Tytn Won't Charge

[wacky.banana]

I have noticed that for the last week my Tytn won't always charge itself up either when its in its cradle or is being charged via the charging lead.

I have no idea what has brought this on. The solution I am using at the moment is to soft boot, which seems to solve the problem for a while. For the techies on here I am using the standard HTC Win5 Rom, straight out the box.

Has anyone come across this problem and, if yes, knows what the solution is please? It was only because my low battery alarm kicked in the other day that I realised there was a problem.

As I use the kit for work I cannot afford to have it not charge up.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

WB

Caveat - Yes, did search first on here and elsewhere before posting.

[MikeChannon]

Could be hardware (at Device) / could be software. Without testing these things out it's impossible to say. I suppose a quick test of the physical contacts of the device would be to switch on and connect the charger and by gently moving the connection, see if the amber charging LED goes on off.

In the end I always think with this kind of problem a hard reset saves a lot of time testing this and that. If there is nothing you can pin down as an obvious change/installation you made before this started, then I'd do a hard reset.

Of course you are fully prepared for this with full backups taken at key installation stages?? - Hope so.

Mike

[ach2]

The only thing I've heard of is that using USB cables/cradles, car chargers and non-standard wall chargers (such as for motorola) are ok for trickle charging but if the battery goes low you need to use the original wall charger supplied with the phone.

I know this was the problem on my Wizard - wouldn't charge a low battery with a motorola charger but fine with the original.

[wacky.banana]

Mike,

I think I will do a hard reset as a last, last, resort only if all other options are well and truly exhausted. I rebuilt the damned thing for the umpteenth time only 2 weeks ago and I absolutely don't want to go through that pain again.

The frustrating thing is that for the first time since I owned the Tytn (6 months) all the problems I did not know about before I bought it had finally been resolved (excepting the freezing of TomTom, which still remains outstanding).

So just when I thought I could finally start to rely on the Tytn as a fully functioning relible working tool we get this.

I owned a Sony P900 for over 3 and a half years as a business tool (grant you the PDA functionality was a tad restricted compared to the Tytn) and it never failed me once! If it wasn't for a problem with the touch screen and me thinking it was time for a change I would still be using it today.

Anyone else any other suggestions on this problem please? Wiggling the charging cable in the mini-usb port makes no difference. Only a reboot does at this time.

So damned frustrating!

WB

[fas73]

Hi,

I have a similar problem. I had a go for the WM6 from LVSW (2007-05-19) and the latest Radio (1.41.00.10) and a brand new out of the box TyTN.. First thing I noticed was that the unit discharges itself very quickly. I've tried various radios without any good luck too. I think it killed my battery, at least it went so low that I could'nt recharge it normally. I had the RED LED blinking fast, constant RED and sometimes AMBER. My tip is to never let the battery fully discharge here.. I had to kickstart it with 3 AA-batteries in serial, and hooked up + and - wires to the TyTNs battery so it could have a little power, or else the TyTN would not charge it anymore. I assumed it could be my old SIM and/or the battery, so I went to th store and got a new battery as replacement for testing this. I am now able to charge, but I the power consumption is far beyond what I expect, it is like 341 ma read with ABC Power Meter....! Even with radio off, wifi off, receive incoming beams off, BT off, screen to minimum brightness, nada... I was expecting a lot less... This hungry device will not last many hours, and the battery does even produce much heat during standby operation, which is not good besides from a hand-warmer in the pocket during winter time maybe... I have also tried using Bandswitch to disable UMTS as maybe the UMTS reception here is not super good, but still working... Even talking on the phone while charging it drains the battery heavily.... to empty...

Besides from all this the WM6 from LVSW seems to be super quick and stable, maybe the very best one to pick for a HERMES.

I am desperate to find a conclusion here...

heeelp..






Update:

I happened to purchase a faulty device!!! There was indeed a HW error on my brand new device so I got it swapped with another one that works. Not all problems are SW-bugs..

[wacky.banana]

Thought I would come back on this thread.

In the end I had to do a hard reset and rebuild as other problems started to manifest themselves and rebuilding became the easiest option.

Rebuilding has solved the problem; however it might interest you to note that this time I rebuilt the Tytn just like I would build a PC. The OS built itself first, with its associated apps, then I added any other additional OS tools, eg SPB Mobile Shell. I then grouped my apps into a logical order and installed them one by one.

After each install I rebooted the PPC, checked that the last app installed ran ok, then tested every other app to see if they ran as well BEFORE installing the next app. This process was a little tedious but it seems to have paid off.

I have to say though that having rebuilt this piece of kit from scratch at least 20 times in the last 6 months, I just cannot count on it as a reliable business tool in the same way as I did with my previous Symbian device. Shame given how much I spent on it.

When my next upgrade is due a Windows mobile device WON'T be on my list!

WB

[MikeChannon]

Wacky - Get a full back-up tool like SPB backup and you can avoid all that pain. Hard Reset to Restoring a full backup - 10 minutes maybe. Much better than re-installing all those apps everytime you hard reset. And you can create a backup before and after each installation if you wish.

Mike

[wacky.banana]

Mike,

Thanks for the tip. Must admit I had not thought of using SPB backup in the way that you suggest (can't see the wood for the trees sometimes).

Now that I think I have a stable system I will back it up using this tool and create a "line in the sand", in terms of a good system backup.

I still remain to be convinced on the stability/suitability for sustained business use though.

Appreciate your input.

WB

[MardiG]

This week, my phone reset for some reason and came up with the screen which shows the current IPL and SPL. The phone still has all the apps and data I installed, so it was not a hard reset. This happened with a 1/2 charge on the battery.

Since that happend a full charge now shows as a 1/2 charge only on the meter and this is as high as the meter will show. The phone still lasts just as long, so there is no physical battery problem.

Anyone know how to fix this without a true hard reset.

Thanks

[wacky.banana]

Mardig,

The only suggestion I have is to hard reset the unit and then rebuild it from scratch. Worked for me.

In any case it may be advisable to do this as it sounds like you have other problems.

Once rebuilt I suggest you take up Mike Channon's suggestion to get a tool and backup the device. That way if you have further problems you at least have a line in the sand to refer back to.

By the way, I am not ruling out a hardware problem in your case. However my starting point would be my suggestions above.

Good luck

WB

[eznil]

I bought a car charger for my TyTN and used it for ~4-5 months without a problem. One day a fuse went off and after replacing it with a new one and connecting to TyTN, a TyTN stopped charging completely. I checked at home with an original wall charger - nothing. I was stupid enough to try the same car charger with my second TyTN - not surprisingly it burned the other one too :-(
I got them both fixed, a car charger replaced with a new one, so everything should have been working fine. The following happened:
1. First time a car charger is connected, it works fine and the TyTN is charging.
2. Disconnecting a charger and reconnecting it back after couple of seconds restart charging, however this stops after 1 sec and the screen shows as it is not connected.
3. Repeating step 2 does nothing - no charging starts at all.
4. Soft reset - go back to step 1.
5. When TyTN off and car charger connected - charging is working - amber light is on.
6. Wall charger (original), TyTN on or off - charging is working - amber light is on.
I did hard reset as well thinking it might be a broken driver problem, but it didn't help. Tomorrow will try to reload ROM.

Any ideas?
Help will be appreciated (before I take it back to lab and spend another $40 for repair)

Cheers

[MikeChannon]

I bought a car charger for my TyTN and used it for ~4-5 months without a problem. One day a fuse went off and after replacing it with a new one and connecting to TyTN, a TyTN stopped charging completely. I checked at home with an original wall charger - nothing. I was stupid enough to try the same car charger with my second TyTN - not surprisingly it burned the other one too :-(
I got them both fixed, a car charger replaced with a new one, so everything should have been working fine. The following happened:
1. First time a car charger is connected, it works fine and the TyTN is charging.
2. Disconnecting a charger and reconnecting it back after couple of seconds restart charging, however this stops after 1 sec and the screen shows as it is not connected.
3. Repeating step 2 does nothing - no charging starts at all.
4. Soft reset - go back to step 1.
5. When TyTN off and car charger connected - charging is working - amber light is on.
6. Wall charger (original), TyTN on or off - charging is working - amber light is on.
I did hard reset as well thinking it might be a broken driver problem, but it didn't help. Tomorrow will try to reload ROM.

Any ideas?
Help will be appreciated (before I take it back to lab and spend another $40 for repair)

Cheers

This is a known issue. It also appears you've realised the soft reset workaround:

In Car charging
(May be relevant to USB/Mains charging also)
Hermes only charges when switched off
Pulling out charger lead (or interrupting power supply) while charging in car (with device on or off ) may result in Hermes only charging while turned off

Possible Solution:
a.) Connect charger with power on
b.) Switch on Hermes
c.) Soft reset whilst connected
Hermes should now charge whilst on or off.


I charge mine in the car but I do not use a car charger but a 12 volt to 240 volt inverter - so I can plug in a mains charger. Never have problems with this and I can also use it to power my laptop.


Examples here of cheap and expensive ones - small ones and large ones:
http://www.sailgb.com/c/12v_inverters_converter/


Mike

[eznil]

This is a known issue. It also appears you've realised the soft reset workaround:

In Car charging
(May be relevant to USB/Mains charging also)
Hermes only charges when switched off
Pulling out charger lead (or interrupting power supply) while charging in car (with device on or off ) may result in Hermes only charging while turned off

Possible Solution:
a.) Connect charger with power on
b.) Switch on Hermes
c.) Soft reset whilst connected
Hermes should now charge whilst on or off.


I charge mine in the car but I do not use a car charger but a 12 volt to 240 volt inverter - so I can plug in a mains charger. Never have problems with this and I can also use it to power my laptop.


Examples here of cheap and expensive ones - small ones and large ones:
http://www.sailgb.com/c/12v_inverters_converter/


Mike

Hi Mike.
Thanks for your prompt response.
I did read that thread, however it seems that it doesn't explain point 2 in my explanation, does it?
Update: tried the method explained, however the situation is still the same - both points 2 and 5.
Regarding the DC-AC inverter - do you use a wall charger or USB output (if there is one, I found one that has both main and USB).

Cheers

[MikeChannon]

Hi Mike.
Thanks for your prompt response.
I did read that thread, however it seems that it doesn't explain point 2 in my explanation, does it?

Cheers

Unless I misunderstand something - one of the primary causes of the problem is the disconnection whilst charging leading to a refusal to charge when re-connected. To quote my post:

"Pulling out charger lead (or interrupting power supply) while charging in car (with device on or off ) may result in Hermes only charging while turned off "

I realise of course this does not explain things and is just a statement about what happens.

Mike

[eznil]

Unless I misunderstand something - one of the primary causes of the problem is the disconnection whilst charging leading to a refusal to charge when re-connected. To quote my post:

"Pulling out charger lead (or interrupting power supply) while charging in car (with device on or off ) may result in Hermes only charging while turned off "

I realise of course this does not explain things and is just a statement about what happens.

Mike

THe funny thing is that the other TyTN I have doesn't suffer the same behavior and charges fine, even though I disconnected and connected many times while charging.
Yeap, it's strange, unexplainable and most of all extremely annoying.

Thansk a lot for your help.

[eznil]

Hi.
I am happy to tell that I managed to figure out how to overcome that problem. I hope it will work for all users - I tried it with 2 different TyTNs and it was OK.
The solution is to plug/unplug the USB charger only when the device is off - not a complete shutdown by long press on Power button, but a short one.
If it's OK, when plugging the lead the power button lights up in <1 sec. If not, it takes ~5 sec to go on.

Best regards,

[gangstar]

i discovered today....when i plugged my hermes into the car charger, that it wasnt charging.
after a soft reset it charged. an then.....no problems untill about 22:00 pm. i plugged it again and...same thing, it needed a reset to charge.

what could cause this? igo may way and bluetooth gps. coz i think this is the reason.

[eznil]

i discovered today....when i plugged my hermes into the car charger, that it wasnt charging.
after a soft reset it charged. an then.....no problems untill about 22:00 pm. i plugged it again and...same thing, it needed a reset to charge.

what could cause this? igo may way and bluetooth gps. coz i think this is the reason.

Please read the thread - this strange behavior is described in details.
Try the solution in my post above - it workes for me, hoefully for you too.

Goos luck.