Fix for 1520 spontaneous app start/stop problem

[pphilipp]

I recently bought a seemingly mint condition used 1520 with a major problem. Because of this problem I picked it up for barely nothing at all. The phone has a condition where it suddenly goes berserk and quits whatever you're doing at the time and suddenly starts cycling through random apps on its on. The two functions which seem to be at the heart of the problem are Search/Bing and Cortana. They give the appearance that they're at the heart of the wild unusable condition, whether they actually are or not. Even with Cortana fully turned off it would suddenly spring to life and ask questions on its on. I thought I would be able to fix this irritation by experimenting with either the system, software, or hardware adjustments. I read every online forum 'fix' to no avail. For days I tried everything I read as well as coming up with my own hopeful remedies. Everything failed!

On some days this odd behavior only happened ten or twelve times a day. On other days it might happen twenty or thirty times, making the phone basically useless. I fully understood why the seller let it go so cheap! The problem would interfere with calls, picture-taking, and any important endeavor I might undertake. I came to grips that this might be beyond fixing.

THE FIX...
Well, after several days of this wild app takeover problem, an apparent solution arrived in the mail. I had ordered a 'Great Shield' book-style case which appears to be made from a polycarbonate material. From the instant I put the 1520 into this case it has not cycled through the problem at all. It has worked flawless for days!! I don't have a valid theory but it appears that the phone gets it's bearings mixed-up and goes all scatterbrained while being held in the hand. The physical contact seems to make the sensors go wild. But when enclosed in the case it has a new coat of armor protecting the sensory overload it goes through. Just my uneducated guess. All I know is the case stopped the problem 100%. This is beyond what anyone online came up with otherwise.

If the problem returns, I will post and let everyone know. If not, this appears to be the solution to the crazy 1520 wild app / touch gone wild / mind of it's on, extremely irritating problem!

 

[jsooney]

Most likely it's due to the infamous touch problems the 1520 has always suffered from. By putting it in a case you reduce/eliminate the flexing of the body and prevent the phantom touches that were causing the phone to go nuts. Mine would do it sometimes and I would bend and twist the phone, or jump up and down on it until it stopped.

 

[RumoredNow]

I agree... "Swaddling" the phone probably is what helped.

 

[livejazz]

Has anybody found an actual solution to this issue. Mine is doing the classic ghost Cortana activation. So, of course, I do the enclosure twisting, vertical plane bending, etc., and it is fine for a while (ten minutes to 1/2 a day). Usually, as all of us know, putting it in the pocket where it gets bent again brings the issue back. Mine started doing it when my second generation 1520 began wigging out, so I took the screen and put it on a first generation unit that I broke, early on. I've tried three different enclosures, so I don't think the actual enclosure is the issue. Also, I've tried all the other stuff I could find, like turning the sensitivity down, hard (factory) reset, etc. Just curious if anyone has found the definitive fix. Thanks!