Appendix C. Troubleshooting and Maintenance
The Droid 2 runs on the Android operating system, so it’s vulnerable to the same kinds of problems that can occur in any computer operating system. Like any electronic device, the Droid 2 can be temperamental at times. This appendix gives you the steps to follow when your phone is having…issues.
Make Sure Your Software Is Up-to-Date
No computer or phone is ever perfect; neither is any operating system. So phone makers and software companies constantly track down and fix bugs. They then send those fixes to you via software updates delivered wirelessly—called OTA (over the air) updates.
So if you have a bug or other nagging problem with your phone, there may already be a fix for it, via one of these updates. You shouldn’t have to do anything to install these updates, because they’re delivered to you automatically. On the chance, though, that for some reason you didn’t get your update, you can check and download it manually.
From the Home screen or any pane, press the Menu key, and then select Settings→“About phone”→“System updates”.
The Droid 2 checks whether any updates are available. If none are available, it tells you the phone is up to date.
If an update is available, the Droid 2 tells you. Tap the Download button to download the update right then, or tap Later to hold off for now.
When you tap Download, the update starts to download. You can continue using the Droid 2 while it downloads. If you want to see the progress of the download, pull down the Notification bar, and you see how much has downloaded, and how much more needs to download.
When the download is complete, you see a notice that it’s ready to install.
Tap “Install now” to install it now, or “Install later” to put it off for 12 hours.
Installation may take several minutes or up to 15 minutes or more. Typically, the phone restarts itself in order to complete the installation.
Fixing a Frozen Phone
It’s every phone owner’s nightmare: Your phone won’t respond to any of your taps, or even when you press any of its hard keys. There’s seemingly nothing you can do.
Often, your best bet is to try a quick reset by removing and replacing the battery, and then turning on your phone again. To remove the battery, flip the Droid 2 over, so you see the battery cover. (See SD Card and Battery for more details.) Slide down the battery cover, and then pull up gently on the plastic tab under the battery’s left corner. Don’t pull it hard or yank on it, and don’t cut the tab. Lift out the battery.
After you’ve taken it out, put the battery back into place, making sure that the tab is sticking out so that you can use it to dislodge the battery when you want to remove it again. After you’ve put the battery back in place, slide the battery door back over it. Now turn on the Droid 2. In many cases, this thaws your frozen phone.
Correcting Email Settings
The Droid 2 easily syncs with your Gmail or Yahoo account, but when you add other email accounts—like your work email or home ISP account—you have to enter all of the account and server information yourself. And that’s where errors can creep in despite your best efforts. Even if you set the account up successfully at first, you may encounter problems later, like being unable to send email.
If Email Doesn’t Work at All
If you’re having trouble getting email to work for the first time, the most likely problem is that you’ve got a setting wrong, like your incoming or outgoing server. To check these settings, go to the Application Tray, tap My Accounts, and then tap the email account you’re having problems with. Tap each of the settings you see here—Incoming Server, Outgoing Server, and so on—and make sure you’ve entered everything correctly. Even a single misplaced letter or number will cause a problem. Check your ISP’s website, or call your ISP to confirm the settings. You may have copied down the settings wrong, or your ISP has different settings for accessing email on a mobile phone. If it’s a work email account, call your company’s IT department for assistance.
If You Can’t Send Email
Any computer—including your Droid 2, which is, after all, a computer—uses what are called ports to communicate with the Internet. They’re not physical things; think of them as different channels. So one port is used for web traffic, another for sending email, another for receiving email, and so on. To cut down on spam-sending, some ISPs curtail the use of the standard port for sending mail—port 25. When you send mail using port 25 via these ISPs, they let your mail go to your ISP’s mail servers, but not get sent anywhere from there. So your message never gets delivered to the recipient. To get around the problem, you have a couple of alternatives.
Try using a different port
From the Application Tray, tap My Accounts and then tap the email account you’re having problems with. Tap the Outgoing Server listing, and on the screen that appears, in the Port box, delete 25 and type 587.
Use Gmail’s outgoing mail server
You can use Gmail’s server even to send email from another account. On the Outgoing Server screen, use the following settings:
For SMTP, enter smtp.gmail.com.
For Port, enter 465.
For user name and password, use your Gmail user name (your full Gmail address) and password.
Turn on the checkboxes next to “Use secure connection” and Verify Certificate.
Troubleshooting the SD Card
Having problems with your SD card? There’s plenty that can go wrong, so try following this advice:
First, make sure that the SD card is the right type. It has to be a MicroSD card, and can only be up to 32 GB.
Does the problem occur only when you connect your Droid 2 to your PC? If so, the problem may have to do with the type of USB connection you’ve chosen. As described on Transferring Music, Videos, and Pictures from a PC Using Windows Media Player, when you connect your Droid 2, you have to choose a connection mode. If you use USB Mass Storage, you won’t be able to access your SD card from your Droid 2 while your phone is connected to your PC. If you need to get to your Droid 2 storage when it’s connected to your PC, pull down the Notification bar, tap the “USB connection” notification, and then choose either PC Mode or Windows Media Sync.
Make sure the card is mounted—that it’s showing up in Windows Explorer or the Finder. If it’s not mounted, the Droid 2 won’t recognize it, and you can’t access files from it or store files on it. To mount your SD card, press the Menu key on the Home screen or any pane, select Settings→“SD card & phone storage”, and then make sure that “Unmount SD card” is highlighted. If it isn’t, that’s your problem. Turn off your Droid 2 and restart it. If it’s mounted and you’re still having problems, turn off both your computer and your Droid 2 and restart them—that should remount the SD card.
Try removing the SD card and putting it back in or replacing it with a new one. From the Home screen or a panel, press the Menu key, and then choose Settings→“SD card & phone storage”. Tap “Unmount SD card”. After several minutes, the card will be unmounted—the Droid 2 reports you have no SD storage available.
Next, turn off the phone’s power and remove the battery, as described earlier in this chapter (Fixing a Frozen Phone). Slide out the MicroSD card. Examine it to make sure it’s not damaged. If it’s not damaged, slide it back into the empty space, replace the battery, and turn on your Droid 2. That may fix the problem. If the card is damaged, put in a new one.
If all else fails, try reformatting your SD card. This option erases all its data, so do it as a last resort. From the Home screen or a panel, press the Menu key, and then choose Settings→“SD card & phone storage”. Tap “Format SD card”, and then tap “Format SD card” from the screen that appears, to confirm that’s what you want to do. After the card is formatted, either turn off your Droid 2 and turn it on again, or connect it to a PC or Mac via the USB connection, and after the computer recognizes the phone, unplug the USB cord. In both cases, the Droid 2 should recognize the card.
Resetting the Droid 2
If all else fails, you may need to reset your Droid 2—that is, delete all of its data, and return it to the state it was in before you bought it, with all the factory settings replacing your own. Your contacts, social networking accounts, email and email accounts, and so on all get deleted.
Note
A factory data reset doesn’t delete files you have on your SD card, which means that your photos, videos, and any other files stored there will stay intact after the reset.
To perform a reset, press the Menu key from the Home screen or a pane and tap Factory Data Reset. That erases all the data on your phone.
Tip
Before you perform a reset, when you’re on the privacy settings screen, tap “Back up my data”, as described on Privacy. Your settings and other application data get backed up to Google’s servers. Make sure that the Automatic Restore option is also chosen. That way, after the factory reset, the Droid 2 automatically restores the data and settings.
Warranty and Repair
The Droid 2 comes with a one-year warranty from Motorola, its manufacturer. If you bought your Droid 2 from someone else, or someone gave it to you, the warranty doesn’t transfer to you; it covers only the person who originally bought it.
The usual types of caveats apply to the warranty—if you’ve misused the phone, dropped it into water, or so on, the warranty gets voided.
For more details about your warranty, head to http://bit.ly/dudKyD.
Finding Help
If you’re looking for more information or help, there are plenty of places to go:
Motorola’s official Droid 2 support page. This web page has plenty of helpful information, tutorials, tips and tricks, and a searchable database of help. It’s well worth the visit—http://bit.ly/aLmUol.
Motorola’s official Droid 2 support forum. If you’ve had a problem with your Droid 2, or have a question about it, there’s a good chance that others have had the same issues —and might have the answers. The Droid 2 support forum, run by Motorola, is an excellent place to find answers and post questions so that other Droid 2 owners can help you. Motorola staff also participates in the forum and offers help. Get there by going to https://supportforums.motorola.com/community/google-android/droidx.
Google’s Android forum. If you’ve got questions about Android, the Droid 2’s operating system, this forum might help. Keep in mind, though, that Motorola has customized Android for the Droid 2, so what you read here may or may not apply. Still it’s a good place to try. Just ignore the Nexus One logo at the top of the screen—that was the name for an Android phone that Google has since discontinued. Go to http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android.
DroidForums.net. This discussion forum is devoted to all Android phones sold by Verizon, including the Droid 2. You’ll find plenty of other Droid 2 users, offering help and advice. Make sure to click the Motorola Droid 2 link to get to the Droid 2 discussion area—http://www.droidforums.net.
AndroidForums.com. Here’s another very useful forum where Droid 2 users congregate. It covers many Android phones. The one for Droid 2 is http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-2.
Android Guys. If you’re interested in news and rumors about Android in general, this site is an excellent place to start. It’s not specific to the Droid 2, but if you’re an Android fan it’s worth checking out—http://www.androidguys.com.