[Q] Phone won't sleep, process won't go away

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busseto

New member
Aug 23, 2014
3
0
Hey guys.
Had some trouble on my Z2 and thought I'd create an account here and ask for your advice before I did something stupid. Have no experience with rooting or modding whatsoever, so bear with me please.

I bought a Z2 whose screen never slept. I found out that the responsible was com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2, who would always run when I turned the phone on and remained on my notification area with no text, just an icon resembling two blue screens superposed. If I force stopped the process, the phone would sleep normally until I powered it off. When I turned it on, the process would be there again preventing sleep.

I did some research and learned how to flash a different ROM, wipe cache, wipe dalvik... Did all that and the process would still be there. Rooted my phone, bought Titanium Backup and froze the process... it worked fine, but would I reset to factory settings, there was the process again.

And finally I come to my question: would un-installing the process and wiping its data with Titanium backup work? Would I be at risk of bricking my phone?
I'm running out of options on what to do and returning isn't really an option!
Thank you very much!

Phone: Xperia Z2 D6503
Android v: 4.4.2
Build number: 17.1.2.A.0.314
Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide you with in order to find a solution. Thanks again!
 

nreuge

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2013
2,723
2,435
Saint-Nazaire
Hey guys.
Had some trouble on my Z2 and thought I'd create an account here and ask for your advice before I did something stupid. Have no experience with rooting or modding whatsoever, so bear with me please.

I bought a Z2 whose screen never slept. I found out that the responsible was com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2, who would always run when I turned the phone on and remained on my notification area with no text, just an icon resembling two blue screens superposed. If I force stopped the process, the phone would sleep normally until I powered it off. When I turned it on, the process would be there again preventing sleep.

I did some research and learned how to flash a different ROM, wipe cache, wipe dalvik... Did all that and the process would still be there. Rooted my phone, bought Titanium Backup and froze the process... it worked fine, but would I reset to factory settings, there was the process again.

And finally I come to my question: would un-installing the process and wiping its data with Titanium backup work? Would I be at risk of bricking my phone?
I'm running out of options on what to do and returning isn't really an option!
Thank you very much!

Phone: Xperia Z2 D6503
Android v: 4.4.2
Build number: 17.1.2.A.0.314
Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide you with in order to find a solution. Thanks again!

Interesting questions... I've also experienced this.
After about 30 mn of waiting, startupflagservice had finished its job (I don't know what it is doing).

Anyway, I don't recommend to uninstall it.
 
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Devzz

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2012
215
30
See if flashing the .402 FTF solves this? Maybe it is a random bug in the .314 firmware. I haven't got this process running so I can't comment on it. Have you got power saving features enabled? If so, is the battery drain still bad with the process running?

I know I am asking a lot of questions but there are multiple things that could be causing the issue. When you factory reset the stock ROM, does it occur after you have installed apps or before? There could be a rogue app keeping the phone awake. Install either:

Betterbatterystats (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asksven.betterbatterystats)
Wakelock detector (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector)

Hopefully either app should give you a better insight as to what is keeping your phone from deep sleep.

EDIT: Also, according to quite a few lists, that particular thing (com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2) is safe to delete. If you are rooted and have a custom recovery, make a nandroid backup (ask if you don't know what it is or how to do so) and then go ahead and delete it using ES file explorer. Worst case scenario your phone reboots/gets stuck in a bootloop or something and you can just restore the nandroid.
 
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busseto

New member
Aug 23, 2014
3
0
Thanks for the replies, guys!
I'll try flashing the .402 FTF next weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to tinker with the phone on weekdays anymore. I have reasons to believe the current firmware is not the responsible though, as this problem occurred on the firmware that came on the phone (don't remember which one it was), and continued after I updated to .314 through the PC Companion.

Answering your questions, Devzz:
I have no power saving features enabled.
I haven't noticed any battery drain, as I didn't allow it to happen... I usually turned the screen off with the power button, which worked... the only problem was the phone not sleeping by itself after the inactivity period I set.
The problem occurs right after I turn the phone on. As soon as I turn it on after a reset and every time thereafter, I'm greeted by a black screen with a big black button that reads: POWER OFF. If I click it, nothing happens. When I press Back or Home, I'm on my home screen with the icon I mentioned on my original post on the notification bar.

I'm starting to think I just had bad luck and got a defective piece of hardware. There's another problem now that didn't happen before the update: the volume of the notifications now is always low, regardless of how much I set on the slider on Settings > Sound > Volumes. I've noticed some people had this problem as well, and I could temporarily fix it by enabling Dynamic normalizer and xLoud on the Sound Effects, although that is hardly an ideal solution.
Thanks very much again for your help! I'll look into the nandroid backup and try that next weekend.

P.s.: another piece of information that I haven't mentioned and may be relevant: I was never able to access recovery mode, despite my efforts to do so. I had to install XZDualRecovery to be able to boot into recovery mode.
 

matase

Senior Member
May 19, 2011
362
8
Thanks for the replies, guys!
I'll try flashing the .402 FTF next weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to tinker with the phone on weekdays anymore. I have reasons to believe the current firmware is not the responsible though, as this problem occurred on the firmware that came on the phone (don't remember which one it was), and continued after I updated to .314 through the PC Companion.

Answering your questions, Devzz:
I have no power saving features enabled.
I haven't noticed any battery drain, as I didn't allow it to happen... I usually turned the screen off with the power button, which worked... the only problem was the phone not sleeping by itself after the inactivity period I set.
The problem occurs right after I turn the phone on. As soon as I turn it on after a reset and every time thereafter, I'm greeted by a black screen with a big black button that reads: POWER OFF. If I click it, nothing happens. When I press Back or Home, I'm on my home screen with the icon I mentioned on my original post on the notification bar.

I'm starting to think I just had bad luck and got a defective piece of hardware. There's another problem now that didn't happen before the update: the volume of the notifications now is always low, regardless of how much I set on the slider on Settings > Sound > Volumes. I've noticed some people had this problem as well, and I could temporarily fix it by enabling Dynamic normalizer and xLoud on the Sound Effects, although that is hardly an ideal solution.
Thanks very much again for your help! I'll look into the nandroid backup and try that next weekend.

P.s.: another piece of information that I haven't mentioned and may be relevant: I was never able to access recovery mode, despite my efforts to do so. I had to install XZDualRecovery to be able to boot into recovery mode.

I have the exact same problems with my phone not going to sleep and the big "power off" button. What the heck does it mean? Anyone fix this problem yet?
 

busseto

New member
Aug 23, 2014
3
0
I have the exact same problems with my phone not going to sleep and the big "power off" button. What the heck does it mean? Anyone fix this problem yet?

In spite of my efforts, I couldn't find a way to get rid of the problem. Currently I have the phone rooted, installed Titanium Backup and deleted the files related to the process.
It's working, although if I ever revert to factory settings, the problem will be there again.
Best of luck to you and please let me know if you find a fix.
 

matase

Senior Member
May 19, 2011
362
8
In spite of my efforts, I couldn't find a way to get rid of the problem. Currently I have the phone rooted, installed Titanium Backup and deleted the files related to the process.
It's working, although if I ever revert to factory settings, the problem will be there again.
Best of luck to you and please let me know if you find a fix.

Which process/es did you exactly delete? What are those files for the process are even doing? When did this problem start for you? Thanks
 

lyubor

Senior Member
Aug 6, 2013
157
30
Leeuwarden
On mine that service displayed a persistent notification and on every reboot it prompted to power off or use phone. Anyway, as soon as I saw that I rooted and froze com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice in titanium backup. Problem solved! As far as I've tried it's not essential and can be uninstalled as well. I really don't get how they overlooked this, it's a huge annoyance for anyone that can't root the phone I imagine.
 

rdasante

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2013
83
27
Accra
Solution!!!!!

I had the same issue on a Z2 I bought off a guy. It was on 4.4.2 and it kept saying no update available. I downloaded and flashed the 5.0.2 update via Sony Flashtool. At first boot the issue appear again after a few seconds. It got very intense with the screen becoming unusable. The phone shut itself down and rebooted without the issue. Gone and nowhere to be found. I immediately got another prompt to update to a newer Android version - same 5.0.2 (17MB file).
So flash away, guys!!!
 

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    Hey guys.
    Had some trouble on my Z2 and thought I'd create an account here and ask for your advice before I did something stupid. Have no experience with rooting or modding whatsoever, so bear with me please.

    I bought a Z2 whose screen never slept. I found out that the responsible was com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2, who would always run when I turned the phone on and remained on my notification area with no text, just an icon resembling two blue screens superposed. If I force stopped the process, the phone would sleep normally until I powered it off. When I turned it on, the process would be there again preventing sleep.

    I did some research and learned how to flash a different ROM, wipe cache, wipe dalvik... Did all that and the process would still be there. Rooted my phone, bought Titanium Backup and froze the process... it worked fine, but would I reset to factory settings, there was the process again.

    And finally I come to my question: would un-installing the process and wiping its data with Titanium backup work? Would I be at risk of bricking my phone?
    I'm running out of options on what to do and returning isn't really an option!
    Thank you very much!

    Phone: Xperia Z2 D6503
    Android v: 4.4.2
    Build number: 17.1.2.A.0.314
    Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide you with in order to find a solution. Thanks again!

    Interesting questions... I've also experienced this.
    After about 30 mn of waiting, startupflagservice had finished its job (I don't know what it is doing).

    Anyway, I don't recommend to uninstall it.
    1
    See if flashing the .402 FTF solves this? Maybe it is a random bug in the .314 firmware. I haven't got this process running so I can't comment on it. Have you got power saving features enabled? If so, is the battery drain still bad with the process running?

    I know I am asking a lot of questions but there are multiple things that could be causing the issue. When you factory reset the stock ROM, does it occur after you have installed apps or before? There could be a rogue app keeping the phone awake. Install either:

    Betterbatterystats (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asksven.betterbatterystats)
    Wakelock detector (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector)

    Hopefully either app should give you a better insight as to what is keeping your phone from deep sleep.

    EDIT: Also, according to quite a few lists, that particular thing (com.sonyericsson.startupflagservice v2) is safe to delete. If you are rooted and have a custom recovery, make a nandroid backup (ask if you don't know what it is or how to do so) and then go ahead and delete it using ES file explorer. Worst case scenario your phone reboots/gets stuck in a bootloop or something and you can just restore the nandroid.