Phone randomly locking and reverting all settings to default on restart

[biyectivo]

This problem is driving me nuts. To give more details, this started out of the blue and now it is happening at least once a day. It does not depend on the power level, it does not depend on certain programs running, it seems completely at random.

Exactly what happens is the following:
1) Both Back and Menu buttons become lit, and screen is off.
2) There is no way to un-lit them but a) let the battery run dry or b) power off with the power button.
3) After powering on, the following happens:

• All settings in the Settings menu revert to default. This includes (for example) APN, so in my case, the APN disappear and I have no data services. Hopefully I can go to the APN Menu and click on Restore Default APN, which brings 3G/HDSPA back.
• Custom pages in the Home screen get lost and 8 pages appear by default, with items in page 1 and 2. I guess this also depends by carrier, in my case two widgets (search and network info) appear in the first one along with four icons, and three icons in the second one.

Quick access icons (the four quick access icons on the bottom toolbar) get reset to default.

• No applications are uninstalled, settings for applications remain, everything looks "good".
• The power button, when long-pressing it, brings the turn off menu, but instead of having four options (Power off, Data Network, Flight Mode, ) it only shows Power Off as option. I was NOT able to restore this to the default behavior using the solution shown in other forums (e.g. by opening the dial pad, pressing the code *#*#7594#*#*, enabling the tick box on the menu that pops up, powering off, powering on again, typing the same code and unticking the box.)
• The only way to restore everything to normal is hard-reset. However after very few hours/days it happens all over again.

Also sometimes all apps start to crash (dial pad, messaging, etc.) This gets fixed on phone restart.

Any ideas on how to tackle this would be GREATLY appreciated. This is Android 2.2.1 (Froyo) with Samsung Galaxy S model GT-19000T and kernel version 2.6.32.9, on Mexico Telcel.

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[furbearingmammal]

1st, is there an update available for your phone? If so, install it and see if it helps.

2nd, if there is no update, try a factory reset.

3rd, if the factory reset doesn't work, assume the HARDWARE is failing, not the software, and contact Samsung about a warranty replacement if you've had the phone for less than a year.

to the forum!

[titanoman]

You didn't get the phone wet (especially the charger port)? Something similar happened to my sons phone (coincidentally the same phone) and somehow at&t determined it had gotten wet. And that voided the warranty. He had insurance luckily. Good luck to you

[furbearingmammal]

A little off-topic, but there are two water intrusion indicators on the phone -- one on the battery and one visible through a small port in the battery compartment. Usually they are a white background with red X's. If one or the other is missing (the background or the Xs) then you have a "tripped" indicator and warranty is null.

[titanoman]

A little off-topic, but there are two water intrusion indicators on the phone -- one on the battery and one visible through a small port in the battery compartment. Usually they are a white background with red X's. If one or the other is missing (the background or the Xs) then you have a "tripped" indicator and warranty is null.

That's how they knew my sons phone got wet?

[furbearingmammal]

Good chance of it.

[biyectivo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't remember any water getting close to the phone, but who knows? furbearingmammal, can you provide more insight on this? I will try an update now (had the USB cable in the office)

Can a generic charger do this? Can a damaged battery do this? I'm considering buying a new battery and/or charger, but the official ones (I have a spare charger from BlackBerry that I use to charge it).

Thanks

[CR6]

Sorry to beat a dead horse here...
but just an fyi....those sensors are very sensitive to moisture, condensation, etc. so be mindful of that. I have a friend that works in construction, and it was determined those "x's" that notify you (or your carrier) of water damage were caused from sweat, due to him keeping his phone in his pocket. (I should mention he didn't have a case on it either) must have been a lot of sweat I'm thinking as well, but just to confirm, those sensors ARE very sensitive to any & all kinds of moisture.

tap'n

[biyectivo]

Thanks everyone for the help. It turned out to be (apparently) a corrupted 2.2 firmware driver/file. I connected my phone to Kies and (surprisingly!) my carrier in Mexico had just released update 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) of the firmware (I say surprisingly because they took 8 months to release Froyo!). I updated the firmware and voilá - everything great again. It also fixed some minor stuff I had with some apps loading slowly. Firmware 2.3.x is great.

BTW I couldn't find the X's in the battery. Hope the phone's fine.
Thanks,