Lumia 640 Windows Mobile Insider Build 14291 SD Card Issues, Reboots, etc.

Last week Microsoft pushed out the Windows 10 Mobile Insider Build 14291.   I had been using the preview builds on a Lumia 640 I picked up last fall to use as my daily driver.  Overall the quality was fairly good but there were some issues with apps not working (such as the call block feature on my phone) as well as the Insider Hub oddly enough never being able to launch.

I had been able to install each build successfully without issue until 14291.  The process started smooth enough, downloading then going through the restart and endless steps until complete.  The issue came after the Build was installed when upon booting up the device reported the SD Card had issues and needed to be scanned.  I hit OK yet after scanning the card would not show up as storage.  At this point I restarted, same issue.  Then removed the card, rebooted and noticed that the phone randomly rebooted every few minutes.  Getting a little frustrated I decided to reset the phone which re-installed Build 14291 with the SD Card removed (NOTE: There were known issues reported by Microsoft with attempting to reset a phone after upgrading to this build).  The system appeared fairly stable for the hour or so I used it so the next morning reinstalled the SD Card, again received the message needed to scan.  Again, the card never appeared as storage.  Re-formatted card, same thing, checked card on desktop no issues reported.  At this point I decided the SD Card was the issue so left it out of the phone and then an hour or so later, random reboots. 

I enjoyed the Insider Program but decided based on the latest build quality and problems along with recent desktop issues I had seen with Windows 10 that maybe Microsoft just can’t deliver a stable experience across a wide range of devices right now so after 6 months of using Windows 10 decided to download the Windows Device Recovery Tool which can be downloaded here, and roll back to 8.1.

It’s been 5 days and 8.1 runs stable, seems faster than 10 ran on the phone, the SD Card works, battery life is improved, the Call Block feature works again and I have to admit I don’t miss 10.  The experience with 8.1 on this phone is superior as of today.  Based on my time with Windows 10 Mobile I can’t say it is ready for the market.  Microsoft has begun pushing it out but from what I have seen to date there are going to be a lot of frustrated users.

I’ll try to update in the future now that the system has been released but am going to stay with 8.1 for a while longer so I can enjoy using the phone again.