(Qualcomm varient, I believe) [XT1768] Moto E4 - abnormal CPU, very low battery

[TheNupster]

I apologise in advance if this has already been discussed elsewhere, because I have been unable to find said topic if it exists.


My problem:
I have a Moto E4, bought from Republic Wireless in 2017, shortly after its launch. Up until last week, I have had no serious problems with it. This last week, however, I suddenly have had 50% reduced battery runtime, in addition to noticably slower performance.

After some quick digging, I determined that the culprit is not an app, but the OS (battery stats under settings places "Android System" around 70% of the battery's usage). I installed a CPU monitoring app, and discovered that the CPU speed was stuck at the max 1.4 GHz (it never scaled down) with an idle utilization of 25%. Although I am unable to see the utilization of each of the 4 cores, I believe one of them is running a code loop. Restarts, and cache, app cleaning have had no effect thus far.


As I have done no more digging (I am on vacation and haven't had much time), I would like to know what next steps I should take. I have not performed a factory reset, but it is one of my next options for when I return home.


I do not want to root if I don't have to, but I know how to do so if it's absolutely required.

Thank you in advance, i know this post is lengthy...
~Nup

 

[DB126]

I apologise in advance if this has already been discussed elsewhere, because I have been unable to find said topic if it exists.


My problem:
I have a Moto E4, bought from Republic Wireless in 2017, shortly after its launch. Up until last week, I have had no serious problems with it. This last week, however, I suddenly have had 50% reduced battery runtime, in addition to noticably slower performance.

After some quick digging, I determined that the culprit is not an app, but the OS (battery stats under settings places "Android System" around 70% of the battery's usage). I installed a CPU monitoring app, and discovered that the CPU speed was stuck at the max 1.4 GHz (it never scaled down) with an idle utilization of 25%. Although I am unable to see the utilization of each of the 4 cores, I believe one of them is running a code loop. Restarts, and cache, app cleaning have had no effect thus far.


As I have done no more digging (I am on vacation and haven't had much time), I would like to know what next steps I should take. I have not performed a factory reset, but it is one of my next options for when I return home.


I do not want to root if I don't have to, but I know how to do so if it's absolutely required.

Thank you in advance, i know this post is lengthy...
~Nup

A factory reset is probably the next step if you prefer not to root. Also try to identify the source with a monitoring app like BBS or GSAM (I prefer the latter). You'll need to grant a few extra permissions via ADB on an unrooted device to get the full picture. GSAM walks you through the procedure via the overflow (3 dot) menu. Good luck.

 

[TheNupster]

I installed GSAM, used my PC to enable permissions, and checked the app after awhile. Once again, it's showing "Android system" as the main CPU AND battery hog, at over 74.6%. I would attach a picture, if I could figure out how to do it... (Please tell me how, I feel dumb). But that's what I have done this far. When I get home, I'll work on factory resetting it.

However, I am still worried that a factory reset might not fix the problem, since it is with the Android system. If all else fails, would it be possible to reflash the OS? The phone shipped with Republic Wireless software, so I would need the ROM from them..... And I would probably have to ask them for it. But that is only if reset fails to fix my problem. Is a reflash even possible...?

 

[doingthelordswork]

I installed GSAM, used my PC to enable permissions, and checked the app after awhile. Once again, it's showing "Android system" as the main CPU AND battery hog, at over 74.6%. I would attach a picture, if I could figure out how to do it... (Please tell me how, I feel dumb). But that's what I have done this far. When I get home, I'll work on factory resetting it.

However, I am still worried that a factory reset might not fix the problem, since it is with the Android system. If all else fails, would it be possible to reflash the OS? The phone shipped with Republic Wireless software, so I would need the ROM from them..... And I would probably have to ask them for it. But that is only if reset fails to fix my problem. Is a reflash even possible...?

If it's the 1768 then the retail firmware should be fine (I'd say preferable even). Unless you need that extra software that is.

 

[TheNupster]

After factory resetting my phone, I reinstalled everything. BUT, to my surprise, as soon as I installed Snapchat, the same problem BEGAN HAPPENING AGAIN. I used GSAM, expecting to see Snapchat this time. Yet, it still said Android System was hogging the battery.

So I uninstalled Snapchat.

Surprisingly, the problem ceased to exist.

To be sure, I reinstalled Snapchat. The problem appeared. Uninstalled, problem disappeared.


So it appears that a factory reset might not have been necessary, but I'm wondering what aspect of Snapchat was causing the core overload. Regardless, I am never using Snapchat again, until I hear word of this problem being looked into/fixed. (I did capture and send them a bug report, but that might be of no help regarding this situation)

 

[DB126]

After factory resetting my phone, I reinstalled everything. BUT, to my surprise, as soon as I installed Snapchat, the same problem BEGAN HAPPENING AGAIN. I used GSAM, expecting to see Snapchat this time. Yet, it still said Android System was hogging the battery.

So I uninstalled Snapchat.

Surprisingly, the problem ceased to exist.

To be sure, I reinstalled Snapchat. The problem appeared. Uninstalled, problem disappeared.


So it appears that a factory reset might not have been necessary, but I'm wondering what aspect of Snapchat was causing the core overload. Regardless, I am never using Snapchat again, until I hear word of this problem being looked into/fixed. (I did capture and send them a bug report, but that might be of no help regarding this situation)

Did you grant permissions (via ADB) to allow GSAM to disambiguate resource consumption on an unrooted device. Try using Greenify to rein in bad app behaviors. Works a treat on rooted devices and *should* be effective on user installed apps if unrooted.

 

[TheNupster]

I'll try that. And yes, despite using my laptop to give GSAM permissions, it only showed Android system as using the power. I'll install Snapchat, see if the problem appears again, open GSAM, and give it some time. I'll also install the other app and set that up too.

Between those two, I should be able to determine if Snapchat is causing this issue; and if so, what part is. (Phone is unrooted, because I don't want to void warranty (Motorola needs to give me the key to root, and I don't want to do THAT just yet) so we'll see what happens)

 

[TheNupster]

Okay. After extensive testing, the phone has finally "cooled down". Snapchat no longer hogs battery, and now I get more battery life than before this problem even began. I wonder if, somehow, somewhere, a system file became corrupted, instead of Snapchat causing the problem...

Whatever the cause, a full system reset forced the loop to break.
Now I'll use Snapchat (and every other app) with caution now... I have a CPU monitoring app running 24/7 (it uses almost no battery)


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