[Help][50% SOLVED] LTE = random heavy battery drain aka "plummet"

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Screenshots of normal conditions before the plummet, for comparison's sake.

 

[eagle63]

I don't know if you're rooted or not, but I found this thread over at xda when my phone was getting really hot.
[Q] what is Gsiff_daemon and why is it destroying my battery? - xda-developers

Seems like there's a system process that's draining the phone, doesn't seem to be specifically app related, possibly something to do with the motion sensors or GPS. Unfortunately, doesn't really look like there's a firm solution (other than rebooting/ returning the phone) but I'm sure if anyone can find a solution, it's those guys.

Good luck!

This one has hit me a few times and I wouldn't be surprised if it's causing the op's battery drain. You need to get a good monitoring app like "System" to get a fine grained look at what services and processes are taking cpu time.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Vengeful]

Well after 5 days of it being stable it happened again.

Forgot to post the temp.

The temp seems to rise when the plummet begins. No clue

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

 

[LeafsNSox]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

So after deleting multiple apps (SongPop; TuneInRadio) my Media Server usage doesn't even register on the battery. However, the last few days I have noticed that my Exchange Services are chewing through my battery and taking upwards of 30%.

I absolutely need my work e-mail and calendar to sync as my job is dependent on both. I did notice before this battery drain occurred I kept getting I got security notifications from Exchange saying it needed to update. Not sure if this battery drain is because of this or not, but would love any input possible!

 

[brava27]

Switch network mode from LTE to HSPA only. Saves me tons of battery life

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Android Central Forums

 

[Vengeful]

Switch network mode from LTE to HSPA only. Saves me tons of battery life

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Android Central Forums

I get a good 8 to 12hrs use on lte, it's not the problem.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

 

[MBSMD]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Is this only occurring to people using GSM (AT&T/T-Mobile) phones? Perhaps this is a GSM/HPDA/LTE handoff issue. It must be related to the radio.

Anyone with the same problem using a Verizon or Sprint CDMA/LTE version?

 

[eagle63]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

The temp seems to rise when the plummet begins. No clue

It has to be an Android system process that is chewing up lots of CPU. That will cause the temp to rise and your battery to drain. As I stated earlier, I'm a fan of an app called "System" which has very fine-grained detail on how much cpu individual processes (even system processes) are taking up.

This is how I uncovered my battery drain issue which turned out to be the "Gsiff_daemon" process. (see earlier post linking to a discussion on XDA about it) When I noticed my battery dropping suddenly, I fire up the app and turn on monitoring. Let it sit for a couple of hours and then analyze what it found.

 

[jay_g]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Mines been good for the last few days, knock on wood. Funny thing is once I installed GSAM battery monitor its been great. It's like the phone knows and is behaving at the moment.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

I think I'm giving up on troubleshooting this. It's ruining my enjoyment of the phone as I constantly avoid using it to not effect the battery analysis results.

I think it's easier, at this point, to just reboot the phone when I wake up each morning and hope a future update fixes it.

The only idea I have left is to do a factory wipe and use the phone for up to a week with no apps installed...but that just sucks!

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

And now I don't know what to do. I rebooted at 9am this morning and the plummet started at 7pm tonight. So much for just rebooting once a day and forgetting about it...

 

[parshah11]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

So I am noticing this exact problem too. Same as Jefreii. The seemingly "random" triggers that cause way excessive battery drain, with LTE, Wifi, GPS, Sync, phone, screen off, and disabled Google+, very close to stock apps. Already exchanged device and changed SIM card.

Besides these random drains, I feel the battery life is excellent. Not an expert but really want to figure out.

1) Are only people who are in LTE locations with AT&T experiencing this? I am currently looking into if the phone is triggered only when network is LTE and bad signal. (not LTE data radio on, but just phone). Under Settings->About Device->Status->Network
Sitting at work right now and the network changed from HSPA:11 to LTE:14, and temp just went up and battery will start to drain. Again, with 4G LTE data radio off.

2) Does anybody have any good workarounds -> Currently I have my phone alarming when Temp > 30. Does Tasker or any other app allow automatic reboot based on temperature trigger. Otherwise was thinking of automatic airplane mode when Temp > 31 or something, and cycling in and out of airplane mode until I can reboot manually.

Thanks.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

So I am noticing this exact problem too. Same as Jefreii. The seemingly "random" triggers that cause way excessive battery drain, with LTE, Wifi, GPS, Sync, phone, screen off, and disabled Google+, very close to stock apps. Already exchanged device and changed SIM card.

Besides these random drains, I feel the battery life is excellent. Not an expert but really want to figure out.

1) Are only people who are in LTE locations with AT&T experiencing this? I am currently looking into if the phone is triggered only when network is LTE and bad signal. (not LTE data radio on, but just phone). Under Settings->About Device->Status->Network
Sitting at work right now and the network changed from HSPA:11 to LTE:14, and temp just went up and battery will start to drain. Again, with 4G LTE data radio off.

2) Does anybody have any good workarounds -> Currently I have my phone alarming when Temp > 30. Does Tasker or any other app allow automatic reboot based on temperature trigger. Otherwise was thinking of automatic airplane mode when Temp > 31 or something, and cycling in and out of airplane mode until I can reboot manually.

Thanks.

I would definitely be interested in seeing if this issue is AT&T only...or LTE only...etc...but my thread here and on XDA only have a dozen or so people reporting the same issue...and some of them have it slightly different. So it's hard to get a decent sample size...

I don't really want an app to be rebooting my phone randomly but if something could notify me when battery drain > x/hour or something that would help me catch it early.

I do think I'm going to suck it up and factory wipe for a 3rd time...and use it for a week or so without any apps installed - totally stock - to see if it still happens...

 

[eagle63]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

@jeffreii, @parsha11

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record (I've said this 3 times now I think), but you need to use a monitoring app that will break down android system processes for you to see what's causing the drain. Have you tried that yet?

If you're confident it's not a weak signal issue, then it's gotta be a process that's grabbing lots of cpu. You need to find out what process that is.

@jeffreii
Maybe you mentioned this already and I missed it, but why haven't you just returned your phone? If a factory reset doesn't fix it, then for pete's sake return the phone and have AT&T give you a new one.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

@jeffreii, @parsha11

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record (I've said this 3 times now I think), but you need to use a monitoring app that will break down android system processes for you to see what's causing the drain. Have you tried that yet?

If you're confident it's not a weak signal issue, then it's gotta be a process that's grabbing lots of cpu. You need to find out what process that is.

@jeffreii
Maybe you mentioned this already and I missed it, but why haven't you just returned your phone? If a factory reset doesn't fix it, then for pete's sake return the phone and have AT&T give you a new one.

Thanks minsc but I've already exchanged the device (see post #1) and have posted my Better Battery Stats logs/screenshots as well as GSAM Battery Monitor screenshots extensively in this thread. If you can take a look and find anything please let me know but please read my posts first as I have done a ton of troubleshooting/logging/tests.

Thanks again!

BTW before I try a 3rd factory reset and use it with no apps installed, I am trying one last scenario. I turned off wifi and rebooted. I will not enable wifi again until I see the plummet occur again, at which point it's factory reset time.

 

[parshah11]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

So MBSMD mentioned something earlier that might make sense...handoff between 2 networks (HSPA and LTE). I noticed my battery heating up and battery drain starting and would check the network every once in awhile and it was LTE, then would randomly stop draining and was HSPA:14. Not the data, but the phone network. So I set up another APN "wap.cingular", under Settings->Other Settings->Mobile Network, which is AT&T HSPA network. Which in theory AT&T doesn't let you switch but it worked for me...when I turn on data now it is 4G, not 4G LTE and speeds are slower. Also, when I look under device info->mobile network it consistently says HSPA:13, not LTE:11.
So when I manually switch networks, I notice phone heating up and GSAM says battery draining fast.
I also found something online about how Verizon Samsung S3 allows you to choose your network, and how their handoffs are very inefficient. So they suggested downloading app Phone Info and setting to a specific network (CDMA only I think). Can't find the post again, but was there. Using GSAM they have a way to change to GSM only, but it changes right back to LTE/WCDMA/GSM (default) as soon as you exit the screen. I suspect this is AT&T. However, creating a new APN did allow me to switch to HSPA.

I am going to try to work a few days in HSPA and see if random battery drains occur.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

A glimmer of hope:

International Galaxy S3 gets OTA update with new baseband | Android Central

Perhaps there's a fix for this in that update...and we can cross our fingers and hope it gets approved by AT&T in the near future. If it is a radio problem, that usually gets handled a lot faster than just minor bug fixes and improvements.

 

[eagle63]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Thanks minsc but I've already exchanged the device (see post #1) and have posted my Better Battery Stats logs/screenshots as well as GSAM Battery Monitor screenshots extensively in this thread. If you can take a look and find anything please let me know but please read my posts first as I have done a ton of troubleshooting/logging/tests.

Thanks again!

BTW before I try a 3rd factory reset and use it with no apps installed, I am trying one last scenario. I turned off wifi and rebooted. I will not enable wifi again until I see the plummet occur again, at which point it's factory reset time.

Yes I saw your screenshots but it looked they just lumped all the system processes together as "Android System". You need a way to get some clarity into specifically what the CPU time is for each of those system-level processes. Maybe the apps your using will give that level of detail, but based on the screenshots you posted I couldn't tell. Again, I'm a fan of the app "System" which will usually give you the breakdown of specific system processes. It's not free, but I don't think it's too expensive. Might be worth it if leads you to the culprit.

As you are speculating, it could be a radio problem too. Either way your're in tough shape I'm afraid. I would exchange it again; if for no other reason than AT&T has proof of the issues your having. No one should have to be putting up with issues like this on a phone that's under warranty. Have you considered a switch to the One X? Not that I'm encouraging you to throw in the towel, but at some point you need to move on and have a working phone.

 

[jeffreii]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Yes I saw your screenshots but it looked they just lumped all the system processes together as "Android System". You need a way to get some clarity into specifically what the CPU time is for each of those system-level processes. Maybe the apps your using will give that level of detail, but based on the screenshots you posted I couldn't tell.

As you are speculating, it could be a radio problem too. Either way your're in tough shape I'm afraid. I would exchange it again; if for no other reason than AT&T has proof of the issues your having. No one should have to be putting up with issues like this on a phone that's under warranty. Have you considered a switch to the One X? Not that I'm encouraging you to throw in the towel, but at some point you need to move on and have a working phone.

Better Battery Stats digs a little deeper. See the logs (open with Wordpad) in this post:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...tery-drain-occurs-randomly-2.html#post2038448

Considering the OTA for international devices pushed today that includes "radio fixes" ... things may be fixed soon (I hope!). I can't do a store exchange again, I'd have to do the warranty exchange which is more of a pain and I believe I get a refurbished device...

Zero chance of the One X. I can't deal with no MicroSD.

I love this phone and it's working just fine - this battery drain is really just an annoyance, not a major problem in most scenarios. I just have to keep an eye on the battery and reboot it if the plummet starts.

 

[parshah11]

Re: [Help] Unexplained heavy battery drain...occurs randomly

Since since I switched to HSPA so far have not had any random battery drains (10-20%/hr), and have been able to use everything normally (phone, data, wifi, GPS). By now, on LTE, would have definitely had at least one battery drain occur. I will keep on HSPA and write again if I do experience a drain. I really suspect that the battery drain is triggered by the phone trying to change networks from LTE and HSPA and not being able to do so.

Further evidence of this: on a prior xda post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...1791955&page=2), somebody discusses how LTE does not carry voice and AT&T puts you in LTE on standby and then switches to HSPA when a call comes in and then back when you are done. I remember 2-3 battery drains being triggered by a phone call. Other times, when I had bad signal, the network changed from LTE to HSPA also (in Settings->About Device->Status) This could explain the randomness of the drains.
Also, I randomly searched and found some highly technical papers that seemed to say it is hard to negotiate the change. 2G/3G changes are easy, but LTE to 3G/4G is not that easy. Also, when I switch networks manually, through settings and selecting APN, the battery heat up and drain start. So, I do believe that this is the cause, will continue on HSPA to make sure. On HSPA also the standby battery life is incredible (1% overnight -- with sync on, no data)

So I do hope the solution is in the works, really got used to LTE speeds. You can of course, switch to LTE network by going into the settings and changing, but takes 4-5 extra clicks. Hopefully some OTA ROM update, which jeffrei posted previously, or the Voice Over LTE that is hopefully coming (http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-...-VoLTE-392288/) so the phone would not have to constantly change networks with every call.

Other things I don't know -> There are settings on the GSAM app, international versions of the phone, and I believe the Verizon phones in the US, that talk about LTE RAM dumps, enabling SMS over IMS. If anybody knows more about this, or a toggle that works on AT&T that allows quick switching of networks (which I believe AT&T does not actually allow), would be great.

Hope this helps people. To set up new APN...go to Settings->Wireless and Network Settings: More Settings ->MObile Networks->Access Point Names. Then menu button, New APN, and under APN add "wap.cingular" and whatever Name you want. I think I had to wait or reboot after or something.