EA Forums - Banner

Harp Freeze is back! [POSSIBLE SOLUTION IN HERE]

Replies

  • HammyBaconTime
    264 posts
    edited February 2013
    Well add me to the list now. Game is fubar. Finished el chemistri building and continued to tap characters Just made a harp sound and looped it. Crashed and now I'm stuck like the rest of you.
  • ryanklewis
    54 posts
    edited February 2013
    Most likely the teams that support the server side issues are off over the weekends so the B team that works weekends and babysit the servers aren't even allowed to work on the problem. Hoping the A team gets started working on the ASAP tomorrow morning

    Good Lord... If the weekday crew is the "A" team, this game is doomed. Have they ever released an update without major issues?
  • winstonrhodes
    38 posts
    edited February 2013
    So I got the infamous harp freeze this morning myself.... Sigh...

    I have been lucky enough to get myself out of it by using some of the info that I found here on the forum and I wanted to share my story with you in the hopes that maybe it might help.

    As has been suggested, I originally allowed the harp to play on for as long as it wanted... But I noticed that at some point it would inevitably simply crash and return me to the same spot once more. Frustrating... And not helpful...

    So I tried this... I let the harp play on, but to keep the program active, I moved my finger in small circles on the screen constantly. I continued this for approximately 10-15 minutes with the harp sound becoming progressively faster and faster (I suggest turning the TV on or getting something to read while you do this because it is incredibly boring and the sound annoying).

    After 15 minutes the harp was playing very quickly... suddenly the screen went completely black! My first reaction was "oh crap it has crashed again" however I continued making circles with my finger on the screen and after a few seconds the game popped back up with the level up doughnut screen!

    All has been well ever since!

    So maybe give it a try... It can't hurt!

    Cheers,
    W
  • bravopilot
    101 posts Member
    edited February 2013
    I am now on the list of people suffering from the harp freeze
    This is worse than the crash fest before the VD update

    I think this is a problem on the origin/EA side because I can still log on to my secondary town and visit my prime town as a neighbor
  • krakenit
    154 posts
    edited February 2013
    ryanklewis wrote:
    Most likely the teams that support the server side issues are off over the weekends so the B team that works weekends and babysit the servers aren't even allowed to work on the problem. Hoping the A team gets started working on the ASAP tomorrow morning

    Good Lord... If the weekday crew is the "A" team, this game is doomed. Have they ever released an update without major issues?

    I like your style. :)

    A few decades ago I started out on a C team and worked my way up to the A team of a Fortune 500 worldwide company, so on the same scale of the network topology ea has... This is just how it works on the back end. It's very frustrating but it's completely out of our control no matter how angry we get. In a company ea's size it's all about formulas. Even if they chased off 20,000 people that's only 1% of the 2million people playing. 1% is a very acceptable loss in their business model.

    I have faith I will get fixed at some point I just hope it's not like the people that were knocked out with the harp of death with the jan 31st update that had to wait until the feb 14 th update to work again. That would mean we have to wait until the feb 28 th update for Easter before we work again.
  • vercettitx
    116 posts
    edited February 2013
    Been stuck since midnight. But I finally got the harp sound. I was feeling left out without it. YAY????
  • habloneruda
    9 posts
    edited February 2013
    Another data point. I also got the dreaded harp freeze a couple hours ago.

    But like another poster earlier, it was after building the Burns Mansion. I'm level 26, but I'm a little behind. :)

    Mine was a strange conflagration of circumstances. Here's what happened.

    - Burns Mansion finished building and I tapped on it.
    - Saw a ton of experience points dropped.
    - Suddenly got the bonus prize screen for hitting 125,000 xp or whatever it is.
    - It took me three tries to get 3 donuts. Because I suck.
    - Burns and Flanders talk about Flanders being trapped in the closet (hahaha, that wasn't an obvious joke at all).
    - I got the new character screen for Smithers.
    - Tapped away from that and got the Congratulations screen for finishing Executive Lackey Part II.
    - That infernal harp started. At first I thought it meant that Jebus had come to take me to Heaven. Turns out I was entering hell.

    Also, props to Krackenit for the levelheaded explanation of what's going on.
  • spankysequel
    3 posts Member
    edited February 2013
    Me too!!! I hate this harp freeze!
    Happened right after i built El CHemistri, got the bonus level donuts, and sent chief wiggum and ralph to eat there for 4 hours.
    Why does this happen on a holiday weekend when probably no one will be in to fix it until Tuesday?!?!?
    Blargh! and other such frustrated noises!!!
  • krakenit
    154 posts
    edited February 2013
    Me too!!! I hate this harp freeze!
    Happened right after i built El CHemistri, got the bonus level donuts, and sent chief wiggum and ralph to eat there for 4 hours.
    Why does this happen on a holiday weekend when probably no one will be in to fix it until Tuesday?!?!?
    Blargh! and other such frustrated noises!!!

    Ugh I forgot all about the Monday holiday.
  • krakenit
    154 posts
    edited February 2013


    Also, props to Krackenit for the levelheaded explanation of what's going on. [/quote]

    Thanks hablo I appreciate it. I take my time with the responses to make sure I have the correct semantics and be as detailed as possible about back end issue and also to hopefully not step on anyone's toes. I feel a little bad as I have kind of hijacked the OP's thread, though I am only pitching in to the team and trying to help everyone understand what the issue actually is. :lol:

    While I'm level headed now if I'm not back in by Wed I will be going on the war path with ea. I will create a new thread in the forum to keep everyone abreast. :wink:
  • krakenit
    154 posts
    edited February 2013
    According to their website
    http://www.ea.com/simpsons-tapped-out-ios

    The studio that handles all things Simpsons tapped out is their Los Angeles studio. If anyone is in that area maybe they could swing by and hand them a print out of all of our posts. :twisted:
  • frankenjacko
    237 posts Member
    edited February 2013
    Yeah this happened to me. Such garbage!
  • Vs1976
    875 posts Member
    edited February 2013
    So I got the infamous harp freeze this morning myself.... Sigh...

    I have been lucky enough to get myself out of it by using some of the info that I found here on the forum and I wanted to share my story with you in the hopes that maybe it might help.

    As has been suggested, I originally allowed the harp to play on for as long as it wanted... But I noticed that at some point it would inevitably simply crash and return me to the same spot once more. Frustrating... And not helpful...

    So I tried this... I let the harp play on, but to keep the program active, I moved my finger in small circles on the screen constantly. I continued this for approximately 10-15 minutes with the harp sound becoming progressively faster and faster (I suggest turning the TV on or getting something to read while you do this because it is incredibly boring and the sound annoying).

    After 15 minutes the harp was playing very quickly... suddenly the screen went completely black! My first reaction was "oh crap it has crashed again" however I continued making circles with my finger on the screen and after a few seconds the game popped back up with the level up doughnut screen!

    All has been well ever since!

    So maybe give it a try... It can't hurt!

    Cheers,
    W

    Just tried that and it worked. :)
  • frankenjacko
    237 posts Member
    edited February 2013
    I got Harp Freeze after El Chemistiri finished building and I went up a level.
  • homerangle
    20 posts
    edited February 2013
    Vs1976 wrote:
    So I got the infamous harp freeze this morning myself.... Sigh...

    I have been lucky enough to get myself out of it by using some of the info that I found here on the forum and I wanted to share my story with you in the hopes that maybe it might help.

    As has been suggested, I originally allowed the harp to play on for as long as it wanted... But I noticed that at some point it would inevitably simply crash and return me to the same spot once more. Frustrating... And not helpful...

    So I tried this... I let the harp play on, but to keep the program active, I moved my finger in small circles on the screen constantly. I continued this for approximately 10-15 minutes with the harp sound becoming progressively faster and faster (I suggest turning the TV on or getting something to read while you do this because it is incredibly boring and the sound annoying).

    After 15 minutes the harp was playing very quickly... suddenly the screen went completely black! My first reaction was "oh crap it has crashed again" however I continued making circles with my finger on the screen and after a few seconds the game popped back up with the level up doughnut screen!

    All has been well ever since!

    So maybe give it a try... It can't hurt!

    Cheers,
    W

    Just tried that and it worked. :)


    This 100% worked! Plus, I got free donuts out of it. 10 or so. Thanks, Internet!
  • krakenit
    154 posts
    edited February 2013

    W
    [/quote]

    Just tried that and it worked. :)[/quote]


    This 100% worked! Plus, I got free donuts out of it. 10 or so. Thanks, Internet![/quote]

    This is great news. Thanks for posting your success. Across all the boards I have been monitoring that's almost 25'success stories. Looks like the tides maybe turning in our favor. Up until about an hour ago my harp would play for about 4 to 5 minutes and then the app would crash so I couldn't go the same 15 to 20 minutes the success stories were going. However I am no longer getting the harp at all. Just getting the Bart screen saying it couldn't connect. While I still cannot get in it looks like progress is being made.

    Hope everyone keeps communicating their success and or changes in behavior. :P
  • SummTrulli
    4 posts
    edited February 2013
    Having some problem since yesterday

    But i'm hoping there on it because since the last two hours the Game takes ages to load and it now takes 3-4 minutes till the Harp sound comes (normally only up to 1 minute)

    Sadly none of the Solutions i read helped me :(
    even deleted the App, rebooted phone and and and and

    Bug Kicked in after El Chemistri was finished and i send Ralph and Chief Wiggum in there
  • dougschoemer
    54 posts
    edited February 2013
    Small change for me just now. The donut spins a bunch of times before giving me the harp and freeze. Prior to this the donut didn't even complete one spin before the freeze. I will don my rose-colored glasses and consider this progress.
  • krakenit
    154 posts
    edited February 2013
    Small change for me just now. The donut spins a bunch of times before giving me the harp and freeze. Prior to this the donut didn't even complete one spin before the freeze. I will don my rose-colored glasses and consider this progress.

    Hrp is back for me again since last post. But now I get the harp for 14 minutes rather than app crashing at 5 minutes. However at 14 minutes it just closes back to home screen. While it sounds bad this is actually progress for me. Have gotten to 14 minute mark twice now. Will let it rest while we go out to dinner and give the old college try later to tonight.
  • estherhauber
    59 posts
    edited February 2013
    I got the harp freeze this morning. I messed around with it several times, and it kept crashing back to my ipad main screen. This afternoon I tried the hint of tapping continuously while it was doing the harp thing. It worked for me. I then got the level up glitch and got some extra donuts for my trouble. It crashed again, and when I tapped back in, all was back to normal. We will see if this holds and I can continue to log in.
This discussion has been closed.

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.