Lumia Phone Freezes Randomly (After Update 8.1)

Update: 12/18 at 9:30AM

In order to encompass a broader range of devices I've renamed the thread at the suggestion of user: Clemens Wyss.

Update: 11/24 at 3:00PM

Microsoft Employee Kevin Lee (unverified user) has stated the following:

Hi Folks,

I'm sorry we've been dark - I work closely with the Lumia engineering team that's working directly on this. Trying to shed a little light on this...

Beginning in early September we started to receive an increased number of customer feedback regarding Microsoft Lumia 1020 and 925 device freezes.

During the last two months we have been reaching out for more and more data and devices to systematically reproduce and narrow down the root cause. It turned out to be a power regulator logic failure where in combination with multiple reasons the device fails to power up the CPU and peripherals after idling into a deep sleep state.

I am pleased to pass on that we have a fix candidate under validation which we expect to push out the soon with the next SW update!

Appreciate your patience

Update: 10/11 at 6:30 PM 

Some users have stated that bringing the phone to Microsoft or ATT to have the handset flashed with a new rom available has resolved their issue.

Update: 10/8 at 6:46 PM 

Anyone experiencing the issues documented on this thread, I suggest you call the Care Line: (888)665-4228.

---- My suggestion ----

When you call that number you should have the following information ready:

1. IMEI Number, OS Version, etc of your phone
2. A clear description of the problem, (since 8.1 update, freezing started)
3. Timing: How long has this been going on
4. A list of numbers, websites and if possible names of who you have spoken and their directions that failed to resolve the issue
5. A list of all steps you have taken to try and resolve the issue (e.g. hard reset, uninstall apps, wi-fi off, etc)

Update: 9/28 at 1:30 PM

Updating description based on additional information provided on newer posts. 

Update: 9/24 at 2:12 PM (FYI)

I received a 1020 replacement yesterday from Microsoft and just finished shipping the old head set to them now. Should get there by Friday. When setting up the 1020 yesterday the phone already came with Cyan and 8.1 (8.10.12393.890) installed. The phone has not frozen or acted out in any way.

OLD LUMIA 1020 Yellow ATT	NEW LUMIA 1020 Yellow ATT
Current OS Version: 8.10.12393.890 Firmware: 3051.50009.1425.2001 Hardware: 3.3.0.0 Radio: 3.2.04059.1 Chip SOC: 8960	Current OS Version: 8.10.12393.890 Firmware: 3051.5009.1425.2001 Hardware: 3.3.0.2 <-- (different) Radio: 3.2.04059.1 Chip SOC: 8960

Hoping the issue is resolved for good, but unfortunately this route doesn't help us resolve the problem for those of you who are still experiencing it and who have received headset replacements that also don't work. Perhaps folks experiencing this issue could go to Settings > About and provide Current OS Version, Firmware, Hardware, Radio, etc.... to see if there is any correlation.

I will leave this post open and continue to update it in the event that the new headset freezes. I will not mess with any settings and use the phone as I would in order to try it.

Update: 9/22 at 2:12 PM (FYI)

Microsoft is aware of this issue and have contacted me. They have asked me to send in my device directly to the developer team to troubleshoot and replicate the problem. My phone replacement is scheduled to arrive 9/23. I will be sending it in hopefully by Wednesday morning. I ask that mean while people keep posting any information or patterns you may notice that you find are causing the problem.

I'll try to review all the posts this week and create a section of speculation/patterns people have noticed in addition to the information already below.

- - - - - - 

I'm re-opening this question since the ones that are around have been marked as answered but many users in different threads are still looking for a solution to this problem. I'm hoping this post helps bring awareness back to the forums that this is a serious problem affecting users of the Lumia 1020 devices and resuscitates positive dialogue to alert MSFT of the problem. 

Problem Description:

Lumia 1020's have been freezing when in stand by mode (glance mode), most report freezing while charging (USB or Wireless Charing) while some also experience it when not charging. The only way to get the phone to respond is by performing a soft reset (hold volume down + power down for 15 seconds). Upon restart, some users report additionally to get one or both errors:

1) Phone date and time will revert back to date of May 22nd and will not auto update to present.

2) Get an error message: Try again in 140040 minutes.

From my experience the phone restarted normally without either date and time reverting or an error message.

Users who have received 1020 replacements report that the problem is still present. One user received a 1520 replacement, and reported that model did not have the problem. Freezes range from multiple times a week (some users reported as high as 10), to only a few times a week (once to twice a week). My phone would freeze around twice a day. Majority of the people notice that the freezing tends to happen mostly at night (during charging).

Hard Reset and full recovery to factory settings using Nokia Recovery tool also did not fix the problem for the many users that tried it, including myself.

Users report to be affected on the following models: 635, 720, 820, 920, 925, 1020 (possibly all Lumias). The problem only started occurring after 8.1 update, whether it is Carrier Roll out or Developer Preview in phones running both BLACK or CYAN. The developers preview release on 9/23 did not resolve the issue for the users who updated.

Another problem that has been reported through posts dates back to before the OS 8.1 upgrade, the unexpected reboots. When using an application the phone would just restart on its own. This problem is described in multiple devices. (e.g. 1020, 1520, etc)

Applications or System settings that I've tried using to reproduce the problem:
Having WIFI: ON (even if apps are not allowed to run in the background)

Having Store>Auto-Updates: ON (while keeping Wifi :off and apps not allowed to run in the background) froze after 12 hours of turning it on.

Users Phone Hardware version's reported to be affected: (settings>about:)

- 3.3.0.0

- 3.3.0.2

- 3.3.0.3

- 4.4.0.0

- 4.4.0.2

- 5.6.0.0

A user was told by an ATT agent that it was know that a batch of BAD lumia 1020 had been confirmed causing the freezing problem. Though not officially confirmed by ATT or Microsoft, this has raised the question as to why there wasn't a recall if this is actually true. This is also questionable as users report their hardware revision to range between the Hardware versions 3.3.0.0 to 4.4.0.2

Users Phone OS version's reported to be affected: (settings>about:)

- 8.10.14157.200

- 8.10.12393.890

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

MY PREVIOUS PHONE INFORMATION: (Phone that was experiencing Freezing)
Phone type: Lumia 1020 Yellow

Carrier: AT&T

Carrier update:

Normal (from 8/15 till 8/28), (Problem existed) (OS: 8.10.12393.890)

Developer Preview (since 8/28-present) (OS: 8.10.14157.200 problem still present)

Current OS Version: 8.10.14157.200
Firmware: 3051.50009.1425.2001
Hardware: 3.3.0.0
Radio: 3.2.04059.1
Chip SOC: 8960

CURRENT SETTINGS
Glance Screen: Auto
Store: Auto-Updates>OFF
Battery Saver Usage (not allowed for: Instagram Beta, Skype, Facebook, Store)

Lumia Black w/ 8.1 (Problem Existed)
Lumia Cyan Installed

Cortana: Removed from Start Screen

Hard Reset was performed and no Back Up restored

Workarounds or Temp solutions reported to work for some people:

- Users reporting that having the handset flashed by Microsoft Store and ATT with a new available rom has resolved their problem (waiting on more replies)

- Disabled WIFI + Store Auto-Updates + Battery Saver: Store (not allowed) (work around works)

- Enabled Kids Corner > Go to LockScreen > Disable Kids Corner, Enabled WIFI + Store Auto-Updates + Battery Saver: Store (allowed), (work around worked for me) (some users report it didn't work for them)

- Disable: Glance Screen (did not work for me)

- Disable: Bluetooth, NFC (did not work for me)
- Auto-On: Glance Screen (did not work for me)
- Always On: Glance Screen (did not work for me)
- Disable: Store Auto-Update (did not work for me)
- Hard Reset Phone, restore back up (did not work for me)
- Hard Reset Phone, but do not restore back up (did not work for me)
- Remove Cortana Icon from Start Screen (did not work for me)
- Remove Apps from Lock Screen (did not work for me)
- Installing Lumia Cyan Update (did not work for me) (some report more freezes since Cyan update)
- Installing all ATT approved Updates (did not work for me)
- Uninstalling FB and FB Messenger (decreased the amount of freezes from x2 a day to <1 a day)
- Battery Saver Usage (not allowed for: Instagram Beta, Skype, Facebook, Store) (didn't fix it either...)

- Date+Time set automatically: OFF (not tested by me)

MY FREEZE LOG:

- Friday 8/15 ~1:00PM | Fresh Start

• Used Nokia Recovery tool to reset Lumia 1020 to original rom
• Did not sign in with an account and applied all known updates available from ATT without enabling Developers Preview
• Performed Reset your phone from settings > about 

- Sunday 8/17 ~ 1PM | Frozen

- Tuesday 8/19 ~ 12:31AM | Frozen

• After Soft Reboot turned off NFC

- Wednesday 8/20 ~ 1:14AM | Frozen

• Notification available of Updated app upon reboot: Office Lens v1.1.3205.1
• Some users have reported their problem had gone away after disabling auto-update
• Others stated that the problem was resolved after they Hard Reset and did not restore a backup created with Developers Preview.

- Wednesday 8/20 ~ 7:11 AM | Frozen

• Performing Reset your phone from settings > about [11:25AM]
• Opted to not restore backup performed with Developer Preview version
• AT&T Apps Uninstalled
• Instagram Beta, Facebook, FB Messenger installed
• Other user: Confirmed that Freezing happens to them since they got phone, Cyan update increased the amount of times the phone freezes.

- Thursday 8/21 ~ 12:31 AM | Frozen

• Upon restart, no notifications (updates, email, etc)
• Uninstalled Facebook & Messenger (2:30PM)

- Thursday 8/21 ~ 3:07 PM | Frozen

-->Re-installed FB and FB Messenger but have not set them up again. Phone has not frozen.

- Friday 8/22 ~11:00 AM | Setting Update

• Phone has not frozen since yesterday 3:07PM
• Today when I clicked on Network +, the phone stated it needed to be rebooted. Did a reboot, not sure if this will affect anything.
• Installed Twitter

- Sunday 8/24 ~ 9:21AM | Frozen

• Disabled Automatic Store Updates

- Monday 8/25 ~ 9:21PM | Frozen

• Under Battery Saver stopped the following applications from running on the background
• Instagram Beta (not Allowed), OneDrive (not Allowed), Skype (not allowed), Store (not allowed)
  • Let's see if these changes will affect the freezing rate. 

- Wednesday 8/27 ~ 2:05PM | Frozen

• No idea what other changes to make... It lasted since Monday, but the crash was imminent. 

- Thursday 8/28 ~ 2:05AM | Frozen

• Well now it didn't make it past 12 hours. -.-

- Tuesday 9/2 ~ 12:20AM | Frozen

• The phone didn't freeze since last Thursday.
• Only notable changes were, I was away from home for the weekend and the phone did not have a WIFI network to auto-connect overnight, but WIFI was on.
• Disabled WIFI since I got home

- Thursday 9/11 ~ 11:50AM | Frozen

• Phone froze within 15~20 minutes of being on Stand-by, WIFI was left ON after doing store updates by mistake. Clearly seems related to WIFI.
• Phone had not frozen in glance screen while WIFI is disabled, since 9/2

Saturday 9/13 ~ 3:33PM | Frozen

• On 9/12 around 3:30PM switched AUTO UPDATES to ON, while keeping WIFI OFF to see if the problem was just related to WIFI. Around 12 hours later the phone froze on the lock screen before going into stand by at 3:33PM.
• Both STORE and WIFI seem to cause the phone to freeze when on.

Today is 9/22, and still no crashes since 9/16 (kids corner trick). It's been now 144hrs (6 days). Of course this could all be a coincidence since the fix doesn't seem to have worked for everyone. Microsoft contacted me yesterday to get some information

CONFIGURATION MATRIX (FOR QUICK REFERENCE)

OS: 8.10.12393.890 (Black and Cyan)	Does Not Freeze	Freezes	Freezes	Freezes
NFC	Off	Off	Off	On
BlueTooth	Off	Off	Off	On
WIFI	Off	Off	On	On
Store Auto Updates	Off	On	Off	On
Battery Saver Allow Apps to run in BG	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather   Not Allowed Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather   Not Allowed Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather   Not Allowed Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter
Glance Screen	On	On/Auto/Off	On/Auto/Off	On/Auto/Off

OS: 8.10.14157.200 (Black and Cyan)	Does Not Freeze	Freezes	Freezes	Freezes
NFC	Off	Off	Off	On
BlueTooth	Off	Off	Off	On
WIFI	Off	Off	On	On
Store Auto Updates	Off	On	Off	On
Battery Saver Allow Apps to run in BG	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather   Not Allowed Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather   Not Allowed Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather   Not Allowed Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather Instagram Beta Facebook Skype Twitter
Glance Screen	On	On/Auto/Off	On/Auto/Off	On/Auto/Off

(after Enabling/Disabling Kids Corner as suggested in a post response to this question)

OS: 8.10.14157.200 (Cyan)	Did not freeze during the testing period of 9-16 to 9-23
NFC	Off
BlueTooth	Off
WIFI	ON
Store Auto Updates	ON
Battery Saver Allow Apps to run in BG	Allowed Internet Explorer Battery Saver Calendar Cortana (always allowed) Flashlight XT Weather Facebook Skype Not Allowed Instagram Beta Twitter
Glance Screen	On