Internal storage failure? Periodically VERY slow, camera error, etc

[mamoltub]

2-3 weeks ago, my Sony Xperia S started being VERY slow, for periods of ~30 minutes at a time. Symptoms:

- It takes 3-15 seconds from I press the screen until the phone responds, even for something as simple as popping up a menu.

- Even when I don't do anything for 10 minutes, except keeping the screen on, CPU usage is constantly 50-75% (as seen using SystemPanel app). If I switch between apps and try using the phone in different ways, CPU usabe is constantly around 100%. At the same time, the battery gets very warm.

- When I have taken a photo, the camera often gives the error message "memory error". Any time I try using the camera after that, I get "camera is not available".

- When I open the image gallery, it sometimes tells me that I have no images.

This behaviour is not regular, it comes and goes throughout the day. Closing apps or restarting the phone does NOT stop the slowness - I just have to wait for it to pass. My suspicion is that the phone is trying to write something to the internal storage, which fails, the phone then tries writing it again, etc, in a loop that lasts until the data has finally been written.

I have also checked (using SystemPanel app) which apps have taken most of the CPU for the last 2 hours. Values for my installed apps are very low (0,1-0,2%), but "system" and system processes are sometimes higher than 5%.

Although I suspect that something hardware is broken, I would like to try to reset the phone. Unfortunately I can't backup my data:

- When I try performing a backup from the Sony software on my computer, I get a message that backup failed.

- When I connect the phone to my computer and try copying single folders, some folders copy without problems, other folders halt at "preparing to copy" and will never copy to my computer.

Any clues on how to solve this situation?

[Uliwooly]

have you disable any apps?

have you rooted and uninstall pre-loaded apps and/or add-ons?

do you have any taskiller, task manager, antivirus, battery apps, ram apps, booster apps?

do you have any app lock apps?

have you unlocked the bootloader?

do you have a custom ROM?

backup you phone (photos, music, mms, videos, etc) on your PC, directly from your PC w/o any other programs then repair your phone and also delete everything on your phone (internal memory)

Don't forget to mark the Correct Answers & Helpful Answers

[Uliwooly]

Update Service (SUS)

http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/tools/update-service/

http://www-support-downloads.sonymobile.com/Software%20Downloads/Update_Service_Setup-2.11.12.5.exe

PC Companion (PCC)

Bridge (for Mac)

Alternatives on How to backup Xperias

http://talk.sonymobile.com/thread/36355

Don't forget to mark the Correct Answers & Helpful Answers

[mamoltub]

Thanks for the quick answer!

- have you disable any apps?

I have not disabled any system apps or similar. I have tried force closing some of the running apps to see if that stops the CPU going so high - no effect.

- have you rooted and uninstall pre-loaded apps and/or add-ons?

No

- do you have any taskiller, task manager, antivirus, battery apps, ram apps, booster apps?

No, I don't. I have the SystemPanel app to monitor CPU usage, apps using CPU, etc. It can also kill tasks if I set it to do that, but I never do.

- do you have any app lock apps?

No

- have you unlocked the bootloader?

No

- do you have a custom ROM?

No

- backup you phone (photos, music, mms, videos, etc) on your PC, directly from your PC w/o any other programs then repair your phone and also delete everything on your phone (internal memory)

I'm trying that. Unfortunately I cannot copy all my data directly from the phone to PC (some folders will not copy), but I will have to reset anyway - cannot have a phone like this.

[Uliwooly]

try my suggestion to backup your sms/mms and call logs if you want to keep them, if not then clear your call logs and empty your messaging app > restart your phone and see if the phone still lags.

another quesiton are you syncing facebook albums and/or google+/picasa?

[mamoltub]

Thanks, I'm trying to clear messages and call log first.

I'm not syncing any image albums, just e-mail, contacts and such.

[Uliwooly]

keep us updated

[mamoltub]

Deleting SMS list and call list did not remove the problem.

Factory reset + clear internal memory did not remove the problem.

Next stop, Sony repair shop?

[Uliwooly · Accepted solution]

Indeed, take it to a Sony repair center.

[mamoltub]

The phone was sent to the Sony support center, describing the same things as here, and reporting that I had run factory reset and firmware update, without success.

Phone came back from Sony support center - they had run factory reset and firmware update, and claimed that the phone was perfect.

Problems have started again, with an annoying additional problem that widgets and keyboard settings are forgotten every time I restart. Even without restarting, widgets sometimes disappear or swap place.

Off to Sony support center for the second time...