Lumia 950 XL Random Reboots

[TexasLabRat]

Pls also try to write a couple folders of music via PC to your phones SD card. This instantly crashes my whole Phone.

I'm seeing pretty much the exact same as you. With the 4k allocation, it seems a little better but I was still able to make it reboot after a couple of repeated tests of downloading from onedrive to the card. Trying to copy directly from PC to phone via usb results in insta-reboot.

I even tried doing a re-flash via the windows device recovery tool on the theory that maybe there was something corrupted in the factory flashed firmware (separate from the OS). Same behavior. Going to exchange this thing as soon as the local store gets them in stock.

 

[wpctrlfan]

Thanks for your feedback!

I now have a new Lumia 950 XL in front of me and started my testrounds with the same cards which constantly kill my first phone.

First test round on 10586.00 and a fresh phone (without backup) was successful. Nothing crashes at all.
Will now test 10585.29 with fresh phone (without backup)
Last test will be 10585.29 with backup from the first Lumia 950 XL.

Right now it seems to be difficult to get 10585.29 even tough MS announced it is available again. Cannot find it via update and even via insider fast ring.

 

[Swisschoc]

There is definitely issues with compatible sd cards. Came very close to sending my 950xl back for a refund as my handset kept restarting randomly after a few days. Swapped over my new SanDisk 128gb card to a Samsung evo + 128gb card and now handset is so reliable it's unbelievable. Just hope now that it doesn't restart anymore as at it's worse the handset must of restarted up to 6 to 7 times daily.

 

[wpctrlfan]

Maybe thats the case but what if my new 950 XL doesnt reboot with the same cards with reboots my old 950 XL ? Lets see

Right now I cannot upgrade to 10585.29 as MS still didnt make it fully available. I have a strong feeling that my SD card reboot problem is OS related. Testing a fresh 10585.00 against a fresh 10585.29 with the same card should bring proof. Working on it.

The Evo+ card is U1 write speed which might explain why it works. I havent read about users with U1 cards facing reboot problems. But users facing reboots with U3 cards.

 

[dmmontal]

Adding to this thread to note that I too have experienced numerous reboots since purchasing the 950 XL a few weeks ago. I see numerous reports attributing the reboots to issues with apps being installed on the Micro SD card, but I don't believe that's the case universally. While I do have a Micro SD card in the phone, I have no apps on it (nor have I ever had any apps on it). I use it strictly for music storage.

Regardless, my phone reboots randomly every few days. Sometimes while I'm doing things, other times while it's just sitting there idle. It's possible there are multiple issues that are causing the reboots, and storing apps on expandable memory may be one such cause, but I don't believe it's the only factor.

 

[XHotSniperX]

Lol since like 3 days or so my phone started to reboot every hour. It happens also when it's on idle. Windows 10 Mobile is beta or even alpha for sure.

Lumia 950 XL Single SIM.
64 GB SD Card installed, no apps on it. Just Music.
Did a hard reset to get update 10586.29 and did nothing else than just installing my apps again. WTF???

 

[JieXY]

Adding to this thread to note that I too have experienced numerous reboots since purchasing the 950 XL a few weeks ago. I see numerous reports attributing the reboots to issues with apps being installed on the Micro SD card, but I don't believe that's the case universally. While I do have a Micro SD card in the phone, I have no apps on it (nor have I ever had any apps on it). I use it strictly for music storage.

Regardless, my phone reboots randomly every few days. Sometimes while I'm doing things, other times while it's just sitting there idle. It's possible there are multiple issues that are causing the reboots, and storing apps on expandable memory may be one such cause, but I don't believe it's the only factor.

Try removing your SD card and see if your phone still randomly reboots.

 

[TexasLabRat]

Maybe thats the case but what if my new 950 XL doesnt reboot with the same cards with reboots my old 950 XL ? Lets see

Right now I cannot upgrade to 10585.29 as MS still didnt make it fully available. I have a strong feeling that my SD card reboot problem is OS related. Testing a fresh 10585.00 against a fresh 10585.29 with the same card should bring proof. Working on it.

The Evo+ card is U1 write speed which might explain why it works. I havent read about users with U1 cards facing reboot problems. But users facing reboots with U3 cards.

The 2 cards I've tested are a U3 card and a "plain" Class-10 card (no "UHS" classification) so I've bracketed either side of the U1 speed rating and both cards exhibit the reboot issue. Maybe there's something magical about U1 speed in how it interacts with the phone...I'm ordering a samsung evo+ U1 card for giggles and grins while I wait for restock of black 950XL's at the local MS store.

 

[anon(4880292)]

Strange, but today I decided to do a hard reset, delete all and format sd card, and not install backup. So far it seems to have fixed the issue for me.

No reboot since hard reset, before when filming 4K I could not even record 15 seconds before the phone rebooted, and only after few images the phone would two reboot. Have just filmes 1 minut 4k and taken 10 images rapid after each other, no reboot. So far so good time will tell if this solves the issue, if so it sure is software related.

 

[TexasLabRat]

Strange, but today I decided to do a hard reset, delete all and format sd card, and not install backup. So far it seems to have fixed the issue for me.

No reboot since hard reset, before when filming 4K I could not even record 15 seconds before the phone rebooted, and only after few images the phone would two reboot. Have just filmes 1 minut 4k and taken 10 images rapid after each other, no reboot. So far so good time will tell if this solves the issue, if so it sure is software related.

Glad it worked for you, but I've done hard reset/no restore (even re-flash via the windows app) and I still have issues. It never rebooted for me when I was taking pictures or video, though. Only when I download external information onto the card (via OneDrive or USB cable) does it flake out so perhaps there are multiple issues affecting SD card related stability.

 

[drandyperry]

Another 24 hours an no reboots with my no-brand super slow sd card. It seems fast enough to write 4k video to so I presume it must be class 10 at least.
I've taken slow mo videos and edited them ( a sure fire way to crash my u3 pny card), saved pod casts, played pod casts and taken loads of images. Still is stable.
I'm running build 10586.29.

Has any one got a sure fire way to crash their phone? I'll try to copy files from PC to phone and see if that works OK, at the moment my only USB C cable is in the car and I can't be bothered to get it tonight!

AndyP

 

[wpctrlfan]

Update from my case: New phone but same Sandisk U3 speed card, build 10586.00, backup from old Lumia 950 XL imported, 40gb copied to SD via USB from PC, offline maps downloaded to SD. NO reboots at all.

As I cannot download the .29 build yet I still dont have proof if that problem is hardware or software related. It's for sure not the U3 speed SD card itself.

I could always crash my phone except USB transfer by downloading bought movies to my SD card. Alternatively offline maps.

 

[anon(4880292)]

Seems the reboot issue have not gone completely, after the hard reset, it just got better. Can force reboot when recording 4K.

Now this is a brand new Kingston 64GB U3 card, today I decided to order the same size Sandisk Extreme Pro, that was the card I originally wanted, but decided to try the Kingston since it got almost same speed, but allot cheaper.

Always have had Sandisk cards, never gad any issues with them, but other brands year's ago I had allot of issues with, back when mmc cards was a big thing, so from there on forward only got the Sandisk branded cards.

Well other have same issue with SanDisk, but it is worth the try. If that does not work I am really thinking about getting a new phone.

 

[wpctrlfan]

Update after a day of testing:

• Received replacement device from amazon.de (thank you!)
• Device was shipped with OS 10586.00
• Tested all my troublemaker SD cards by copying 40gb of data via USB / Phone to the SD card, downloaded offline maps to SD, downloaded purchased xbox movies to SD card=> Not a single reboot!
• Then I reset again and selected my backup from the first Lumia 950 XL (running 10586.00)
• Did the same test as above => Not a single reboot!
• Now I wanted to install OS 10586.29 but it wasn't available via Insider or normal update
• So I reset my first Lumia 950 XL running OS 10586.29 and inserted the Samsung U3 64gb SD card
• I tried to copy content via USB / Phone to the SD card and it instantly rebooted
• Now I tested my old slow SD cards and the same thing happened

As I did not install the .29 update yet on the new device I still cannot draw any final conclusions. Maybe it's hardware, maybe it's software. But it's clear that it is not the SD cards nor the apps I have installed.

I tested the following cards and all failed on the first phone but work fine on the replacement phone:

• SanDisk Extreme Plus microSDXC 64GB UHS-I Class 10 U3
• Samsung PRO+ microSDXC 64GB UHS-I Class 10 U3
• SanDisk Extreme microSDHC 64GB UHS-I Class 10
• Older Samsung 64GB Micro-SDHC Pro Class10

 

[anon(4880292)]

A good way to test if you have the reboot fault there is an app called SD Card R/W Test where you can test write/read of your sd card, try go to settings and set the File Size to something more than 1mb if your phone does not reboot.

This is a sure reboot for me, does not even take long.

 

[Calydus]

As I said, this Samsung EVO+ 128GB 80MB/s microSDXC Memory Card : microSD, microSDHC & microSDXC Memory - Best Buy Canada works well, not reboot nothing, even with the LATEST build that just got out today, ran sd card test and worked great.

 

[TexasLabRat]

Update after a day of testing:

• Received replacement device from amazon.de (thank you!)
• Device was shipped with OS 10586.00
• Tested all my troublemaker SD cards by copying 40gb of data via USB / Phone to the SD card, downloaded offline maps to SD, downloaded purchased xbox movies to SD card=> Not a single reboot!
• Then I reset again and selected my backup from the first Lumia 950 XL (running 10586.00)
• Did the same test as above => Not a single reboot!
• Now I wanted to install OS 10586.29 but it wasn't available via Insider or normal update
• So I reset my first Lumia 950 XL running OS 10586.29 and inserted the Samsung U3 64gb SD card
• I tried to copy content via USB / Phone to the SD card and it instantly rebooted
• Now I tested my old slow SD cards and the same thing happened

As I did not install the .29 update yet on the new device I still cannot draw any final conclusions. Maybe it's hardware, maybe it's software. But it's clear that it is not the SD cards nor the apps I have installed.

I tested the following cards and all failed on the first phone but work fine on the replacement phone:

• SanDisk Extreme Plus microSDXC 64GB UHS-I Class 10 U3
• Samsung PRO+ microSDXC 64GB UHS-I Class 10 U3
• SanDisk Extreme microSDHC 64GB UHS-I Class 10
• Older Samsung 64GB Micro-SDHC Pro Class10

I tested mine 10586.0 after I reflashed and it still rebooted with both cards, so I don't think it's a .0 vs .29 issue. I'm leaning more and more towards a hardware issue. I'm updating to .36 now as a hail-mary test but I don't have high hopes.

edit: still reboots with .36

 

[ittojo]

I had 8 reboots last friday and then none until thursday when connected to the car with one roboot, in the evening I updated to .36 and today I have had 10 reboots for 8 hours. It reboots in my pocket or when I have it on the desk, not when I?m talking or doing something on the phone.

 

[anon(4880292)]

Today after getting new SanDisk Extreme Pro card, which as soon as I recorded a 4k video rebooted the phone. I went to the store where I got the phone, and exchanged it for a new one, they tested the new one in the store, and so far no rebooting, recorded 8 minutes 4k footage now and counting, never got past the 3 minutes on the old phone.

This does indicate a hardware issue, maybe Microsoft users several suppliers for the card reader, could be software and hardware together. But so far happy champ, now instead of being annoyed by the phone, finally getting to enjoy it.

11 minutes now and counting .

 

[wpctrlfan]

I'm leaning more and more towards a hardware issue.

Thanks for the update! You indeed might be right unfortunately! I still have problems understanding how the SD card reader could be defective technically but for a fact the new phone I received is rock solid. Once I would update to the final OS update and it still doesnt reboot I would have total confirmation. But thats only early next year as the OS dev team is on vacation now

I was lucky enough to get a replacement via amazon within one day but maybe you should consider replacement as well. My new one also has a lot less back cover creaking! Like super little only.