Why SD card cause my phone to vibrate randomly?

[dfman]

My phone is set to vibrate mode.

I have set notification reminder 5mins (settings>my device>accessibility>notification reminder>reminder interval 5 mins) so whenever I have any uncleared notifications in the notifications panel, the phone will vibrate every 5mins until I clear the notifications.

Everything works fine when I did not have an external micro sd card inside the phone.

If I put in a external micro sd card (kingston 32GB) into the phone, the phone will vibrate every 5mins as if there is an unread notification, but there is no unread notification at all.

It seems like there is a "hidden notification" or something that the sd card cause the vibrate notification.

How can I solve the problem? My phone is Samsung S4, not rooted. Thanks.

 

[Jeffrey]

I would copy/backup the info you want to keep from the SD and reformat it on a PC. Then copy the info back and see if it resolves the issue

 

[dfman]

My PC does not have SD card reader. Can I put the SD card inside the phone, connect the phone to my PC using USB, and format the SD card?

The SD card is new, when I put the SD card into the phone, some folders are automatically created by the phone. I did not save anything to the SD card yet.

 

[Jeffrey]

Try formatting it using the phone.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Very strange. I can't see how an sd card should effect notifications at all, unless it's having trouble staying mounted, but then you'd still get a notification in the bar telling you that was the case.

I'd definitely start with Jeffrey's suggestion of formatting the card. Best to start from scratch there and see if it was something saved on the card causing the issue. Even though I wouldn't think that'd be the case, just about anything is possible here and that's the best way I can think of to help rule out a LOT of things.

 

[dfman]

Try formatting it using the phone.

How to format it using the phone?

 

[bsweetness]

How to format it using the phone?

Settings -> Storage -> Format SD card

 

[dfman]

I have tried formatting the SD card. The same problem still exists.

I have also tried 2 other SD card. It have the same problem too.

Any other help?

 

[94lt1]

Remove the SD card and see if the problem persists.. Try booting into recovery and clearing the cache..
Try a battery pull... Try going into your notifications app in settings, apps, all, and clearing data and force stopping the app(I'm not sure what the app may be called in a Samsung device)..

 

[dfman]

Remove the SD card and see if the problem persists.. Try booting into recovery and clearing the cache..
Try a battery pull... Try going into your notifications app in settings, apps, all, and clearing data and force stopping the app(I'm not sure what the app may be called in a Samsung device)..

The problem does not exist when I did not put any SD card in the phone.

"Try booting into recovery and clearing the cache" > How to do this?

"Try a battery pull" > How to do this?

"Try going into your notifications app in settings, apps, all, and clearing data and force stopping the app"> Do you mean in Settings>Apps>All, tap clear and tap force stop the apps?

Somehow I do not understand why if an SD card is inserted, only then the problem will exist. To me it seems weird, if an app is having problem, I think it should have problem even if an SD card is not inserted.

 

[94lt1]

A battery pull. Is merely taking the battery out of the phone while it's powered on, then replace the battery and power up..

As far as booting into recovery and clearing the cache.. Idk how you do it on a Samsung.. O e of the Sammy users will have to help you..

And i don't mean that you should force stop all of the apps.. Just the one responsible for your notifications..

The only other thing I can think of is to unset your notification for the vibration every 5 mins... And install the SD card.. See if it persists..
Chances are there's a setting somewhere that we're missing. I'm just throwing things out there..

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Somehow I do not understand why if an SD card is inserted, only then the problem will exist. To me it seems weird, if an app is having problem, I think it should have problem even if an SD card is not inserted.

That's what I don't understand either. Like I said before, it could be notifying you that the SD card can't mount, or keeps unmounting.

The only other thing I can think of that would cause this only when the card is installed would be if you have an app installed on the sd card that's notifying you by vibrating, but not showing anything in the notification panel. However, since you said you formatted the card, that would get rid of this scenario.

How long are you leaving the card out when you check to see if it's doing it without the card installed? A few minutes? Half of the day?

 

[bsweetness]

To me it seems weird, if an app is having problem, I think it should have problem even if an SD card is not inserted.

The first thing you should do is follow through on the steps and questions 94lt1 and Jonny Kansas have posted. Hopefully one of those will help narrow things down more.

But if they don't, given the steps you've already taken to try to fix it, it would seem to me that faulty hardware or an app you've installed very well might be the culprit. It could be that an app is having trouble with the SD card, so that would explain why it only happens when a SD card is inserted and doesn't happen when you're not using a SD card. The fact that this isn't a widespread problem with the S4 (that I'm aware of) would also indicate to me that an app you've installed or faulty hardware is the cause.

My suggestion is to start uninstalling apps that you've installed and see if that alleviates the problem. It's tedious, but if you go one by one (starting with apps that lesser known apps) and test things out with a SD card, you might be able to figure out if one of them is causing the problem.

But in the end you may need to do a factory reset. It's amazing how many problems that can solve. If that fixes it, as you're re-installing apps, make sure that they're not bringing the problem back.

 

[94lt1]

Factory reset was my next stop as well.. All these hours of jumping through hoops can be eliminated by backing up your content.. Which I would think would be on your SD card.. So remove the SD card and do a fdr... If the problem persists... Then it's hardware..

 

[dfman]

How long are you leaving the card out when you check to see if it's doing it without the card installed? A few minutes? Half of the day?

About 3 hours. No vibration. Working fine.