row and I may only get the second one, even though her phone says that both were sent. Not sure if the Verizon towers dropped it somewhere along the way, or if it actually ever left the phone??? I have the maxx HD and I have no such problems. I hate to do an FDR for such a relatively minor thing but yesterday she sent me two texts and I did not get the first one which was the more important of the two and caused some problems with scheduling.
I guess my point is that these updates/upgrades/patches MUST BE TESTED THOROUGHLY FIRST before they ever get released to the real world! We depend on these "smart" phones for everything today and for the cost of the phone as well as the service they need to just work...PERIOD!

 

[ppaigemarieee]

I'm having the same problem with an already encrypted Razr Maxx... except worse. I was only able to get a phone call in to disrupt hanging once. I couldn't get the menu to pull down and thus went to restart the device. I triggered the Airplane mode to see if that would do anything with the intention of turning Airplane mode off again, but that triggered a power down instead... and now I'm sure it's suck in Airplane mode on this hung screen so accepting incoming calls is not happening.
I feel pretty stupid for not thinking about that possibility.

If your menu doesn't pull down like the OP describes, just power down and try again... don't do anything with Airplane like me. It'll probably cause a restart and leave you in that mode.

Should also mention there is no ability to turn off the phone. It will only restart into the same hanging process.

Google buys Motorola, lays off thousands of employees and then does this? Right.

Samsung here I come.

In the meantime, though... any advice?

 

[ppaigemarieee]

Just did a factory reset in the end. Verizon gave me $20 reimbursement for my troubles. Woo... :dry:

 

[ladeeda]

Hi and thank you to those that have responded.

In reply to "Bean" I tried clearing the cache among a jillion other things, and while that didn't hurt anything, it do anything to get me past the dreaded 'droid red eye'. To "PpaigeMarieee", hey I don't blame you for trying Airplane mode, I tried EVERYTHING! However you should still be able to shut down the phone by holding down the power button a LONG time, don't release it. You can also try getting into the setup menu by hitting (ALL AT THE SAME TIME) POWER/UP&DOWN VOLUME BUTTON for over a minute, when you see activity, RELEASE POWER BUTTON ONLY for a couple seconds and push it again. Just my two cents, I tried ALL the settings in that menu and none worked. Maybe someone will get better results?

I tried in vain all weekend to find a fix to my issue and ended up doing a factory reset. I went to recover all my saved data from the SDCARD. HORROR, the factory reset and upgrade now makes my phone a "different" device and it won't read or decrypt the files even though I saved the key code. No biggie, remember I saved my data to my PC? Well, apparantly when the data was saved from my RAZR to PC it was encrypted and now that it's a "different device" since the factory reset, neither my phone or the PC can open the files now. I also tried to transfer files back to the internal memory of the phone but to no avail. All the data is encrypted/lost.

Yes, I understand...encryption is supposed to do just that. But due to the RAZR getting stuck in reboot after the upgrade and not being able to decrypt the data to begin with, you are left with very little options in recovering your data in a useable state.

So the lesson I take from this is don't use the RAZR ENCRYPTION feature...it is buggy with an upgrade. If you currently have it enabled and haven't upgraded to JellyBean, disable it completely and decrypt your files. Save the decrypted files on your PC, THEN do the upgrade. I would also suggest a backup App to save your photo's in the Cloud. ( I don't use that feature as many of my photo's contain sensitive financial data.) I am not EVEN thinking about what photo's/files I lost as that is water under the bridge. I just hope I can help others from making the same mistake.

OFF TOPIC and on a positive note I love JellyBean. I have it on a tablet, but didn't realize how much I'd love it on my phone. Great feature is the 'end call' button on my screen lock. Prior, I coudn't end a call unless I unlocked my screen first, or put my phone to sleep. I miss the timer feature, but hey...i'll live. Googles 'voice search' is faster and more accurate than SIRI. My phone runs so much faster and smoother but that could be from the factory reset and losing all my data I am noticing a drop in battery life and will need to investigate that.

I also want to say I love my RAZR MAXX after having it nearly a year. I was going to upgrade to the HD, but honestly the phones are so alike - no reason to do so. So hopefully this upgrade issue will not turn anyone away from RAZR/Motorola.