Some ways to diagnose battery drain issues?

**neocryte** · 06-01-2012, 11:54 AM

I am at a loss here.

Some days my battery is great, lasts for several hours of screen use, barely loses any power while sleeping.

And then some days are horrible: today I am at 35% after 6 hours since charge. 40 min of screen on time. I did some browsing this morning, updated a few apps from the Google Play store, and played Samurai Vengeance for about 20 mins. That's it, the rest of the time the phone has been idle.

I have tried the ICS native Battery app, GO Power Master, and BetterBatteryStats to try and diagnose what's going on - and I don't see anything unusual in any of these. Maybe I am not looking for something correctly...

Any ideas on what I could do? I keep trying to exchange my unit, but the AT&T stores are all out of them... and my 30 days are up tomorrow.

**neocryte** · 06-01-2012, 11:56 AM

Just dropped another 4% while sitting idle next to me - in the time it took me to type up the above msg on my desktop.

**neocryte** · 06-01-2012, 02:22 PM

When I plugged the phone in to charge (using the HTC original 1 amp charger), I got the message: "your phone is using more power than it's getting from the charger" - or something to that respect. Just wish I could find what's causing this...

**drad** · 06-01-2012, 05:18 PM

I was having similar battery issues last week. Did a (painful) hard reset 3 days ago and battery life has been fantastic since.

Like you, I was never able to pinpoint a problem, rouge app, whatever. But things are much better now.

No way to know if this was a problem, but when I first got the phone, I tried and uninstalled many apps. After the hard reset, only installed the apps I really liked. Maybe there was a bad app in the bunch, or maybe the installs and uninstalls left bad code behind that was getting in the way (disclaimer - I know nothing about how mobile OSs work)?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

**adamtalife** · 06-01-2012, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by neocryte

When I plugged the phone in to charge (using the HTC original 1 amp charger), I got the message: "your phone is using more power than it's getting from the charger" - or something to that respect. Just wish I could find what's causing this...

Can't tell ya what the issue is, but all I know is if you're experiencing dramatic battery drain while it's sleeping, do a reset. There's been thoughts of a rogue app mentioned before. Honestly wouldn't hurt to reset your phone everyday. I reset once every day or 2 and haven't noticed any extreme battery loss.

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**Mr. Shah** · 06-01-2012, 06:44 PM

Try doing a hard reset, its painful losing all your apps, but it's worth it for the battery life you get. I can pretty easily go an entire day with screen time around 2.5 hours, while streaming music for about 3 hours.

**neocryte** · 06-01-2012, 10:11 PM

Thing is, I did a reset about a week after I got the phone. I also installed and uninstalled a bunch of apps first, and then noticed weird battery stuff. So I did the hard reset, and only installed the apps I really wanted. It worked great at first... and here we are now.

Here's the thing - if it's a software issue (i.e. "rogue" process), why can't I see that process taking up a ton of power in any battery monitoring app?

**icebike** · 06-02-2012, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by neocryte

When I plugged the phone in to charge (using the HTC original 1 amp charger), I got the message: "your phone is using more power than it's getting from the charger" - or something to that respect. Just wish I could find what's causing this...

Maybe running all those battery apps?

Really, they do take power just to measure power, especially if running as widgets.
Most of those apps don't report the power they use themselves. If more than one of them is asking the battery controller to measure battery power, they increase the drain. Battery power is measured by asking the battery controller to induce a high load for a short duration and measure the drop in voltage that results. Do this too much and you drain your battery just trying to measure it.

Uninstall all of them, leaving just the system one.

Check your screen brightness (auto works well).

**oldmanjenkins** · 06-02-2012, 02:35 PM

Conditioning my battery is what helped me. I let it drain completely before I charged back up. I got rid of the app killer program and I am getting 14 hours plus with moderate use and about 8-10 with moderate heavy use with lte.

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**neocryte** · 06-02-2012, 03:02 PM

icebike - I hear ya, but I got these diagnostic programs only after I started seeing these problems. Screen is always at 35% brightness, no auto.

jenkins - tried draining my battery like that as well, several times even.

Sadness.

**oldmanjenkins** · 06-02-2012, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by neocryte

icebike - I hear ya, but I got these diagnostic programs only after I started seeing these problems. Screen is always at 35% brightness, no auto.

jenkins - tried draining my battery like that as well, several times even.

Sadness.

Do you have any app killers running in the background?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

**kkapoorr** · 06-03-2012, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by PhonoRoboto

I was having similar battery issues last week. Did a (painful) hard reset 3 days ago and battery life has been fantastic since.

Like you, I was never able to pinpoint a problem, rouge app, whatever. But things are much better now.

No way to know if this was a problem, but when I first got the phone, I tried and uninstalled many apps. After the hard reset, only installed the apps I really liked. Maybe there was a bad app in the bunch, or maybe the installs and uninstalls left bad code behind that was getting in the way (disclaimer - I know nothing about how mobile OSs work)?

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

What's a hard reset? How to do that?

Sent from my International HTC One X.

**prissysox** · 06-03-2012, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by kritin kapoor

What's a hard reset? How to do that?

Sent from my International HTC One X.

You do a hard reset by inserting a small pin (consider the micro sim removal tool) into the hole on top of the phone across from the power button

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

**kkapoorr** · 06-03-2012, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by prissysox

You do a hard reset by inserting a small pin (consider the micro sim removal tool) into the hole on top of the phone across from the power button

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

What does that result in? How does my phone change internally?

Sent from my International HTC One X.

**icebike** · 06-03-2012, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by prissysox

You do a hard reset by inserting a small pin (consider the micro sim removal tool) into the hole on top of the phone across from the power button

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

THIS IS STUPID. Don't do this.

How would damaging your noise canceling microphone reset the phone?

Sent from my HOX

**drad** · 06-03-2012, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by kritin kapoor

What's a hard reset? How to do that?

Sent from my International HTC One X.

a hard reset is just another name for restoring the phone to the factory defaults. to do it you go to settings > storage > factory data reset.

I do not know it the other method mentioned here works, but I would not be comfortable trying it given there is a way to do it from the phones UI.

This will erase all of the stuff on your phone, and return it to the state it was in when you opened the box. you will need to re-install your apps (that's not really a pain, Google Play Store remembers your apps), and you will need to re-personalize (settings, tweaks, widgets, etc....). be sure to back up photos, music, etc. (anything that does not automatically sync with some sort of cloud service) first.

**kkapoorr** · 06-03-2012, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by PhonoRoboto

a hard reset is just another name for restoring the phone to the factory defaults. to do it you go to settings > storage > factory data reset.

I do not know it the other method mentioned here works, but I would not be comfortable trying it given there is a way to do it from the phones UI.

This will erase all of the stuff on your phone, and return it to the state it was in when you opened the box. you will need to re-install your apps (that's not really a pain, Google Play Store remembers your apps), and you will need to re-personalize (settings, tweaks, widgets, etc....). be sure to back up photos, music, etc. (anything that does not automatically sync with some sort of cloud service) first.

Alright, thanks!

Sent from my International HTC One X.

**furygoalbrtis39** · 06-03-2012, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by prissysox

You do a hard reset by inserting a small pin (consider the micro sim removal tool) into the hole on top of the phone across from the power button

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Thats the secondary microphone!!!!
DO NOT DO THAT

**neocryte** · 06-06-2012, 08:42 AM

Awesome, my battery is draining again at like 5% per 5 minutes. And again none of my battery monitoring apps are reporting anything weird...

**Kevin O'Quinn** · 06-06-2012, 09:11 AM

Does it do it after a restart? Just a regular restart. Not the kind that would totally destroy your noise cancelling mic, or erase all your apps.

**neocryte** · 06-06-2012, 12:56 PM

Restart fixes it. The problem is that it drains with the screen off (i.e. while idle), so it's hard to detect - you pick up your phone and boom, 15% battery left all of a sudden.

I just exchanged my phone (AT&T next to me finally got the white one in stock). Will keeps you guys posted if I see the issue on the new device (it is also running 1.85 vs 1.73 on my older one).

**krimzonskies** · 06-06-2012, 10:42 PM

i've got the international version and so far i've done a full factory reset 3 times now and as soon as i get all the apps that i use and accounts setup i get absolute crap for battery life, won't last past 4 hours of usage.

completely at a loss for this phone right now, will probably be returning it.

**neocryte** · 06-07-2012, 06:54 AM

krimzon - but the battery life is good before you install the apps? Maybe something you're installing is causing a battery drain. It also be coincidental, as my issue seemed to be.

Try exchanging your device. I did that yesterday, seems to be OK for now, although I really need a few weeks to make sure that battery issue doesn't pop up again.

**krimzonskies** · 06-07-2012, 01:52 PM

i bought mine unlocked and may not be able to exchange it or return it without getting docked for a restocking fee, i've already switched back to my 9900 for the time being. the company i bought the phone from wants 30 days to test the phone before proceeding with a refund or exchange.

**neocryte** · 06-08-2012, 10:10 AM

I don't know what to do at this point. My newly exchanged phone has the same exact battery issue. Was great yesterday and overnight - and then something happened this morning, see attached picture.