Handsets

Is Your Galaxy Nexus Randomly Rebooting?

138

With a couple months for users to get accustomed to their new Samsung Galaxy Nexus (one month if you own the CDMA version), most issues with the device have been acknowledged or addressed. One problem that more and more users are reporting an issue that has the handset randomly rebooting during normal use, whether the device is being used to check email or sitting idle. The GSM version of the Nexus seems to be most affected by the bug, but there are some reports of the CDMA variant seeing similar snags. Google is aware of the plight of its users and is currently working out a fix, though when it will be delivered is unknown. We are guessing the update to Android 4.0.3 will bring about corrections to many of the early problems uncovered by new Nexus users. Anyone out there experiencing reboots at all the wrong times?

[via BGR]

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138 Comments

    1. no

      Altough I did experience the Sleep of Death once. Set my alarm, plugged it in to charge, went to sleep, woke up an hour after my alarm was supposed to go off, only to find my notification light blinking and the rest of the phone unresponsive…couldn’t turn on the screen, had to pull the batery. First time it ever happened. I hope it won’t happen again, since I use my phone as my alarm and I can’t afford to wake up so late!

      It’s running 4.0.2 btw

    2. My Nexus S was solid as a rock on Gingerbread.  When it updated itself to ICS, the random reboots started.  I’m guessing it’s ICS and not the phones themselves.

  1. Had one just last night while playing Great Little War Game.  

  2. Yes

  3. Yes (CDMA)

  4. It happens, but not terribly often. Just happened yesterday, actually, for the first time in at least 2 weeks.
    I’m on the VZW model, by the way.

  5. No. I’ve been on 4.0.3 roms since I got it.

  6. Yes (GSM). Also have two other friends with same problem (CDMA).

  7. Once, maybe twice in the entire month I’ve had the VZW version. Nothing compared to the couple times a week I was experiencing on my DX2. 

  8. No reboots here.  CDMA running a 4.03 ROM.

  9. I had this problem at first, but not in the past month.  I’m not sure if it was the 4.0.2 update that fixed it, or if I’ve just been lucky.

  10. First one did, returned it and this one has not rebooted.  Still has bad battery life and poor reception!

  11. Yes, not more than once a week. I think it may have rebooted around 3 times in the month I’ve had it. As someone said above – not nearly as bad as my DX reboots!

    VZW model by the way

  12. Yes, about 5 times since it was released on VZW. Also 4g service has been intermittent since friday in Central Florida.

  13. no.  not yet.  /me crosses fingers

    on VZW

  14. I’ve had it happen several times and it happens mid-phone call too among other random times. (VZ Nexus)

  15. No, never had a random reboot (unlocked and rooted, but stock) CDMA.

    1. Not only does mine reboot but I can’t read any of the text on the launcher screen after. It’s all jumbled…

      http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24288&thanks=24288&ts=1326400896 

      1. are you stock everything. not using lightflow or volume+, right? if so, remove those & it’ll fix

      2. Never had any issues with mine until the other day after installing Lookout.  I then got two reboots within an hour, both when using Browser+ (which was, perhaps, a coincidence).  After removing Lookout, the reboot issues went away and haven’t yet come back.  This isn’t anything against Lookout–in fact, I’m sad that I feel that I can’t reinstall it–but it did seem to be the culprit.
        I use Lightflow (Lite) with zero problems.  I haven’t even rooted this thing, against my ceaseless desire to do so.  Probably will wait another month or so.

  16. Happens to me too on my 4.0.2 stock ROM on my CDMA version. Happens about once a week. Just happened yesterday.

  17. Yes, actually just stopped in at VZW to try to swap out because of the random reboots… Has happened a handful of times… 6+.  Mid-call, mid-navigation, etc… Very inopportune….

  18. I had the Verizon version until this past weekend when I switched to unlocked GSM…and it had rebooted one time.  GSM hasn’t at all yet.

    1. I think reboots are due to Verizon LTE network issues. What carrier do you have the GSM version on? Att. How does that work exactly?

  19. That’s normal for Samsung’s smartphone.  My Infuse reboots itself all the times, especially when it doesn’t have enough memory left to handle multiple applications at the same time.

  20. Yes.  Last night it did it and I wasn’t even using the phone.

  21. no, had the cdma version since launch, haven’t had one.

  22. Mine reboots every once in a while (Verizon).  Usually when I’m doing something with one of my trusted apps that has never caused an issue in the past on other devices.  Fortunately, these reboots are few and far between.  Not really a major issue, but ya… can haz fix pls?  kthxbai.

  23. Yes (CDMA), not very often. Probably three or four times since launch day. I am running stock, unlocked, not rooted. 

  24. no reboots for me .running gummynex 0.5.5

  25. I’ve had this happen occasionally, every time it has happened while the phone was sitting idle.

  26. happened a few times to me on the gsm version 

  27. Yes, happened to me a few times on my CDMA version.

  28. I’ve yet to experience a random reboot on my Galaxy Nexus and have had it since the first day Verizon had it up for sale.

  29. another one happened yesterday when i was using GPS, reminded me of my OG Droid days….

  30. My Verizon version has rebooted itself at least 2 or 3 times in the past month, sometimes when I am not even using it.  Other times when I am using one of the built in apps like on the settings page.

    Ever since I started using a task killer and freeing up as much memory as I can, the phone hasn’t rebooted itself since, so far.

  31. No reboots for me( verizon galaxy nexus)

  32. Yea, I have seen this a few times on my phone. Also have seen it on my parents DROID 3’s though, and my OG DROID did it a lot. I figured it was just some bad garbage collection in the OS itself or something.

  33. Yes, once, yesterday on my 4.0.2 GSM version.

  34. My nexus rebooted while researching my display problem which had banding and a purple hue in the middle. This was my replacement phone. After my nexus phone randomly rebooted while just sitting there that was the last straw and I exchanged it for the rezound. I couldn’t be happier – rezound is just a better phone all around.

    1. You make no SENSE.

      1. I tried reading this on my Bionic, but everything was a BLUR

        1. teh heh

      2. That is because of your learning disability. Read actual books and that will improve.

    2. yeah but carrierIQ comes with the rezound and im going to assume whatever carrier carries it has their irremovable bloatware on there.

  35. Can anyone explain the random reboot issue with android phones?

  36. Not since I switched roms

  37. Just once for me since I got it (which was launch day, guess about a month ago).  Verizon model.  Considering how much I use it I’d say it’s pretty good.

    Forget what I was doing at the time though.

  38. no cdma

  39. I have had it happen a few times to me, though it was only when my phone was sitting idle on my desk next to me. Hasn’t happened to me yet while I have actually been using the phone. 

  40. Yes. 6 times. Stock. Had since day 1. CDMA.

  41. I’ve had my gnex not even a week and it randomly rebooted once so far. All stock.

    I’ve also had to force a data toggle as it lost all data even though the top showed ‘3G’.

  42. Yes, it’s happened 2 or 3 times so far on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus.

  43. Yes has happened at least three times. Glad I’m not alone. (CDMA)

  44. Happens to my Epic 4G almost every day since the gingerbread update….Add that to all of the random force close notifications…Very frustrated with Android right now…Anyone using CM7 or something else on their Epic 4G?…I’ve never rooted but I just might since I’m under contract through ,August.

  45. That’s happened to my CDMA nexus a couple of times. Very odd but not very frequent.

  46. Haven’t had a single reboot, except when I was installing Nova Launcher as a system app, I’m rooted and unlocked but otherwise running stock (obviously other than the launcher) I haven’t used GPS Nav yet, either which according to that thread causes reboots?

  47. Why is this still a constant problem with literally EVERY Android phone that gets released? You would think they would have figured this out from happening 2 years ago. This is ridiculous that on Google’s flagship phone, this is still a recurring issue.

    1. I have never had a random reboot issue on my Droid 2, Incredible 2, Galaxy Nexus, or XOOM.

      1. Well consider yourself lucky, because there are plenty who can’t say the same thing. My gf had to return a couple of Evo’s

        1. i’ve had random reboots on my EVO 4G. … but only after i rooted and flashed ROMs… i was stock for at least a year before that (only rooted after a couple months of using the Gingy update)

        2. I had it on my Evo4G as well. I’m pretty sure in that instance it was hardware issues, because the same image on a difference device fixed it completely, and I never had a random reboot after that.

          The GNex on the other hand I would hope would be software related. I experience it every once in a great while, but nothing consistent and not enough to bother me a ton (but it still does bother me). With the Evo4G it was becoming more and more common.

          Either way, either it’ll be fixed in software in a short time or it’s something that would be covered by a mfg. warranty. Yes, I’d rather neither of those be necessary but it is what it is and there’s probably something that will be done about it.

        3. iphone is the same way. it’s any mobile device. it’s technology. get used to it.

    2. >”literally EVERY Android…”

      Don’t be so mellow dramatic. You do realize that people with complaints are often much more vocal than those with no issues. Nobody writes articles to the effect of “everything on this phone has been working great and there are no issues, the end”.

      I don’t know of any phone that came out without a variety of issues that have to be addressed.

      And for the record my GN doesn’t do that and along with some of the other people here who commented the same thing that pretty much means its not literally every android phone.

    3. Seriously man! My G2X is killing me. Sigh

      1. The G2X is garbage.  I put up with the random reboots for about a month (until the Gingerbread update didn’t fix anything), and then exchanged it for a Sensation 4G.  No random reboots at all.  Last week, I switched to Verizon and got a Galaxy Nexus, and I haven’t had any problems at all (in fact, the GPS works the best out of any phone I’ve ever used, locking on within a couple of seconds).

        1. That’s because it has a barometer – this allows it to significantly reduce the altitude uncertainty in the calculation, and thus dramatically reduce the time taken to lock down the location. Without these ‘hint’s’ and others, or AGPS, it can take up to 42 seconds after it has clear visibility of a handful of satellites to lock on, as this is how long the GPS sequence takes to go by. With hints, it vastly faster – this is the first phone I know of to use this technique.

    4. What’s ridiculous is your silly comment. So you and your girlfriend had some problems, and you extrapolate this to “plenty of people”? Talk about self-absorbed! Go make childish comments elsewhere, there are now hundreds of millions of Android users world wide, if even 5% of these were experiencing this regularly, there would be an outcry.

      1. The fact that there’s a post on is evidence its a problem. Every model phone has the exact problem. My friend had a Hero, same thing. Another one had a a G1, same thing, Droid X, same thing, Samsung Moment, Bionic, Inspire, etc. If i know 6 people who have a different model Android phone all having the same random reboot issue, thats a clear indication that its just not my circle. Go to any forum, you will see the same thing. I love Android but this issue has been around so long, i cant believe its still an annoying issue as it was back then.

        1. I never had the issue on my G1, but it’s happened on every other android device I’ve owned: Dell Streak, Desire Z, Advent Vega, ASUS Transformer and now Galaxy Nexus.  Guess I must be really unlucky…  Or it’s a common issue.

  48. I experienced a complete freeze where I had to remove the battery and place it back in to make it work. This happen on ICS 4.0.1 GSM Galaxy Nexus. I never saw my phone reboot randomly, but I am sure it did once during the night. This hasn’t happen again since I got the OTA to 4.0.2. I hope Google will address these issues asap.

  49. Mine reboots at least 4 times a week.  I thought it was just me because I cracked my screen and phone gets super hot now.  Guess not.  Hopefully a fix coming soon.  Still a great phone.  Hope it doesn’t reboot when I am trying to show it off.  

  50. Hope this helps it started happening when I would use my touch pad charger once I stopped using it haven’t had a problem since vzw galaxy nexus

  51. Yep twice in the last three days.

  52. Yep, I have random reboots on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus. One thing I did notice once the phone reboots is loses on all data in data usage.

  53. not one time . GSM Gnex

  54. *Every* Android release, on every phone since Android 1.0, has had problems with random reboots. Whenever an error of a certain seriousness is encountered by Android, it throws up its hands and reboots.

    1. i have had an N1 and NS and they have rebooted a few times randomly but it is not enough for me to consciously think about.
      I only thought of it after I read your post. 

  55. No reboots here. My OG Droid used to do that for a time.

    1. my og did that all the time, mostly when in navigation, but I figured it was because I stretched it to its limits for over 2 years :)

  56. Yep mine did it for the first time last night. I was surprised it happened cause it was the first time it had happened and I never heard of this issue.

  57. Happened once so far.  In getting a new phone with a new version of the OS, I expected to have some issues crop up.   The main issue I have encountered is that a lot of apps won’t run on ICS yet.  Again, that is to be expected and over time will resolve itself.  So I didn’t trade my GNex in for another phone.  

  58. It happens infrequently (2-3 times a week).  I don’t think it’s ever happened when I was actively using it.  Never had it freeze.

    rooted GSM Nexus 4.0.1

  59. Nope.

    Ok maybe once or twice while it was sitting on the desk.

    But leaps and bounds less than my OG Droid, DX, DX2 or Tbolt did.

    If verizon was smart and used CarrierIQ on their phones, they’d know exactly how many times the phones rebooted on their own.

  60. and I hate threads like this and on DLife because it propagates misinformation.

    Next thing I’m going to hear from my Apple fanboy friends – 

    “Dude your phone sucks – it reboots all the time”

    1. Yeah and you are less likely to get people who don’t have this issue to even read the article let alone comment on it. So you end up only with people with some kind of issue commenting. So it makes it seem like every GN owner has this problem.

  61. Mine’s been returned for fix/replacement. At first it would just freeze and a battery pull brought it back to life. Then it started fully powering off rendering it unable to boot. Only a factory reset would fix the problem. Unmodified GSM.

  62. In the 10 days I’ve had my Verizon GNex, it’s rebooted 3 times. All 3 times I was in the email app, and I have 4g turned off, since there’s no service here yet.

  63. I didn’t get a random reboot until I rooted and rommed. Only one so far

  64. Hasnt happened alot. Only 2-4 since i get the phone on the first day it released.

  65. Im on a rooted Thunderbolt, been getting random rebooting every few hours for the past 15+ hours.
    Have db of -86 , w 5/6 signal bars showing Lte 4G… If it counts for anything

  66. I’ve had a couple of ran dome reboots on Verizon gnex. but the problem that’s really annoying is when I’m in an app such as the phandroid app and it forces close on it. Or when I’m in texting its the same thing.

  67. yes. cdma verizon. two reboots since i purchased on release day. not super frequent so it not bad but it is something that i want to see a fix for.

  68. No reboots here. However I powered off the phone last night and now its officially dead and confirmed this morning at the Verizon store. Love the phone and a new one is on the way to me for tomorrow. I originally powered it off as the phone got a bit warm and when trying to power it back up it would not power back on regardless of pulling the battery etc.  

  69. Yes… 4 or 5 times. Verizon POS Gnex

  70. My CDMA version has done it a few times

  71. Yes….I got the phone on release day from Verizon and it has done the random reboot several times.

  72. My first G-Nex (Verizon/CDMA) rebooted the first night I had it and about every other day for the next week until I returned it for another one.  It was totally stock and unrooted.  My current one (its replacement) has done a soft reboot (just went back to the boot animation) once and a hard reboot (back to the Google screen) once.  Google Maps seemed to be what caused my first one to reboot mostly and once I was just composing an e-mail.

    I’m rooted and running Codename Droid 1.1.1 right now and haven’t had any stability issues (yet).

  73. I exchanged my first Gnex because it had rebooted 4 times in the first 2 weeks.  This one has not had any reboots at all in the 2 weeks I’ve had it.  I also believe the screen looks better.  

  74. My stock Verizon Nexus has done so about a dozen times since launch day.
    Not enough to really bother me, but steadily pushing me closer to root and ROM.

  75. Not once. Stock GSM model. 

  76. I got random reboots every now and then, but after uninstalling the Volume+ app and LightFlow,then installing them again, the reboots stopped.

  77. Yes, on my VZW variant. 

    Mainly while using Navigator, actually, which sucks because you don’t realize it’s not there anymore until you start to think “Gosh, 5 miles seems a lot longer than I would have expected . . . “

  78. I got my Nexus on release day and have had a total of 2 or 3 reboots. It’s still stock.

  79. Bought mine unlocked (550 euro, Netherlands) and after 2 weeks the first random reboot came, followed by a bootloop. Unlocked it, flashed custom bootloader/recovery/rom, and everything was fine for about a week. Then the second random reboot came, and again followed by a bootloop.
    Reflashed EVERYTHING to stock, went well for about 4 days and the trouble came again: 1 random reboot followed by a bootloop.
    Tried to return it (phonehouse) but was too late for a DOA, so it has to go through repair :(
    Brought it in for repair, explained the problem and what I had done to fix it, got it back after a week: “Can’t find a problem, we flashed new software for you.”. Just like I did, twice… Send it back for repair after reading the enclosed note in the shop and just saw the track&trace, they did a boardswap. That’s after I had to type the problem myself, because the people working there were genuinely stupid. I suspect a flaw in the memory as it occurred in 4.0.1 stock, 4.0.2 stock and a custom rom from Modaco.
    If it starts bootlooping again, I swear I’ll break it in half, pay the 50 euro insurance fee and claim a new one. Brought it in 3 friggin weeks ago :/ 

  80. have had a few random reboots on my vzw gn (unrooted).  can’t recreate it.  once i just happened to catch the boot up screen in my peripheral vision when it was sitting on my desk at work plugged in.  i’m also plagued by some of the other random bugs, like the UBERbad battery life, and an inability to transfer certain media files over usb. i’m really hoping 4.0.3 brings some bug fixes… and that it gets released officially soon!

  81. Mine reboots on average once every six days. So, about each week since I purchased it last December. It is a Verizon LTE, stock OS. I uninstalled everything last night, and have kept mostly only Google Apps installed to see if that makes a different. Even with a brief reboot the Galaxy Nexus remains a GREAT phone!

  82. Yes.  VZW GN.  1 time in 4 weeks, as far as I know.

    My Droid 1 used to reboot on a regular basis, sometimes if I only looked at it the wrong way.

  83. Nope. CDMA. Never happened before. Got my phone online directly through VZ.

    My phone is not overloaded with stuff mainly because I know often times other software could be the culprit for problems. Having a lot of stuff on your phone makes it difficult to figure out what is causing the problem. So I only install 1-2 things every other week.

    One sort of similar issue I do have is that twice the phone shut down on me. But I can almost reproduce the bug. Might have something to do with using facial recognition and pattern. On both occasion, I took the phone out of sleep (to look at the time) and quickly put it back to sleep. And that seems to cause the phone to shut down. So now I just wait an extra 2 seconds before I put it back to sleep.

  84. It happens to my VZW GNex, but only when running pandora, amazonMp3 or Music. I wonder if its something with the music/sound driver?

    1.  Mine rebooted today while listening to music and reading a google voice text.  It doesn’t do it super often but more often recently.

  85. Nope.  …but then, it’s also not running the Stock OS.

    AOKP Build 17 (CDMA)

  86. Owned mine since launch and I don’t recall any random reboots but I do reboot the phone myself every day or two.

  87. I have not had any problems with my gnex

  88. Yes, at least once a day on my CDMA Galaxy Nexus.

  89. YES!  Mine was doing this.  One night it randomly rebooted, (like my Nexus One did occasionally) but then it kept going.  It would remain on for up to two minutes, and then reboot again.  I had to factory reset it, which has fixed the problem for me so far.  

    Device: GSM Samsung Galaxy Nexus I-9250
    Carrier: At&t
    OS: Android 4.0.2
    Country: USA

  90. Experienced this a few times in the 3 weeks I have had my phone, Verizon GNex.. I noticed a couple times it happened either when I was doing something with text messages or just after plugging the charger into the phone..

  91. I’ve had three reboots while the phone was ringing with a call. Each time, my phone was lying on my desk with the screen off, unplugged. The phone would start ringing, but the screen wouldn’t come one and after several rings, the phone would reboot itself.

    I expected these kinds of things from a major new version of Android, so it doesn’t upset me. I know Google will get it fixed.

  92. Not yet… hope it doesn’t in the future though… (verizon galaxy nexus)

  93. Had my unlocked GSM version on T-Mobile for about a month now and haven’t had one reboot issue.  It’s still running 4.0.1 and has had only one update.

  94. YES! This happens to me regularly on my GSM 4.0.1. It sometimes reboots, but sometimes it just randomly turns off, and when I go to unlock it, it starts booting up. So far it’s never happened at a critical, time-sensitive moment, but it would be terrible if it did.

  95. I was on 4.0.1 and not getting the 4.0.2 OTA update though I knew it was avialable. It turns out if the product name of your GSM Galaxy Nexus is not “yakju”, you will not get your updates from Google and it may take some time before you do. Mine was “yakjuxw”. I re-flashed my ROM with the “yakju” signature and received the 4.0.2 update immediately. Then unlocked and rooted and can now use Google wallet. No rebooting issues here.

    1. i want to get 4.0.2 and i am on yakjuux
      i also want google wallet can you help me [email protected]

  96. A week after I bought mine it started rebooting. A did a software reset and that solved the problem. Not one reboot since.

  97. I had a random reboot today. My device was just idle. This has happened maybe twice before. So that’s one every 2 or 3 weeks. Not desireable but not the end of the world. Would I prefer that they fix it? Yes.

  98. Random reboot for me while making calls.

  99. Happens to mine every other day. Usally becomes unresponsive right before.

  100. Yes, mine randomly reboots. Seems to reboot more while i’m on the road and driving than sitting at home.  

    ISC 4.0.3, RootzBoat 403-6

    1. Same here…only when in my car…

  101. My Nexus S on tmobile has ics and has always randomly rebooted and still does

  102. Yes, running stock 4.0.2, though my TPrime running 4.0.3 doesn’t have this problem

  103. Using Turn-by-Turn navigation while talking on the phone will make my Verizon GNex reboot every time.  My impression is that it is related to the audio hardware in the device.  Perhaps a driver issue.

  104. My Verizon gnex did it once. I’ve had it since launch, unlocked rooted and heavily use it all the time.

  105. My Verizon model has had no problems to speak of, I LOVE this phone. =)

  106. Not sure why, but sometimes when my Galaxy Nexus is idle for more than an hour then when I finally go use it for whatever reasons(check e-mail, notifications, etc), it completely locks up(on the lock screen), then all of the sudden it reboots itself. In the first 1-2 months it never did this, then all of the sudden it starting doing this weird occurrence. It’s all random though.

    My G-Nex(CDMA version) is rooted and bootloader unlocked, but it’s still the Stock ROM. Hope this gets fixed by Google with Android 4.0.3 soon.

  107. My what had been perfect Samsung Galaxy Nexus rebooting every 5 seconds continuously. Think i will be going iphone after this! :(

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X1RwRCo_Vg 

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