“IME died” and android.os.DeadObjectException

Question

I'm testing my game on different devices and one of them (Asus Garmin A10) crashes randomly (3/5 times) when the user change the volume (up/down) or push the menu button or similar. It could be a native crash because I'm not receiving the ACRA logcat (the cellphone is far from me, I've just ACRA for its remote debug). The user is telling me what happens. On my HTC I have just an annoying warning, but the game runs well, nothing happens. This is the warning:

10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): IME died: com.android.inputmethod.latin/.LatinIME dropping: KeyEvent{action=0 code=25 repeat=0 meta=0 scancode=114 mFlags=8} 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): android.os.DeadObjectException 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.os.BinderProxy.transact(Native Method) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at com.android.internal.view.IInputMethodSession$Stub$Proxy.dispatchKeyEvent(IInputMethodSession.java:277) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager.dispatchKeyEvent(InputMethodManager.java:1344) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.view.ViewRoot.deliverKeyEvent(ViewRoot.java:2426) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1741) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626) 10-31 19:52:29.547: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): IME died: com.android.inputmethod.latin/.LatinIME dropping: KeyEvent{action=1 code=25 repeat=0 meta=0 scancode=114 mFlags=8} 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): android.os.DeadObjectException 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.os.BinderProxy.transact(Native Method) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at com.android.internal.view.IInputMethodSession$Stub$Proxy.dispatchKeyEvent(IInputMethodSession.java:277) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager.dispatchKeyEvent(InputMethodManager.java:1344) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.view.ViewRoot.deliverKeyEvent(ViewRoot.java:2426) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1741) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626) 10-31 19:52:29.707: W/InputMethodManager(8441): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

This kind of warning happens everytime I use the volume button, as an example. I'm using AndEngine as 2D engine for the game. I suppose something wrong is out there, but I'm not able to cope with. How can I manage this issue? Any suggestion?

Answer 1

It seems that the exception is thrown when the UI hasn't had a chance to process all the key events before the IME is killed. Not sure why it would crash on one device but not another.