Common Problems and Solutions

in
Android
and
eCHIS Mobile application suite
VERSION 1.0
1. Android Specific troubleshooting
Note

It is important to take into consideration that different Android devices may have differing user
interfaces, and layout of menu items such as setting. Even devices of the same model may have
different interfaces if their Android versions differ. Hence, you may not find a menu item in the
same place you find in another device or Android version. To make the best out of this guide
please note these variations and try to supplement the guide from online resources, especially if
you found out that the specific point listed here doesn’t apply to your device or Android version.
1. Google Play Store Crashing

If Google Play crashes after launching it, you might have a corrupt cache. Most of the time,
simply wiping its cache fixes the problem. Most versions of Android use generally the same
steps. Go to:

 Settings
 Apps
 Swipe right to locate the “all” tab
 Locate Google Play Store and wipe cache and data
 Restart your phone

If that fails, you might want to try wiping data and/or cache for the following services:

 Google Play Services

 Google Services Framework

Remember to restart the device after performing the wipes.

2. Insufficient Space on Device

Android allocates fixed storage space for apps. Users can’t expand it. So you might run into this
error even if your device indicates a great deal of remaining storage capacity.

The easiest way to free up space is to begin uninstalling apps. However, if you use music apps,
like Spotify, you might not be able to find where the files are being stored. The quickest way to
free up space is to use an app like CCleaner. If you want to get a visual display of where all your
memory is going, try using DiskUsage. It will visually display your files’ locations and size.

Another solution is to wipe cache partition and clear data on Android

3. Google Play Store Not Downloading Apps

Sometimes Google Play won’t install applications. There’s two kinds of popular fixes. The first
is to wipe Google Play’s cache. The second is to erase Google Play’s history.

Wipe Google Play Cache

In my experience, the best fix is to wipe Google Play’s cache. Go to:

 Settings
 Apps
 Swipe right to locate the “all” tab
 Locate Google Play Store and wipe cache and data
 Restart your phone

Wipe Google Play History

I’m skeptical about this fix. However, for those desperate, give it a shot. Here’s how:

 Open Google Play Store.

 Go to Settings.
 Choose Clear History.

Here’s a video:

4. How to Reinstall the Google Play Store

You can’t uninstall the Google Play Store without root access. Most users who think they’ve
deleted Google Play actually have disabled it. To reenable the Play Store, go to:

 Settings
 Apps
 Swipe right and locate the “disabled” tab.
 Then locate Google Play Store. You can reenable it by tapping on the icon that says
“reenable”.
5. How Do I Install Google Play?

Some imported tablets and smartphones don’t come with the Google Play Store. Users will need
to locate an APK (what’s an Android APK file?) from a third party source and then manually
install it. Before getting started, you’ll need to enable third party sources. To do so, go to:

 Settings
 Security
 Then check the box for “unknown sources”

Once checked, you can install the Play Store. Here is a link to a legitimate Play Store APK:

6. How to Fix a Slow Interface and Memory

Even though memory problems tend to impact older Android more frequently, you could also
find yourself dealing with this issue if you are a heavy user or simply like to store a lot of media
directly on your phone.

If you have a ton of apps or photos, you can run into this on newer phones too.

 Outsource Your Storage: Store your photos on someone else’s server (in the Cloud) or
on the SD card if you can. Services like Dropbox or Google Drive can assist. You can
automatically backup to Google Photos by going to Settings > Backup & Sync; you can
visit Accounts and enable Auto Sync.
 Delete What You Don’t Use: Not only do photos and apps occupy digital space, but
consider your music and videos also.
 Backup & Restore: There are apps that will help you—one of the best is Titanium
Backup – Free, but your phone must be rooted.
 Close Apps: Ensure you are closing your apps when you are done with them; not just
returning to the Home Screen while the app is still open and running in the background.
 Soft Reset: Most of the time a soft reset will cause your phone to snap out of its stupor.
Long-press the Power key for approximately 10-15 seconds.
  Clear Cache: You can start out by clearing the cache for any individual apps that are
giving you problems. Go to your App Manager, select the app, and tap the Clear
Cache option. If this doesn’t suffice, you can wipe the entire system’s cache partition.
 Hard Reset: If that doesn’t cut it, consider performing a hard reset. This wipes data so
you might want to backup what you wish to save!

7. How do I Free Up Memory on My Android Device?

By memory, you might be referring to RAM. The Android operating system works best with a
minimal number of installed applications. That’s because some apps like to run in the
background, even when you don’t actually use the app. The more apps installed, the more likely
it is that some will run wild in the background. The simplest solution is to uninstall all non-
essential applications.

8. System UI Not Working

Sometimes the System User Interface (UI) can stop working. If restarting your device doesn’t fix
the problem, one option to try is wiping the System UI cache. To wipe the cache, go to:

 Settings
 Apps
 Swipe left to “All” and select System UI
 Then wipe the cache and restart the device

9. Downloads Not Working

Sometimes downloads will fail. Android includes a dedicated download manager, and its cache
can become corrupted. In this case, just wipe the cache.

To wipe the cache, go to:

 Settings
  Apps
 Swipe right to “All” and select Download Manager
 Then wipe the cache and restart the device

10. I Can’t Find My Download

Android by default stores its downloaded files in a folder called “Download”. To locate the
Download directory, first install a file manager, like ES File Explorer. See our article on what
makes ES File Explorer so useful. Once installed, go to sdcard/Download and you should see a
complete list of downloaded files.

11. I Can’t Play a Downloaded Video

Try using VLC Player or MX Player. They work on almost every file you can imagine.
Sometimes videos in a proprietary format won’t play. There’s no real solution for this issue,
other than installing the proprietary video player.

12. I Installed Malware!

Never install a cracked game or app — it probably has malware on it. But if you already have
malware, simply uninstall the culprit.

13. Mobile Internet Not Working

The biggest cause of mobile Internet not working: Improperly configured APN settings. If you
are using the HealthNet Machine to Machine sim card to connect to the eCHIS server, there
needs to be an APN setup to get the synchronization working. If these settings aren’t properly
configured, you can manually set them. Other options to try:

 Toggle Airplane Mode: Enable, then disable Airplane Mode.

 Add Connection Again: Set up your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection again.
  Restart Feature or Device: Turn Data off and back on again. Doing the same with your
device can work wonders.
 Scrutinize Settings: LTE/GSM is usually on by default, but turning it off may help boost
your signal in some cases.
 Update: Ensure you have the latest update for your phone. This largely depends on your
carrier.
 Come Closer to the Source

If the signal indicator affirms a weak connection, it could be due to other items blocking it or to
distance. For example, if you are next to a tall building or in a basement, you might need to
relocate.

Also, you could be too far away from the service tower. Move your device closer to the router.
It’s possible for other devices can also create interference, so move any other appliances away.

14. Can’t Connect to Wi-Fi Network

Chances are, it’s your router that’s at fault. Someone could write a book on the number of
problems that WiFi networks cause users — the best solution oftentimes is to restart both your
router and your phone.

15. How Do I Break an Android Password?

Someone may try to unlock your phone too many times using the wrong PIN, password, or
pattern, and sometimes that someone is you. Here’s how you can still unlock it.

 Use Forgot Password Button: Enter the Gmail ID and password for the Gmail
account you used to set up your phone. You must have Internet access. After too
many attempts, you will be asked if you forgot your password
 Unlock Using Google Find My Device: This does have to be enabled beforehand.
You can gain access to its website by going through your Google Account. You can
also use the Google Find My Device app.
  Factory Reset: You’ll need to enter Recovery Mode or the bootloader, then choose
the option to factory reset your Android.

The bootloader is a preboot environment that allows the restoration of your operating system.
There are ways to break Android passwords, but don’t count on it.

First, you’ll need to enter the bootloader. The method varies between models of phone. For most
models, you can access the bootloader by completely powering down the device. After powering
off, you will hold volume down + the power button until the phone boots. Once inside of the
bootloader, you can then choose to factory reset your device.

WARNING: if you have a custom ROM, don’t do this, as it can render your device unbootable.

16. Android Device Crashes on Boot

If your phone no longer boots, you can enter what’s called “safe mode” — we’ve
covered Android’s safe mode before. Safe Mode allows users to disable all startup apps that
might be crashing the phone. Once booted in through safe mode, you can then remove the
misbehaving app.

Keep in mind that while the occasional app crash is inevitable, frequent app crashes could signal
that it’s time to upgrade your Android phone.

17. Android Device No Longer Turns On

First try removing the battery. If the battery can’t be removed, hold down the power button for
fifteen seconds. If that fails, plug the device into a power source and hold the power button down
for fifteen seconds. If that fails, you may need to either have the device serviced. Other options
to try:

A soft reset usually solves a host of issues, but what to do when you can’t even do that?
Additionally, removing the battery can be very helpful, but what if you don’t have a removable
battery? We will take you through some basics of troubleshooting unresponsive Android phones.
  Try Safe Mode: To determine which app, it could be (or if this is the problem at all) try
going into Safe Mode. Safe Mode only uses those apps that come with your phone
without loading any of the third-party software that could be causing the issue.

o The method by which you enter, Safe Mode can vary by device. If you do not
experience the same problem in Safe Mode, try uninstalling any third-party app,
one-at-a-time, that you think might be the culprit. If the phone still misbehaves in
Safe Mode, your problem could be related to the hardware or a corrupted OS,
which can be tougher to fix on your own.

 Charge Battery: If you see the empty battery symbol when you try to turn the device on,
it’s time for a charge.

 Perform a Factory Reset: It’s easiest to do this from the Settings menu, but if you can’t
access that you will have to use Recovery Mode instead. This wipes your phone like it
just came out of the box.

18. Android Not Reading microSD Card

This happens all the time. It is preferable to format the SD card from within Android. This solves
just a portion of the issues with SD cards — if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s worth a shot.

To format an Android microSD card, go to:

 Settings
 Storage
 Scroll down to the bottom and select “Format SD card”
 Then select “Format SD card” again

If this fails, you will need to connect the SD card to a PC with a card reader.
If your files aren’t readable after connecting to a PC, you will need data recovery software.

19. Can’t Connect Android to a Windows PC

There’s two ways (there used to be three) that Android connects to a computer: Android Debug
Bridge (ADB) or Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). ADB lets users interact with Android’s
operating system while MTP only permits access to specially designated media storage
directories. ADB always causes the most amount of problems.

20. My Battery is Not Lasting Long

There are many reasons why a battery drain can occur. But it is good to detect it in time and
figure a way to solve the problem before it is too late.

 Go to the Source: Nearly every Android has a Battery section in Settings that will give
you a breakdown of what is consuming the most resources. If there is anything
unnecessary consuming your battery, get rid of it.

 Disable Connections: If you aren’t using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or GPS, turn them off.

 Change Settings: You can take individual steps, like lowering the brightness of your
display and limiting automatic syncing, or you can rely on Battery or Power Saving
Mode to do it for you.

 Check Charging Conditions: Does your phone have a broken or bent port? Does the
charger fit too loosely? Have you tried a different charger? A different outlet?
2. eCHIS Specific troubleshooting
21. User Data Reset when eCHIS ends up in a bad state

Due to synchronicity or updates between the server and the phone, the phone can end up with
stale or incompatible data. This data can be wiped locally.  Please Note that this can result in
some data loss if you have valid unsent forms.

 Log into ECHIS

 Look at the Sync with Server button on the home screen. If it says Unsent Forms click
on the button to submit those forms to the server
 When on the ECHIS Home Screen, Press the Menu button on your phone and choose the
"advanced" option. (On a Samsung or a LAVA, Menu is the bottom left button).
 Press Clear User Data
 You will be returned to the login screen. Re-enter your username and password and your
user data will be re-synced to the device

22. Fresh Restart

It is occasionally possible to end up putting the phone into a state which needs to be recovered
from the cloud, resetting the local install. This is also helpful once problems are diagnosed, but
before a fix can be prepared. The steps for doing so are:

 Make sure any local data is uploaded (synced)

a) Log in to ECHIS with your username and password, and ensure that the application isn't
loading a screen informing you that it is sending unsent forms
b) Log back out

 Clear the local memory on the phone

a) Navigate to the phone's applications management menu, generally from the home screen
the process is Options -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications
b) Navigate to ECHIS ODK
 c) Press Clear Data and confirm

 Reinstall your specific app

a) Use Offline-install the appropriate application, the HEW app or the HC app or the Focal
person app.

 Restore User Data

a) Log in with the username and password as usual. Since the restore is clean, it may take
somewhat longer than usual.

22. ECHIS Error Messages

A serious problem occurred while ECHIS was trying to download an update (or install
your app): ECHIS couldn't find the resource with id: eCHIS-application-profile.

This message, which can show up upon installation, is often due to a bad internet
connection. This almost always means you do not have a strong enough Internet connection.
Make sure you have Internet access.

Unfortunately, ECHIS ODK has stopped

If ECHIS crashes and you get this message, you can get more detailed information about the
nature of the problem by doing the following: 

 When ECHIS crashes click the 'Report button' in the crash dialog
 Once the crash report has loaded click on the 'Preview' button
 Scroll to the bottom and click on 'Stack Trace'
 In the stack trace you should be able to find a more detailed error message.
23. How to check if there are quarantined forms on the device

If you know or suspect that there are forms which a mobile user filled out on their device but are
not appearing on the server, one possible cause is that the form became corrupted in some way
and has been quarantined on the device. Quarantining is when the form gets removed from the
queue of forms to be sent to ECHIS Server, but is still kept on the device. If ECHIS Android
detects that a form has become corrupted, it will automatically quarantine the form. Users can
also manually quarantine a completed-but-unsent form. You can view quarantined forms on a
device by taking the following steps:

 Go to the list of Saved Forms on the device, either by pressing the "Saved" button on the
home screen (if it's available), or going to the home screen options menu and then
selecting "Saved Forms". 
 Click on the filter button in the upper-right corner of that screen, and select "Filter:
Quarantined Forms"
 If there are any quarantined forms on the device, they will appear in this list, and you will
be able to open them for viewing to determine what exact form they were.
 You can also get more information about what is wrong with a quarantined form by long-
clicking on the form in the list, and then selecting "Scan Record Integrity". A dialog will
then pop up with some detailed information about the form and what may be wrong with
it. This information will help the eCHIS development team to find the problem. You can
send this information along your bug report to OTRS.

24. Submitting device's logs

If you encounter an issue on your mobile device, it's helpful to submit the device's logs before
you report an issue.

 To do this, connect the device to the internet and navigate to the ECHIS home screen.
Then press the options button on the top right of the screen - three vertical dots in a row
(see below image).
  Next, select the "Advanced" option in the options menu. 

 Next, you'll see the screen below, select "Force Log Submission". This will send our
developer team your mobile device logs which will help us to troubleshoot the issue.
When reporting an issue, please indicate that you have already submit the device's logs.

If you are unable to get to the point required for forcing log submissions because your app won't
start up or let you log in, it may be helpful to share the Data Change logs to the support team
instead. Please follow these instructions to do so - 

 From login screen, click on 'Go to App Manager'.

 Then click on options menu and select 'Advanced'

 You should now see an option called 'Data Change Logs' as shown in screen below

 Click on ’Data Change Logs' to see the logs. You should be able to share these logs using
the share option menu from your phone. 

        

25. Synchronizing ECHIS with Wi-Fi Direct from another phone

This feature was designed for projects where devices may need to remain in areas with no
connectivity for long periods of time.

HEWs would use the devices to gather forms as usual, but instead of syncing forms directly to
the server the HEWs would transfer forms to a host tablet.

This host would then be returned to an area with Internet connectivity and sync all the forms to
the ECHIS server.

Once uploaded to the server, the forms will not appear or behave any differently than if they had
been uploaded through the regular process.
These forms can be operated on by different devices.

Caution: Please note that transferring forms to another phone using SD card (Topic 26) is a
safer and a recommended method than using this method (Wi-Fi-direct)

Technical Requirements

Using Wi-Fi direct requires a phone or tablet running Android 4.0 later.

You also need to make sure the specific device supports Wi-Fi Direct.

Instructions

Ensure than Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct is enabled on your device (note that these are separate
functionalities) Refer to your device's guide on how to do this.

Note - even if you don't have a Wi-Fi network, Wi-Fi still needs to be enabled on most devices to
use this functionality

Note - these instructions are written for two devices. However, many clients can connect to the
host without syncing to the server.

We've also observed that the Wi-Fi Direct technology can sometimes get into a bad connection
state where the phones both think the other is in a different state than it is. The easiest way to fix
this is to toggle your device's Wi-Fi connection on and off.

If you encounter an error in this process, please connect the device to the internet and submit
your device's logs to the server by going to the ECHIS home screen, pressing the settings
button in the top right of the screen twice, selecting the "Settings" options, then pressing the
settings button in the top right again, and selecting the "Force Log Submission" option.

Client- Transfer Forms

 The first device has collected forms as usual

 Navigate to the home screen of ECHIS and select the "Settings" button

 Select "Advanced" and choose "Wi-Fi Direct" from the drop down menu
  Select "Transfer" at the dialog screen

Host - Receive Forms

 Navigate to the home screen of ECHIS and select the "Settings" button (It doesn't matter
with which user you login as all forms will show up on HQ under the original client user)

 Select "Advanced" and choose "Wi-Fi Direct" from the drop down menu

 Select "Receive Forms" at the dialog screen

 Wait until the device's status reads "Connected" (requires Wi-fi Direct to be enabled)

Client

 When both phones have completed these steps, the client device should press the
"Discover Peers" button

 This will populate the list of other devices you can transfer forms to

 From the list of devices, select the host device you want to connect to. You can determine
the address of your phone next to the "My Device" icon at the top of host phone's screen

Host

 The host device now needs to press "Accept" to begin the connection

 Wait a moment until both devices read "Connected" on the peer list

 When this is done, the sending device can press the "Transfer Forms" button to begin
form transfer

 After this process, the host device will acknowledge the transfer.

Host - Upload Forms

When the host has connectivity, again select the "settings" button at the top right of the home
screen and select the "Wi-fi Direct" option

Select "Send" from the dialog screen

Select "Submit Files"

26. Synchronizing ECHIS using SD card from another phone

General Workflow Outline

1. The supervisor or support personnel must have a functioning (uncorrupted) SD card.

2. The support personnel should check that the SD card is not corrupted.

3. The HEW completes a number of forms that have not been sent to the server

4. The supervisor inserts the SD card to the HEW’s phone.

5. They complete the “SD Dump Process” below

6. The SD card is removed from the HEW’s phone and returned to

the supervisor

7. The supervisor returns to the location with reliable internet, inserts

the SD card into her phone, and completes the “SD Send Process” below

SD Dump Process

1. The SD card is in the mobile worker’s phone

2. Navigate to the eCHIS Home Screen

3. Press the Menu/Settings button

4. Select “Advanced” then the “Manage SD” option

5. Proceed past the warning prompt

6. (Optional) verify that the screen lists the number of forms you’d expect
to be on the phone

7. Press the “Dump Forms” button

8. When this process completes successfully you can remove the SD card

SD Send Process

1. The SD card is in the supervisor’s or support personnel’s Android device. The supervisor
has reliable data connection.
 2. Navigate to the eCHIS Home Screen

3. Press the Menu/Settings button

4. Select “Advanced” then the “Manage SD” option

5. Proceed past the warning prompt

6. (Optional) verify that the screen lists the number of forms you’d expect
to be on the SD card

7. Press the “Submit Forms” button. This part of the process could
potentially take a while depending on the connection strength and number of
forms on the SD card

8. When this process completes successfully you can remove the SD card

27. Storage Corrupt error

ECHIS Android can enter an error state with the message "Storage is Corrupt :/" (see image at
bottom). Basically, this happens when the app installed that's currently on the phone enters an
inconsistent state.

To solve this issue:

1. Tap on the button “Enter recovery mode” from the error message, or go to
Menu -> Advanced -> Recovery Mode.
2. From there click on the button “Send Data” to submit forms.
28. An unexpected issue occurred during sync. Please try to sync again.
The best way to solve this is using 26. Synchronizing ECHIS using SD card from another phone.

29. Reporting bugs in ECHIS

OTRS (http://helpdesk.moh.gov.et/otrs/index.pl) is the preferred way to report bugs in eCHIS.

When reporting bugs in eCHIS please include the following:

 The type, model and Android version of the device, (e.g. Samsung, Galaxy Tab A6 T585,
Android 7)
 The version of ECHIS Android. (go to Menu -> About eCHIS – image below)
 The version of the HEW / HC application. (go to Menu -> About eCHIS –image below)
 Summary info, including the actual error message if any.
 A clear screenshot of the problem.
 Whether there was a specific circumstance that seemed to trigger the issues. Do you
know whether the issues appeared after some critical event?
 How widespread is the issue? Do certain users seem to have the problem over and over,
or is it randomly distributed between users? 
 Can you replicate the problem? If so, include the steps to do so.