Droid (A855) won't power up - at all. Interesting case..

[paintba11er89]

Hey all,

I'm trying to fix my friend's phone for them (Motorola Droid (w/ slide out keyboard)). I looked around the forum, and while there are threads similar to mine, it doesn't seem like I can find anyone with the same exact problem - so I made my own thread. This is how they described their problem to me:

I plugged the phone in one night, and when I woke up, it just wouldn't turn on.

I figured it had to be something simple (i.e. she didn't have the charger plugged completely in, and the phone died while she was sleeping, and then she just wasn't able to get it to charge again). But this issue is proving to be a tad more complicated.

She doesn't have a warranty on the phone, and I don't think she wants to buy a new battery (although, that may in fact solve her problems). This is kind of like a puzzle for me, so I'd like to figure it out.

When I first got her phone, I re-sat the battery and plugged it into the wall. I noticed that the little charge light next to the plug was blinking (not solid, but blinking), so I knew that her phone wasn't completely shot (there isn't any water damage, all indicators are dry). After a few minutes, the light would stop blinking. I left the phone on the charger for a few hours just to be thorough, but as I had suspected, the phone did not turn on at any time during the "charging", nor would it turn on after. After that didn't work, I decided to plug it into the computer, to see if I'd get different results. When I plugged the phone into the computer, the charging light was solid instead of blinking. I left the phone on the computer to charge for over 12 hours, but unfortunately, it still does not turn on (nor has turned on) either during or after charging.

Here are a few facts:
-Only light that comes on is the charging light, no keyboard lights come on at all.
-When I take the battery out, but have the phone still plugged in, the charging light blinks. I'm assuming that means it isn't charging.
-Phone will not power on either into normal operation, or into recovery mode.
-Unable to do a hard reset.
-When the phone is plugged into the computer with a solid light, and I press or tap the power button, the computer makes a sound that it recognizes a new device is plugged in, but cannot install the necessary drivers, and I don't see the device under "Computer".
-Re-sat the battery multiple times, is not helping.

Suggestions on where to go from here? I don't like not being able to fix things, there has to be a way to get this thing working, or at least in bootable stage.

 

[crazins]

need more info... if your trying to reboot it into recovery i assume you have one and probably rooted it. as far as what its doing? it seems like it may be the battery. if she bought the phone within one year and she didnt get it wet (check to see if there are little red x's on a white background in the battery compartment (thats a good sign)) and it shows no signs of being dropped, i.e. major scratches, dents, cracks then they will replace it for free! but if they determine its your falt from water or dropping it, then they charge you full retail. id say your best bet is buy a new battery, theyre pretty cheap, and if that doesn't work then send it in. honestly though it sounds to me like you bricked the phone. its been known to happen (albeit extremely rarely) at random.

 

[scarryman04]

If the charge light was blinking its not charging, it should be solid.

 

[Vito2000]

Another way to test the charge in the battery is to boot into boot loader. To do this, with the phone off, open the keyboard, hold the phone in landscape mode and press and hold "up" on the d-pad. Then press the power power button while still pressing up on the d-pad.

Once the phone boots into the boot loader it will either say that the battery is good and the phone is ready to program, or say that you have a low battery and the phone cannot be programed.

I've had my battery run out while trying to get my phone out of a boot loop and there was nothing I could do to recharge my battery with my phone. I had to borrow a battery from my brother's phone and use his phone to charge my battery until I got my problem fixed.

I also wouldn't rule out the charger being part of the problem here. The light blinking while plugged into the charger, but solid while plugged into the computer might indicate that there's an issue with the charger.

I hope that helps.