Text Message Shows Number but not Name

[GerbilGrenade22]

Hello all. New to the forums here. Just finally got rid of terribly old phone and upgraded to the D3 so I am new to the Droid OS; so I apologize if I make any stupid mistakes.

Verizon added all my contacts from my old phone, and when I receive texts from those people, their names show up fine. With all other contacts that I add, the text shows up being from their number (e.g 123-456-7890).
I have looked through the forums of older droids with this same issue and tried their troubleshooting (adding a last name, etc.) but seem to come up short.

I'll try and outline the steps of what I can and can't do.

With new contacts that I add, I have the option to select Google (gmail account) or Backup Assistant (phone). I have tried both, but both seem to just show numbers from text messaging.

If I open up the text message to where it shows all the conversations, it shows the names and most recent messages of each conversation. With the ones that show up as 123-456-7890, if I click and hold on the pic, then click contact, it pulls up their name and everything. But when I open the conversation, then click and hold on the number (where the name should be), then click view contact, it shows up as unknown (giving option to add to existing contact or create new contact or call them).

Curiously, when I go into contacts and click contact history, it shows up with the text conversation and phone calls.


I've also tried to go into contacts and select the name/number and send a text from there; it still shows number instead of name.

Also tried switching stored number as mobile instead of home number.
Deleted and re-entered information.
Tried 7 digit number, 10 digit, and 11 digit numbers (including area code and not) and still does not seem to work.

I am baffled and open to suggestions. Thanks for your time.

Edit:
Also forgot to mention; upon receiving a new text, when I click and drag the menu down from the top, it shows up as the name and a preview of the message, but once opened it only shows the phone number.

 

[imnotmikal]

Out of curiosity, have you deleted the conversation/thread and then started a new one with the contact? Try that, the phone may just be "remembering" that there was no contact associated with that conversation.

 

[xaelith]

How long ago did you pick up your Droid3? With any Android phone, it takes a little while for it to sync up your account information, and associate a name and a number, and said info to conversations (sometimes on the order of about an hour depending on how much info there is).

 

[GerbilGrenade22]

@imnotmikal I have tried that and it did not work. I try that after every change I've made.

@xaelith I got the phone about a week and a half ago. So it should be all synced up and everything.

 

[GerbilGrenade22]

Confused

I tried a wild suggestion; in the contact information I listed the 10 digit number under the email, then turned the phone off, then on and waited a few minutes and now the name shows up instead of the number in the text area... Not sure how that made it work. Checked the other contacts that were listing numbers and they still did, so I tried that with them and it seemed to fix it. I tried to put just a blank space in one and it seemed to work; so maybe the phone just wants something in email, first, last, and mobile? Idk... but problem solved I guess.

 

[xaelith]

Very odd problem, and just as odd a solution...As long as you found a fix I suppose. The only other things I can think of that may help would be to do a factory reset, or re-program the phone via *228 or both (be sure to do the factory reset first if you do both), but those are last-ditch options, in my opinion. Just out of curiosity, what phone did you have before the D3?

 

[GerbilGrenade22]

I forget what the main first version was that I had, but then it went to the Voyager, then to the EnV Touch. But I had those three phones. They worked great for about a month then all hell breaks loose with them. I think a lot even got recalled. Internet browser was terrible, and the screens often went blank. One of the phones would shut off with the slighest shake; their solution to this was to get a tight fitting case as the problem was caused by the batteries being slightly loose.

But so far the D3 has been a zillion times better. It is a lot different than those though so took me a bit to get the hang of.

Seems like its the perfect fit for a Computer Science/PreMed undergrad. It does many handy tasks.

 

[xaelith]

Well that blows the idea that the previous phone might be part of the problem out of the water. I started my verizon adventure with the voyager, then the original droid and now the droid3 and have enjoyed each phone thus far. As a matter of fact, my voyager still works other than the outer screen is cracked and completely unreadable.

 

[Bojibum65]

this was my problem too and do n't know if it still is your problem but you have to open the text from that person - long hold their name at the top and a drop box list will show up click on view contact and then delete that contact as it is the culprit. thanks