Settings activity doesn't open on tablet

Question

I have set up correctly the pref_general, values for it, and the code to run the intent:

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    int id = item.getItemId();

    //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
    if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
        Intent intecao = new Intent(characterList.this, SettingsActivity.class);
        startActivity(intecao);
        return true;
    }

    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

So if I hit settings in the options pop-up it will open correctly in my phone/7" tablet, but for bigger tablets such as 9" or more it will give me a blank screen pop-up without nothing written on it, such as this:

How can I fix this issue? What is the problem that makes this happen?

--- EDIT ---

Here is my pref_general:

<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <PreferenceCategory
        android:title="Made by Megafuji and Kintups"/>

    <ListPreference
        android:key="console1"
        android:title="Console"
        android:summary="Select your console"
        android:defaultValue="1"
        android:entries="@array/pref_example_list_titles"
        android:entryValues="@array/pref_example_list_values"
        android:negativeButtonText="@null"
        android:positiveButtonText="@null" />

    <ListPreference
        android:key="viewMode"
        android:title="View Mode"
        android:summary="Select your View Mode"
        android:defaultValue="1"
        android:entries="@array/pref_viewMode_list_titles"
        android:entryValues="@array/pref_viewMode_list_values"
        android:negativeButtonText="@null"
        android:positiveButtonText="@null" />

    <ListPreference
        android:key="charsize"
        android:title="Icons Size"
        android:summary="Select character screen size for text and icons."
        android:defaultValue="1"
        android:entries="@array/pref_character_size"
        android:entryValues="@array/pref_character_size_value"
        android:negativeButtonText="@null"
        android:positiveButtonText="@null" />

    <ListPreference
        android:key="tamanhoLetra"
        android:title="Font Size"
        android:summary="Select font size you want for move list."
        android:defaultValue="1"
        android:entries="@array/pref_font_size"
        android:entryValues="@array/pref_font_size_value"
        android:negativeButtonText="@null"
        android:positiveButtonText="@null" />

    <CheckBoxPreference
        android:key="screenDimming"
        android:title="Disable screen dimming in this app"
        android:summary="Disable screen locking/turning off."
        android:defaultValue="false"
        />

    <CheckBoxPreference
        android:key="frame"
        android:title="Show Frame Date"
        android:summary="Show Frame Data for All Moves "
        android:defaultValue="false"
        />

    <CheckBoxPreference
        android:key="damage"
        android:title="Show Damage"
        android:summary="Show Damage for All Moves "
        android:defaultValue="false" />

    <PreferenceCategory
        android:title="Contact us: [email protected]"/>
</PreferenceScreen>

Answer 1

Found the answer!

All I needed to do following Android Developer Settings was that if I was developing for Android 3.0 (API level 11) and higher I needed to use Preference Fragments which is another class extending PreferenceFragment.

So the code would be using these parameters:

public static class SettingsFragment extends PreferenceFragment {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Load the preferences from an XML resource
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);
    }
    ...
}

and the old SettingsActivity must now extend Activity instead of PreferenceActivity, as follows:

public class SettingsActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Display the fragment as the main content.
        getFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                .replace(android.R.id.content, new SettingsFragment())
                .commit();
    }
}

Answer 2

            public class SettingActivity extends PreferenceActivity
            {
                @Override
                protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) 
                {
                    setTheme(android.R.style.Theme_Holo_Light_DarkActionBar);
                    requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_ACTION_BAR);
                    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

                    FragmentManager mFragmentManager = getFragmentManager();
                    FragmentTransaction mFragmentTransaction = mFragmentManager
                            .beginTransaction();
                    PrefsFragment mPrefsFragment = new PrefsFragment();
                    mFragmentTransaction.replace(android.R.id.content, mPrefsFragment);
                    mFragmentTransaction.commit();
                }

               public static class PrefsFragment extends PreferenceFragment {

                @Override
                public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
                    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

                    // Load the preferences from an XML resource
                    addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);
                    String userName;
                    String tmpemail;

                    findPreference("profile_setting_username").setTitle(userName);
                    findPreference("profile_setting_username").setSummary(strHtml);
                 }
             }
          }

This is how I have implemeted my Settings Activity and it works on all type of devices.