Please Help: Rooted & stock. OS won't load unless the charger is plugged in

[pantera1989]

This is a very strange problem. I never saw anything similar in my life and I searched for someone with a similar problem but I cannot find anything. So I am posting this thread, maybe someone here knows what I should do.

This tablet has been riddled with problems, but this one makes it close to useless. I had several problems since I got the tablet where it won't wake up after sleeping and you had to reboot the thing, where the dock is not available after sleeping and you have to undock and redock it, where the battery drains while sleeping etc etc. Annoyances but I can live with them. I know there is a fix for the dock and you have to send it to Asus, but shipping is expensive so I'll learn to live with it.

This problem though.. this is a big one. So just to clarify, the tablet is rooted with the original 4.4.2 ROM. I did not make any changes in the past week. Yesterday morning, I woke up and used it normally. Later that morning I unplugged it from the charger and that's when I noticed this problem. So while it is connected to the charger the tablet will function normally. After I unplug it the tablet will freeze after a few seconds, reboot on its own and then it will boot until the icons start coming up. Usually after this you get the lockscreen, but instead the screen will black out. After a few seconds the icons start coming back and the the screen will black out again and so on. This loop will continue forever unless you plug the charger in. When you plug in the charger, the icons will come up and after you get the lock screen (instead of the black screen), and you can use it normally. If you unplug it again, the boot loop starts again. This behavior is the same whether using the dock or not.

I don't want to do a factory reset just yet if I can. Last time I did a factory reset, the tablet would not boot and I had to send it back for a replacement. When I get to the fastboot screen, trying RCK I get the dead Android with the red exclamation, and cold booting does nothing.

Any suggestions please? Any kind of log I can get to help? I can post a video if the problem is not clear.

Thanks.

 

[royredman]

This is a very strange problem. I never saw anything similar in my life and I searched for someone with a similar problem but I cannot find anything. So I am posting this thread, maybe someone here knows what I should do.

This tablet has been riddled with problems, but this one makes it close to useless. I had several problems since I got the tablet where it won't wake up after sleeping and you had to reboot the thing, where the dock is not available after sleeping and you have to undock and redock it, where the battery drains while sleeping etc etc. Annoyances but I can live with them. I know there is a fix for the dock and you have to send it to Asus, but shipping is expensive so I'll learn to live with it.

This problem though.. this is a big one. So just to clarify, the tablet is rooted with the original 4.4.2 ROM. I did not make any changes in the past week. Yesterday morning, I woke up and used it normally. Later that morning I unplugged it from the charger and that's when I noticed this problem. So while it is connected to the charger the tablet will function normally. After I unplug it the tablet will freeze after a few seconds, reboot on its own and then it will boot until the icons start coming up. Usually after this you get the lockscreen, but instead the screen will black out. After a few seconds the icons start coming back and the the screen will black out again and so on. This loop will continue forever unless you plug the charger in. When you plug in the charger, the icons will come up and after you get the lock screen (instead of the black screen), and you can use it normally. If you unplug it again, the boot loop starts again. This behavior is the same whether using the dock or not.

I don't want to do a factory reset just yet if I can. Last time I did a factory reset, the tablet would not boot and I had to send it back for a replacement. When I get to the fastboot screen, trying RCK I get the dead Android with the red exclamation, and cold booting does nothing.

Any suggestions please? Any kind of log I can get to help? I can post a video if the problem is not clear.

Thanks.

Hi, to start this reply, I'll let you know that I am no professional at any of this stuff. I am a regular person that has had experience with flashing ROMs and whatnot. In my opinion, this seems like a software (maybe hardware) related problem. So there are a couple of options you have here.

1. Are you still under your warranty period? You could return it and get another one (easy fix)

2. You could try to factory reset, and if it doesn't turn on, rma the tablet (which it sounds like it may be cheaper to just buy a new one anyways)

3. You could try unlocking the bootloader. Then install a custom ROM (kind of risky, but might be less risky than #2)

Overall, you are not in an amazing spot with your tablet. It saddens me to see all the problems with asus's tablets. I have been with them since the transformer prime because of their laptop like tablet makes it easy to use in school, but its always been a struggle staying with their lineup. I have returned their tablets multiple times. Please update when you can

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

 

[berndblb]

If you have a microSD in the tablet take it out and try to boot it. I have seen the weirdest problems because of a card on the fritz....

Second possibility: Hardware. The behavior (working fine when connected to power) seems to indicate it doesn't get the charge it needs from the battery. Could be that it is going kaputt. It's not totally fried but enough that the tablet does not get a reliable charge from the battery.

Third option would be to reflash the firmware. That would eliminate a software problem. You will loose root if you do that...
Since you're still on the original firmware, I assume you did not unlock the bootloader and rooted with Towelroot - correct?
Whatever you do, backup everything you care about off the tablet now....

 

[pantera1989]

Thanks for your replies/suggestions. I could not use towelroot as it was on 4.4.2 (I think I read it is not possible). The bootloader is unlocked. This is my second tablet as I had returned the original one. I tried putting Cromi-X on it, and when I got to the step to factory reset it (using fastboot), the thing just was stuck in an endless loop. I could not even get to fastboot and my PC wouldn't recognize it. All it did was boot to the ASUS logo (and the message that the bootloader was unlocked) and reboot.

So this is the replacement unit and the charging issue was the problem. I say was because believe me or not the tablet is now smashed to bits. Since it must always be connected with a charger to work, I was carrying it around docked as I usually do and forgot that it was plugged in. I have resorted to an extra long extension cord with the charger plugged in to walk around. Anyway I forgot it was plugged in, the extension cord reached its limit and the charger cord yanked the tablet out of my hands and onto its side - screen facing away. I sweared, feared the worst and went to pick it up. The good news is that it still boots. The bad news is that the screen is completely smashed. The back cover is bent at one corner and the glass is smashed at that corner with cracks running to the other side. The touchscreen is not working anymore either. To add insult to the injury the tablet still only boots up with the charger plugged in..so there's that.

I don't know what to do now. I have contacted ASUS for a possible RMA but got no response yet. The thing is I don't feel like spending more money on it given the problems experienced. A screen with digitizer on ebay is about €75..so not exactly cheap.

I guess we can close this thread as it is now pointless. I hope no one has to go through my experience and that maybe it was a one off thing.

Thanks again to whoever replied. I appreciate it.