Z3 rebooted to factory settings while having it in my pocket, photos lost on SD card

[oky]

My 3 day old Z3 rebooted to factory settings while having it in my pocket. I was out for a five hours walk and have used it serveral times during the walk to take photos. They were stored on the SD card. Battery was on 73%. At the end of my trip I noticed it asked for my pin code to unlock the sim card. I used my newly set pincode for simcard and it worked fine. The telephone was set up with screenlock as well, but that has disapeared together with all my installed programs and my photos and videos on the SD card. The lock screen goes automaticlay on after 15 sec so I find it strange that I should be able to push the right buttons, in my pocket, by just walking, to perform a factory reset?

Any suggestions on why and how to restore my photos on the SD card?

[SergioPL1]

Maybe you have PIN count wipe enabled? Then it might be possible to faulty trigger factory wipe. Altough this bug was in Android 5.0 (and corrected in 5.0.1) not in 4.4.4.

[dmzm]

I've had this exact problem. The phone has done this 4 times since I bought it in mid-October. I took it to my telco (Virgin Mobile Australia)'s shop and they advised that it was likely a software problem and that I should try doing a manual hard reset myself, and see if the problem reappears.

It is a tough issue because you can't reproduce it - the device resets randomly, once I was listening to Spotify and it reset, the phone powers off and then the Android/spinning cube shows up like a normal hard reset. First time I thought it was just a fluke but it after I caught it actually in the process it looks like some sort of factory wipe bug. Lollipop should be released in Australia next week so i will hopefully not see this issue again but if I do will have to send back to Sony and see if there is anything they can do.

Anyone else seen this issue? any other suggestions?

[dmzm]

Note that at all times the phone was either stationary or locked, so I highly doubt it is a PIN/PUK issue or an accidental menu command issue. I also considered whether someone had hacked by Sony account and requested a remote wipe but normally an email is sent when this occurs right?

[ER-NY]

This also happened to me yesterday. I went to check my phone and for some odd reason, it was off. The phone had been on for about 5 hours or so prior to me checking. When I turned on the phone, the set up wizard came up. That's when i noticed the internal and SD card were completely wiped. The phone has never been dropped and requires a pass code to get in so it couldnt of happen while it was in my jacket. Has anyone gotten a response from Sony?

[leareth]

I have had this issue today, walking with phone in pocket. Next minute, my phone is wiped and I've lost everything. Is there any way to recover data?

[leareth]

This was Sony's answer to my question:

Sophia:  Hi, just looking into this for you won't be long.

Sophia:  I have had a read of the thread and due to the low number of people posting on the forum over the past year I ca confirm this is not a common problem. If you have already tried what has been advised on that forum and the issue has not been resolved, I advise running a software repair on your handset as this is most liekly to resolve the issue yoyu are experiencing.

X:  that is Sony's answer?

Sophia:  Yes.

X:  and what about all the lost data and pictures

X:  this is not an isolated incident

Sophia:  I understand that it has been experienced before but there has been an extremely low number of people who have experienced the issue, it is not a known fault. As previously suggested, a software repair is likely to resolve the issue for you.

X:  how do I recover the data that has been lost?

X:  I must say, I was hoping for more support, from a support chat

Sophia:  Unfortunately once the data has been lost, there is no way to recover it

I am very dissappointed in the level of care from Sony. Took a long time to get the final reply, and it's apparently not a known fault, so it's my problem.

If it's happened to multiple people, it's a fault. 

[Iglebush]

Both me, and my neighbour have the Sony Compaxt phones.

I have the D5503 (Z1 Compact).

My neighbour has the Z3 Compact.

We both experienced this factory reset this week.

First my neighbour this Sunday, while on a hiking trip in Norway.

Then I experienced the same while the phone was in my pocket Tuesday in Bangkok.

We talked to Sony Support in Norway today, they registred our call, but had no knowledge about anything similar happened before.

I hope more people will register similar events and maybe somebody can shed light on how this can be possible!

[AVO]

Hi all,

Just had the same happening to me. On my bright new Xperia Z3+.

Just came back from South-Africa, taking countless picturen of breaching whales, all gone...

No Google pics backup...

Maybe it has something to do with location? I read it happens to people who travel, or just got back? Also running ms exchange for mail, so that could be an option too. Eitherway, no more faith in the phone now, reading that it often doesn't stay at 1 mishap.

If anyone has got any new update on this, I would like to hear it!

[fokemon]

Hi

Same here with my Z3, 6 months old. Both times it has happened in my pocket, and both times phone has been stuck into some process, heating and eating battery. I am stunned that Sony isn't taking responsibility for the issue. My phone was crypted and protected with PIN, and still it did it. Shouldn't be possible without PIN!!!

I have contacted local Sony (FI), waiting eagerly to hear their response... Only advice I got from CS was to reboot again with PC companion, but that didn't work...

[NandoSD]

Hello

Just another user having the same issue with my brand new Z3 (less than one month old)

I had no issue for 20 days using the phone without a MicroSD, but as soon as I put it in, I have had the issue twice in 3 days.

This is not so an isolated issue as Sony claims, since the forums are full of comments of this isse since the very beginning Z3 came out

SONY - Any solution?