Thunderbolt won't start up

[dvorak]

Ok so i've had a thunderbolt for a while, can't exactly remember how long, but me and the GF went to the verizon store and did a big switcharoo. We used her upgrade to get a Rezound and then swapped phones basically, so she has a Tbolt and i have a Rezound. Now all of a sudden the Tbolt randomly got stuck in a boot loop (from the HTC Quietly Brilliant screen to the Thunderbolt screen). This was in the middle of the night and we woke up to it doing that, so who knows how long it was doing it. So i yanked the battery and it boots up normally, but later she tells me it started doing it again. So i booted into recovery and cleared the cache to see if that would help. Well now it seems like it just shut off and won't turn on. Even when plugged in, the charging light won't go on. I even pulled the battery for a few minutes but it still won't turn on.

 

[Alma]

My Tbolt is having a similar problem today. I happened to glance over at it and noticed that both the charging light and screen were off.

I tried several times to hold down the power button for about minute with no response and finally pulled the battery for a couple of minutes, but the phone still failed to turn on.

The battery discharged from 100% to about 29% in less than an hour of just web browsing a couple of days ago, and I wondered then if it was dying ... so now I know.

Fortunately, there is a Verizon store a couple of blocks from here, so I should be able to get a new battery, but have no idea of the price. :-$

RadioShack is advertising a Digital Energy Battery/Charger Combo for the Thunderbolt, so I might check that out this evening.

 

[Alma]

Good news: I spoke with a Verizon rep who said the battery is covered under the one-year warranty, so just bring it in and they will test it. If the battery is defective, they will replace it for free.

Bad news: My phone is rooted! :-\

 

[dvorak]

Good news: I spoke with a Verizon rep who said the battery is covered under the one-year warranty, so just bring it in and they will test it. If the battery is defective, they will replace it for free.

Bad news: My phone is rooted! :-\

Our Tbolt is rooted too, I also don't believe it's the battery. I tried my Rezound's battery in the Tbolt and it still wouldn't work. (I've heard that the rezound battery works in the Tbolt, when we got the Rezound even the Verizon rep said so too.)

 

[katnapper]

Our Tbolt is rooted too, I also don't believe it's the battery. I tried my Rezound's battery in the Tbolt and it still wouldn't work. (I've heard that the rezound battery works in the Tbolt, when we got the Rezound even the Verizon rep said so too.)

If your phone is rooted, you could try booting into recovery. If you get to recovery, try a data, cache and battery stats wipe. Hopefully you also use something like Titanium Backup or all your data is lost. If that works, I would possibly think about reinstalling the Rom you're using or download it again to reinstall it.

If you can get into recovery but the wipe doesn't work and you're still stuck in the loop you can download a rom using your computer and then transfer the rom to your SD using the SD reader on your computer.

Just a couple suggestions. I had a similar problem with mine once from a bad Rom install. Hope it helps.

 

[Alma]

Our Tbolt is rooted too, I also don't believe it's the battery.

You were right about it not being the battery.

Last night I purchased the Digital Energy Battery/Charger Combo from RadioShack and charged the original/stock Tbolt battery with the charger. After about a half hour, I put the original/stock battery back into the Tbolt and it booted up with no problem.

I have no idea what caused the problem earlier, but at least I have a spare battery and charger now.

 

[defcon999]

You were right about it not being the battery.

Last night I purchased the Digital Energy Battery/Charger Combo from RadioShack and charged the original/stock Tbolt battery with the charger. After about a half hour, I put the original/stock battery back into the Tbolt and it booted up with no problem.

I have no idea what caused the problem earlier, but at least I have a spare battery and charger now.

You said something interesting....."STOCK BATTERY". Did you by chance where using an AFTERMARKET battery that didn't come from Verizon or a OEM battery?. I say this because I tried the extended battery and cover that I bought on eBay for $18.00 (first red flag). The battery lasted a little longer but the cover KILLED the signal and was rendered useless.

So, if you where using a aftermarket one, then I bet more than likelt that could have been your issue.

 

[dvorak]

If your phone is rooted, you could try booting into recovery. If you get to recovery, try a data, cache and battery stats wipe. Hopefully you also use something like Titanium Backup or all your data is lost. If that works, I would possibly think about reinstalling the Rom you're using or download it again to reinstall it.

If you can get into recovery but the wipe doesn't work and you're still stuck in the loop you can download a rom using your computer and then transfer the rom to your SD using the SD reader on your computer.

Just a couple suggestions. I had a similar problem with mine once from a bad Rom install. Hope it helps.

Well i can't get into recover because the phone won't even turn on! The charging light doesn't even come on when plugged in.

 

[Alma]

You said something interesting....."STOCK BATTERY". Did you by chance where using an AFTERMARKET battery that didn't come from Verizon or a OEM battery?. I say this because I tried the extended battery and cover that I bought on eBay for $18.00 (first red flag). The battery lasted a little longer but the cover KILLED the signal and was rendered useless.

So, if you where using a aftermarket one, then I bet more than likelt that could have been your issue.

By "stock" I meant the original battery that came with the phone when I bought it from the local Verizon store.

Again, the problem is not the battery because it is working perfectly now. It was at 75% after 30 minutes of charge with the desktop USB charger, so it could not have been drained when the phoned failed to turn on.