Fix Moto G too slow after installing Lollipop Update

Fix Moto G too slow after installing Lollipop Update

Motorolas popular Android devices, the Moto G 1st Generation and Moto G 2nd Generation have already received the latest Android 5 Lollipop upgrade. Despite their budget prices, these devices smoothly ran Android 4.4 KitKat and theyre equally capable of running the polished and featured packed Android Lollipop OS. However, after the recent upgrade, many users are finding that their Moto G is getting too slow- causing random crashes, freezes and lagging while playing Videos or swapping between apps. This is not a hardware issue because if Galaxy S2 can smoothly run Lollipop, the Moto G second generation or first generation should have no problem with it. So how do you fix a slow or lagging Moto G after the lollipop Update? There are a couple of solutions you can try.

Method 1: How to wipe cache partition of Moto G

This is a more convenient method than method 2 below. Clearing cache partition is recommended for people who flash ROMS or regularly update their Android devices. To wipe cache partition on your Moto G follow these stpes

1. Turn off your device
2. Press Volume Down key for 2-3 seconds and then without letting go, press the power key. Now Release.
3. Now you will see different Boot options
4. Use Volume Down key to scroll to"Recovery" and press Volume Up to select it
5. Now you will see Motorola Logo followed by Android in distress logo with exclamation mark
6. Press and hold Power button for 2 seconds or so and then press Volume Up key
7. Once you enter recovery mode, select "Wipe Cache Partition" (Use volume keys to navigate and power key to select)
8. Select "Okay"
9. Once the process is completed, go back and select "reboot system now"

Note: This same method can be used to wipe cache partition of Moto G second generation and Moto X. If your phone still lags or freezes, repeat method 1 a couple of times. 

Method 2: Factory Reset

This is a simple method but it will wipe your phones apps and data  If youre willing to do a factory reset then first do a backup of your devices data. Sync your App data, contacts, calendars etc to your Google account if its not already synced. To sync go to Settings >> Accounts >> Select "Google" and then Select your Gmail account and start syncing everything. Check your downloads folder and backup everything there. You can also move your pictures, videos and music files to another location temporarily. Once, youre all set go to Settings >> Backup & reset >> Select "Factory data reset" >> Select "Okay". Now your phone will reboot and it should be back to its snappy self. 

I hope by applying one of the above methods, youve solved the Moto G, Moto G 2nd Generation and Moto X lagging issue after Lollipop update. If you have any other fix or tips to resolve this issue please mention them in the comments. 

Related: Fix Galaxy S5, S6 or S7 slow after firmware update

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How to fix screen completely dark on Android Lollipop after setting brightness to zero

How to fix screen completely dark on Android Lollipop after setting brightness to zero

First of all don’t freak out because the screen going completely black is a Lollipop bug, meaning it’s just a software glitch and not a serious hardware flaw. So what this bug does is it turns your display completely blank when you set the brightness to its minimum value using the brightness slider in the quick access menu. This mostly occurs only if you have your adaptive brightness enabled on the display settings. Your Android phone or tablet is not screwed it’s just that it’s stuck in 0 brightness setting. This bug has probably been addressed in the latest Lollipop version so you may not get this error if you have the latest Lollipop 5.1.1 version. But if you’ve just experienced this problem try the below methods to turn your display back on- to fix completely dark screen on Android Lollipop after setting the brightness to zero or minimum :

Method 1: Sliding the brightness level back to full while display is still dark

This method is a guessing game. You won’t see anything on your screen but your screen will still be on so you’ll be able to access the quick settings my swiping down. After which you will have to guess the location of the brightness slider and then start tapping from middle of the screen to the right. If you get it wrong at first, press the sleep button and again turn your screen on and repeat the steps until you get it right. I managed to get the brightness back on in first try.

1. If you think your screen has gone to sleep. Press the power button.
2. Swipe down (this will open the quick settings along with the brightness slider but you won’t see it yet) 
3.  Count three rows down from the top of your screen using your finger tip and slide your finger to the middle of the screen and start tapping to the right. When your finger tip catches the brightness slider, you will get your screen back. The slider is at the middle about 30% below the top of your screen. 
4. Now Go to Settings >> Display >> Disable “Adaptive brightness” 

Method 2: Use ADB for resetting brightness

This method uses the ADB tool of Android SDK to set the brightness level for your tablet or
smartphone. For this you will need to download and install or extract the Android SDK Tools for your Windows PC or Mac. Inside the Android SDK tools folder you will find Platform Tools folder where your will have the ADB

Things you will need to do first:

• Download and install Android SDK Tools where you will find the ADB tool inside Platform folder Make sure USB debugging is turned on by going to Settings >> Developer options >> Enable “USB debugging” 
• Make sure that your Android device’s USB drivers is installed on your PC or Mac 
• Simply connect your Android device (USB debugging enabled) to your PC/Mac and it should download the USB drivers automatically from the internet. Or, you can manually download it from your device manufacturer’s website
• If you can’t find developer’s options, go to Settings >>About Tablet/Phone >> Continuously tap on the Build number till you get a notification saying developer options have been enabled. 

Here are the steps to set the brightness using the ADB tool

1. Connect your USB debugging enabled device to your PC/Mac
2. Start command line (On windows, press start key and then type “cmd” ) 
3. Inside cmd window, enter the location(directory) where adb.exe is placed a. In Windows cmd, you can enter a folder by typing CD followed by the folder name 
4. Now run this command to set the new brightness level-  adb shell settings put system screen_brightness 200 
5. Your brightness level should now be set to maximum and your screen should be visible 
6. Now Go to Settings >> Display >> Disable “Adaptive brightness”.

 I hope the above methods helped you get back your totally blank (dark) screen in Android Lollipop. Do not turn on the adaptive brightness unless you’ve received the latest Android Lollipop update.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 too slow lagging after Lollipop Update

Samsung Galaxy S5 too slow lagging after Lollipop Update

Many users who have updated their Samsung Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S5 to Android 5 Lollipop are experiencing unusual sluggishness. The device seem to work just fine for some hours but then it gradually to show signs of stutter and lag. Eventually it gets too slow to switch between app and even hangs (freezes) when you are watching a movie or a YouTube video. The condition is worse if you have signed into a lot of apps like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Gmail and so on. However, this is not a hardware issue because the Galaxy S5 is perfectly capable of handling any app or game available in Google play Store. So how do you fix Galaxy S5 getting too slow issue after Lollipop update?

Actually, the sluggishness after flashing updates is a common occurrence experienced by many custom ROM users, who are constantly looking for cool new customized Android OS for their devices. The same issue seem to have occurred on stock Android devices that were running blazing fast on KitKat 4.4 but suddenly got slower after Lollipop 5 update. Check out the simple solutions below:

How to Fix Galaxy S5 S6 getting slow & lagging after Android Lollipop Update 

Method 1: Update to newer version of Lollipop 

Go to Settings >> About Phone >> Software information. Check if the latest OS updates is available for your S5. If an update is there, install newer version of Lollipop like 5.1 or 5.1.1.

Method 2: Clearing Cache Partition

This method has worked wonderfully for most users. Here you simply have to clear cache and dont even have to update your OS.

1. First turn off your phone 
2. Hold the Power, Home and Volume Up button at the same time 
• wait for your phone to turn on and then release
3. Now will see "booting" written in blue text.
4. Your device will now enter the Android System Recovery menu
5. Use volume keys to scroll down  to "Wipe Cache Partition" and then press Power button to select it. 
6. Once the above step is completed, go back and select "reboot  system now"

After reboot, your device should be as good as new. If your S5 is still too slow, you may have to repeat the steps above again. To permanently resolve this issue, dont forget to update your OS, when the the next version is available.

While this post mentions Galaxy S5, the above method can be used on any device to solve the sluggishness and freezing issue after Android update. Even the latest devices like HTC One M8, M9, Galaxy S6, Note 4, Xperia Z3 etc and prone to annoying slowdowns after Android 5 Lollipop update.

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How to fix Nexus 7 slow after Lollipop Update

How to fix Nexus 7 slow after Lollipop Update

The Nexus 7 2012 powered by Tegra 3 Processor and 1GB of RAM handled Android KitKat 4.4.4 perfectly. It ran smooth as butter. The hardware seemed adequate for the upcoming update. However after installing Lollipop 5 system update, many Nexus 7 tablets have become very slow. Switching between apps as well as navigating the Android menu is laggy. When you press the onscreen keys like back, home and menu, the response is very slow. Many times apps force close and the device itself freezes, and you have to hold the power button to turn it off. It gets extra slow when you are browsing the web.




This Nexus 7 freezing, stuttering and running slow issue is also common among users who manually flashed the Lollipop update instead of using OTA. Anyways, the solution is a simple one and most Custom ROM users are familiar with it. All you have to do is access the recovery menu and then clear the cache partition of the Nexus 7. Here is how you can fix Nexus 7 getting slow after Lollipop update:

 How to wipe cache partition in Nexus 7 

• First turn off your tablet 
• Press & hold the power button and volume down key at the same time. 
• You will see a m arrow at the top 
• Now tap the Volume down until you select “Recovery” 
• Press power button to enter “Recovery” 
• Now you will see the android distress logo (greet bot, red triangle ,!) 
• At this point, press volume down to select “wipe cache partition” and the press the power button
• Let the process complete 
• Now go back and select “reboot system now” 

Method 2: Temporary fix 

This quick fix seems to have temporarily solved the lagging issues on Nexus 7 running the initial version of Lollipop.

• Swipe down from the top of the screen to access the quick settings 
• From there tap on the “Location” icon to turn it off 

Now your device will run faster than before

I hope the above tricks fixed your very slow Nexus 7 2012 tablet. If you have any other solution for this issue please mention them in the comments.

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Fix VLC player closes automatically after video ends

Fix VLC player closes automatically after video ends

Few months back I had set my VLC Player to automatically close after video playback is completed or after a movie or music video ends. You may not want VLC player to exit automatically if you want to replay all the videos on your playlist. If youve set this feature on long time ago, you may not know how to turn off this "quit at the end of the video" settings on VLC Player for Windows. VLC has made it very easy to toggle it on or off and you can do it in a single step. Most users will probably probably figure out how to this by themselves but those who have gone to Google fore help, will hopefully save time by reading this post.

• Open VLC Player on your PC
• Just click on "Media"on the tool bar at the top of VLC media player.
• Now simply click on "Quit at the end of playlist" to disable automatic shutdown of VLC player after video ending".

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Fixed Zenfone 2 stuck in recovery after wipe cache partition

Fixed Zenfone 2 stuck in recovery after wipe cache partition

Today I decided to wipe the cache partition of my Zenfone 2 because it was getting too slow. I thought this was going to be straightforward process but I would soon be proven wrong. Because the wiping was taking too long, I switched off my Zenfone 2 midway into wiping cache partition. When I switched it back on it would not boot. Instead, it  got stuck in fastboot and just showed a green sleeping(Dead) Android logo with an error! message. The error message kept flashing constantly and nothing would happen when I tried to enter the recovery by the usual method of pressing power + volume up at the same time and then releasing it. I thought it was just a minor bug that I could easily fix switching off and rebooting into recovery. Again, I just got a dead Android and couldn’t access the recovery options. However, since I could still boot into fastboot, I knew all hope wasn’t lost. Finally I was able to fix the problem by connecting the phone to my PC and running some Fastboot commands. If you are having this problem of a dead Zenfone 2 after using the wipe cache partition option in the recovery, here is how you can fix it:

How to fix Zenfone 2 Wipe Cache Partition Recovery Error

Zenfone 2 doesnt start (boot) after wipe cache partition

Before you begin, I really hope you have sufficient charge on your Zenfone 2. I had about 30% left before I messed up the recovery. If you have zero charge and your phone is not able to charge, you may not be able to use the below steps.

1. Install ADB/Fastboot drivers in your PC 
• Note: You may have to turn off your antivirus because it may detect the adb files as a malware.
2. Install Intel USB drivers for Android devices from here
3. Download these stock recovery and boot images from here (not sure if you really need them)
   boot.img | droidboot.img | recovery.img
4. Copy all of the img files to the same folder where the adb and fastboot files are located
5. Reboot Zenfone 2 in fastboot by pressing power + volume up key (Release power button after you hear/feel the buzz). Fastboot menu is basically the first menu from which you can choose Recovery. But don’t go into recovery yet.
6. Now connect you Zenfone 2 to your PC via USB
7. If you have installed the USB driver, the Zenfone 2 will be detected as an Android Device
8. Open Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where the adb and fastboot files are located
9. Run this command- Fastboot devices which checks whether your device is detected or not
10. Now run these commands one by one: 
• Fastboot erase cache 
• fastboot flash fastboot droidboot.img 
• fastboot flash recovery recovery.img 
• fastboot flash boot boot.img 

Note that you will get the "permission denied" error with each of these commands. Despite the errors my Zenfone 2 was fixed because after running these commands I could finally access the recovery menu. After completing the above commands, disconnect your Zenfone 2 and then go to recovery menu by using the volume key and then pressing power key to select it. Now you will notice that the sleeping android logo with error message is no longer blinking or flashing. Press and hold power button, then (while holding power button) press Volume up key and release it and then release the power button. It should now take you to the recovery menu. If that didn’t work try this: press power button + Volume and release the buttons at the same time.


Now you will finally see the recovery menu. Use the volume keys to highlight “Wipe Cache Partition” and this press the power button to select it. Wait till the wipe cache partition is completed. Now reboot the device and your ASUS Zenfone 2 will come back to life.

I hope my tip will help a lot of people who are experiencing the same dead Zenfone 2 issue after wiping the cache partition. Many people who went through this problem think they have bricked their Zenfone 2 for good but as you can see it’s actually very easily fixed.

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App icons automatically added to home screen after installation Android Tips

App icons automatically added to home screen after installation Android Tips

If you have just bought a new Android phone or tablet, you will notice that whenever you install a new game or app via Google Play Store, app shortcuts appear automatically on the home screen. This could result it a lot of clutter, making the Android homescreen/desktop very messy. Most people prefer to keep their Android home screen clean with enough room for important widgets. If you end up downloading a lot of apps at once, then it will be a chore to delete all the automatically placed icons because you’ll have to delete them one by one. However, it’s very easy to turn off adding of icons to home screen when new apps are installed in Google Play Store.




Here are the steps to stop automatic addition of app icons on your Android home screen:

• Open Google Play Store
• Go to Settings
• Uncheck “Add icon to Home Screen (for new apps)

Now the icons won’t appear on home screen after you install or download any new apps. You can also turn off auto-update apps, clear local search history from your device and disable app update notifications from the Google Play Store settings.

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