Problems with 3G Battery Drain and can't send/receive MMS

[rumpus]

I have two problems with my Galaxy...it's a year old, but it's had some problems for about six months. I was staying in a place with pretty bad reception (as in, even the TV kept randomly not receiving a signal) and I'm pretty sure the problem all started then.

Since then, my phone has had horrible battery drain when I have 3G turned on. I could happily have 3G turned on all the time before December (phone bought June), but after that, the phone will drain even when it is not actually being used (last night I tried turning 3G on and just leaving it and it dropped from around 90% to 13% in about three hours - nothing downloaded) and it will get quite warm (around 40 degrees from 23-ish). When I have it on and it's in my bag, I can actually feel that it has warmed up the stuff around it (obviously, I don't have it on unless I actually forget to turn it off after looking something up). No one has been able to suggest anything to stop this problem. Every time I have to look something up, I have to go into Settings to turn the 3G data on, then look up whatever I need and go back in and turn it off. Might seem like a small thing, but it's super annoying - particularly when it used to work! I've tried turning it off and back on, nothing. I've tried turning 3G on and draining it until it turns off, nothing. I've tried using the 3G in areas with excellent reception, but it still drains.

Also, I haven't been able to send or receive picture messages for a while. I have no idea when this problem started...it was working last year (although pictures were always received as a video of a few seconds of the same image?), but whenever I try to send picture messages to people, it just constantly says 'Sending' at the bottom of the message (I have one in my messages that was sent on 3 Jun, it has the picture on it, but still says Sending at the bottom) and when someone sends me a message, it just says 'Downloading'. I have one that was sent on 4th or 5th of April that says:

Downloading.
Message size: 255KB
Expires: 16:43, 6 Apr

Are these problems with my phone provider (Virgin) or my phone? I've never had problems with Virgin reception and I've been with them for 6+ years.

I was looking at upgrading my firmware from 2.2, but I really don't want to lose data on my phone (or have to back up and restore when logs etc can't be restored).

[greenman]

It does sound as if your phone needs some TLC.
First of all try this to reset the battery charging:
1.Turn phone off and fully charge.
2. Use phone until completely drained battery - phone turns itself off.
3. With phone off, fully charge battery.
4. Repeat item 2.
Now use your phone normally.

With the MMS, you need some phone memory to both send and receive pictures.
It sounds like you don't clear much out of your phone, so get an app from the Play Store to do this for you.
Try FMR Memory Cleaner or similar.
This will clean up unwanted bits of data.

However, it could also be your Access Point Settings are not correct, so you could ask Virgin to resend - usually with a text.

[rumpus]

Thanks. Will try that out tonight. I'll turn it off, charge it up, then turn the 3G on and it should be drained in a couple of hours. I'll see how it goes .

I've requested my settings from Virgin...they said the SMS should come through in the next 24 hours.

Also, I just checked in Task Manager and it tells me:

PACKAGE
Package size: code + data
Program 226MB/1.87GB

RAM MANAGER
RAM: 213/304MB

I don't know if those numbers mean anything much.

Thanks again.

[Goots]

Just a couple of suggestions..

I had the exact same problem with mms messages and as weird as it sounds, I got around it by sending myself an mms! Take a pic, text it to yourself (using the same handset), and see if that fixes it. I have no idea why, but since doing that, mine has worked perfectly.

Regarding the 3G thing, do you not have a toggle in your notification dropdown menu to toggle data packets on/off? I can't remember which version of software started including that toggle, but it would save you going into the settings every time you wanted to turn 3G on or off. Updating to a newer firmware would pretty much guarantee you get that toggle, all the newer ones (official and custom) have it now.

[RichH]

With Virgin you have to send a Picture message before you can receive one, but you said it was working before so I would expect that bit to have been completed. You really would benefit from updating your firmware. If you connect to Kies with a data cable you should be offered the latest firmware. Kies will perform a "no wipe" upgrade which means that all your data and logs etc will still be present on your phone.

[rumpus]

Edit.

Strange thing with the upgrade. It hung at 100% until my computer died and then I had to ring Samsung and they ended up saying to pull it out, turn it off, turn it back on and hope it doesn't brick. It restarted, telling me unpacking etc and then took forever at the loading screen and now it is updated!

[Goots]

I forgot how much I hated Kies

[rumpus]

An update - well, sending an MMS to myself worked! I'd had a look back to when see the date of the last picture message I received and it turns out that it was September last year (got phone in June). Odd. Anyway, I sent it to myself, it took quite a while and then it managed to resend all the pending picture messages, which ended up quite confusing for some people, haha. But it worked - thank you!

I'm cautiously optimistic about the upgrade. Yesterday, it was at 89% at the end of the upgrade (~10 or 11am - I think it had a little less battery before I started the upgrade though?) and with 3G on all day, it was still around 40% by the time I went to bed 12 hours later. So I'm a bit excited by that, but will see how it goes today!

[Goots]

Glad you got your mms sorted.

I'm at the point now where I connect the phone to the PC every night as if I'm on autopilot, so it charges via USB whether it needs it or not

[dacheetah]

I had the exact same problem with mms messages and as weird as it sounds, I got around it by sending myself an mms! Take a pic, text it to yourself (using the same handset), and see if that fixes it.

You sir win the internet! I've been looking for days for a solution to the problem I've been having, where I can send, but cannot receive an MMS. I've checked, even deleted and replaced the APN several times, amongst other things, and it turns out all it takes is sending yourself an MMS. I have no idea why that works, but thank you a million times. My shiny new Samsung Galaxy S III is now one step closer to perfection.