Tilt battery voltage not sensed by phone?

[elknimrod]

I have this strange problem that just cropped up. After a full recharge the other day the battery showed normal draining. When I tried to recharge it wouldn't; neither from the wall charger or usb by computer. So the battery showed steady drain unless charging, but never got more charge. Finally when turning on the phone on battery alone it shows 1% charge, and there's nothing I can do about it, the phone will turn itself off.

Diagnostics: I measured the battery voltage and it is ~4.2 volts. This seems like a full battery yet the phone doesn't see it.
I measured the voltage at the battery terminals in the phone while hooked up to charger which was ~4.2 volts. So it seems the battery is being charged.
Why is the phone not seeing the battery charge? Is the battery dead even though it measures 4.2v?:confused:

I did run the gps before this happened using gps tool, bit I think I turned it all off. Anyway more than one soft reset didn't help.

Thanks,

Ed
ATT Tilt 8925 running gthing Blackwood rom with Vista BatteryHide. Original ATT radio.

[mikechannon]

No real answer here but perhaps something to try:

I am dealing with another member who has a similar problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=377675&page=2 From post 17 onward.
With battery in, the orange charge light comes on and all seems normal. However with a few seconds of turning on the message that the main battery is critcally low comes up and the phone turns off. He has tried another battery with the same result. This happens even with the charger connected.
(EDIT: I have now read that his has - for no obvious reason started to work ok - Now even more convinced it's a charging circuit lock-up issue - given time and possibly a bit of battery fiddling and it comes good in the end - see No 2 below)

Now I'm wondering whether this could be one of two things:

1.
A hardware fault - possibly in the charging circuit or more crudely one of the battery circuit board connectors is not connecting.

OR

2.
The circuit that controls charging has to put it crudely become "stuck" in a similar fashion to those who get the RLOD red LED showing when they connect the charger. A commonly accepted trick for overcoming the RLOD is to connect the charger and wriggle the battery on and off the four contact pins. This presumably has the effect of forcing the charging circuit to re-set itself. I just wonder whether it might have the same effect in your situation.

Mike

[jbradt]

hey.. that would be me with the similar issue.
i just tried a couple more things.. check out the thread.

[elknimrod]

More info.
Battery in and out holding the power button had no effect. Phone runs fine while plugged in. Plug it in and after 5 seconds the amber LED turns to red. While plugged in the red led will flash amber every so often.

I measured the battery voltage as I turned the phone on, it dropped to ~ 3.98v, then came back to 4.1v as the phone turned itself off. It gets all the way to my Today screen before going off. Just sitting in the phone with it off is 4.1v. Hook up the charger and the battery sees 4.18 and rising after 20 seconds. These are direct measurements at the battery terminals while in the phone.

So this looks like a software issue to me. The phone is charging the battery and there is plenty of power to run the phone, the phone somehow doesn't see it that way. It sees a dead battery. Well, I guess it could be a voltage sensor gone bad , somewhere somehow. Next step is to hard reset and see if it makes any difference.

edit: While plugged in and the screen on, the led stays amber. When the screen goes off(set for 2 minutes) the led turns red. Screen back on, led amber. I just set the screen not to go off while plugged in(charging), we'll see. The power is showing 7% now and says charging, too early to tell if it's rising or not.

edit 2: It stayed on the charger for several hours and never moved past 7%. Tried a hard reset with no luck. Next step is to send it to a repair shop(I bought it used) and hopefully spend only the $95-$125 they quoted.

Will keep you apprised.

Ed



I have this strange problem that just cropped up. After a full recharge the other day the battery showed normal draining. When I tried to recharge it wouldn't; neither from the wall charger or usb by computer. So the battery showed steady drain unless charging, but never got more charge. Finally when turning on the phone on battery alone it shows 1% charge, and there's nothing I can do about it, the phone will turn itself off.

Diagnostics: I measured the battery voltage and it is ~4.2 volts. This seems like a full battery yet the phone doesn't see it.
I measured the voltage at the battery terminals in the phone while hooked up to charger which was ~4.2 volts. So it seems the battery is being charged.
Why is the phone not seeing the battery charge? Is the battery dead even though it measures 4.2v?:confused:

I did run the gps before this happened using gps tool, bit I think I turned it all off. Anyway more than one soft reset didn't help.

Thanks,

Ed
ATT Tilt 8925 running gthing Blackwood rom with Vista BatteryHide. Original ATT radio.

[FluidPhire]

I am having somewhat similar issues with my Tilt, with the power/battery problems as described previously. I woke up this morning, and attempted to turn my phone on, and it wouldnt come on at all. I then plugged it into the ac adapter, and the LED comes on, and goes green. I waited a few moments, then powered the phone on to take a look at the battery life, and the phone boots up, then reboots during the splash screen. After it reboots itself, I check the battery indicator and it shows 1%. If I exit the battery screen, and re-enter it, it will say 100%. Now, as soon as I remove the charger from the system, it automatically powers down. I played with it for about 15 minutes, but needed to head to work, so I took the phone with me, and attempted to use my car charger. Same problem. Now, I figured, fine, I'll see how it behaves while I am at work, so I brought my charger to work, and have it plugged in at my desk, and if I leave it plugged in and on, it stays on for about 5 minutes, then automatically reboots. LED stays green, but phone will not stay on, if unplugged, or plugged in for longer than 5 minutes. I have never dropped it, and have babied the phone like no other, concidering I paid $400 for it. I'm a little bummed out, but cant determine if its a battery or hardware problem. Any advice/input for me from any of you guys? before I head to the ATT store, and cry for a new phone? Thanks a bunch for any responses to this.


*UPDATE* After I got off work, I went into my local ATT store, explained the situation, and was given a brand new replacement phone in like 10 minutes. I was under 30 days owning it, so he just swapped it out, barley any questions asked. (altho i explained my situation in detail as it was). So.... hopefully it doesnt happen again, or else I'll have to use the warranty. Anyways, Any insight on what may cause this would always be helpful for both myself and the community. =)

[elknimrod]

EDIT: They got it Monday and I got it back Friday. Good turnaround! They fixed the problem, it works perfectly now. I recommend these people.

Ed


Sent it off to Cell Phone Repair(CPR) in Chicago that gave me an estimate of $95 (inc. ship. back) based on my description. They just called and told me it was corrosion around and in the power/usb port. They got it yesterday and will send it back repaired tomorrow with a 90 day warranty. No more saunas for this phone(it was only one! :o )

I'll let you know if they work out well or not.

Ed

I have this strange problem that just cropped up. After a full recharge the other day the battery showed normal draining. When I tried to recharge it wouldn't; neither from the wall charger or usb by computer. So the battery showed steady drain unless charging, but never got more charge. Finally when turning on the phone on battery alone it shows 1% charge, and there's nothing I can do about it, the phone will turn itself off.

Diagnostics: I measured the battery voltage and it is ~4.2 volts. This seems like a full battery yet the phone doesn't see it.
I measured the voltage at the battery terminals in the phone while hooked up to charger which was ~4.2 volts. So it seems the battery is being charged.
Why is the phone not seeing the battery charge? Is the battery dead even though it measures 4.2v?:confused:

I did run the gps before this happened using gps tool, bit I think I turned it all off. Anyway more than one soft reset didn't help.

Thanks,

Ed
ATT Tilt 8925 running gthing Blackwood rom with Vista BatteryHide. Original ATT radio.