Why is my new Lumia 950 overheating?

[Windows Central Question]

I returned a 950 one day after purchase to AT&T due to massive overheating, and a two hour battery life. Clearly a problem. On my new handset, I didn't install the memory card, thinking that may be an issue. It seemed fine, almost cool to the touch for most of the day. Then, tonight, while simply browsing on Edge (no other apps running), it is ROCKET hot.

 

[Wookieekiller]

Only 2 of those builds are from the insider program (.11 and .29 are available to the 950's without needing the insider app), the newest build went out to both slow and fast rings so I would assume it's more then safe enough.

 

[Callum_Smith]

Installed this morning, seems to have fixed the overheating and battery drainage I was experiencing

 

[gara93]

which version you have installed? .29 or .36?

 

[Callum_Smith]

Whichever was last released outside the Insider program

 

[Jamie Schlinkmann]

I was under the impression that it was downloading .29 that caused my problems to start in the first place. I had a couple of weeks of trouble-free operation before the issues started. It mostly worked fine over the weekend but I still only have the one gmail account set up and no other apps or anything. I will update now.

I have also read about others with .29 that are having the problems so I was waiting to see if they would put out another update.

 

[Rgrainey]

Loved the 950 especially when used with continuum, but! - Same issue. Overheating, lag, freezing. Finally, phone heated extremely hot (after 2 weeks with phone, no updates going on, memory card use), and completely froze on home screen pic (no clock text or normal app icons)for over 5 minutes. it would not turn off, not change screens...nothing, and seemed to be getting hotter by the second. At that time, I removed the battery. Upon re-inserting the battery, a hairline crack appeared on the inside of the screen, and there is now no display at all. Not sure how to reiterate that, but for ATT and Microsoft mobile it's a big deal. The crack is on the inside. You can't feel it, and can barely see it I'm sure it has something to do with the overheating issue, and possibly the normal stress of removing the battery. The phone has never been dropped, never even in a back pocket where it could be subject to bending / stress. ATT says that a crack automatically voids the warranty. I'm sure there is no way to replicate the internal crack of whatever internal component is cracked on a cold / normal running temperature phone with a drop or physical stress. I refuse to pay for the phone, and ATT has passed my case off to Microsoft, and Microsoft is supposed to get back to me in 48 to 96 hours. So I'll check back in. I'm one of the adamant fans of Microsoft's vision of where devices are going, and will put up with the lack of apps and sometimes buggy performance to follow that direction, but I have to say, I wouldn't buy this phone again, and if you have extreme heat combined with freezing or long lags, I'd return it and opt for an Android or Iphone asap. You're risking a huge un-insurable / non-warranty expense regardless of how well you treat the phone. I've never broken a phone, never filed a claim, and have always worked my phones very hard, across the world. This isn't user error or damage, there is something definitely wrong with at least the unit I had, and from what I'm reading, it's not exclusive.

 

[spaulagain]

Full reset and an update seemed to have fixed the massive battery drain I had.

Overall, still love this device. Just the OS seems buggy as hell.

 

[richard jere]

I have just bought my 950XL. I was experiencing the same overheating and battery drain issues highlighted above but after reading all your comments I tried to update the phone over wifi and the result was awesome, no overheating or anything. So whats my observation of this beast called 950XL? It takes too much much time to update all system applications over cellular data. The overheating and battery draining was caused by this updating of applications.

The overheating was history when i did a phone update over wifi all night long. You could try this and who knows all your overheating and battery drain problems could be a thing of the past. Enjoy your 950XL with minimum 10-12hr browsing with ease.

 

[ejbrod1]

Just to chime in on this.

Recently bought a 950 Dual SIM. Had a few teething issues with overheating* and did a few resets (WDRT to production and updated to 10586.318)

*when I say overheating, the phone back would get extremely hot (not so hot as to not let me hold the unit) but hot nonetheless.

Had reported the overheating issue on the feedback app. The 'overheating' would only occur when browsing the web (WIFI and cellular data). Today received a call from the USA (currently I'm in Ireland) and the agent said he was calling about the feedback I left (also had an online chat with MS). He want's me to return the unit to the repair centre for them to evaluate the unit.

Has anyone had this happen? The phone seems to have settled down (the battery life seems ok - 26 hours with minimal use - 30 mins TuneIn via bluetooth headset, 10/15 mins calls, 4/5 text and a little browsing).

Can the repair centre really help? If the issue is S/W related, only an update will resolve the issue. If it's a H/W issue, what will they do? If they cannot detect the issue, it'll be pointless in returning the handset.

The only real resolution would be if they did determine a H/W defect, to replace the unit (not repair it) - Has anyone had this and did it resolve the issue?

Thanks in advance (and sorry for the thread hijack) :smile:

 

[biltaji]

I also face the heat issues. The phone warms up when I use Facebook or browse Edge.. It not very bad but it's annoying.
Eventually I uninstalled Facebook and I'm not browsing the internet much. I love the phone but it does have battery life issues. I have to charge it twice daily. Again that is not ask issue. I have a charger in the office and one home.

 

[Anton Theunissen]

Since the last update my 950 heat and drain are totally gone. No more email errors either, Edge doesn't swallow data anymore.. I have a really cool phone now I think they really fixed it. Anyone experiencing the same?

 

[jurd]

Since the last update my 950 heat and drain are totally gone. No more email errors either, Edge doesn't swallow data anymore.. I have a really cool phone now I think they really fixed it. Anyone experiencing the same?

 

[jurd]

Since the last update my 950 heat and drain are totally gone. No more email errors either, Edge doesn't swallow data anymore.. I have a really cool phone now I think they really fixed it. Anyone experiencing the same?

for all apps I switched running in the backgroup to no, turned the brightness a bit lower and the overheating hasn't occurred the whole day. Remains the mystery of the black frozen screen / sudden restarts, twice today. Probably another thread.

 

[areithropos]

My phone got hot too the first few days of use; but I was accustomed to it by my 930 and kept my phone and it got much better now.
Still, a prolonged use of Facebook or a Messenger would cause my phone to become quite hot. I think this is quite normal for some stronger phones like 930 and 950.

 

[Vicious Enzyme]

Two other options to consider.
Did you leave your battery to full charge for the minimum 15hrs or whatever it is before using, Or did the shop rep start setting it all up out of the box?

Are you using a replacement? Sprint sent a replacement to me (as had virgin mobile in the past) and it was a return. A really terribly refurbished refurb.
Demand a brand new one off the shelf if getting a replacement.
If its brown box your running blind in terms of issues.

Also dont use an sdcard for storing anything that might be linked to a cloud service, such as pictures etc.
OneDrive sync is a horrible beast, and sdcards are not designed for frequent writes and re-writes.
Get the higher internal storage models to start with and don't use SD.
My current phone (Samsung ativ neo) will overheat like hell when using an SD, even a high end Samsung card cannot cope.

 

[JackDemon999]

My Windows Phone is over heating by charging it. Help!

 

[RTGent]

My Windows Phone is over heating by charging it. Help!

Bummer. Welcome to this ancient, mostly-dormant-now forum -and even older thread. I presume you have the 950. My only guess is a faulty battery or cable, so I'd try a new or different one of those, or both. I've still never experienced heating of this phone, and I've had at least three. Good luck.