Anyone with a SGSIII on 4.1.2 experiencing constant freezing?

[Anonymous]

I received an in-phone notification last Tuesday from Samsung alerting me to an update to my existing 4.1.2 firmware so I went ahead with it. When the update finished, I noticed straight away that my phone was lagging considerably and when I cleared my RAM, it would take sometimes up to 20 seconds for my phone to become responsive again. This is my third Galaxy S device (after the SGSI and SGSII) so I'm very familiar with the OS and basic troubleshooting so I put this down to a need for a factory reset.

After factory resetting, I didn't install any apps for a while just in case it was a rogue app hanging but I noticed no change. In fact, it became worse. My phone would randomly freeze up. I'd be doing everyday stuff like browsing the internet/Twitter and my screen would just hang. Sometimes I would take it out of my pocket and I'd be unable to unlock it, it would just stay blank and the only way to revive the device would be to force restart either by holding the power button or removing the battery.

I spent about 4 hours researching the issue last night to see if it was a global problem or just my phone and I discovered that this issue was affecting hundreds of people, all on 4.1.2. One particular dev forum believes the issue points to a fault with devices bought around 5-7 months ago that all break and become corrupt with this software update. I've not rooted nor manipulated my device in anyway, this all happened after updating officially via Samsung.

Anyway, could someone suggest what I should do next? Any help would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I should have mentioned after I started having problems all I have tried to use the phone for has been 

pattern unlock

play store (to try uninstall 3 things I thoghut were maybe the cause, they're reinstalled now and fine)

SMS

gmail

and ~3 hours of trying to use google nav

nothing hugely taxing, and that caused those 52 reboots.

I'm a developer and genuinly very careful about what I install, how I treat my phone I had no doubts after reading the threads what the problem was, those problems may eventually trickle back in a few weeks only long term testing can show it's truly fixed,  but a newer firmware is the only thing that's stopped it dead for now.


 XELLA has freeze/lockup/powerdown/brick issues, o2 need to sort out their branded update asap, and prioritise support for anyone reporting issues on XELLA in the mean time :

http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-siii-i9300/245894-samsung-galaxy-s3-i9300-freezes-ev...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/18dqye/heads_up_sgs3_i9300_users_the_firmware_samsung/

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2122346

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2133401

Oh, one minor thing for anyone else, the com ports never showed up yellow as per MI5's instructions, they were blue with text in when connected in odin 3.7 for me.
if it lists a com port in te blocks under ID:COM and the md5 is checked and clear when you add it to the PDA section then you're good to go. 

Anyway, many thanks once again for your help, saved me a fair bit of searching about for the right threads for the most recent odin, time to get back to reboot free life again

[MI5]

Haven't used 3.7 myself yet so thanks for the heads up on the colour change

[Anonymous]

Just to add to this, my s3 was freezing and or dropping phone calls. I did a factory reset last night and it seems to have resolved the problem.

Didn't lose anything this time either!

[Anonymous]

If you were on XELLA firmware, a 16gb phone, and you weren't just unlucky with some other software, then those freezes will return shortly. factory reset is the first thing people try after some basic debugging / cache removal.

but good luck!

[Anonymous]

An update to my ridiculous situation is this having had a text to say my phone is on its way back to the shop from the repair centre 3 days ago I rang up today to see where the hell it is only
To be told that it still hadn't arrived at the shop. When I explained that the last time I sent it off it was back the same day I received the text , I was met with reply from a rude assistant well it ain't here . Now I am not an unreasonable man especially since I've had to send my phone off twice in the last two weeks and it hasn't been working for a month but this is unacceptable customer service , chances are when it comes back it still won't work because they didn't fix it last time,however they still keep taking the money out of my account . At this point all confidence in O2 and samsung has gone , I am cancelling my contract even though its only half way through because at this point I could care less about the money. I've been told it could be after bank holiday now before I get my phone back so ill have been without my phone for almost 3 weeks . O2 repairs , customer services are a joke .

[Anonymous]

Guys, could I just say fantastic posts! In particular, MI5 Meerkat/avatar guy! I've been reluctant to send my phone back and knew it had to be software, and being on O2 means I just need this update and all should be well. Odds are if I hadn't seen this thread, I may have got a replacement which wouldn't have solved the problem. Although patch would have been out by then probably. Keep up the good work fellas.

[MI5]

Markn, if you want to flash Samsung open firmware get an unlock code from O2 and we'll walk you through the flashing process - It's all legit and it will guarantee you get the updates as Samsung release them and not when O2 can be bothered....

[Anonymous]

Cheers Guys. Appreciate the offer. I'm away this weekend but will give it some serious thought, sounds like the way forward though. Have a good Easter!

[Anonymous]

It's been an entire week, not one single reboot in that time since updating the firmware.

The only issue I have found with ODIN flashing sa ammobile rom is that my CSC isn't the same as the phone Sales Code, 

The CSC is i9300OXAEMB5 but kies picks it up as O2U instead of BTU matching the rom, and so says it's unable to do firmware updates on the phone.

I'd need to reset it to BTU with a CSC changer or a factory reset apparently, but both would wipe my phone data. So I'm stuck with ODIN only updates, unless I risk sacrificing everything as ADB backups aren't as reliable as titanium backups but I'm not rooting the phone.

[MI5]

If you dial *#1234# and the phone reports CSC as BTU then the error is in Kies and you should remove it completely from your PC and reinstall it. I always do a factory reset before and after flashing as this guarantees your phone is reset to the correct CSC, but it sounds like yours has reset correctly anyway....? Also, you should still get OTA updates directly from Samsung, there is one on it's way at the moment so in Settings >About Device >Software updates >Check for updates it should tell you that you are in a queue or it will update the phone.