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Mobile Device Troubleshooting

4 min read

General Troubleshooting

  • Reconfigure settings
  • Reboot
  • Close running apps (You may need to force stop)
  • Uninstall/Reinstall apps

Dim Screen

  • Increase brightness
  • Turn off auto brightness
  • Soft reset
  • Display panel issue

Auto Rotation

  • Toggle auto rotation lock
  • App does not support portrait or landscape mode
  • Gyroscope broken
  • Accelerometer broken
  • OS update
  • Soft reset

Touchscreen Responsiveness

Caused by:

  • Accidental touches
  • Dirty screen
  • Poorly installed screen protector
  • Slow device performance (will reflect in software aswell like widgets not loading)

Diagnostics Menu

Most mobile devices have a hidden diagnostics menu accessible through:

  • Inputting digits into the deviceā€™s phone app
  • Holding down a button during boot

Liquid Damage

To determine if the device is broken due to liquid damage, check the Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI) on the battery. A device not damaged by water should have this label remain white A device submerged in water will either be completely fine or permanently bricked.

Recovery

Let the device dry itself out.

  • Putting your phone in desicants like rice or silca gel can remove liquid from the phone
  • Do not open the phone
  • Donā€™t connect the phone to power
  • Donā€™t move the phone around
  • Let it try for atleast a day

App Not Launching

  • Device is incompatible with OS
  • Device cannot suit deviceā€™s hardware
  • Device may require extra sensors your hardware does not have\

Overheating

A device may overheat due to:

  • Sun
  • Charging
  • Resource intensive processing
  • Hardware issue To cool the device off:
  • Power off the device
  • Put it in a cool area

Update Failure

Caused by:

  • Not enough space to install update
  • Bad software
  • Running out of battery mid-update Check the manual for ways to revert an update

Slow Response

  • Stop apps
  • Clear storage space
  • Overheating device
  • Use device performance diagnostic tools

Battery Life

Most mobile devices use Li-Ion batteries, meaning each recharge will shorten their battery life. To ensure you have enough power:

  • view the battery life from review websites
  • Bring Power Bank To reduce battery drainage:
  • Keep brightness low
  • Power saving mode
  • Grayscale - reduces drainage in OLED only
  • Disable Cellular Data, NFC, Bluetooth, WIFI.
    • Disable roaming
  • Disable GPS

Slow Charging

  • Charging port is clogged
  • Charger watt rating is too low
  • Cable is broken
  • Broken port

Battery Swelling

To prevent battery swelling:

  • Use original equipment manufacturer (OEM) chargers
  • Dont overheat device
  • Dont overcharge device

Random Reboots or Freezing

  • Digitizer Screen is not responding to input
  • Soft reset
  • See if device responds to buttons
  • Close apps
  • Update OS
  • Hardware issue
  • Check battery health
  • Boot device into special mode - refer to documentation
  • Factory reset
  • View logs

Cannot Broadcast to External Monitor

  • Check if monitor is looking for the right source
  • Check adapter type if its compatible with your OS
    • Some adapters specially made for android, some are designed for apple
  • Does adapter require its own power source
  • For HDMI: Reset both devices

No Sound from Speakers

  • Check if its app specific
  • Check if app volume or call volume is on
  • Use audio equalizer apps
  • Install a better OS

Network Connectivity Issues

  • Signal is too weak. Move closer
  • Purchase cellular boosters
  • Performance issues by too much resource usage
  • Overloaded network
  • Data usage limits
  • Roaming data limits by the cell carrier for non-subscribers
  • Stop synchronization apps
  • Exceeded data plan (Important)

GPS issues

  • Ensure location, data or wifi are turned on
  • GPS wont work underground
  • GPS will be bad indoors
  • OS configuration issue
  • Manufacturing issue

Encryption Issues

Emails are secured with PGP or MIME. This means both party require:

  • Keys to encrypt and decrypt messages
  • Software to allow for automatic encryption/decryption E-Mails may not be received well because:
  • Email client does not support the encryption scheme
  • Email client is not configured to use this encryption
  • Incorrect or missing keys

Digitizer issues

  • Power off the device

Graph View

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