Sprint, HTC halting EVO 4G update due to problems

Yikes. After pushing out an over-the-air update for the Android-powered that seemed to brick some Evo 4G units, Sprint and HTC are momentarily halting the updated firmware.

You lovely readers tipped us off to this, as we heard a more than usual amount of complaints after this morning’s story. We reached out to Sprint for official comment and the third-largest carrier said:

While the vast majority of consumers successfully downloaded and installed the most recent HTC Evo 4G software update, we have received a handful of reports from customers having some issues with the update. In light of this, HTC and Sprint have decided to temporarily halt distribution of this software release until we can investigate further. We expect to be able to resume software updates shortly.

Most of our complaints sound downright awful. Reader Ollitsac said, “During the update my EVO just turned itself off. The status light is not even on while it was plugged into the charger. I tried turning it back on but it will not respond. I even reseated the battery, left the battery out for an hour and remove the SD but the phone is still dead.”

The common thread with bricked EVO 4G owners is that they monkeyed with the device when it turned off. Other comments suggest that leaving it alone, even after it turns off, will lead to a successful update.

Reader Scott said, “phone turned off and seemed unresponsive but avoided my temptations and left it alone. A few minutes later it started up like normal and said ‘update successful.’”

By no means am I blaming the user for this because if your handset just turns off in the middle of an update with no warning, I’d be pretty freaked out too. Other users are reporting that the update has messed up apps.

Let us know your experience in the comments and hopefully this will be resolved soon.

About The Author

Marin Perez

Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets.

James

Some of my widgets stopped working after the update. I had to re-add them and all is normal again. No problems here other than the widget scare. =)
s.c.

My EVO updated just fine. But I left it alone to do its thing when it reset. There probably should’ve been some instructions for the impatient.
Andy

I started the update just before my morning shower. When I got out of the shower it was finished. It broke the link to my Voice Mail but that was easily fixed.
illvo 23g

mine updated fine but about 3mins after it updated my internet froze, but my phone auto reset and it's been working fine for like the last 6 hours, oh yeah my battery charges faster when it's plugged up and on now
ericka

I no longer have access to 4G at all…. which sucks!!!!
tone

My Evo is working fine no problem yet.
Bill

Updated my evo and about a half hour later went to read email. The evo was turned off. tried to turn it on and nothing. Plugged it in and no light. Removed battery and still nothing. Went to a sprint repair center and the first thing they said to me was we are out of those phones, the guy never looked at the phone he just took my name and said he would call me when they had some more evo's in the store.
Mikey

My evo updated just fine and I did not mess with it after it rebooted. When it began installing it noted that it needed to reboot on the screen.
Neo

My EVO is working BETTER! YAY!
Albert

Mine updated perfectly. It reset once or twice and seemed to hang for a minute. I knew better than to mess with it though and after a minute it was up and running better than before…
Oliver

updated this morning just fine. updated again tonight .. bricked…monkeyed on it .. probably …if you call plugging it into the charger monkeying.
temirov

Mine is bricked. After 10-15 mins of update process the lights went off, I waited for a few minutes, but no dice: it's bricked ever since …
calvinator7

My my update worked fine…matter of fact its zooming faster before the update!
Daniel

Mine updated perfectly. Mine shut off and came back on like three times. A couple of my icons didn't load right, but I replaced them on the screen and everything is fine. I too am experiencing better battery life and faster charge times! Sorry to all those that the update screwed up because mine went flawlessly!
Benjamin

yea. updating twice is not monkeying..
Rolland

My Evo is bricked this sucks
Patrick

I am experiencing the same thing. I was looking at the Wireless settings part of my EVO and discovered the 4G will attempt to connect to 4G then it will turn itself off after attempting to obtain an IP address from the network. Quite odd but I am glad I don't have a bricked phone though.
Jim

Updated it once, took about 20 minutes. After it was all complete I had to manually update Widgets that were bad. Then just to check, I went to the Update and checked Firmware Update (OK, no new updates) and HTC Update (big mistake, it started the update cycle all over again). And it was during this second update that the phone went dark, never to be heard from again. My mistake was expecting that after update complete it would not attempt to update AGAIN when I validated that all software was updated.
mike

My Evo works great !!! My screen work better then before when i first got the phone when i place it on a table the screen was irressponsive it only work if I was holding the phone but the update seems to fix that problem!!!All my Icons work fine!!! The wifi works better but not as i expected. I only get two bars on my wifi when my box is in the next room over. My laptop is getting 5bars from my wireless!! Sprint need a better update for the wifi!!! I believe half of the people complaining about there phone not function is because the didn't have the phone plugged in when there phone was low on battery!!! Sprint should send out warning to everyone that the battery must be charge prior to updating there phones or simple put it on the charger during the update that way the phone doesn't die while updating!!!
Michelle

My phone is bricked too. Got to work, began update, and forgot about it for about 5 hours. Went to check messages and found the sync screen still on. Called Sprint – they can do nothing and suggest I got to a sprint store. Got to a sprint store – the place just closed. This is awful…I defected from my iphone and now have no phone at all, on a business trip….:-(
Scott Whitehill

Unfortunately, I was one of the (doubtful it is just a "handfull") owners who experienced this bricking. I got the auto display of the update being available, and accepted the download. The phone turned off, then back on and ran the auto install. After about 13-15 minutes, I received the response "download/install successful". I'm thinking "yay, how easy!". Then, I being the idiot that I am, did a manual search via settings to see if there was a 2nd update. This one acted as a new update, but after running to Best Buy, was told that the HTC software on this phone does not have a way as knowing a mirror update has already been run, and thus, re-ran the SAME update. This time, the phone turned off, never to be heard from again. It's going on 5.5 hours now.
Scott Whitehill

I was able to get a loaner phone from Best Buy, but the mobile rep there said I'd be on a waitlist. (I was the 2nd person today with the same problem) But unfortunately, they only get about 5 phones per shipload. Other people that don't even have the phone yet are on the waitlist before me, which is a little upsetting. I was told it could take 10 days before I'll get a replacement phone. The rep did pull the battery and sd card, but it didn't help. Phone is still off. I'm hoping I'll wake up in the morning to a "live screen", but I'm not banking on it.
.
les

After the update my browser stopped working. I restarted the phone and it seems to be stable. It appears that the wifi is much stronger.
Scott Whitehill

PS. my phone was 1/2 charged when I ran the update and was bricked.
.
rick

thats why yall need to get an IPHONE 4
Scott Whitehill

I feel your pain, Michelle. I'm hoping things turn out well for you soon.
Scott Whitehill

.. rick, I think your Mommy is calling. iPhone is junk.. just grip the "antennae" and you'll know. no one is impressed with the iPhone's smaller screen, lower res camera and lack of a kickstand. go stand in line for another 12 hours and leave us adults alone.
ron

Rick you know you traded in that junk phone for EVO…..who are you kidding
marin

Ha ha ha. I was surprised it took this long for somebody to throw that out there.
Scott Whitehill

UPDATE: Just got a return call from Best Buy. Seems Sprint has already gotten a patch/fix for my bricked EVO. Said to take it into the Sprint store and they can take care of it. Crossing my fingers this works…
Madeline Respes

Please update us as soon as possible. I'm sure others will also want to know if the patch/fix is successful or just a waste of time.
dan

my update came up twice, was downloaded a second time and ever since then my phone has been significantly slower and it takes much longer to send messages. My screen also freezes multiple time each day
Tif

I didn’t even get to update the phone & it just shut off. I was in the middle of reading a text and weird thing was that when I turned it on this morning, all my texts from forever were deleted. It was as if I never texted anyone ever before. Idk what’s up with the Evo but I hope it’s fixed soon.
I can’t go too long without a phone Lol