8 replies to this topic

[wiv678]

Hi all,

I am on my 4th faulty Streak in quick succession and need some advice.
I keep buying refurbished Streak from ebay that have the same problem.
The 1st time I boot them up they get to the unlock screen then I get the  three capacitive button flashing and they go into restart loops. The  symptoms are as follows:

1)Restart loop
2)Remove/replace battery and turn on
3)Stuck on Dell logo with screen at full brightness.
4)Even if remove/replace battery and turn on stuck on 3)
5)Need to leave battery out for 30 mins to stop 4) although pretty much straight away goes back into 1) within 5 mins.

The phone is a factory unlocked refurb running Android 2.2 although any  further info I cannot give you as the thing turns off before I can  access any menus This happens with or without the sim/SD card in or  removed. The phone has not been modded in anyway and I have not  installed any apps or messed around with any setting.

I have done hours of research on this and other Streak websites and the  best I can find is removing the internal memory card for a new one  (although I don't have the tools for this).

If anybody has any advice I would be very happy as this flawed, massive phone is giving me sleepless nights.

I do have a 90 warranty with the phone, so I only lose the postage fee  (although after 4 returns this would stand at £28!) if I decide to cut  my losses. Even so, I really want this phone to work and its almost  becoming an obsession to have one working at least for a little while!

One last thing, I have been on the Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade band  wagon since the thing was released. This ostensibly crappy £100 Chinese  Non-brand phone has had countless versions of Android thrown at it, been  dropped, brought back from the dead and is still performing perfectly a  year later. Its a unacceptable that Dell couldn't make a phone even  half as reliable as the Blade for four times the cost.

[popetodd]

I had the same problem.


It appears that some of the CPU's are either heat sensitive or have faulty heat sinks.
Mine would work fine after it cooled.
It would work indefinitely when the ambient temperature was around 60F or lower.
At room temperature it would do what yours is doing after a short period of use, and in summer temperatures it didn't require use to start the sequence.

I had to replace mine with a warranty replacement from O2 and after the second replacement I got a good one.

My first one that I bought on the first day they came out is working like a champ and overclocks to insane speeds without issues.

Probably will have to replace the one you have, you should just get a new one so you can get a warranty with it, they seem to need replacement a couple of times before you get a rock solid unit.

[gitf@ce]

Well talk about bad luck! I purchased one of the ebay refurbs and it has been a super phone (so far). Maybe the seller has just got a dodgy batch that have all missed something in the refurbing process?

[Azurren]

Not really sure what to recommend :S
But I will give you my opinion:

I would cut my losses and give-up
Unless your good at complaining, have a go at the seller (if the same one has sent you 4 broken ones) and demand your postage costs refunded.. Get hold of trading standards etc. etc.

The Galaxy S II has a 4.3 inch screen and frankly, its hard to tell the difference between 4.3" and 5" without comparing them side by side. 4.5 inch screens would probably look perfectly fine too.
Ofc the Galaxy S II is at least double the price of the streak. I was only using it to compare screen sizes

There are plenty of decent devices around, more powerful ones with acceptable screen sizes
Although if you are hell-bent on a streak..

[wiv678]

popetodd, on 07 October 2011 - 09:02 PM, said:

I had the same problem.


It appears that some of the CPU's are either heat sensitive or have faulty heat sinks.
Mine would work fine after it cooled.
It would work indefinitely when the ambient temperature was around 60F or lower.
At room temperature it would do what yours is doing after a short period of use, and in summer temperatures it didn't require use to start the sequence.

I had to replace mine with a warranty replacement from O2 and after the second replacement I got a good one.

My first one that I bought on the first day they came out is working like a champ and overclocks to insane speeds without issues.

Probably will have to replace the one you have, you should just get a new one so you can get a warranty with it, they seem to need replacement a couple of times before you get a rock solid unit.

Popetadd, I thought I'd test out your suggestion and put the phone in a tupperware box and then in the fridge.

I left it there for a good hour and then tried to see if it would work for a sustained amount of time. It crashed within 30 second!

Azurren, I am leaning towards your conclusions. I do want this phone to work as when it does work its an unbeatbale conbination.

I am also price restricted and so the £400+ of an S2 is too much for me to justify. The Dell cost £190 which is in my price range.

The last thing I can try is swapping the internal SD card. Does anybody have any opinions on whether this will fix it?

Regards

[Azurren]

wiv678, on 08 October 2011 - 12:46 PM, said:

Popetadd, I thought I'd test out your suggestion and put the phone in a tupperware box and then in the fridge.

I left it there for a good hour and then tried to see if it would work for a sustained amount of time. It crashed within 30 second!

Azurren, I am leaning towards your conclusions. I do want this phone to work as when it does work its an unbeatbale conbination.

I am also price restricted and so the £400+ of an S2 is too much for me to justify. The Dell cost £190 which is in my price range.

The last thing I can try is swapping the internal SD card. Does anybody have any opinions on whether this will fix it?

Regards

I wasn't suggesting you buy a Galaxy S II. I only mentioned it because I use one frequently and honestly don't notice the screen size difference.
So a refurbished Streak is £190? Never really looked at the re-sale value of Streaks.. Like always I have a phone for a while and want to move-on to something different

If the device was "refurbished" then there shouldn't be anything wrong with it whatsoever! (Minor scratches to the BODY only)
Replacing the internal SD.. No. You can "test" it though by holding down the Power and Camera buttons while the device is off until the white test screen appears. Then perform and internal SD test.

Edited by Azurren, 08 October 2011 - 03:11 PM.

[wiv678]

Azurren, on 08 October 2011 - 03:09 PM, said:

I wasn't suggesting you buy a Galaxy S II. I only mentioned it because I use one frequently and honestly don't notice the screen size difference.
So a refurbished Streak is £190? Never really looked at the re-sale value of Streaks.. Like always I have a phone for a while and want to move-on to something different

If the device was "refurbished" then there shouldn't be anything wrong with it whatsoever! (Minor scratches to the BODY only)
Replacing the internal SD.. No. You can "test" it though by holding down the Power and Camera buttons while the device is off until the white test screen appears. Then perform and internal SD test.

Cosmetically the phone is in perfect condtion. The battery was new and all the accessories were sealed.

I have performed the internal SD Card test and it gives:

Card Size: 1936
CMD data test: Pass
Permanent write - nonprotection.

Regards

[wiv678]

Quick update,

I just received this reply from another forum

"Hello,

i had your exact problem, stuck on Dell logo ..... UK ebay seller and refurbished Dell Streak .... i discovered that my Streak does not had the internal SD cards !!!!! Was removed by someone during the refurbished process !

So i inserted a new 8Gb microSD card in the internal slot and all was OK.

To replace the internal memory you ave 2 options :

A) disassemble the Dell Streak ( you can find some guide in the forums )

cut , using a cutter , a small plastic tab inside the battery compartment to gain access to the internal slot ( search Youtube for "Dell Streak Upgrade internal sd card slot to 4GB class 10" )

I followed the option and in 5 minutes i had a working Streak !

Ciao."

Does anybody have experience of the phone coming without an internal SD card? Would the phone even boot without the internal SD card present?

Regards

[Azurren]

wiv678, on 10 October 2011 - 11:20 AM, said:

Quick update,

I just received this reply from another forum

"Hello,

i had your exact problem, stuck on Dell logo ..... UK ebay seller and refurbished Dell Streak .... i discovered that my Streak does not had the internal SD cards !!!!! Was removed by someone during the refurbished process !

So i inserted a new 8Gb microSD card in the internal slot and all was OK.

To replace the internal memory you ave 2 options :

A) disassemble the Dell Streak ( you can find some guide in the forums )

cut , using a cutter , a small plastic tab inside the battery compartment to gain access to the internal slot ( search Youtube for "Dell Streak Upgrade internal sd card slot to 4GB class 10" )

I followed the option and in 5 minutes i had a working Streak !

Ciao."

Does anybody have experience of the phone coming without an internal SD card? Would the phone even boot without the internal SD card present?

Regards

The internal SD card IS the phones "nand" memory.. I won't pretend to be an expert but without it the phone shouldn't even turn on (Or atleast not boot)
Plus replacing the internal SD card requires setting up a load of complicated partitions / files on the replacement SD card :S

I maybe wrong but.. It doesn't sound right

Oh and your Streak "passed" an internal SD card test (GO figure)

Edited by Azurren, 10 October 2011 - 05:20 PM.