Phone won't charge

[Sofiboy]

I've got a Wiko Highway.

First I had some problems, I needed to move my cable so my phone could charge. But now nothing works, I've tried different chargers, cleaned the usb port and nothing works.

But when I connect my phone to my computer I get an error message it causes an failure.
Is there somthing DIY that I could do to fix this?

 

[Indoler]

I've got a Wiko Highway.

First I had some problems, I needed to move my cable so my phone could charge.

Sounds like your male (micro) USB connectors were bent or worn out so that proper contact could not be made.

But now nothing works, I've tried different chargers, cleaned the usb port and nothing works.

But when I connect my phone to my computer I get an error message it causes an failure.

Chances are you wiggled the USB connector(s) so much so often to make contact that now the female side – in your phone – has been bent so much out of shape that contact – = charging – cannot be established at all anymore.

If so then there's nothing you can DIY to improve the situation. The phone would need to be repaired by pros.

 

[Mooncatt]

It also could have been the wires inside the cable going bad (pretty common problem). I don't know if I'd go so far as to say your wiggling bent the port connectors, though. I've had some ports get fairly loose over time but they still worked. My first thought is the excess wiggling just finished off the break in one or more of the internal wires.

I know you said you tried different chargers, but you didn't say if you tried different cables with them. If not, try a new one and see how that works. If it does, there's places like Mono Price and My Cable Mart online that sell them dirt cheap. You may want to buy some spares and stock up. In my experience, there doesn't seem to be much difference in durability between those cheap cables and the expensive ones you see in stores. At least not worth the price difference.

 

[Sofiboy]

I know you said you tried different chargers, but you didn't say if you tried different cables with them. If not, try a new one and see how that works.

Thanks, but I've tried it but it didn't work. I'll just give my phone to pros tomorrow

 

[Rukbat]

There's one definitive problem when the phone only charges if you wiggle the cable - the microUSB connector in the phone has become disconnected from the board it's soldered to. (The same thing happens in laptops.) When you wiggle the cable you move the connector, so the badly soldered pin makes contact with the board. The problem is that each time you make and break a contact you make a spark. Eventually, that spark carbonizes the board, so that in addition to resoldering the pin, you need a new board. If the particular phone model has the connector soldered to a little "carrier" board, it's not to expensive to replace (some connectors already soldered to the carrier board are less than $5), but if the connector is soldered directly to the motherboard, you need a new motherboard, and that can get very expensive.

So at the first sign of "it won't charge unless I wiggle the cable", get it fixed, phone or laptop. It's a lot cheaper to pay to have a pin soldered (a good shop will remove the connector, clean the board and resolder all the pins) than to pay for a new motherboard.

 

[Indoler]

there's places like Mono Price and My Cable Mart online that sell them dirt cheap.

In my book 'dirt cheap' equals low quality. Hence the odds at wiring breaking or connectors bending increase a lot, imo. I don't think I would want to run that risk a second time.

 

[Mooncatt]

In my book 'dirt cheap' equals low quality. Hence the odds at wiring breaking or connectors bending increase a lot, imo. I don't think I would want to run that risk a second time.

As I said later in my post, that has been my experience. When I got my first smartphone and made the jump from traditional to USB charging, I started having cables go bad right and left. Sometimes in a month, and lucky if I got 6 months use out of one. I tried name brand, "heavy duty", and generic. They all seemed to fail at about the same rate, and always right behind the male micro-USB plug. So I said the heck with it and started buying them from My Cable Mart in small bulk batches (for quantity discounts). Even if they didn't last as long, it was still cheaper in the long run. Oddly enough, it was one of those cheapies that lasted the longest of any cable I've used, at about a year's life.

 

[andrew pearson3]

My phone would charge either with any cable % kept going down. had it charge all day and stayed at 16%. All i had to do was take out the battery and every thing was fine.