Hey guys, it's been awhile since I asked a question, but here I am, lol.
In a nutshell, I'm pretty sure something in my device (hardware) is fried, but I thought I'd see if anyone knows better.
The problem is my device seems to be sending power out of the usb port, and doesn't connect to the pc or recognize it is charging correctly.
This also applies to download mode (windows says device has malfunctioned) and when powered off (there is no battery that shows up when plugged in). In order to power back on after turning it off, I have to remove the battery, then reinsert it while holding down the power. I can't think of much that could have caused this, other than I was visiting places with high humidity levels. One unusual thing that happened before this started was my device rebooted into safe mode when playing bad piggies. That was really weird since I have tried booting into safe mode before, but thought samsung must have disabled it for some reason. I have already tried wiping data and flashing a new kernel/rom. Obviously I can't re-partition since I can't connect to my computer in download mode. What do you guys think? I think it is time for a new device.
EDIT: I should mention that it started behaving normally yesterday for about 5 minutes, but then it went back to this.
iJimaniac said:
...
In a nutshell, I'm pretty sure something in my device (hardware) is fried, but I thought I'd see if anyone knows better.
The problem is my device seems to be sending power out of the usb port...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 99.9% sure that under normal conditions that an Android device should never power the USB port. Source of speculation. If it is indeed powering the USB, then you've either got a really wonky firmware installed, or some sort of hardware issue. I'd try to make sure that it's sending power out before going further (especially if you can't charge it, the battery will be dead soon). After this test, I'd keep the battery out for a while, just to be sure it's not going to short anything.
One thing I've noticed in my tinkering is that taking a device apart, then putting it back together again can mysteriously fix problems (although 75% of the time the fix is temporary). If you suspect water damage, opening it up and letting it air out might help. I want to say there are certain cleaners that are great for cleaning up any water spots that might be shorting things out, but I've never had to try myself.
That's all I can think of right off. Good luck.
Dr. Cyanide said:
I'm 99.9% sure that under normal conditions that an Android device should never power the USB port. Source of speculation. If it is indeed powering the USB, then you've either got a really wonky firmware installed, or some sort of hardware issue. I'd try to make sure that it's sending power out before going further (especially if you can't charge it, the battery will be dead soon). After this test, I'd keep the battery out for a while, just to be sure it's not going to short anything.
One thing I've noticed in my tinkering is that taking a device apart, then putting it back together again can mysteriously fix problems (although 75% of the time the fix is temporary). If you suspect water damage, opening it up and letting it air out might help. I want to say there are certain cleaners that are great for cleaning up any water spots that might be shorting things out, but I've never had to try myself.
That's all I can think of right off. Good luck.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm working on taking it apart right now. With my limited experience on electronics, I would be willing to bet it's a capacitor that's gone bad somewhere. That wouldn't be a problem on a desktop since I could just solder a new one in, but I don't think I have the skill to do something in such a small scale, not to mention I don't think you can even buy them that small.
The same thing happened to me, and I had to send it in for repair. Luckily, I was still in warranty. Also, are you sure it's not the charger cord?
TheKryptonite said:
The same thing happened to me, and I had to send it in for repair. Luckily, I was still in warranty. Also, are you sure it's not the charger cord?
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Click to collapse
I've tried multiple cables, and I'm unfortunately out of warranty.
Upon disassembling and cleaning with rubbing alcohol, it seemed to be working properly, with the exception of computer connection. However, I plugged it into a DC car charger (leaving the charger itself unplugged from an outlet), and the light came on again (which is what I was talking about when I said it was sending power out), and now it is acting weird again. I guess I'll take it apart and clean it again...
iJimaniac said:
I've tried multiple cables, and I'm unfortunately out of warranty.
Upon disassembling and cleaning with rubbing alcohol, it seemed to be working properly, with the exception of computer connection. However, I plugged it into a DC car charger (leaving the charger itself unplugged from an outlet), and the light came on again (which is what I was talking about when I said it was sending power out), and now it is acting weird again. I guess I'll take it apart and clean it again...
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Click to collapse
honestly, i cannot begin to fathom what could be causing this. it seems to me samsing paid more attention to the charging port then say amazon did on the first gen kindle.
i do however, wish you the best of luck and hope you somehow manage to fix it
iJimaniac said:
I've tried multiple cables, and I'm unfortunately out of warranty.
Upon disassembling and cleaning with rubbing alcohol, it seemed to be working properly, with the exception of computer connection. However, I plugged it into a DC car charger (leaving the charger itself unplugged from an outlet), and the light came on again (which is what I was talking about when I said it was sending power out), and now it is acting weird again. I guess I'll take it apart and clean it again...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See! Told you taking it apart and putting it back together again works... temporarily. :silly:
You're right, that does sound like power going out. Which would be super cool for powering, say, a micro USB laser pointer, but it's not so great when it should be charging. Can you double check with another device that the charger doesn't light up normally? I know my wife's laptop charger has a LED that stays on for a long time after it's been unplugged from the wall, sipping off of power left in the charger. It could be something similar with your charger.
Just a though... if power is only suppose to go into the device, then wouldn't it be reasonable to assume to that there would be a diode forcing power to only go one way? Or does it need to cycle power back to the charger? IDK, but it might be worth looking to see if something looks missing.
I read somewhere that if the battery voltage gets too low i.e. battery is totally flat, a current will flow from the device to the charger so this may be what's going on here. I didn't really understand the post as I was just whizzing through the thread, but i think the solution was to charge the device for many hours until the battery voltage was high enough for normal charging to occur. I'll try and locate the post, but it might take a while
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
@iJimaniac if all of these suggestions dont work, there is the possibility to just buy another battery and a battery charger and keep switching out the batteries when they die
Maybe @henk5066 would know something about this?
From what it sounds like, your power circuit is fried and is not directing power correctly this means that you're probably going to have to replace the mainboard. however don't worry. you can get one from a player with a broken screen on ebay for about 10 $. I can p.m. you some links to products on eBay with main board working and not screen and I can post a video on YouTube that shows you how to replace the board. it's actually rather quite easy. I don't get why most people don't do that and instead buy a new one. let me know if that helps
Sent from my YP-G1 using xda app-developers app
henk5066 said:
From what it sounds like, your power circuit is fried and is not directing power correctly this means that you're probably going to have to replace the mainboard. however don't worry. you can get one from a player with a broken screen on ebay for about 10 $. I can p.m. you some links to products on eBay with main board working and not screen and I can post a video on YouTube that shows you how to replace the board. it's actually rather quite easy. I don't get why most people don't do that and instead buy a new one. let me know if that helps
Sent from my YP-G1 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Wow, I didn't realize a broken player is so cheap. I'll look into it, and instructions won't be needed; I've already fully dissasembled my device many times in the past, just for kicks.
Edit: could you send me those links? I'm having a hard time finding very many under $25, which is still a good price I suppose.
the broken player it's self is cheap (0.99$ if your lowest bidder and win) it is shipping that makes up for most of the cost. Just make sure you get one that says powers on, that is the main indicator that the main board is still good.
EDIT: I just looked on ebay, aparantly the person i bought my new board is out of the 4.0 player. and it looks like there is however one with a 9.99$ bid. you could raise it and get the player but that is the cheapest you will get. i will pm you a link to it.
I had the same problem
I had the same problem, what i did was, instead of charging it with the original charger, i charged it with my nexus 10 charger in download mode all through the night, and the next day it would have about 80 percent charge and it was in the system, but it drained quick when i would unplugged it, so i repeat the same procedure over several days until get to 100% and scince then i have had no problems with my SGP, hopefully i helped you
Hell.Knight said:
I had the same problem, what i did was, instead of charging it with the original charger, i charged it with my nexus 10 charger in download mode all through the night, and the next day it would have about 80 percent charge and it was in the system, but it drained quick when i would unplugged it, so i repeat the same procedure over several days until get to 100% and scince then i have had no problems with my SGP, hopefully i helped you
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Click to collapse
Interesting, i thought the devices could not charge in download mode.
On the subject of odd charging behavieor, has anyone noticed that when plugged in running cyanogenmod overclocked to 1200mhz, the micro usb port area on the player gets rather hot?
henk5066 said:
Interesting, i thought the devices could not charge in download mode.
On the subject of odd charging behavieor, has anyone noticed that when plugged in running cyanogenmod overclocked to 1200mhz, the micro usb port area on the player gets rather hot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't noticed excessive heat in that area.
Sent from my YP-G1 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Related
Hey guys, was using my SII a few hours ago, and I put it down at ~48% battery life. I had it charging off the USB of my PC. I don't have Samsung Kies installed, or anything. I was purely just charging it, on stock rom/bootloaders/no-root.
I went to pick up my phone a few minutes after, and all the sudden the phone won't turn on anymore.
I've tried pulling the battery, I've tried letting it run through any power still in the circuits, by having the battery out for 30+ minutes. I tried the "pull out battery, hold power for 10 seconds, then pop battery back in," to no avail. I've tried download mode, I've tried using my old Captivate jig.. It doesn't seem to be responding if I plug it in(no heat.)
Any ideas? Going to bring it back to the AT&T store tomorrow to try and get a new one.. I really hope they don't give me any ****. -_-;
Update:
I went to the AT&T store today since they just got a new batch in. Unfortunately, my faulty phone actually wasn't a problem with the phone.. It was a problem with the battery.
Somehow, the battery shorted out the entire phone, and killed it. The reason why I suspect this, is that I asked for the old battery in the new phone they were giving me. Sure enough. That phone is now a brick, also..
Thankfully, they were nice enough to give me a different one and not shove the newly dead one down my throat..
So.. Not quite sure how that happens, but sure enough.. That battery is a Galaxy killer.
Milkshakes00 said:
Hey guys, was using my SII a few hours ago, and I put it down at ~48% battery life. I had it charging off the USB of my PC. I don't have Samsung Kies installed, or anything. I was purely just charging it, on stock rom/bootloaders/no-root.
I went to pick up my phone a few minutes after, and all the sudden the phone won't turn on anymore.
I've tried pulling the battery, I've tried letting it run through any power still in the circuits, by having the battery out for 30+ minutes. I tried the "pull out battery, hold power for 10 seconds, then pop battery back in," to no avail. I've tried download mode, I've tried using my old Captivate jig.. It doesn't seem to be responding if I plug it in(no heat.)
Any ideas? Going to bring it back to the AT&T store tomorrow to try and get a new one.. I really hope they don't give me any ****. -_-;
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got a dud piece of hardware. Shouldn't have any problem exchanging it.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
The only thing you didn't mention is using the stock charger to charge the battery for an hour or so. Did you try that? It could be a dead battery. And once the battery is critically low, your PC can't supply enough juice to charge the battery.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
Yes, the USB charging mode on the computer sucks. Its easy to draw a deficit of power running off the computer. I had 8 percent and plugged in via USB and within a minute. Or two it was almost dead, fell to 1% in literally 5 mins. It was almost like it was pulling power FROM. The phone
The stock wall charger is 700ma IIRC. Most PCs can output only 500ma max (USB 1.0/2.0 standard). The 700ma is needed when battery level is really low. So, don't leave home without the wall charger.
I tried plugging the phone into the wall charger, to no avail.
Won't even show the charging screen, or get warm.
Bah! Hopefully the AT&T store will have new ones in stock tomorrow.
Bump.
I went to the AT&T store today since they just got a new batch in. Unfortunately, my faulty phone actually wasn't a problem with the phone.. It was a problem with the battery.
Somehow, the battery shorted out the entire phone, and killed it. The reason why I suspect this, is that I asked for the old battery in the new phone they were giving me. Sure enough. That phone is now a brick, also..
Thankfully, they were nice enough to give me a different one and not shove the newly dead one down my throat..
So.. Not quite sure how that happens, but sure enough.. That battery is a Galaxy killer.
Milkshakes00 said:
Bump.
I went to the AT&T store today since they just got a new batch in. Unfortunately, my faulty phone actually wasn't a problem with the phone.. It was a problem with the battery.
Somehow, the battery shorted out the entire phone, and killed it. The reason why I suspect this, is that I asked for the old battery in the new phone they were giving me. Sure enough. That phone is now a brick, also..
Thankfully, they were nice enough to give me a different one and not shove the newly dead one down my throat..
So.. Not quite sure how that happens, but sure enough.. That battery is a Galaxy killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's surprising - did they confirm that the phones remained dead even with a "good" battery in?
The charger chip in our phones (MAX8922) has plenty of short-circuit protection mechanisms. (Battery prequalification mode limits current to 90 mA at extremely low batt voltage, and it also has temperature limiting.) So a shorted battery shouldn't have been able to damage the phone.
Highly technical reading material - http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX8922L.pdf
Entropy512 said:
That's surprising - did they confirm that the phones remained dead even with a "good" battery in?
The charger chip in our phones (MAX8922) has plenty of short-circuit protection mechanisms. (Battery prequalification mode limits current to 90 mA at extremely low batt voltage, and it also has temperature limiting.) So a shorted battery shouldn't have been able to damage the phone.
Highly technical reading material - http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX8922L.pdf
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Click to collapse
Indeed, we tried swapping the "new" battery into it. Both of the phones were gone. I never even thought it was probable. Maybe it was just a bad batch? Who knows.
Either way! New phone smell, is great. =P
So I had bought this phone off ebay and when I got it today I tried to turn it on, but nothing happened.
I then plugged the phone in and tried powering it on and still nothing. I tried charging the battery and left it alone for an hour and afterwards the result is the same. Basically when I plug in the phone to the charger, the phone's screen will flash a battery icon as if its going to charge for a split second and then go blank. And then it will flash the battery icon again and then go blank again and it will go on like this for a couple of minutes until the screen finally stays blank.
So as I said even though I leave the phone to charge for a while, it still won't turn on and the only result seems to be that the phone gets warm near the camera. Also I tried to see if download mode works and pressed both volume buttons and I get a brief flash of some words. After doing it for several times I saw it said 'Low battery, cannot download' all in red.
I searched the forum and tried leaving the battery out for a while and also putting it in the fridge to see if anything would happen but nothing. So can anyone help? Is it just the battery?
Could be the battery - if you are on good terms with a local ATT store, try going there and asking if you can borrow a battery from their demo device to see if yours will power up. That's the best cheap way I can think of to rule that out.
Other possibility is a bad USB port. My first device developed a failure at about 2 months - I'm actually on day 5 with my warranty replacement. There is another member here, Moustro I think, who also may have a bad USB port. He and I were wondering if perhaps there was a bad batch out there. I'm not sure what ATT's warranty policy is for items re-sold on eBay, but might be worth checking out...
yeah that does sound like it could be the battery boot loop, take some photos of the battery to see if it is the oem... if it is the oem try a stand alone chager
dandrumheller said:
Could be the battery - if you are on good terms with a local ATT store, try going there and asking if you can borrow a battery from their demo device to see if yours will power up. That's the best cheap way I can think of to rule that out.
Other possibility is a bad USB port. My first device developed a failure at about 2 months - I'm actually on day 5 with my warranty replacement. There is another member here, Moustro I think, who also may have a bad USB port. He and I were wondering if perhaps there was a bad batch out there. I'm not sure what ATT's warranty policy is for items re-sold on eBay, but might be worth checking out...
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Click to collapse
I live in Canada don't think I'd get much help from AT&T probably.
Also the battery is the original one and not a replacement. I left it unplugged for a few hours and just now plugged it back in and its the same battery icon flashing for a couple of minutes and then blank screen. No charging whatsoever. I tried different outlets and different USB ports on my notebook and its all the same.
I also have an Infuse and charging for that every by every method is just fine so its my SII that's messed up.
If it's any condolence to you, I just bought a brand new GS2 from the ATT store today. The battery was semi-charged when I got it, and when it ran out, I plugged it in and got the same thing you did. Battery is flashing, cannot power it on, even plugged in. I also got the red "Low battery, cannot download".
I spent the better part of 4 hours reloading my apps and email addys, and everything else to get my phone up and running, and now this.
I am going back to the ATT store tomorrow and requesting a different brand new one.
This is my 2nd GS2, because I destroyed my first one in an accident.
Just as dandrumheller was saying. I had simimiar issues where the phone battery would blink on and off even if the charger was plugged in or not while the phone was powered off. The only way I could get my phone to boot to prepare it for warranty exchange was to flash a rom through Odin. But if you can't get it into download mode this wouldn't work.
My suggestion would be to use a different battery. That would let you know if its a hardware issue or bad battery.
hmm...
I was able to to get it to power on last night with what little battery was left. I then plugged it into the USB of my Mac, rather than the charging wart. When I awoke this AM, I have a fully charged battery, and a working phone. I will let the battery run out again completely today and see what happens.
That's great news! I hope it continues to work for you
I would not let it completely run out. Our batteries don't like that. Don't go below 25 percent. I'm glad you got it working. I know you're relieved.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
I'm not sure relieved is the right word.
Apprehensive might be better.
We all know AT&T isn't in the best graces with most.
They must be the ***** of Comcast.
Anybody got anymore suggestions?? Can't get it to work no matter what I try.
Call samsung and see if they will honor the warranty? Don't know their rules, but in another thread someone suggested that sale of the phone does not void the warranty.
Max Sterling said:
Anybody got anymore suggestions?? Can't get it to work no matter what I try.
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Click to collapse
Max,
Were you able to find a fix for your problem? i bought a SGII from ebay and is presenting the same issue
For what its worth I am able to enter download with NO battery. In fact I ONLY do it without a battery. I just hold both volume buttons and plug in the USB to my computer while not pressing anything else. Without battery.
Thought the OP said he couldn't enter download.... so if that doesn't throw it in download it's more than just battery.
Sent from my SGH-I777 running MIUI with Siyah
33t said:
For what its worth I am able to enter download with NO battery. In fact I ONLY do it without a battery. I just hold both volume buttons and plug in the USB to my computer while not pressing anything else. Without battery.
Thought the OP said he couldn't enter download.... so if that doesn't throw it in download it's more than just battery.
Sent from my SGH-I777 running MIUI with Siyah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guys,
I tried this and it worked...
At a last resort, i put the battery on nexus to see if it will charge and DAMN !! it did,, so the battery was not the issue...so i grab a swab with little alcohol then clean the terminals on the battery and the spring connectors on the phone... and voila !!! started charging and keeps working perfectly.
It worked for me, hopefully it will work for you guys.
Glad you were able to isolate the problem.
Sent from my SGH-I777 running MIUI with Siyah
Same problem
Flashing on for a sec then flashing off, buttons flashed too. Phone got hot around the battery. Couldn't have described the problem better
Took some alcohol, cleaned the contacts for the USB connector, cleaned the battery contacts, and booyah, got the charging symbol again! Problem was, I didn't use the phone for a month, it rode around in the front pocket of my laptop bag, and apparently got the contacts dirty. A little toothpick and q-tip fun later, and my phone started charging again. Thanks -
TOA Duck said:
I would not let it completely run out. Our batteries don't like that. Don't go below 25 percent. I'm glad you got it working. I know you're relieved.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Really? I've had mostly HTC phones and we could run them down pretty low.. I've been running mine down past 10 and it's been fine.. stock battery.
I had the same problem as op. My last resort was to cut the micro usb end of a spare cable and connected it to the (+) and (-) on the phone itself. since the phone booted up, i knew it was the battery. Next, i did the same thing but (+) and (-) on the battery itself while connected to a computer. i held it in place for about 10 seconds. put the battery back in the phone and it started charging again. im sure it wasnt the safeat thing to do, but it worked. Maybe the dead battery needed some kind of jump.
btw. The wires you would be using are the the black and red. and i got this idea from
modmy mobile.com/forums/8-guides-downloads-forum-suggestions/64614-how-flash-phone-battery-low-cannot-program.html
(remove spaces between modmy and mobile)
xamadeix said:
Really? I've had mostly HTC phones and we could run them down pretty low.. I've been running mine down past 10 and it's been fine.. stock battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe these are different types of batteries. Not Lithium, but something else. I bought some spare batteries from eBay and the batteries had the same instructions... That it is not good to let them die completely, and charge then preferably when they still have 1/3 charge left.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
I can't seem to find anyone which has exactly the same problem as this although a few similar posts.
I think my USB connection may have got a bit moist in the snow lately. I got a message saying unable to charge by USB when it wasn't even plugged in. Plugged it in PC overnight to charge and when I unplugged it the charging symbol stayed on.
I can't boot the phone up as it constantly loops on charging/not charging and can't boot into recovery. I can boot into download mode but nothing shows as connected in Windows despite reinstalling drivers several times and trying another PC.
It did start up once yesterday but having powered it up again since after leaving it to dry out it seems it was a one off. I've ordered a replacement charging port module which I'll try once it arrives but wondered if anyone has any advice in the meantime?
Some threads have mentioned not being able to turn the phone off but I can't even turn mine on! Although I guess I can't turn it off either since it is constantly restarting the battery icon when the battery is in. I've tried plugging it into the wall and PC, it does charge to 100% but still can't turn it on.
does sound like it is water damaged, it also sounds more likely that its not going to be just the charging port
try using JIG and removing the battery... it may help
large12006 said:
does sound like it is water damaged, it also sounds more likely that its not going to be just the charging port
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well once I managed to boot into it yesterday it worked perfectly, so pretty sure everything else is working fine it just has a problem constantly charging and disconnecting which is stopping it booting properly.
rfmalta said:
try using JIG and removing the battery... it may help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Will try tomorrow with the JIG and new board when they turn up. The thought of having a £300 paper weight sickens me!
Fixed it temporarily at least.
Unscrewed the 7 screws behind the battery cover. Disconnected the usb/charging board from the mainboard. Turned it on and it started up then plugged the usb/charging board back in and restarted. All works great now except it still thinks its charging and not charging repeatedly so won't go into a deep sleep but that'll be fixed once the new board arrives.
I am having this exact same issue. My damned ski pant pocket decided to open up a bit and let some powder in. Not much snow got in, but enough to cause some issues apparently. I cleaned the USB port with rubbing alcohol and same with the contacts for the battery. It seems to have stopped, but every once and a while it will try to go into car mode. Kind of frustrating.
Yeah, it still thinks it is charging after I unplug it, and sometimes it will not recognize that I am charging when I do plug it in. Any ideas?
I have the same problem... Started with going into car mode... then telling me that the usb is plugged in when it isn't. Now says it's charging all the time and when I reboot that the battery is overheating... Can't restart unless I go into cwm and reboot. I've got a new usb port/board on order and hope that fixes it.
Sent from my GT-I9100M using XDA App
GoodB0Y said:
I have the same problem... Started with going into car mode... then telling me that the usb is plugged in when it isn't. Now says it's charging all the time and when I reboot that the battery is overheating... Can't restart unless I go into cwm and reboot. I've got a new usb port/board on order and hope that fixes it.
Sent from my GT-I9100M using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you point me in the direction of one of those? I think I may need to pick one up.
I just plugged my phone into my computer to charge it, and my computer failed to recognize it. I think the issue must lie with the usb port on my phone, as there is absolutely nothing else wrong with it other than the charging issues.
I found the usb port/board on ebay... Search for usb flex cable or charging port. Think it was less than 20 bucks, just hope it fixes the problem.
Sent from my GT-I9100M using XDA App
Thanks, me too. Just ordered one. I picked up a new battery too, because mine was having issues.
The new usb board fixed my phone...yay!
Sent from my GT-I9100M using XDA App
Sweet, did you happen to check the revision number on it? I bet it was fairly easy to install as well?
Didn't check the revision number...
Wasn't that hard to replace. The board and flex cable is glued to the housing so I had to carefully lift it off after unscrewing the two screws. There was another screw on the motherboard that I had to take out... and then lift it up a bit to get the cable Unglued and out.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Yeah, that is what the video I found seemed to indicate. Ha, I work on laptops and desktops on a daily basis, but I still get nervous about small work like that.
Update: I just installed it, and it fixed my issues regarding charging! The battery is still being retarded, but I have another than is on the way.
Hi there, XDA folks!
Mario here with some phone problems..
I have a CDMA Evo 3D running on the stock ROM.
The phone's charging cable was shorting out ever since I bought it (got it 2nd hand). I had to wiggle it in order to get the phone charging.
I gave it to my girlfriend to use it for taking pictures n whatnot while outside of town. She returned it kinda Rambo-ish; the front of the phone basically fell apart.. the front metal grill surrounding it, at least.
Phone worked fine, except for the cable shorting out even more. My laptop shut down every time that happened, so I'm quite sure that's not what caused the problem I'll be explaining later on in this thread.
So let's get to the point, shall we?
My phone was really low on battery, something within the range of 2-5%. I tried charging it, but the wires shorted out again and the laptop died on me.. again, and again, and again..
I couldn't really bother with fiddling around with it until it starts, so I just unplugged it and left it that way.
The phone sat for a few days, my (main) laptop broke, so I decided to give the good ol' Facebook Messenger a go.. sadly, the phone would not turn on or start charging.
I removed the shrink-like wrap around the wires of the USB cable, cut the bad parts and twisted the color-matching wires in order. Sadly, the phone would still not charge.
I tried with another (self-made) USB cable... no luck whatsoever. Just to clarify; the blue wire on the one the phone comes with is ground, right? If not that could of caused the problem, since I connected the blue wire on the mini-usb to the black one on a standard USB plug.
I tried juicing the phone up a tad bit by running 5V on the battery for 15 minutes or so.. didn't really bother going for more, since it's kinda hard to keep 2 wires pressed against the battery for more than that. The phone powered up, but the display did not. There was the low battery sound, volume keys were functional, vibrating feedback was okay.. hell, the phone even took a screenshot when I pressed power button + volume down!
Sadly, that didn't solve anything.. even turned on, it would not charge. The 15-minute charge is good for a minute of red blinking light and fancy glowing buttons, nothing more.
Is the phone dead, or should I give it a hour charge directly and see how that goes?
Thanks in advance to everyone who replies!
i think it'll be good if you buy a universal battery charger for phone. so you can charge your battery without plugged to the phone
apinghed said:
i think it'll be good if you buy a universal battery charger for phone. so you can charge your battery without plugged to the phone
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Click to collapse
I am looking for more opinions before I spend cash I don't have on chargers that may not work.
If you or someone else is positive about the display not working because of not enough battery juice, then I'll manually charge the battery for an hour, even though it's uncomfortable as hell to hold 2 wires on the pins for that long.
What's bugging me is that it's not charging once it has just enough juice to power up everything, no display either. I'd like to know if it's doing that, because the battery is too dead to actually start charging up via the phone and whether the display just doesn't work or there's not enough juice for it.
Edit; I bought a chinese charger that charges the battery directly (2pins). The display still does not work and the phone will still not charge via the cable. Could it be a bad cable (and a dead display..)? It seems like the phone itself is responsive - I unlock it, press the "search" button and when I type on the keyboard (that I don't see), it vibrates with every pressed key.
Also, I can hear it taking a screenshot and the volume down/up buttons seem to be working fine.
Dontrememberusername said:
Edit; I bought a chinese charger that charges the battery directly (2pins). The display still does not work and the phone will still not charge via the cable. Could it be a bad cable (and a dead display..)? It seems like the phone itself is responsive - I unlock it, press the "search" button and when I type on the keyboard (that I don't see), it vibrates with every pressed key.
Also, I can hear it taking a screenshot and the volume down/up buttons seem to be working fine.
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Click to collapse
this is exactly what's been going on with my phone as of a few days ago.
checked the time while it was plugged in, unplugged it...screen froze.
hasn't turned back on since.
the buttons on bottom light up, though.
i can take calls, use my unlock pattern (it takes me a few tries now that i can't see anything) and press the search key for google now.
for all intents and purposes...phone's fully functional...except i can't see anything going on.
i brought my phone into a sprint corp store, they changed the top housing for me screen and all for free.
it was really nice.
but, that didn't change anything.
screen still doesn't change anything.
they said the board probably shorted on screen lead.
have you figured anything out?
cipher77 said:
this is exactly what's been going on with my phone as of a few days ago.
checked the time while it was plugged in, unplugged it...screen froze.
hasn't turned back on since.
the buttons on bottom light up, though.
i can take calls, use my unlock pattern (it takes me a few tries now that i can't see anything) and press the search key for google now.
for all intents and purposes...phone's fully functional...except i can't see anything going on.
i brought my phone into a sprint corp store, they changed the top housing for me screen and all for free.
it was really nice.
but, that didn't change anything.
screen still doesn't change anything.
they said the board probably shorted on screen lead.
have you figured anything out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I'm still in the same situation.
Does yours charge?
My phone isn't recognized by my laptop at all, so I'm guessing something is indeed fried. I don't have the appropriate screwdrivers to open it up and inspect the board, otherwise I'd open it up and check it out.
If you have Torx T5 & T3 screwdrivers you should give it a go - post some decent-res pics over here and I'll at least visually inspect it.
I genuinely don't feel like spending more money for tools n whatnot for a phone that may be permanently dead.. planning on getting a second-hand S4 anyways. Waiting on a student loan and smashing this phone to pieces as soon as I get the cash for a new one. Can try and help out for yours if you manage to open it, though. Could be something as simple as a dead resistor that shouldn't be too hard to replace.
I tried the hillbilly method and hit my phone a few times against a wooden bench, that didn't seem to fix it. Pretty positive something's fried, but I'm also guessing it isn't a viable component, having in mind the phone functions normally, even though the display & usb port don't work.. hell, my phone woke me up at 3AM today, 'cause the alarm went off, lol!
Ok, so I've crawled everywhere for the last few days to try and see if anybody else has had this issue, but alas, nobody has.
So my device was purchased in Nov 2013, out of warrany. No luck there with a replacement.
Last week I was watching a show, low battery, it powered down. No biggie, just plug it in and let it charge. But it refused to do anything at all, even after charging for 24 hours. No power, no screen, nothing. Held the power button. Nothing. No noise, no lights, nothing.
Contacted Tech Support and they sent me one of their 9w chargers and said to try that. Got it, plugged it in overnight, again, nothing. Held the power button for 40 seconds, nothing. Tried it while plugged in, nothing.
Contacted Tech Support again and they said nothing they can do other than offer me $20 off a new device. No thanks.
I plugged the unit into my desktop and it blooped that a new device was connected, and in the device manager I have the "QHSUSB_BULK" device. This is a totally stock, nothing new, not even developer options enabled (when it had power)
Is there anything to be done with the device at this point?
Again, no power, no screen, no lights, nothing.
Unresponsive.
Help?
w34513 said:
...
Is there anything to be done with the device at this point?
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Probably not, sorry.
There is a reason why Android in general pops up request about battery charging 2 times before it shutdown itself. One is about ideal state for charging modern Li-ion battery , which is around 10 - 15 % its capacity, second is about a minimal safe level for Li-ion battery, which is cca 5%, and under this (believe or not) some bad things can happen, including internal storage media corruption while writing something and not enough juice left in the process of shutdown for finishing it...
I don't know for real what happened in your case, but I have seen this type of posts about android shutdown because of no juice left in battery and after charging device was dead in other forums for some other devices...
My first tablet was Asus Transformer tf101, which had extra battery in the keyboard, and manual clearly stated, that its capacity must not drop under 3%, otherwise it can't be recharged properly and must be replaced...
So IMO people risks every time when they ignore this request for charging battery, and I must admit I too let my Apollo shutdown 2 times in last 2 weeks because I was too lazy to connect it to charger... but after this post I will definitely rethink next time...
w34513 said:
Ok, so I've crawled everywhere for the last few days to try and see if anybody else has had this issue, but alas, nobody has.
So my device was purchased in Nov 2013, out of warrany. No luck there with a replacement.
Last week I was watching a show, low battery, it powered down. No biggie, just plug it in and let it charge. But it refused to do anything at all, even after charging for 24 hours. No power, no screen, nothing. Held the power button. Nothing. No noise, no lights, nothing.
Contacted Tech Support and they sent me one of their 9w chargers and said to try that. Got it, plugged it in overnight, again, nothing. Held the power button for 40 seconds, nothing. Tried it while plugged in, nothing.
Contacted Tech Support again and they said nothing they can do other than offer me $20 off a new device. No thanks.
I plugged the unit into my desktop and it blooped that a new device was connected, and in the device manager I have the "QHSUSB_BULK" device. This is a totally stock, nothing new, not even developer options enabled (when it had power)
Is there anything to be done with the device at this point?
Again, no power, no screen, no lights, nothing.
Unresponsive.
Help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you have done your homework. Unfortunately, gut tells me you have a defective hw component. Could be the battery, regulator or some other power circuit. If you have a USB3 port (and cable) try plugging into that for awhile. It might just put enough charge on the battery to permit some type of response combined with the higher power output of a USB3 port. In my experience a USB2 port does not provide enough juice to power high draw devices with a crippled battery. It's a long shot a best but if you can get a response and diagnostics confirm it's the battery you could consider replacing that (no easy task) to recover your device.
Another option is to snag an inexpensive USB current meter (examples here and here) to see if the device is actually drawing power while on charge. If the reading is close to zero you likely have a charge circuit problem which can't be easily remedied. A bad battery would still draw some current...just wouldn't hold a charge. Note these gizmos can also be used to identify a bad cable, bad charger or combination of the two for virtually any USB device. You'd be amazed how many crappy cables are out there that severely restrict charge rates. But that's another matter ...
Sorry I couldn't provide a more optimistic response.
So maybe try replacing the battery?
ifixit says they're kinda hard to replace, but for $50 off Amazon it might be worth it vs the $150 they quoted me for a replacement tablet.
I've had a few devices shut down on me like this (I try my hardest not to, but we all fail sometimes) and I've just never run into this issue before.
Davey126 said:
Sorry I couldn't provide a more optimistic response.
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Thanks for the reply. Like I said above, I charged it with their charger, 3 of my own, my USB 3.0 port on my desktop, all with multiple cords. So no luck there. I've kind of been figured it's just EOL for this thing unfortunately and I just don't think I'm gonna bother with it at this point. USB on the desktop recognizes it, but nothing further.
Time to mount it on the wall I guess lol. Thanks for all the responses and confirming what I suspected, it helps to know that others think that my conclusion wasn't premature.