BONG! BingBingBong!
September 5, 2014 1:03 PM Subscribe
T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy 5 phone repeatedly torments me with a loud series of 4-tones. When it plays from the beginning, it's something like C - ABC, where the first note is a quarter, eighth pause, then three eighth-notes (I'm no musician, so I might have the notes wrong, but that's vaguely it).
Here's what it's NOT: phone call notification, text message notification, email notification, calendar notification, alarm notification, voicemail notification, anything from Settings > Notifications, anything controlled by the volume (it happens even on vibrate), anything that produces a visible change in the closed-case screen, top statusbar, or regular screen.
It happens every few minutes, several times in a row throughout the day. Never at night. It started doing this sometime this week.
Curiously, sometimes it doesn't start at the beginning, and then it can get cut off (there's a white noise, then -ABC instead of C-ABC, for instance).
It's driving me crazy, and probably distracting to my coworkers.
Here's what it's NOT: phone call notification, text message notification, email notification, calendar notification, alarm notification, voicemail notification, anything from Settings > Notifications, anything controlled by the volume (it happens even on vibrate), anything that produces a visible change in the closed-case screen, top statusbar, or regular screen.
It happens every few minutes, several times in a row throughout the day. Never at night. It started doing this sometime this week.
Curiously, sometimes it doesn't start at the beginning, and then it can get cut off (there's a white noise, then -ABC instead of C-ABC, for instance).
It's driving me crazy, and probably distracting to my coworkers.
YES! With mine it was the "feed me" battery noise, even when it was fully charged, even when it was plugged into the bloody wall. This was resolved by removing the battery entirely for 24 hours. A moisture issue may have caused it.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:13 PM on September 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by DarlingBri at 1:13 PM on September 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Have you ever been actively using it when the sound happened? As a sanity check, did you see any text in a toast alert?
Is this by any chance the alert that you're now Roaming? I seem to recall that that one might sound even when silent.
I would first try installing Notification History - there's a chance it might show up. If you've been using the phone when it made noise and saw nothing, then notification history is less likely to help.
What apps have you either first used this week, or updated? Games, or alarms/timers would be most likely. Anything which will alert about bad hardware/battery temperature? (look at task monitors or battery monitors).
Lastly, as this doesn't make sound at night, is there any chance that it's another device you're hearing? At work, for weeks I thought my phone was making sound, I kept hearing it off of my left hip in it's pouch. And then one day I moved the pouch to my right side, but the sound still came from my left hip. It turned out to be the sound from someone 2 tables away from me; the odd accustics of the open concept work space made and impressive deception.
posted by nobeagle at 1:47 PM on September 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Is this by any chance the alert that you're now Roaming? I seem to recall that that one might sound even when silent.
I would first try installing Notification History - there's a chance it might show up. If you've been using the phone when it made noise and saw nothing, then notification history is less likely to help.
What apps have you either first used this week, or updated? Games, or alarms/timers would be most likely. Anything which will alert about bad hardware/battery temperature? (look at task monitors or battery monitors).
Lastly, as this doesn't make sound at night, is there any chance that it's another device you're hearing? At work, for weeks I thought my phone was making sound, I kept hearing it off of my left hip in it's pouch. And then one day I moved the pouch to my right side, but the sound still came from my left hip. It turned out to be the sound from someone 2 tables away from me; the odd accustics of the open concept work space made and impressive deception.
posted by nobeagle at 1:47 PM on September 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Do you have any turn-taking games installed, maybe it's an alert that it's your turn?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 3:28 PM on September 5, 2014
posted by rabbitrabbit at 3:28 PM on September 5, 2014
This is a long shot, but have you checked that NFC is disabled? I haven't been able to reproduce the sounds you mention on my S5, but I know that when I had an S4, NFC caused all kinds of annoying behavior. You can disable it in Settings > NFC (under "Connect and share").
posted by neushoorn at 1:42 AM on September 6, 2014
posted by neushoorn at 1:42 AM on September 6, 2014
Response by poster: In order:
I'll try the battery-removal trick.
It absolutely is my phone - there's a vibration that accompanies it.
Notification History shows nothing - installed it yesterday, a few instances ago.
No games.
Everything (IIRC) that I recently installed is now removed. Still happening.
NFC is turned off.
Problem still exists.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:47 AM on September 6, 2014
I'll try the battery-removal trick.
It absolutely is my phone - there's a vibration that accompanies it.
Notification History shows nothing - installed it yesterday, a few instances ago.
No games.
Everything (IIRC) that I recently installed is now removed. Still happening.
NFC is turned off.
Problem still exists.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:47 AM on September 6, 2014
If it's worth the effort, you could install Android Studio and use logcat to see what is going on in your phone at the time that it happens. It's a bit of a needle in a haystack kind of thing, but it might be a source of clues if you have run out of other ideas/options. Try to note the exact time that it happens, and take a look at the log output within a second or so of that time, looking for anything that seems like it may have something to do with sound / notifications / etc. You don't need to understand it all (I definitely don't), but if you're lucky the offending app may be logging something that would give you a clue as to what's going on / where to look. Good luck!
posted by napulist at 6:48 PM on September 7, 2014
posted by napulist at 6:48 PM on September 7, 2014
Have a look in settings > battery use. Is there anything there that is using power and shouldn't be?
Have a look in settings > apps > running. Anything there that shouldn't be? If you click on an app here, you can un-check the "allow notifications" box. This is useful for stopping games using the notifications bar when you don't want them to, but might also help you turn off this sound.
You could try installing the "wakelock detector" app. It shows you which apps are waking up your device (to deliver notifications or sync with the net). Might help you find the offending app.
You could also install a file explorer like Astro (or you might have one there already). Have a look in the notifications folder. Is the sound file in there? Or use it to find all mp3s (it might be a different sound format - check what other notifications used). Go through the ones you don't recognise, listen to them and if it's your C-ABC, find out which folder it lives in and you should find the app. Then ether turn off app notifications or maybe delete the sound file. Can't guarantee that will work though.
Another thing to check might be the usb connection. I had a problem with my S2 behaving strangely. Turned out the USB port's internal tab was slightly bent (from me sometimes trying to insert the charger upside down) was causing it. By bending the tab slightly, the problem resolved.
Good luck!
posted by guy72277 at 1:42 AM on September 8, 2014
Have a look in settings > apps > running. Anything there that shouldn't be? If you click on an app here, you can un-check the "allow notifications" box. This is useful for stopping games using the notifications bar when you don't want them to, but might also help you turn off this sound.
You could try installing the "wakelock detector" app. It shows you which apps are waking up your device (to deliver notifications or sync with the net). Might help you find the offending app.
You could also install a file explorer like Astro (or you might have one there already). Have a look in the notifications folder. Is the sound file in there? Or use it to find all mp3s (it might be a different sound format - check what other notifications used). Go through the ones you don't recognise, listen to them and if it's your C-ABC, find out which folder it lives in and you should find the app. Then ether turn off app notifications or maybe delete the sound file. Can't guarantee that will work though.
Another thing to check might be the usb connection. I had a problem with my S2 behaving strangely. Turned out the USB port's internal tab was slightly bent (from me sometimes trying to insert the charger upside down) was causing it. By bending the tab slightly, the problem resolved.
Good luck!
posted by guy72277 at 1:42 AM on September 8, 2014
Response by poster: The problem hasn't recurred for a few days.
Yay?
Grrr.... intermittent problems are the worst.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:51 AM on September 9, 2014
Yay?
Grrr.... intermittent problems are the worst.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:51 AM on September 9, 2014
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posted by IAmBroom at 1:04 PM on September 5, 2014