[Q] Motorola Photon 4G won't turn on/charge - Motorola Photon 4G

Hi!
I've been having a little trouble with my Motorola Photon 4G this past week. So far it wasn't that bad, but it got worse during the past couple days. I've had it for about 2 years, and have to wait until February to change it. (Note: it is not, nor has it ever been rooted)
It started by just freezing and restarting at random moments. Then I had to remove the battery to restart it when it froze, because the power button wouldn't respond. It started going on reboot loops, where it would freeze, I'd take out the battery, it'd restart, and go through the restart process over and over again until the battery died. I could still turn it on. After a couple days, the battery would drain extremely quickly, to the point where to actually be able to turn it on I'd have to remove the battery, plug the phone in until the "looking for battery" icon popped up, reinstall the battery, wait for it to charge, and then turn it on.
Now, no matter what I do, it will not turn on. If I plug it in a wall outlet, it
-With the battery installed --> LED turns green, nothing pops up, power button is not responsive
-Without the battery --> Nothing happens
If I plug it in the computer, the LED turns white, but the Dual Core screen doesn't pop up. When it rarely does, it freezes there.
I have tried the whole "hold power button and volume down" (Stuck in RSD mode or something like freezes on the screen), or "hold the power button and volume up" (Fastboot freezes on the screen), and the holding the two volume keys when the Dual Core screen pops up doesn't work either.
I can't get a new contract, since I am moving away in a couple months in another country, and an US phone would be useless.
Does anybody have a solution?

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Elodieme said:
Hi!
I've been having a little trouble with my Motorola Photon 4G this past week. So far it wasn't that bad, but it got worse during the past couple days. I've had it for about 2 years, and have to wait until February to change it. (Note: it is not, nor has it ever been rooted)
It started by just freezing and restarting at random moments. Then I had to remove the battery to restart it when it froze, because the power button wouldn't respond. It started going on reboot loops, where it would freeze, I'd take out the battery, it'd restart, and go through the restart process over and over again until the battery died. I could still turn it on. After a couple days, the battery would drain extremely quickly, to the point where to actually be able to turn it on I'd have to remove the battery, plug the phone in until the "looking for battery" icon popped up, reinstall the battery, wait for it to charge, and then turn it on.
Now, no matter what I do, it will not turn on. If I plug it in a wall outlet, it
-With the battery installed --> LED turns green, nothing pops up, power button is not responsive
-Without the battery --> Nothing happens
If I plug it in the computer, the LED turns white, but the Dual Core screen doesn't pop up. When it rarely does, it freezes there.
I have tried the whole "hold power button and volume down" (Stuck in RSD mode or something like freezes on the screen), or "hold the power button and volume up" (Fastboot freezes on the screen), and the holding the two volume keys when the Dual Core screen pops up doesn't work either.
I can't get a new contract, since I am moving away in a couple months in another country, and an US phone would be useless.
Does anybody have a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this:
1) Power down (if not already powered off);
2) Pull the battery out;
3) Plug power in *without* putting the battery in;
4) Boot the phone.
If it does not start, we'll have to go from there. If it does start, you need a new battery.

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tdhite said:
Try this:
1) Power down (if not already powered off);
2) Pull the battery out;
3) Plug power in *without* putting the battery in;
4) Boot the phone.
If it does not start, we'll have to go from there. If it does start, you need a new battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The power button is unresponsive; the LED light turns green, but the Dual Core screen doesn't appear

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Elodieme said:
The power button is unresponsive; the LED light turns green, but the Dual Core screen doesn't appear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The light is green because it's powered and the battery doesn't need charging (not in the device). At least we have that.
Ok, this will sound stupid, but let's give it a shot:
1) unplug power;
2) remove battery (if not still removed);
3) Let it sit for a while (10 minutes would be overkill, but what the heck);
4) plug power in (not battery -- leave that out);
5) Press and hold the power and volume-down buttons for a good long time -- get a motorola screen?
If we don't get the motorola screen, could be a couple things -- screen dead? Or hardware prob (maybe the power button is dirty -- push good and hard just to be sure).

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tdhite said:
The light is green because it's powered and the battery doesn't need charging (not in the device). At least we have that.
Ok, this will sound stupid, but let's give it a shot:
1) unplug power;
2) remove battery (if not still removed);
3) Let it sit for a while (10 minutes would be overkill, but what the heck);
4) plug power in (not battery -- leave that out);
5) Press and hold the power and volume-down buttons for a good long time -- get a motorola screen?
If we don't get the motorola screen, could be a couple things -- screen dead? Or hardware prob (maybe the power button is dirty -- push good and hard just to be sure).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Dual Core screen comes up, with "Fastboot" in the top left corner, but it freezes on that screen

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Elodieme said:
The Dual Core screen comes up, with "Fastboot" in the top left corner, but it freezes on that screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had the same issue 2 weeks ago. you need to buy a new battery as the one your using is completely drained. after that... unbrick and you should be ok.

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Jonathanlc2005 said:
i had the same issue 2 weeks ago. you need to buy a new battery as the one your using is completely drained. after that... unbrick and you should be ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Silly question, but I am a noob when it comes to phones. How do I do this? I never rooted my phone

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Elodieme said:
Silly question, but I am a noob when it comes to phones. How do I do this? I never rooted my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your lucky im still on the site...
heres the link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1798145

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Jonathanlc2005 said:
your lucky im still on the site...
heres the link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1798145
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I have any questions, can I ask you?

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Elodieme said:
If I have any questions, can I ask you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not trying to say no to be mean... i just dont have that much experience to answer all your questions you may have. your best bet is to PM the OP of that thread

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Jonathanlc2005 said:
im not trying to say no to be mean... i just dont have that much experience to answer all your questions you may have. your best bet is to PM the OP of that thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay because I'm just going to have to have everything literally spelled out for me. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I was a noob haha

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As I thought, battery shot. Confuses many. So, an unbrick might not be necessary. The battery just won't even pull up the bootloader.
If you get the new battery, and you never rooted, thus didn't load the clockwork recovery hack, it should charge, and then boot might be ok. We will see, but until you see no boot at all, unbrick is the last resort since it's a slog and you're not overly experienced.
I can help, but the OP on the unbrick thread is a great help in most cases.

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tdhite said:
As I thought, battery shot. Confuses many. So, an ubrick might not be necessary. The battery just won't even pull up the bootloader.
If you get the new battery, and you never rooted, thus didn't load the clockwork recovery hack, it should charge, and then boot might be ok. We will see, but until you see no boot at all, until is the last resort since it's a slog abd you're not overly experienced.
I can help, but the OP on the unbrick thread is a great help in most cases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I ordered a new battery when it started happening, so it should be in soon

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tdhite said:
As I thought, battery shot. Confuses many. So, an unbrick might not be necessary. The battery just won't even pull up the bootloader.
If you get the new battery, and you never rooted, thus didn't load the clockwork recovery hack, it should charge, and then boot might be ok. We will see, but until you see no boot at all, unbrick is the last resort since it's a slog and you're not overly experienced.
I can help, but the OP on the unbrick thread is a great help in most cases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it didnt charge... i tried all ways and it didnt work. it only unbricked after i bought a new battery.

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Elodieme said:
Thanks. I ordered a new battery when it started happening, so it should be in soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries -- your duty (of course) is hit the Thanks button when folks help and we get somewhere. I also fixed a couple typos in my reply (typed on a phone, and naturally ends up imperfect. Just didn't want you confused. One way or another, you can get the phone back up and running.
---------- Post added at 04:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------
Jonathanlc2005 said:
it didnt charge... i tried all ways and it didnt work. it only unbricked after i bought a new battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite sure what you're saying, but the new battery the OP in this thread purchased should charge fine unless something is really wrong (never rooted so never loaded any charge-precluding mods).
If you are saying that on your phone, with a new battery, you still had to unbrick it because it wouldn't charge ... hmmmm ... seems very strange. Even the clockwork recovery mod would come up and then allow rebooting normally.
We'll see when the new battery comes. Hopefully no unbrick work required, just a charge.

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what i am saying is that when the phone is bricked.. i mean bricked... nothing works what so ever except rsd... then thats it... it will not charge the battery. if you have a dead battery then dont expect it to charge while rsd. i needs power on the battery to allow RSD because the computer doesnt flash when the battery is dead and doesnt flash without the battery.
thus... he needs a changed battery. you could buy a seperate charger if you like... but it is much more expensive then buying a battery

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Ok, I see what you're saying.
Yes, if truly bricked, it's an unbrick operation. Smells bricked, but I find it plausible the OP gets a battery with enough charge to try a boot. It is concerning we couldn't get booted on power without battery, though. That should have worked. Do it all the time working on kernel modules.
Just saying don't unbrick until trying out the new battery, the former of which the OP could do on power alone.
To qualify so no confusion -- I reboot into recovery mod without battery merely by plugin in -- so I can flash over modules. I've never been able to boot in to the OS normally without the battery in, but we still should see the moto logo.
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