GF's E4GT battery died, new battery won't charge

[ackthbbft]

Has anyone run into this? She is still running ICS 4.0.4. Her original battery gave out (swollen, drained very fast, wouldn't charge, and would even occasionally beep repeatedly as if continually plugging it in and out). I bought her a new battery, and when I first put it in, it appeared to have about 55-60% on the screen (powered off, just the big battery gauge). I plugged it in to let it charge to full, and the moment she turned it on, it reported only 19% charge. She turned it off completely again and plugged it in, but it never rose above the smallest bar. I moved the battery to my phone (same model, but I'm running JB), and it seems to be charging OK, but I want to see what happens when I let it charge all the way up and turn it on, just to see if the new battery is actually bad).

I just wonder if her device is simply hosed and needs to be replaced.

 

[Uglyfido]

Upgrade her to JB, then get her a new battery. Should solve it. ICS eats batteries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

[Michael Vieux]

Has anyone run into this? She is still running ICS 4.0.4. Her original battery gave out (swollen, drained very fast, wouldn't charge, and would even occasionally beep repeatedly as if continually plugging it in and out). I bought her a new battery, and when I first put it in, it appeared to have about 55-60% on the screen (powered off, just the big battery gauge). I plugged it in to let it charge to full, and the moment she turned it on, it reported only 19% charge. She turned it off completely again and plugged it in, but it never rose above the smallest bar. I moved the battery to my phone (same model, but I'm running JB), and it seems to be charging OK, but I want to see what happens when I let it charge all the way up and turn it on, just to see if the new battery is actually bad).

I just wonder if her device is simply hosed and needs to be replaced.

Plug her phone into your charger, maybe it's her charger or usb cable .
Check her phone for apps automatically syncing/updating in the background.
Facebook
Twitter
Etc.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ackthbbft]

It's not her charger. I tried 3 different chargers, and it will look like it is charging, then a moment later the lightning bolt in the battery icon disappears (indicating it is not charging). I've delved into her battery usage settings, and apps are also only autoupdating when connected to Wifi (which takes less power), she doesn't have many apps installed, and autosync is also disabled. I did turn down her screen brightness, as well. Just this afternoon, she was gone for only about 3 hours and her battery dropped to 30% (charged it in my phone before she left), only used it for GPS nav to get to a party only about 25 minutes away.

I had really bad battery issues before replacing my battery and updating to JB. I'm just worried that the problem with her phone is physical and not related to the OS. She already hates the phone now, and I'm sure she won't want to spend $99 to have it replaced/repaired under the service plan. I also seem to remember that when I updated to JB I had to wipe my phone as per a factory reset, and she won't like losing her photos and Temple Run 2 progress!

 

[Michael Vieux]

Get a free Google Drive account (15gb free) and upload all her photos before she loses them.

Sounds like the USB port may be loose. Does the indicator show it's charging and stopping when you wiggle the cable when it's plugged in?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ackthbbft]

Get a free Google Drive account (15gb free) and upload all her photos before she loses them.

Sounds like the USB port may be loose. Does the indicator show it's charging and stopping when you wiggle the cable when it's plugged in?

Posted via Android Central App

That would not be good. If the problem is the USB port, then I'll probably have a hard time backing up her data and upgrading her to JB (since Sprint wouldn't do it as an OTA update, the bastards).

 

[Uglyfido]

I said it before in this same thread, and I'll say it again, ICS is your problem. Upgrade her to JB, get her a new battery and never look back. The factory reset after upgrade isn't necessary. It's recommended, especially if any problems show up, but it's certainly not required.

 

[ackthbbft]

I said it before in this same thread, and I'll say it again, ICS is your problem. Upgrade her to JB, get her a new battery and never look back. The factory reset after upgrade isn't necessary. It's recommended, especially if any problems show up, but it's certainly not required.

I don't doubt that ICS is one of her problems (it did fix my battery issues a few months ago), but I think I've confirmed the USB port is indeed loose. I put my freshly-charged battery into her phone this morning, and experienced 2 things:

1. After a few minutes, and the battery reporting 96%, I plugged in a charger and after only a few moments the phone said it was fully charged and 100%. Removing the charger suddenly dropped it to 96% again. That does seem to be an odd OS issue.
2. While testing things with the charger, I was able to "wiggle" it a bit and make the charging icon turn on and off, indicating a loose connector. This also explains the odd repeated beeping she experienced with it, making the sound of connecting a charger over and over (particularly while playing Temple Run 2, since the movements probably wiggled the connector a bit, and that was using a different charger than the one I just tested, and I've tried 3 different chargers previously with similar results, so I'm sure the issue is the port, not the charger plug.)

I wonder if Sprint's repair techs can even fix something like that, or if it means getting a replacement phone.

 

[Hawaiian_Geek]

Sprint will probably get a replacement phone from Samsung.

 

[Jacob Banda]

I said it before in this same thread, and I'll say it again, ICS is your problem. Upgrade her to JB, get her a new battery and never look back. The factory reset after upgrade isn't necessary. It's recommended, especially if any problems show up, but it's certainly not required.

It's not just ICS. I had the s2 since it came out, and didn't have a battery issue until AFTER I manually updated my phone to jelly bean. It's taking FOREVER for the battery to charge. I've left it alone for up to 12 hours now, and it's barely at 83%. I can't trust the battery level indicator though, because the phone will drop to a ridiculously low percentage after a few minutes. Also, the screen flickers and loses ALL signal, showing the no signal icon instead of bars. My sister has the exact same problem. And the other day I tried using my phone while it was charging, and the battery level began to drop!!! That has NEVER been an issue for me. The phone is overheating during these cases. Hot to the touch. Its discharging as we speak, and all I'm doing is responding to this post while its hooked up. I do get the erratic battery sound beeping/vibrations as if the phone is being plugged in/disconnected. NOT a faulty adapter, USB cable, or USB port. I have tested the cable and adapter with other phones, and the phone is NOT being moved. I know ICS had a history of eating batteries, but upgrading to jelly bean is NOT the solution.

 

[Uglyfido]

It's not just ICS. I had the s2 since it came out, and didn't have a battery issue until AFTER I manually updated my phone to jelly bean. It's taking FOREVER for the battery to charge. I've left it alone for up to 12 hours now, and it's barely at 83%. I can't trust the battery level indicator though, because the phone will drop to a ridiculously low percentage after a few minutes. Also, the screen flickers and loses ALL signal, showing the no signal icon instead of bars. My sister has the exact same problem. And the other day I tried using my phone while it was charging, and the battery level began to drop!!! That has NEVER been an issue for me. The phone is overheating during these cases. Hot to the touch. Its discharging as we speak, and all I'm doing is responding to this post while its hooked up. I do get the erratic battery sound beeping/vibrations as if the phone is being plugged in/disconnected. NOT a faulty adapter, USB cable, or USB port. I have tested the cable and adapter with other phones, and the phone is NOT being moved. I know ICS had a history of eating batteries, but upgrading to jelly bean is NOT the solution.

It is ICS. ICS fried your battery, and now it's toast and most likely swollen. I bet if you took it out, put it on a table, and then gave it a spin, it would spin for days. Now, if you had upgraded to JB, and then gotten a new battery, these problems would not be there. The upgrade is the beginning of the solution. In the OP's case, he already had a new battery, so the upgrade was missing. In your case, the new battery is missing.