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Hi,
I'm experiencing very low signal and the phone drops network frequently.
I've tried alot of radios with no luck at all.
I'm currently on 1.47.30.10.
The main problem is that I have a wizard in my room right now, showing 4 bars and the hermes hardly reaches 2 bars and very frequently looses it's network (it searches right now)
Any suggestions?
Does anyone had such strange behavior? or it's only me?
any kinda help will be very pleased.
Thanks all.
Please help me.
anyone, help pls.
Antigen said:
Hi,
I'm experiencing very low signal and the phone drops network frequently.
I've tried alot of radios with no luck at all.
I'm currently on 1.47.30.10.
The main problem is that I have a wizard in my room right now, showing 4 bars and the hermes hardly reaches 2 bars and very frequently looses it's network (it searches right now)
Any suggestions?
Does anyone had such strange behavior? or it's only me?
any kinda help will be very pleased.
Thanks all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you connect your device to an external antenna or something similar? If yes than you probably detached pins from your device while removing whatever you atached to your device. In my country that costs 10 euros to fix.
The other option is that you fried your radio. So the best choice you have is to go to servise shop so they can examine your device.
Good luck
ibeqa said:
Did you connect your device to an external antenna or something similar? If yes than you probably detached pins from your device while removing whatever you atached to your device. In my country that costs 10 euros to fix.
The other option is that you fried your radio. So the best choice you have is to go to servise shop so they can examine your device.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for a reply.
I think that something is wrong with internal antenna cause today I have put a little wire in the external antenna socket and the reception increased about 40%.
I dunno if the previos owner attached external but it's a fact that when I input this little wire the signal and phone behavior is much better.
I'm gonna disassemble my 8525 tomorrow and try to fix this. I'm near to electronics so I think that would be not so difficult.
Is it a good idea?
Antigen said:
Thanks for a reply.
I think that something is wrong with internal antenna cause today I have put a little wire in the external antenna socket and the reception increased about 40%.
I dunno if the previos owner attached external but it's a fact that when I input this little wire the signal and phone behavior is much better.
I'm gonna disassemble my 8525 tomorrow and try to fix this. I'm near to electronics so I think that would be not so difficult.
Is it a good idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you'll need some tools and knowledge to do that. Keep in mind that those pins could have been detached by force (in my case) so you need proper tools to connect them.
Good luck again
Is it possible to power an HTC HD2 without a battery or the back cover? I found one about an hour ago in my downtown area, missing a SIM card and missing the microSD card. As noted it doesn't have a back cover or a battery, so my intention was to attach a "standard" 5V/1A cell phone battery charger. I figured out from a picture of the battery that if I've got the HD2 flat on the display and I'm looking at the back, the positive terminal will be the one on the left but, when I attach the power supply (which I tested before this attempt, it works) leads using micro-alligator clips and push the power button (front of display, button furthest on the right, I think, never used one of these HD2's before) I get no response.
Now, the question is either a) am I not getting any response at all because the HD2 can't be powered up in this manner because there's no back cover or b) it's more likely to be completely toast because of the damage it apparently suffered in the drop that shattered the glass. The only damage (aside from the glass) is a very tiny scrape/scuff mark on the top right corner of the bezel - obviously that's where it hit the ground.
I don't own any of these apparently micro-USB style connectors (or is it mini-USB, I can't figure out which is which I suppose). Bleh, I just looked at a pic I found with Google Images, apparently it IS a micro-USB connector.
All blabbering aside, even if I had such a connector or a power supply using such a connector, is the phone going to even power up without a back cover on it or battery inside? I know a lot of devices become totally disabled when the back cover is removed (as my Dell Axim X51v does; as soon as I even throw the lock switch to unlock the back cover that disables the device totally.
Anyone able to provide some tips or suggestions? I have no way of knowing who it belongs to so I'm claiming it, and if I can verify it might work or does still function I might be willing to put some money into getting the glass/digitizer replaced, a new battery, power adapter, etc.
Anything at all would probably be quite helpful.
Thanks...
The HD2 works without back cover!
The HD2 doesnt work without battery...!! I've never heard of a mod to enable switching it on through micro-usb.
Be carefull you could be scammed...buying a phone in that state, because of the hit some other components may be damaged!! It depends on the price and money you're willing to risk!
no problem with powering on without the backcover. did that many times before.
but i guess its not possible without a battery...
DN41
Ah, ok, so the fact that there's the two metal 'dots' on the HD2 that apparently become a connection when the metal battery cover is in place don't affect powering it up, but no battery keeps it dead? Hrmmm...
Ok, if someone that owns an HD2 can confirm that it becomes very useful info. Take the back cover off, take the battery out, and tell me if plugging in a micro-USB cable (either from a computer USB port or from the AC adapter) allows it to function at all, and then try the same thing with the cover on (don't put the battery in, however).
So there's 3 possibilities:
1) It'll work off the micro-USB power with no battery and no cover
2) It'll work off the micro-USB power with just the cover installed but no battery
3) It'll work off the micro-USB power with no cover but with a battery installed
and actually the fourth possibility which doesn't matter in my case:
4) It'll work off the micro-USB power with the cover and the battery installed
Dammit I hate it when I find stuff like this and can't get it functional.
Again, thanks for any suggestions - and I didn't buy this phone, I found it a few hours ago, on the ground as I was walking home. I wouldn't buy something in this cosmetic condition unless I knew it was working even in spite of the cracked glass. I've owned iPhones with horribly shattered glass on them but they still function, even all the multitouch functionality is still working - that's my hope here, that this device will still work just fine and if it does then I'll pay to replace the glass/digitizer.
Thanks
Edit:
I think I just realized that the metal contacts on the inside of the back cover and those 'dots' could be because the HD2 is using that battery cover as a Wi-Fi antenna, plate-style antenna.
I just tested it for you. Without the battery in there is no starting it, period.
Might I suggest though that you ask around and find a mate with a microUSB, (you must have someone that has one), and plug it in when the battery contacts are jumped. It will probably work that way. I'm not going to try it because I have a perfectly good phone and have always mistrusted elec-trickery...
those spring loaded studs have been the subject of much discussion, with no definitive answer,, stop the cover rattling, grounding plate for the antenna, remnants of an unreleased car kit,,, who knows. certainly signal doesn't appear diminished with the cover off, and on the inside of the cover there is no coating on the metal where they connect, indicating a signal being passed so who knows.
i suspect simply attaching power to two contacts isn't enough because the third contact is expecting a signal of some kind? perhaps a connection from the battery charge protection circuits?
you could always buy a cheap copy battery from ebay, and just resell it if it doesn't work, or run a scam on your insurance with it? (did i just say that out loud??)
I'll say this again: I found the phone on the ground on the side of the street while walking home a few hours ago.
I don't use T-Mobile service and I have no intentions of using it as a phone; I already have a phone so I was going to use it as a portable media player sorta like an iPod touch if I can verify it works 100% and just needs a battery/back cover/replacement glass and digitizer. That's my intention at this point.
And I was thinking that yes it won't work at all without a battery so, thanks again for the info. I'll head out this morning to a T-Mobile store (actual T-Mobile and not a reseller) and see what they can tell me. Surely they'll have a battery/back cover and potentially an AC adapter to verify if it's 100% dead of somewhat functional even in spite of the busted glass.
Let's hope it works...
what about searching the owner?
DN41
Well, let's see:
- I can't power it up
- It has no SIM card
- It has no microSD card
- The only way to track the owner would be using the IMEI and I'd have to go to a T-Mobile store to do that, when that's done and they get the number, if the phone was stolen and then dumped in the trash/on the street where I found it, they call the police and I get in a bit of trouble for no good reason
That pretty much covers it.
okay, you're right...
i cant imagine how it landed there...
who would throw it just away?
sure that its a real phone and not a dummy?
DN41
DN41 said:
okay, you're right...
i cant imagine how it landed there...
who would throw it just away?
sure that its a real phone and not a dummy?
DN41
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was in a thread yesterday where some guy talked about how he dropped his phone by accident whilst 'driving along with it in his hand, with his arm out of teh window', so yea, some people are , , well, insert your own noun here
oh no...how can you hold your arm out of the windows with a 500€ phone in your hand?
i just cant understand some people...that doestn go in my mind...
DN41
samsamuel said:
i was in a thread yesterday where some guy talked about how he dropped his phone by accident whilst 'driving along with it in his hand, with his arm out of teh window', so yea, some people are , , well, insert your own noun here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the same!
br0adband said:
they call the police and I get in a bit of trouble for no good reason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really mate. I found an iphone 4 yesterday and managed to get it back to its rightful owner. Took a couple of hours out of my day but what else could i do?
sike222 said:
Not really mate. I found an iphone 4 yesterday and managed to get it back to its rightful owner. Took a couple of hours out of my day but what else could i do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Yeah, with an iPhone 4 what else WOULD you do if you don't want the surgery to be able to use it! LOL
Also think if it was your phone! I'd be absolutely gutted, and very glad to get it back. But maybe it's unregistered (through the IMEI) or not been reported as missing.
In the UK (don't know about elsewhere) if you report that you found something to the police (I found a £50 note) and no one can show that they own it then it's yours after about 28 days.
Unless you have really dumb cops then you shouldn't get into trouble if you take it in!
On the other hand you may find the battery and/or cover if you look carefully in the area where you found the phone.
Sam.
br0adband said:
Ah, ok, so the fact that there's the two metal 'dots' on the HD2 that apparently become a connection when the metal battery cover is in place don't affect powering it up, but no battery keeps it dead? Hrmmm...
Ok, if someone that owns an HD2 can confirm that it becomes very useful info. Take the back cover off, take the battery out, and tell me if plugging in a micro-USB cable (either from a computer USB port or from the AC adapter) allows it to function at all, and then try the same thing with the cover on (don't put the battery in, however).
So there's 3 possibilities:
1) It'll work off the micro-USB power with no battery and no cover
2) It'll work off the micro-USB power with just the cover installed but no battery
3) It'll work off the micro-USB power with no cover but with a battery installed
[snip]
Thanks
Edit:
I think I just realized that the metal contacts on the inside of the back cover and those 'dots' could be because the HD2 is using that battery cover as a Wi-Fi antenna, plate-style antenna.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think those contacts are just to ground the back cover to stop it causing interference. It doesn't seem to affect the phone if I don't have it on or am using the plastic cover with my big battery.
On a similar theme, does anyone know if it is possible to power the HD2 from the micro USB supply while I swap batteries. I don't want to have to do a soft reset which loses what you are doing. But I'm worried that without the battery to absorb the power there is a risk of damaging the circuits?
I don't want to just try it because I already blew my main board by powering the USB through a cheep adapter and a Nokia charger that supplied too much power and had I to get it repaired/replaced. I'm hoping someone already knows
Sam
samsamuel said:
i was in a thread yesterday where some guy talked about how he dropped his phone by accident whilst 'driving along with it in his hand, with his arm out of teh window', so yea, some people are , , well, insert your own noun here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did we ever get an answer as to why that, im going to select the noun "twat" was dangling his hd2 out of the window @ 40mph??
I need closure on that one.....
Hi all,
I had to replace the power button flex board of my i9100, but I made a mistake when soldering, and something shorted and a SMD in the board exploded with a *BANG* and went flying like a bright shooting star. Then came the smell of fried electronics, oh boy, that was horrible! Strangely, I couldn't locate which SMD component exploded, the boards looks fine, even if carefully examined with a 10x magnifier.
I thought the board was completely destroyed. But I fixed the power flex cable soldering, assembled the phone, connected it to the USB charger, and guess what?? The recovery menu appeared, some message appeared and quickly disappeared, and the phone booted normally! Everythting worked: network, wifi, bluetooth, camera, etc. However, the power button didn't work anymore, even now it's properly soldered.
I removed the battery to turn off the phone, but now it doesn't turn on with the button. If I plug it to USB, now it shows the charging battery screen, animated and all, but I can't turn on the phone anymore!
So I ask: does anyone know which SMD components take part in turning the phone on by pressing the power button? I can't find this info in the service manual, but I'm sure it's just a matter of replacing a burnt SMD resistor, capacitor or inductor, since the phone works, I saw it working!
So, does anyone have any info for me, or at least a detailed diagram of the circuitry, so I can find my way into that?
Thank you all in advance!!!
Eduardo
Marcovecchio said:
Hi all,
I had to replace the power button flex board of my i9100, but I made a mistake when soldering, and something shorted and a SMD in the board exploded with a *BANG* and went flying like a bright shooting star. Then came the smell of fried electronics, oh boy, that was horrible! Strangely, I couldn't locate which SMD component exploded, the boards looks fine, even if carefully examined with a 10x magnifier.
I thought the board was completely destroyed. But I fixed the power flex cable soldering, assembled the phone, connected it to the USB charger, and guess what?? The recovery menu appeared, some message appeared and quickly disappeared, and the phone booted normally! Everythting worked: network, wifi, bluetooth, camera, etc. However, the power button didn't work anymore, even now it's properly soldered.
I removed the battery to turn off the phone, but now it doesn't turn on with the button. If I plug it to USB, now it shows the charging battery screen, animated and all, but I can't turn on the phone anymore!
So I ask: does anyone know which SMD components take part in turning the phone on by pressing the power button? I can't find this info in the service manual, but I'm sure it's just a matter of replacing a burnt SMD resistor, capacitor or inductor, since the phone works, I saw it working!
So, does anyone have any info for me, or at least a detailed diagram of the circuitry, so I can find my way into that?
Thank you all in advance!!!
Eduardo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hola Eduardo,
you probably used a too high temperature in the soldering iron.
Google for "56542824-Samsung-GT-i9100-service-manual.pdf" and you will find a good service manual that will guide you on a series of problem.
I doubt that there's a procedure for your specific problem, but you may be able to know what SMD you have to replace.
I wish you luck, and next time make sure that the temperature is low (and eventually use a solder paste!)
robdpi said:
Hola Eduardo,
you probably used a too high temperature in the soldering iron.
Google for "56542824-Samsung-GT-i9100-service-manual.pdf" and you will find a good service manual that will guide you on a series of problem.
I doubt that there's a procedure for your specific problem, but you may be able to know what SMD you have to replace.
I wish you luck, and next time make sure that the temperature is low (and eventually use a solder paste!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, robdpi!
The soldering iron temperature was ok, I used a 12W Weller micro soldering iron, temperature was not more than 550F / 300C, and I never leave the iron on the work for more than 3 continuous seconds. The problem was a short between two of the 3 pins in the connector. I noticed it only after the accident occurred, testing with my multimeter.
About the service manual, this is the one I have, and the testing procedures (voltages, frequencies) are all OK when plugged to the USB, but they all fail when I try to turn it on with the power button. And you're right, there's no procedure in the manual regarding this specific problem.
Anyway, I will keep trying, thanks again,
Eduardo
Well, after almost an year, I fixed the phone! I'll write about the solution here, to serve as a reference to anyone who needs help.
I managed to find the electrical schematics of the whole phone. With the information given in it, I noticed the connection between the positive battery pin and the flex power button connector was interrupted. Probably the short circuit I did overheated and blew some thin trace on the PCB and it kind of exploded. So I soldered a thin wire between the battery connector and the power button to replace the lost connection, and the phone is now working again! If anyone needs the schematics, just PM me and I will send it over.
But now, I'm back to another issue the phone already had, even before I did the short circuit: the screen shows horizontal lines, blurring the image. It started after I replaced a cracked screen. Does anyone have any idea if it's software or hardware related? May it be a driver issue? I'm from Brazil, and the screen came from Korea (bought at eBay). Should a korean screen work in my phone? Is it possible to confirm or not if it's hardware or software related?
Any help will be great, thanks in advance!
Eduardo
Post a screen.
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
Post a screen.
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I attached 8 pictures showing how the thing looks like. Please note the banding can't be seen on black background, and it's only horizontal. I used red arrows to show the banding. Vertical and curve artifacts are distortions caused by the camera.
If you pay attention to the file names (which have the time each picture was taken) it's possible to see how the thing gets worse with time. In the last pictures, screen goes completely unreadable, it degrades to an almost uniform bluish white.
I already tried flashing a custom kernel as suggested on another thread, but it didn't help. Already tried stock 4.0.4, that didn't work also.
Thanks a lot for any help.
Eduardo
Marcovecchio said:
I attached 8 pictures showing how the thing looks like. Please note the banding can't be seen on black background, and it's only horizontal. I used red arrows to show the banding. Vertical and curve artifacts are distortions caused by the camera.
If you pay attention to the file names (which have the time each picture was taken) it's possible to see how the thing gets worse with time. In the last pictures, screen goes completely unreadable, it degrades to an almost uniform bluish white.
I already tried flashing a custom kernel as suggested on another thread, but it didn't help. Already tried stock 4.0.4, that didn't work also.
Thanks a lot for any help.
Eduardo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have the same isue with my phone and i have another motherboard , but it didn't work....
ps: my screen is a genuine one
kozimcfly said:
i have the same isue with my phone and i have another motherboard , but it didn't work....
ps: my screen is a genuine one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean you tried the screen on two motherboards, and it shows the same problem on both? Could you please tell the country of origin of your motherboards and screen? I suspect it may be a hardware incompatibility issue.
In other words: motherboards sold in country X may not "talk" correctly to screens from country Y. My i9100 is from Brazil, but the screen came from a Korean seller at eBay.
By the way, does anyone know if the official firmwares come with low level hardware drivers? Is it possible to "transplant" the video driver from an asian firmware, to a south america firmware, for example?
I know about android phones which changed the wi-fi chip during their life cicle and this transplant used to be made, and worked. I would like to try the same for video.
Thanks!
Eduardo
Marcovecchio said:
You mean you tried the screen on two motherboards, and it shows the same problem on both? Could you please tell the country of origin of your motherboards and screen? I suspect it may be a hardware incompatibility issue.
In other words: motherboards sold in country X may not "talk" correctly to screens from country Y. My i9100 is from Brazil, but the screen came from a Korean seller at eBay.
By the way, does anyone know if the official firmwares come with low level hardware drivers? Is it possible to "transplant" the video driver from an asian firmware, to a south america firmware, for example?
I know about android phones which changed the wi-fi chip during their life cicle and this transplant used to be made, and worked. I would like to try the same for video.
Thanks!
Eduardo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
both of them from belgium
This is either a screen problem or a battery problem.
What happens when you swap batteries?
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
This is either a screen problem or a battery problem.
What happens when you swap batteries?
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have only one battery, so can't swap to test. But could you explain how could the battery cause this problem?
I just measured the battery voltage with a digital multimeter, and it's 4.15 V, fully charged. This is almost a half volt above the 3.7 V it should be. Do you think this may be the cause for all the problem?
Many tthanks!
Yeah, screen might not getting enough juice.
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
Yeah, screen might not getting enough juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did another test: measured the battery voltage with the phone turned on, to check the voltage drop caused by phone load, but it seemed normal. With phone on, battery measured 3.8V approximately, which is a little less than the 4.15V I got without load. The battery indicator shows 75% battery charge. It looks like the battery is behaving well under load.
Anyway, I will try another battery as soon as I can.
Thanks again,
Eduardo
Well, I did test with another battery and the problem persists. Should I give up and consider it's really a screen hardware problem?
Thanks,
Eduardo
My guess was on the battery, I guess I'll take the screen problem then.
You should have it checked it out with a tech guy.
Sent from the little guy
Well, I think I went as far as I could. I replaced all 20 tiny SMD components from the display flex PCB with the ones from the old display, which cracked.
But it didn't work, the problem remains. Now I think the problem lies in the AMOLED screen itself, or perhaps in the main phone board. Who knows if the main board is sending dirty electrical signals to the display?
Anyway, I think I will just sell the phone the way it is, I can't afford spending even more money on this phone.
Thanks for the help, gastonw!
You got it Eduardo.
Sent from the little guy
My girlfriend's Note started acting weird. When she plugs in the charger it randomly stops and starts, sometimes for periods of seconds, sometimes minutes. We checked every combination of cord and charger (AC and car), and they all do the same. We both cleaned out the charger port, but that didn't have any effect. As a matter of fact, just sitting there motionless on the table it will still randomly start and stop charging.
I also noticed that the battery level seems to be off. At one point it was down to maybe 20% (in the yellow). I rebooted and it was up to 30 (in the green). I don't have any real numbers, it was only something I noticed. It's not rooted so I couldn't clear out the battery stats. Instead I drained it down to 0%, charged it all the way to full while it was off. It seemed to help for a day, but the problem came back later.
Could it be battery? Or phone? She has at&t insurance on it, and we're going to run to the (official) store. I just don't know if they send it back or replace it. She can't really be without a phone, so I'm hoping it's the battery (unless they want to replace the phone on the spot).
All we know is you have an at&t phone. What have you done to it?
same problem with Samsung Galaxy Note
Hi there everyone, i'm having the exact the same problem and my galaxy note is acting just like that- weird !!
About two months ago I updated to ICS and after that no issues, only once did it not charge as it was supposed to until i turned it off, removed the battery and put it back in.
Only now has it been charging like explained above -- the charging process as well as battery indications would be very inconsistent -- that is to say, it would charge for some time and then stop unexpectedly, whether turned on or off during the process.
Also, recently my PC would not recognize the phone on Windows 7 anymore, whereas before that it had been recognized seamlessly.
I've been using my galaxy note for about 8 months now, as well as about 2 months on ICS, and only now has there been this persistent issue.
Also, I did not use it inappropriately, rather with extreme care. I also got a phone case and have been using orginal software and hardware only, so the phone has been properly handled.
However, I have been using it pretty much, so it might be "wear and tear" in terms of battery usage, even more so, because it's been regularly charging and discharging in the car or at home, at the same time. Still, what surprises me is that my PC would not recognize it anymore even when it's turned on. Then, at times it would also go to "car mode", although it is not connected to the car dock. These issues have come up just now, as well, so i can imagine it might be a software or even port-related issue.
Unfortunately, at this moment I cannot take it to the store i bought it from to have them check the phone, so that's why I'm trying to figure out the problem myself. After all, if it's software or battery-related i might be able to fix it without having it replaced.
The phone is not branded and free to use with any carrier.
@ Face of Boe:
Did you go to the store then and have it replaced or was it in fact the battery, or did they (you) fix the problem otherwise?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Chris
Try your preferred mobile repair shop first.
Face Of Boe said:
My girlfriend's Note started acting weird. When she plugs in the charger it randomly stops and starts, sometimes for periods of seconds, sometimes minutes. We checked every combination of cord and charger (AC and car), and they all do the same. We both cleaned out the charger port, but that didn't have any effect. As a matter of fact, just sitting there motionless on the table it will still randomly start and stop charging.
I also noticed that the battery level seems to be off. At one point it was down to maybe 20% (in the yellow). I rebooted and it was up to 30 (in the green). I don't have any real numbers, it was only something I noticed. It's not rooted so I couldn't clear out the battery stats. Instead I drained it down to 0%, charged it all the way to full while it was off. It seemed to help for a day, but the problem came back later.
Could it be battery? Or phone? She has at&t insurance on it, and we're going to run to the (official) store. I just don't know if they send it back or replace it. She can't really be without a phone, so I'm hoping it's the battery (unless they want to replace the phone on the spot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this exact same problem a couple weeks ago...it all started one day at work when I had my phone plugged in (as I usually did if it was in one place for more than 5 minutes), but after turning on my screen for the the first time in an hour or so, I noticed that it hadn't charged at all! The indicator at the top didn't even show that it was plugged in.
Figuring it was just some kind of little glitch, I unplugged it, blew inside the charge port as well as the cable (old Nintendo habits die hard lol). Well as I went to plug it back in, I realized that NOW the indicator showed it was "charging", and my phone had gotten super hot in just the 30ish seconds it took me to blow the port and cable (heh.)
So obviously I freaked out and immediately shut it down, pulled the back, and removed the battery to let the two pieces calm down and make nice - before ultimately putting it back together and booting up after 15 minutes or so.
So the good news was that the "reverse charge" issue was gone...but the bad news was, the charge activity started acting literally word-for-word like your girlfriend's. Intermittent charging when it was sitting still, not charging at all for a period of time, losing more battery than it was gaining while it was plugged in and the screen was OFF...so yeah, it sucked. I did notice that I could push the cord back while it was plugged in and it would stay charging, but obviously I can't sit in one spot holding my phone for 5 hours a day - and that stopped working after a few tries anyway.
I spent countless hours on the internet, googling different phrases to try and find similar instances of this happening - but to no avail. Everyone's story was just a little different...and pretty much everything I found outside of XDA* was written by people over in England who dropped their N7000 in the snow, causing the charge port to be corroded. The conclusion from everything else I found regarding this issue for the i717 was essentially always "the only way you can fix this is to get a new phone, but you're screwed because this glitch causes the phone to look like it has water damage and therefore renders it ineligible for manufacturer warranty claim or even insurance claims".
To make matters worse, not only was my phone effectively unchargeable, but it was discharging at an absolutely absurd rate. I'm talking approximately 20% every TEN MINUTES!
So I got desperate (it's Sunday by now)...all of the cell phone repair places were closed where I live, but I was able to do some searching and found this guy that was surprisingly available at the AT&T store closest to my house. That kept me alive until Monday, when I was able to take it in to the guy who I've been going to ever since the iPhone days (he is FANTASTIC). So he looks at it, takes it apart, and in about 5 minutes he tells me that the small little strip where my charge port attaches to the mother board (or whatever) had a lot of cracks running across it that were causing it to short-out. He said that it's a very common problem with the AT&T Galaxy Note, I guess due to them using a pretty cheap part in that regard. This obviously explained the intermittent charging, the brief "reverse charge", and even the battery drain (if the motherboard was shorting out).
So what did he do?
Replaced the little strip that connects the charge port to the motherboard...took him half an hour...cost me $25. Advised me that, when I plug my phone in from now on, to try as hard as possible to keep the phone still and not move it around. So at least in my case, it was NOT the battery. If you'd rather be cautious and not take the phone into a store if you can avoid it, you can probably get a replacement battery online for just a few bucks and at least eliminate that.
So the moral of the story is: DO NOT try to take the phone in to AT&T store or deal with your warranty/insurance until you take it in to a decent repair place and have them take a look at it.
Hopefully this helps...I'm sure you are wanting (like I was) a software solution, but it is what it is. And just curious, did your girlfriend have any similar "reverse-charge" instances like I described above?
tl;dr: The problem is the charging port, not the battery. Should be an easy and inexpensive (<$50) fix at a legitimate cell phone repair location.
*The silver lining in this whole thing was that it caused me to stumble upon this forum...so I went from stock ROM, stock everything (before my charge port issue) to having flashed about one ROM per day over the last 5 days because I've been so interested in the entire world of customization that I only discovered after seeing a thread with "Gubment Cheeze" in the title (who WOULDN'T at least look at that to see what's up??) here on XDA and starting to read. I've been a 24/7 lurker ever since
I read the last post by cpa poke and I must say it's quite risky to actually have a phone repaired by an unlicensed dealer/repair shop, because you'll cause any warranty left on the item to be effectively void.
I do know it is tempting for any of us to get our phone fixed as soon as possible, but then I think we should keep it cool and try to work out what else we can to do to make it work -- even though it might be temporarily -- until we can return it properly, as according to warranty indications.
Any of you trying to get a "repair fix" might want to consider that it may well be rather short-lived, because the same problem could persist for some reason -- that your repair shop did not recognize. If ultimately you have to get it repaired again, your ("fantastic") repair guy might then not be able to solve the problem and at that point any warranty claim would be quite certainly rejected, either (because of any previous unauthorized modifications to the device).
As far as I'm concerned, I have been testing my device with different chargers, currently it's charging consistently while turned off.
Also, I don't think I have had any of the "battery drainage" problem while charging, rather the battery indications were rather unreliable.
Then, I have read the problem could be solved by changing the battery. So I'll see if that makes a difference as soon as I get a replacement.
Another option will be to factory reset the item. I'll try that as soon as I get a backup of my phone data.
To all of you who are stuck with this issue I suggest you try some of the above: different chargers, removing and reinserting your battery, or else a battery replacement, factory reset.
Also try and leave the phone for some time and try to charge it then while turned off -- that's how I got my phone to charge again (until now), and according to the battery symbol it's almost fully charged -- the issue might still persist after that, but maybe it'll work until I can fix it otherwise, or get a replacement. After all, if it's been handled properly we should expect to get it replaced.
chris110284 said:
I read the last post by cpa poke and I must say it's quite risky to actually have a phone repaired by an unlicensed dealer/repair shop, because you'll cause any warranty left on the item to be effectively void.
I do know it is tempting for any of us to get our phone fixed as soon as possible, but then I think we should keep it cool and try to work out what else we can to do to make it work -- even though it might be temporarily -- until we can return it properly, as according to warranty indications.
Any of you trying to get a "repair fix" might want to consider that it may well be rather short-lived, because the same problem could persist for some reason -- that your repair shop did not recognize. If ultimately you have to get it repaired again, your ("fantastic") repair guy might then not be able to solve the problem and at that point any warranty claim would be quite certainly rejected, either (because of any previous unauthorized modifications to the device).
As far as I'm concerned, I have been testing my device with different chargers, currently it's charging consistently while turned off.
Also, I don't think I have had any of the "battery drainage" problem while charging, rather the battery indications were rather unreliable.
Then, I have read the problem could be solved by changing the battery. So I'll see if that makes a difference as soon as I get a replacement.
Another option will be to factory reset the item. I'll try that as soon as I get a backup of my phone data.
To all of you who are stuck with this issue I suggest you try some of the above: different chargers, removing and reinserting your battery, or else a battery replacement, factory reset.
Also try and leave the phone for some time and try to charge it then while turned off -- that's how I got my phone to charge again (until now), and according to the battery symbol it's almost fully charged -- the issue might still persist after that, but maybe it'll work until I can fix it otherwise, or get a replacement. After all, if it's been handled properly we should expect to get it replaced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree that taking it to a repair place should only be reserved for desperate/time sensitive situations, the only reason I chose that route over going through AT&T or an insurance company was that, from everything I'd read, the symptoms alone would likely cause them to assume water damage - thus rendering the same scenario as if the 3rd party repair voided the warranty.
Im having the same problem with myGalaxy S3 today, random intermittent charging..
I Just took off the back cover a few minutes ago and found a little glob of water sitting above the charging port!! Aaah!!
Don't know how it got there, but going to let her dry out and see if it resolves itself.
info:
rooted S3 i9300
2 months old
ROM: Complex-D 2.1.3
Getting random freezes on this ROMfor a few days also, so going to flash a new rom and see if the problem persists
Is it me, or is this a retardly common issue with i717s? I've had this same issue twice. I replaced the charger flex board when I bought the phone in the first place. And now it hasn't been a month and the flex board seems like it's out again.
My phone had this issue and all I did was oder the charging port from parts4repair.com and it cleared the issue up
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Are you using the Samsung charger for your phone? It seems you are over volted and burn your usb port.
rangercaptain said:
Are you using the Samsung charger for your phone? It seems you are over volted and burn your usb port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed .....and another thought comes to mind..
Non-OEM charger tips, especially car dock chargers and desk chargers have port tips using different material thicknesses.
I am speculating here, but it's likely that the off sizing would produce intermittent charging problems or damage to the device.
Of course, the overcharging effect would certainly account for rapid flex cable burnouts.
Without the cables and a micrometer, impossible to know for sure.
OEM is certainly preferable....g
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA Premium HD app
srkrono said:
My phone had this issue and all I did was oder the charging port from parts4repair.com and it cleared the issue up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same about a month ago, when I got the phone. Now it's out again.
rangercaptain said:
Are you using the Samsung charger for your phone? It seems you are over volted and burn your usb port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know this was anything more than a myth. Though, I'm not sure this is my problem. I can charge the phone - for now - by putting the phone on my bedside table and putting a small weight along the length of the cable so it holds the jack at an angle against the port.
I know I'm gonna get flamed for that last statement.
Hi all,
Please let me know if any of you have had a similar experience or know of a way to fix these issues permanently short of getting a new phone? I can't afford to get a new one, especially since I need this soon for a trip and I don't have the time. All the other services work fine, it's just really annoying because I use the GPS often and it's inconvenient when I don't know when I can actually use my phone at all
I've owned and used an HTC Rezound without trouble for the past two years and now, suddenly, I'm having a couple major issues. First, the USB port on the phone has a loose connection (it's an extmicro usb for whatever reason). I know because it would not charge the phone unless I jiggle the male end around until the amber light showed up and even then, it would occasionally drain in stead of charge the battery. It has nothing to do with how clean the port is either because I cleaned it already and it did improve slightly. After I've been dealing with this for a couple days (I've gotten it to charge up the phone to be useful most of the time), the GPS started to have trouble connecting. At first it was ok after I turned the switch off then on, but then the day after it never found any signal. I mean leaving it on for hours never getting a signal from anything in places where it used to lock on very quickly. I've tried restarting, turning off any other GPS services (google's and verizon's), clearing google map cache, uninstalling google maps, clearing the (apparently nonexistant) A-GPS cache, downloading GPS status, and tightening the screws on the inside cover (I know that fix is not for this phone, but it was worth a shot), and combinations thereof.
thanks in advance for any help you guys could provide,
-TZ
My boss had the issue with charging port. It was a loose connection on the board, if you are comfortable, use a tiny bit of solder to strengthen the connection again. That fixed it for him. Another fix is utilize the expanded wireless charging option (have to buy the special connector to have it work).
Another fix is buy the laza batteries and external battery charger, I Did that to make less stress on the charging port. I got two OEM size 1590mah batteries and charger for $20 off Amazon. Once one goes down below ~30% I switch to the other battery. The external charger takes about 3-4hrs to fully charge a near dead 1590 battery.
Sent from my dlx using xda app-developers app
Thank you, Uzephi, I'll try fixing the connection. Also, I swapped batteries with another working rezound and my phone turned on with the charged one, but the other phone wouldn't take a charge. So that might mean the battery is dead. I'm ordering a new battery just to make sure it's not that too, but I feel like the port is majorly at fault. It doesn't make sense that the battery's health would depend on the position of the charging port.
I'm still puzzled about the GPS, though.
Ok... so I opened up the phone and tried finding a loose connection with a voltmeter/ohmmeter, but it appears the the problem is inside the housing of the usb port. I can't get in there easily without breaking stuff, at least to my knowledge. Does anybody have some suggestions? Uzephi, where exactly did your boss do the soldering? Even if I were to solder the outside connections, they are so close together it is easy to make a short.
Thanks again.
We have a mobile phone repair shop down the street, they soldered the connection for us
Sent from my dlx using xda app-developers app
I had the same problem with the charging port. Started just like you said and eventually it went out completely. No longer charges at all. Now having to use external charger and swap batteries all the time. Really sucks (for me and the rom). Tried to find someway or someone to replace it but no one would touch it. Apparently Htc didn't figure in the fact that they're charging port wouldn't hold up and made it near impossible to repair. Sorry, i know this doesn't help but just wanted to share my similar experience with the battery. Sort of a, abandon all hope, situation.
On the Rezound, the USB charging port is replaceable. The terminals slide into a connector, and then the tabs on the USB assembly are soldered to the board. Not really hard to replace if you are know how. I believe you can find a youtube video on the replacement. Best way to remove the broken port is using a small tip on a heat gun applying no more heat then necessary so that the solder tabs on the board are not loosened. Part:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-OEM-HTC...e_Replacement_Parts_Tools&hash=item35ca3c2f15
Your problem with the GPS is probably the same as mine. Google pushed out a new maps program that got rid of the Navigation shortcut. The new Navigation works altogether different now. You have to get into Maps to get to Navigation. Honestly, I could not even get it to work, so I and many other people have gone into settings and removed the updates from the Maps program. It now works the old way, but all of the updates that made Maps and Navigation stable are now gone. Now it is a pain in the butt because it takes forever for the GPS to find a signal, and sometime it does not.
I have been going to look on the forum to see if anyone has a way to go back to the Maps/with Navigation before Google screwed it all up.
I have the charging port issue. My workaround was to buy the wireless charging back from Verizon ($40 - 25% corporate discount for me = $30) and a Qi wireless charging plate (which goes for pretty cheap these days). That setup has worked quite well for me.
For the GPS issues, make sure you're on the latest firmware. I used to have the GPS drop out all the time on older firmware versions, but with the latest global OTA I have no complaints.
All of these suggestions are great, thank you.
I did end up getting an external battery charger, but I tried re-soldering the connections to the motherboard first, as I noticed under a microscope that the connections were almost free-floating. The soldering worked like a charm, but the real issue was that the housing had become loose enough to put strain on the connections. So, after a while of the port working again, it started the breakdown cycle again. By then, I had tried finding port replacements, but I could only find bulk orders of the things, costing much more than a $10 external charger + extra battery.
As for the GPS, I tried downloading a GPS assist and if I use that before I turn on the GPS, I get much better results. It's still flaky, but usable. I have a feeling it is as you said, t5800512, google messing around too much, because the device itself (even now) can easily get a cold-start lock in under 3 seconds.