Is there a stable build I can return to, stay there, is it possible and how?

[lefigo]

I am extremely frustrated and I am starting to think someone needs to reimburse me for my phone. I bought an Idol 4s in January and loved it. Best phone ever. I made the mistake of getting on Insider Program which made my phone useless. I reset to factory and quit Insiders. My phone only works slightly better now. Freezes every few minutes, sometimes only a minute apart. Sometimes I have to wait 25 or thirty seconds, sometimes it takes minutes to unfreeze. Other times, I have to reboot it. It freezes no matter what I am doing, although I know Edge is a big problem as I have to scroll very deliberately and painfully slowly to browse or read anything. Zooming is also slow. Everything is slow and laggy. I already had a couple of emergencies during which my phone was non responsive. I still owe Tmobile 400 dollars on this phone! Is there any way to go to a stable build and not receive further updates? How can I do that? What build would that be? If I could only browse the web and text and make calls and check email reliably at this point! Are there some features running in background or apps that may be making my phone slow? Are there diagnostics I can run to see where the problem is? This is a phone with 4gb of RAM and 64gb of on board memory. There is no excuse. It was blazing fast for the first thirty days (my new phone return window!) Please any help will be appreciated!

 

[libra89]

I am extremely frustrated and I am starting to think someone needs to reimburse me for my phone. I bought an Idol 4s in January and loved it. Best phone ever. I made the mistake of getting on Insider Program which made my phone useless. I reset to factory and quit Insiders. My phone only works slightly better now. Freezes every few minutes, sometimes only a minute apart. Sometimes I have to wait 25 or thirty seconds, sometimes it takes minutes to unfreeze. Other times, I have to reboot it. It freezes no matter what I am doing, although I know Edge is a big problem as I have to scroll very deliberately and painfully slowly to browse or read anything. Zooming is also slow. Everything is slow and laggy. I already had a couple of emergencies during which my phone was non responsive. I still owe Tmobile 400 dollars on this phone! Is there any way to go to a stable build and not receive further updates? How can I do that? What build would that be? If I could only browse the web and text and make calls and check email reliably at this point! Are there some features running in background or apps that may be making my phone slow? Are there diagnostics I can run to see where the problem is? This is a phone with 4gb of RAM and 64gb of on board memory. There is no excuse. It was blazing fast for the first thirty days (my new phone return window!) Please any help will be appreciated!

You can use Windows Device Recovery Tool to restore and then update. You can't stop updates, you can just choose not to install them.

 

[AbhiWindows10]

I reset to factory and quit Insiders. My phone only works slightly better now. Freezes every few minutes, sometimes only a minute apart. Sometimes I have to wait 25 or thirty seconds, sometimes it takes minutes to unfreeze. Other times, I have to reboot it.

Hey, lefigo

Understand your frustration. I've been there and sometimes still there(!) because I'm an Insider (although honestly, the latest Insider builds for both Phone and PC are pretty nice)

Now, since you have so much of an issue, I would recommend a special kind of factory reset which would TRULY bring your phone to the state as you initially had it (and maybe even better!). You would most likely get the original 10586.xyz builds . Then just upgrade step by step to 14393.10xy and then to 15063.297 or 15063.322 (depends). This is the NON-INSIDER build. Safe.

NOTE - Your phone will be completely wiped. Don't forget to backup both your SD card and Internal memory. The SD card is just in case. It's not wiped usually, but better safe than sorry.


1) First, make sure you have an updated OS (Windows 7, 8.1, 10 will do with the latest updates)

2) Go to this site (OFFICIAL Microsoft software) - Windows Device Recovery Tool

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12379/windows-10-mobile-device-recovery-tool-faq

3) Download this tool and then open it (run directly, there won't be any issues)

4) The download of the .exe file is itself small, but this software then searches for MSFT servers for all the important drivers that you will need to flash your phone, and then downloads them. Let it run till it's over.

5) There will be an installation prompt after the download is over. Once installed, open the software (it'll again check for updates)

6) Charge your phone to 80% and above (Just do this while step 1-5 is going on!! :smile: )
7) Connect your phone to PC/Laptop via USB cable (make sure it's the direct connection to motherboard and not some extension (just to be safe - you don't want LOOSE connections while flashing.

8) The software then detects your OS, firmware and you'll get an option to RESET the OS. Click on that.

9) The OS and LATEST Firmware is downloaded to PC and then the phone will automatically start with the flash mode. It'll complete very quick.

10) The rest is like booting any brand NEW phone. Your usual setup.

I've done this many times because I just like a fresh new start every once in a while (I've had issues even after a phone reset via settings, so this is the BEST OPTION - YOU ALSO SAVE MONEY by not going to a store!!!! ) I've done it with a L535, 640, 650, 950XL.

Cheers!! Hope this helps!! This will definitely get you to a stable build. Trust me.

 

[Pallav Chakraborty]

The fast ring build now is pretty stable on my 950XL and it's better than the production builds imo.

 

[lefigo]

I did that already, ibhiwindows10. Exactly like you described. That is what I meant by resetting my phone. But I backed up all my apps and everything, so the tool restores your apps and start screen, so my phone is not the same as factory new. Should I try wiping out my apps first before I back it all up and try again? It seems people are getting stable builds and st least that gives me hope. However, I checked my build and it is one of the ones you said was safe, so I don't want to make this worse! I currently have build 15063.297. I have most of my memory free on my phone. It's not like I have my phone full of stuff. Thanks for taking the time to fill in the details. I will need all this info if I decide to reformat again! Then if that does not work, maybe I should try Insiders again? The first step I am tempted to take is to take all the apps on my phone off. Which leads to another question? Could too many live tiles be slowing down my performance? But this was not a problem the first 30 days! I am specifically talking about uber, calendar, people, two weather apps, three email accounts, messaging, 3 news apps, and phone.

 

[AbhiWindows10]

I did that already, AbhiWindows10. Exactly like you described. That is what I meant by resetting my phone. Could too many live tiles be slowing down my performance? But this was not a problem the first 30 days! I am specifically talking about uber, calendar, people, two weather apps, three email accounts, messaging, 3 news apps, and phone.

From the apps that you have mentioned, I don't think it'll have a bad effect but I get what the issue could be!! In my L650, I have many live tiles with the scale set to 150% and it's great even now.
While setting up the phone once again, did you chose the option to "Restore from cloud backup"?

If your cloud backup itself it wonky then you'll have more chances of getting trouble. I always start with a clean install and then set up my required apps one at a time, which also ensures that ALL the apps installed are being set-up with the latest app update available.

You mentioned about wiping all the apps and then backing up. That might help but it's just an unnecessary step! Instead chose not to restore from backup next time AND also go toy our backup settings and DELETE old corrupted backups from your OneDrive. That will make sure that the NEXT time you do RESTORE, it'll be better.

Cheers

 

[lefigo]

Thank you so much. I will try this and let you know!

 

[phuqit]

Thank you for taking the effort to share. I wish I could write s well as you.

 

[lefigo]

I have been wanting to ask about this for a while but I thought the problems might get better. But they are not. If I hit my side button to turn on my camera, my screen goes black for a long time and sometimes freezes my phone indefinitely, so pretty much my camera is useless. Then today I was in a meeting. I forgot to turn my phone volume down before the meeting. An alarm went off during the meeting but my phone was frozen, so I could not snooze or turn off my phone but the alarm kept sounding! I will re-format tonight once more!

 

[lefigo]

I lied. I did not reformat yet. I figured I would try going back on Insiders before doing that! Tried the preview build. It was awful! All the same problems continued. Went to slow ring. That was pretty bad too. Now I am back once more on fast ring and most everything is working better! But phone still freezes. Sometimes less than a minute apart! But at least when it freezes, I just have to wait 10 to 20 seconds, but sometimes more. Sometimes it freezes when texting or commenting on FB.Still a bit of a pain I should not have to deal with. I will have to reformat this weekend. If that does not work , I sm going to call TMobile and Microsoft about getting my money back!

 

[lefigo]

Just trying to follow up. After trying all three builds under Indider Program after doing factory reset with everyapp loaded new and very few loaded, I once more reset my Alcatel 4s one more time. It worked great for one day. After updates phone freezing came back. T-Mobile would not help me and I still owed 400 dollars on my phone. They would send me a refurbished Alcatel. How would that help me? Long story short, I got the whole family yo switch to Sprint. Our coverage is better and Sprint will pay off my Alcatel phone for me. I got a Galaxy s8plus for half price too. Amazing phone! I miss nothing of my windowsphone. I can do so many more things with this phone! I will post a thread later on other forum when I am better versed in the use of this Samsung beast!

 

[lefigo]

I am only sorry I did not do this much earlier, rather than wasting so much energy and time being loyal to the wp platform. After having my new phone five days. I honestly can't help but think I was, like all others still using WP, in an alternate reality created by ourselves. Yeah.

 

[xandros9]

I am only sorry I did not do this much earlier, rather than wasting so much energy and time being loyal to the wp platform. After having my new phone five days. I honestly can't help but think I was, like all others still using WP, in an alternate reality created by ourselves. Yeah.

Glad to hear you're in a better mobile spot now.

 

[Vivio vrvly]

Would I want peace, I would take new Iphone, its I dont know which generation meaning its quite stable with a lot apps, stores Everywhere, simply big support and hi quality(and hi end tech) phone. Only thing different is it got 1 mic, 950XL got 4 with up to 145dB, camera sensor is small in size, 1/3" is also size in lowends, so as camera centric phone is lumia best one even now. Only thing raising eyebrows is that it is no easy phone to use as its not even 1.gen, maybe 0.gen as test phone would I say. Sure new surface phone will be beast, when SP2 or 3rd generation will come, cannot imagine what other players offer then, but 950XL shows that they can get better(in hw) every time. S8 or next note8 is/will be beast in android world, but at least for me 950XL is worth with its camera and mics, even if nothing else was working, because there is still no one offering better alternative. (small reason: https://youtu.be/cDTJiUS41n8?list=FLpyAQu36jtKk6PVVuPeJg-Q)

 

[eddieDOTexe]

lmao no, sorry, there is NO stable build on Windows 10 Mobile. Whether it be Insider build or official release.
Its just unstable trash at the moment.
I tried. I really did. With the Idol 4s too. I gave up, bit the bullet and got an iPhone SE. Its a world of difference in terms of stability.
And finally you can uninstall iTunes and all that apple crap and replace most of it with Microsoft offerings. Even the Contacts app syncs with outlook so all the contacts you had on your Idol 4s will be there on your iPhone.
The outlook app on Android won't do that for some reason. That was the biggest deal breaker for me (tried a Samsung Galaxy for a week)
You are absolutely right. There is no excuse. Its a high end phone, it shouldn't perform like a Galaxy On5. Its just crippled by the mess that is W10M. And it doesn't look like they're interested in fixing it until Windows on ARM is released. And judging by the looks of it and MS' track record, W10M devices will get burned and not be carried over to W10ARM.
Since you're on Android, consider the following: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.textra&hl=en
Very comfy. Have you tried MS' Arrow launcher yet?

 

[Scott Pisciotta]

It is TRASH. The creators update made the phone a big POS.

Camera huge lag
Edge locks up most of the time
Waze is almost unusable
most other apps crash often and freeze.

MSFT has finally killed this 25 year supporter. I dread having to go to CrapDroid, but MSFT has given me no choice.

 

[lefigo]

Thanks eddieDOTexe. That Textra app is beautiful. When I moved from my lumia 640 to my idol4s, I had a an incredibly hard time getting a all my contacts backed up on my SD card to transfer as vcf files from Outlook. Process missed quite a few and then had to bluetooth the remainder one by one! I learned my lesson and put all my contacts on gmail. So when I moved to Android, they were all there. The more I use this Galaxy s8 the more I love it. It is a fantastic phone and a good deal at half price. My son is aa hardcore Apple fan and never had respect for Android. He has admitted my phone is awesome. So yes, this girl is very happy. Again I only wish I had done this sooner. I am quite resentful with Microsoft at all the time loss and embarrassment this caused me. My Idol 4s worked like a dream for the first mom the- before Creator's Update. I will look into the Arrow launcher. Best of luck with your iphone!

 

[mattiasnyc]

lmao no, sorry, there is NO stable build on Windows 10 Mobile.

LMAO, no, sorry, the official production build I have on my 950 is stable. So, you're wrong.

Sorry buddy.

Whether it be Insider build or official release.
Its just unstable trash at the moment.

No it isn't.

 

[mattiasnyc]

It is TRASH.

No i tisn't.

Camera huge lag
Edge locks up most of the time

My camera doesn't lag.
Edge does not lock up most of the time for me.

most other apps crash often and freeze.

Not for me they don't.

 

[Grant Taylor3]

950 here on release preview is stable. I have a 640 of Fast Ring and it is smooth as silk.

I have been running the insider builds on PC and Phone since the very beginning.

Builds were rough at the start but they have smoothed out nicely.