yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] J M L:
If Script Manager has a trigger to run a script not at boot up, but at hotboot, or when zygote (basically the dalvik system) is restarted, then a simple script of

#!/bin/sh
su
pkill gsiff_daemon

would be enough to work around the problem. If it can't trigger on a hotboot, then it might be possible to detect if a hotboot has occurred by seeing if system_server's PID has changed, or some such. Then run that every 5 minutes or whatever. Even simpler, just pkill gsiff_daemon every 15 minutes. I'm not sure what the effect on battery life that would cause, but it would be an obvious win over letting gsiff_daemon run away until the battery is drained. If it knocks 20% off runtime when gsiff_daemon is NOT running away, then it wouldn't be worth it.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tenfar:
gsiff_daemon is a agps releated daemon.

#

# Enable the DSPS (Sensor1) sensor provider

#

ifeq ($(FEATURE_GSIFF_DSPS),1)

@brief: GNSS / Sensor Interface Framework Daemon
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] elenaran:
so if this is correct, turning off GPS should kill it?
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] sKoWN_kAT:
It has (so far) for me.... It may not be the same for everyone. I'll post an update if gsiff returns with gps off.

So far so good though :o
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] Crisisx1:
How do I check to see of I and having this same problem ?where do I look
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] duchkata:
Go to setting, developer option, tick show cpu usage and see on top right if u have gsiff_daemon process.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] sKoWN_kAT:
Well it looks like I spoke too soon. Ive been on a good run with gps off but I just had an unprovoked hot reboot and I immediately checked cpu usage...... There it was... Dirty little gsiff_daemon!

I wasn't doing anything cpu intensive or changing my location. Just sitting there on break at work, reading the forums using xda premium app.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] J M L:
I tried the experiment of removing gsiff_daemon, and that "solves" the problem. If it isn't running, then it can't run away. I'm an old Unix guy, so I did this at the command line, but feel free to use your favorite root file manager to do this. You will need root. I remounted /system as rw, moved /system/bin/gsiff_daemon to /system/bin/gsiff_daemon.not and then rebooted. gsiff_daemon did not start, but otherwise there weren't any problems or errors. Forcing a hotboot didn't cause any problems. I have no idea if having the daemon not run will cause problems down the road, that will take more time. I moved it back, rebooted, and it started without issue.

The only obvious effect I saw was a decrease in GPS accuracy. This might just be a coincidence. Without gsiff_daemon, I could only get a GPS lock with a 45ft accuracy. Enabling gsiff_daemon my accuracy improved to 9ft. This is all sitting on the ground floor of my two story house, so the view of the sky isn't exactly clear, and I'm very impressed the S3 can get a GPS lock at all.

So, if you're having lots of gsiff_daemon problems, then you can try this. As there's no real fix for gsiff_daemon, it is probably best to figure out what is causing frequent hotboot/crashes. I do not know if any log is kept as to what could have caused the crash. I generally get about one per week, and I just make do with watchdog alerting me.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] mobilehavoc:
Can't explain it but since I removed adfree I haven't had a hot boot even once. I think the cause of the hot boot is network related and then the gsiff_daemon becomes a run away process. I believe gsiff_daemon gives you GloNass support so more satellites and accuracy.

Sent from my GS3 pretending to be a Nexus so Google Wallet works
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] Crisisx1:
Thanks ... I did not see gsiff_daemon

---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------

What exactly is a hot boot ?
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] extremepizza:
From my experience:

gsiff daemon would come on and hang AFTER I turned off GPS. For a week straight I couldn't figure it out, until I starting reading this thread. I then didn't turn on GPS on for 3 days and Gsiff daemon never showed up in battery monitor widget history and my battery lasted a heck of a lot longer. The thing that pointed me to GPS was that my battery drain skyrocketed as soon as I left my car and went indoors(~250-300mA versus 70-90mA while driving[and gps on but not being utilized])

So after toying around for about 3 weeks now, anytime I turn off GPS I then restart my phone. This has worked wonders for me as I hated the battery life on this phone compared to my sgs ii. Since I don't use GPS too often its not a big deal but now that someone mentioned it i may try renaming the file.....
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] joelhon:
To me this isn't a solution. I shouldn't have to use my phone at less than full capacity. I realize it may be a temporary solution, but only if it is that. I am not rooted so am unable to fool around with the root folders. Has anyone tried returning for another device/repairing it? Anyone know someone who it doesn't happen too?

Edit: spelling correction
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] extremepizza:
^I'm with you on temporary, I hope this gets fixed...Just trying to help point anybody that knows more in the right direction.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] mbze430:
I have juicedefender that turns on/off the GPS only when needed.. but gsiff_daemon still runs away ON ITS OWN. (unless of course during the on/off switching by GPS that is causing). And yes, hot reboot does trigger gsiff_daemon to run off.. but there has to be a specific cause...

Day before yesterday. My phone never hot rebooted, nor was the GPS ever used... but gsiff_daemon ran off.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] lowg:
Wanted to post a summary of the issue. Lots of conflicting things and speculation but here it was is known.

The issue of the gsiff_daemon taking up lots of CPU time and draining the battery occurs upon every hotboot.

Note: This can be replicated at any time by forcing a hotboot by killing system_server or /system/bin/surficeflinger process.

"Normal" causes of hotboot so far have been reported to be:

Network issues (most it seems are around using AdFree to modify your hosts file)

GPS switching on and off

So far the "work arounds" have been either prevent your system from hotbooting by addressing the above or completely disabling the gsiff_daemon. I think the best we can hope for outside of a fix from Samsung. I think the problem with the disabling the gsiff_daemon is that we dont know the consequences of doing so. Lastest reports seem to point to that is related to AGPS features of the phone. It does run normally during a regular boot.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] elenaran:
Here's my experience (rooted w/stock ROM):

Tried uninstalling Adfree - no difference; gsiff was still killing my battery

Tried disabling all the motion features - same

Turned off GPS two days ago - no gsiff so far...

That's not to say it won't come back, but this is the first time in 2+ weeks that my battery has been back to normal.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tjb433:
it is odd how sporadic this bug is, for some on here it seems almost a daily occurrence, for me its about once a week. It would be great to see a fix. Is there anything we can do to help any devs possibly looking into this? Id be willing to learn how to dump a logcat for the next time it happens.

Im on at&t, with the same symptoms as the others on here, random hot phone/battery drain/gsiff_daemon showing the most usage in bbs. Battery settings shows android system using the most battery.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] joelhon:
Happened again today. First time since I turned off GPS three days ago. Happened while in the car after a phone call came in. But it was in a "hot boot loop" almost. I had to pull the battery and give it few minutes then it went back to normal. I am really close to returning for service, but I want to know the likelihood of it being solved so it's not just getting flashed/wiped clean for nothing.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] mobilehavoc:
The cause is definitely network related so that's a start. Like I said since I stopped using adfree I haven't had a single hot boot and my phone has had uptime over over 15 days at a time. It might be a specific app that's causing it. Try freezing at&t bloat

Sent from my GS3 pretending to be a Nexus so Google Wallet works
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] TerraOne:
Watchdog logged gsiff on replacement phone, but no runaway yet

My replacement S3 has gsiff activating for something, at least, as watchdog is logging it for a moment every few hours.

The CPU log says "gsiff_daemon Linux Process 4 hours ago 0.0% 1.2 MB"

So, it's showing up but not (yet?) running wild on the processor. I'll be driving around with it and walk around campus, again, in the next day or two with both wifi and mobile data and GPS enabled & disabled to see if it goes rogue. Nothing happened Wednesday while I was all around there for 4 hours switching back and forth from wifi to mobile data and gps (and everything else I could find) toggled on/off periodically.

So far I'm 2 days with the replacement phone without a gsiff-runaway happening, and I've been trying to trigger it by recreating the conditions of my previous phone (same settings, but haven't installed all the same apps on it yet - only doing one or two apps a day so I can watch them carefully to see if it's app-related)
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tjb433:
I'm running wanamlite rom with att bloat removed, I did however reinstall the Samsung bloat be caused I liked the stock clock, next time it happens I plan on running "show CPU usage" in dev settings, then ill start disabling apps that are running.

Has anyone gotten this running aokp, cm9/10, or any of the very debloated TW roms with no Sammy or carrier bloat?
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] lowg:
Terra try forcing a hotboot and seeing if you get the runaway gsiff daemon process.

From what I've seen this is a good way to replicate the issue.

Sent from my Galaxy S3
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] storm81456:
Well so far, the only time I've ever had the gsiff runaway has been after a hotboot. The only time I ever have hotboot problems is when I have WiFi enabled. I very rarely have WiFi on unless I'm in a trip to Canada. So roughly once a week the last three weeks. The last three days I have been in the states and haven't had WiFi on. I haven't had one hotboot it gsiff runaway.

For info purposes, I'm on VZW on the root66 Rom. I have been using adfree from day one with autoupdates on, I also have the Facebook app and use it frequently, and my GPS is always enabled as are all the location services checkboxes.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tjb433:
I am the exact opposite, almost always on wifi, I'd say about 22 hours a day my phone is on wifi, although the 2 times I remember getting gsiff runaway I had recently left work, and went out of range of that wifi, I have yet to notice a hot boot though, maybe I catch it before it gets there or maybe it just happens in my pocket before I see it
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] TerraOne:
Still no gsiff runaway on replacement phone

Today I spent a few hours driving around and on campus with the replacement phone, toggling everything, especially wifi and mobile data, and still no hotboot or gsiff runaway.

Watchdog says gsiff hasn't awakened since before my last post, over 20 hours.

I'm thinking the next app I try to screw it up with should be Facebook since that one seems to really dig into the OS and defy kill orders. Something seemed "not right" about how it interacted with my previous phone. Feels like a misbehaving app to me, always on when it shouldn't be and even after it's killed in task managers and blacklisted.

---------- Post added at 08:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 PM ----------

This is how it always happened on my previous S3 - going into or out of my college campus' wifi, between it and mobile data.

I would typically be in the gym using it on the treadmill no problem, but gsiff would wake up and and churn the processor hard by the time I got out to my vehicle. By the time I drove 1 mile to the grocery store and went in, the phone would be extremely hot to the touch, as if it had been sitting on the dash for 3 hours in the Phoenix AZ summer sun, and the battery would be draining about 1-2% per minute or faster.

Hardly ever have GPS services enabled, and they were always disabled (including vzw and google location services) when the runaway happened between campus and the store.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] elenaran:
RE:wifi, when I was having a lot of gsiff problems, my WiFi had been off for several days - maybe even a week. I don't think it's purely WiFi related.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] naddie:
I've been running the stock rooted and deodexed ROM, if you recall, and wiped everything. I started from scratch and only installed apps as I needed them... It's been a little over a week now, and no random hotboots. This also means no gsiff issue, and I'm getting excellent battery life.

I'm not sure what was on my old data backup that caused random hotboots...

Doesn't mean the issue is solved (which is hotboots causes gsiff_daemon to go crazy). Just means a clean install for me no longer causes my phone to hotboot (which means no more gsiff crazy issue).
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] TabletFiend:
GSIFF!!!!!

This happends to me all the effing time now.... at least twice a day. It seems that it happends most often when the phone is in my pocket and im in an area where service is poor.

We need a fix for this asap....
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tjb433:
Well we think its limited to touchwiz roms, and we think its data related, I wouldn't be supprized if it was one of samsungs weather or location updates, in between wifi and data, or in poor data areas, maybe it gets stuck in an update reconnect loop that it can't get out of, try turning off updates for some of the Widgets you use, like the Sammy clock for instance, and see if you still get it.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] sKoWN_kAT:
It's been a few days since I tried this method..

I used root explorer to mount /system/bin as r/w,

Backed up gsiff_daemon to external sd card,

Renamed it to gsiff_daemon.not and rebooted.

First thing I tried was locking in gps. It displayed my exact location in maps. Then I triggered a couple hot boots while monitoring cpu processes. No more runaway processes! Now its only been a few days but I haven't seen any negative effects of renaming gsiff. No changes at all in performance really.

I'll post back with an update soon.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] TerraOne:
Gsiff directly spotted on replacement phone

But still no hotboot or runaway processing and battery drain.

Today I went back to the area around which the hotboot and runaway gsiff_daemon process happened, leaving on CPU usage so I could glance at it regularly while grocery shopping.

Mid-way through shopping, I took the sleeping phone out of my pocket, home-buttoned to turn on the screen, and there it was: gsiff_daemon second or third from the top.

BUT, the phone wasn't hot and the battery wasn't draining at 1% per minute like my last phone. Also, gsiff disappeared about 1-2 seconds after the screen came on and wasn't seen again the rest of the day after leaving the area.

So far, signs point to this being something that:

1) Is often triggered while the screen is off

2) Is often triggered while moving between areas/towers

2) Is mobile-data-related in some way, rather than wifi-related (as some report having wifi disabled when their gsiff-runaway happens)

3) The runaway gsiff - different from gsiff merely being present in the CPU stats - is triggered by something app/widget related that we are adding onto the phone that keeps gsiff stuck in a processing loop rather than disengaging.

Whatever #3 may be, if it is a valid suspicion, I haven't added it onto the phone yet because gsiff_daemon, while activating in the wild when I'm moving between areas with the screen off, is not running-away with the processor nor draining the battery. In fact, I'm getting about 24 hours on my battery now, whereas I was getting about 5 hours on my previous phone thanks to gsiff_runaway.

I think we should list our addon apps and focus on the ones we all have installed, then methodically experiment with removing them. As the runaway-gsiff isn't happening on my replacement phone, which doesn't have many apps on it yet intentionally, I think it would be worthwhile for me to add them one-by-one, one every couple of days or so, and see after which app a runaway occurs. If it's one we all have on our phones, it'll make a pretty good case for it being the culprit for causing a triggering of the runaway. Everyone removing it and not having gsiff runaways anymore would confirm it.

That's not to say there isn't a fundamental bug in either Android or the S3 that an app merely exposes. That could be the case, but we won't know until we find the actual instigator and see how it, specifically, is interacting with the phone's OS and components like the mobile data radio or GPS or Motion.

For starters, does anyone here experiencing gsiff-runaways:

~NOT have a clock/weather widget installed on a home screen with or without weather updates active?

~NOT have Facebook app installed?

If there are any other apps that feel suspect to you, that have crashed a lot or that you have been using just before hotboot/runaways, or ones you have seen prominently in Battery/Watchdog/etc monitoring stats, please list them so we can narrow down the most common likenesses between all the runaway-occurring phones.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tjb433:
My thoughts exactly, im not sure how to implement this in an online fashion, but we need to find out what everyone has in common, and start there.

There is a thread on the At&t section that has some other speculations, might be worth a read:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1800812&page=3

Edit: i created a request for developers to look at this issue, i don't think this issue is well known enough yet for many of them be familiar with it, please support this request so we can possibly get the input of some of the more knowledgeable devs on this forum, and look forward to a possible fix down the road.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1827087
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] manywelps:
I got this when I froze touchwiz (I'm using ADW launcher) and it reloaded my ADW home screen.

Lag prompted me to pop CPU stats and this stupid daemon was eating up one core.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] duchkata:
I got this issue 3 times last week, and each time it's was with the facebook app.....Maybe it's not the culpirit,but just before the hotboot,i seeing the gps icon on the status bar with facebook app.

I'm completly stock just rooted.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] guthrien:
I've just gotten the phone and have had excellent battery life so I was surprised when it just happened twice. The 2nd time was just after fully charging so it was easy to notice, besides the heat. Better battery stats gave me the process. I had gps and data off, wifi on. My idea was related to the very bad wifi at work. It's not uncommon for a device to lose connection and have to reestablish an ip address. At home I have a tremendous signal and nothing. I think something is looking for a signal for sync.

Also, in wifi advanced settings there are several options related to when the S3 takes it upon itself to power up wifi. I've been messing with them this morning, but after rebooting the process has backed off.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] joelhon:
I think I will try and get a replacement, they will probably want to just repair it though. Anyone have any success just re flashing stock firmware?
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] murdermonkey9000:
Replacement won't help, it's just a bug in touchwiz. Want to verify? Install Cm9 or 10 and hot Boot till the cows come home and it won't replicate, put stock back and hotboot and it'll happen every time. The only other known fix is just deleting the Daemon. I believe it's related to glonass, but I'm past caring, on to cm10 and greener pastures.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] J M L:
Probably bad news about the UCALH1 update. I pulled gsiff_daemon from the update, and put it on my UCLG1 bases S3, but gsiff_daemon running away after hot boot persists. It's completely possible that a full install of UCALH1 will fix the problem, because the bug could be in one of the libraries gsiff_daemon is linked to, or they may have changed init.rc so that gsiff_daemon restarts on a hot boot. I'm not going to bother installing the leak of UCALH1, because if I'm going to install a non-release ROM, it will be CM10.

If you're having battery drain problems due to gsiff_daemon, then there are two things to do. By far the easiest is to just delete (or rename) gsiff_daemon. Figuring out what is causing your hot boot is another good option, but much more difficult. Remember, hot boots are fast and silent. If you're not actually looking at your phone when it occurs, then you won't notice it happened, other than the runaway gsiff_daemon, obviously.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] storm81456:
True they are fast and silent, but you can tell it happened looking at your battery stats as there'll be a break in the drain graph. Well that and the phone getting hot and your battery life going to crap because gsiff is running away..
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] joelhon:
But I know others that it doesn't ever happen to. Also I re-formatted yesterday, and with some similar activities in which I would get the issue I haven't had it come up since.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] moralesd66:
sKoWN_kAT

You sir are the man!!!! I renamed the gsiff_daemon to gsiff_daemon.not and the phone's battery has been sipping ever so slowly.

I read in another forum that it has nothing to do with GPS or Wifi or network, but rather the gyroscope. Which appears to by why it is triggered on many phones after it is taken out of pockets. The constact rotating of the screen makes it crazy. I've been testing this method all day and it works beautiflly. No more services, or android OS usage taking over screen time. I have no idea what the long term ramifications are, but i will tell you that it works like a charm. Just wanted to add my 2 and help everyone out and confirm your findings. Thanks mate! :cool:

---------- Post added at 04:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 AM ----------

This is the post that helped me immensely! Thanks mate! :good: The performance is great, and the phone still rotates.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] sKoWN_kAT:
Gotta give credit where credit is due. This was all J M L go here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=29886941 and thank him. This method has been working great for me too :):thumbup:
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] DeathHere:
killing the process

I would like to rename the file gsiff_daemon but it is always in use since whenever I kill it the process restarts automatically.

Any ideas on how I kill it and keep it dead so I can rename the file?

Thanks.

Edit: nevermind, my root explorer didn't have System mounted as rw. Problem solved.
[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] tjb433:
I just experienced gsiff for the first time in about 2 weeks, i was holding the phone right in front of me when it started, the only thing i was doing was playing with a DSLR Controller app that is in Beta, i hit a few too many things too quickly, the phone froze for a second(no screen redraw or anything) crashed the app and gsiff took off running, seems it can be triggered by alot of different things, i may have to rename it and see how it goes.

Just for the information pool, before restarting i killed every running process and service through application manager, one at a time, none of them rid of gsiff.