[AC Question]

My Samsung Galaxy S3 mini won´t go into power saving mode. In stead it seems to "reload" itself after 30 seconds of no activity. As a result, the screen is constantly turned on. I´ve checked the setting for screen power saving, changed the time for screen saving, I´ve restarted it, turned it on and off, etc. This device is consuming the battery like an animal! Any one with an idea what to do?!

[UJ95x]

Welcome to AC
Does the battery only drain excessively when in use? Could you post a screenshot of your battery stats?

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.4

[birnatta]

Hello mr AC Ambassador
The battery seems to drain regardless of whether the phone is in use or not. It is as if the screen is constantly turned on. When the phone had not been used for, say 30 seconds, it would automatically switch into a screen saver / power saving mode, and the screen would go black. But now the phone seems to be stuck in a "loop", - behaving as if it had been activated by my finger. It is constantly "on", and seriously drains the battery. ;-/ I took some screen shots. Two of them show the funny icon that pops up just before the power saving mode should be kicking in (the icon looks like an eye with big eyelashes - or a sweating alarmclock...)
Best regards, birnatta

[birnatta]

Hi there.
These are the screenshots that I wanted to send. ;-]

birnatta

[UJ95x]

Yikes, that's pretty bad. Seems like your device has a lot of wake locks which are draining the battery. Have you tried rebooting the device since the drain started?
That icon is SmartStay or SmartScroll. You should be able to turn those all off in the settings if you're not using them.

[birnatta]

Yes, I have rebooted the phone, I´ve "ironed" it back to factory mode. It made no difference.
Is this a hardware or a software problem?
I try to save the battery by tuning the brightness of the screen down to the lowest, - and yet my phone will not be able to go through the day.

birnatta
;-(

[UJ95x]

Yes, I have rebooted the phone, I´ve "ironed" it back to factory mode. It made no difference.
Is this a hardware or a software problem?
I try to save the battery by tuning the brightness of the screen down to the lowest, - and yet my phone will not be able to go through the day.

birnatta
;-(

Sorry for the late reply. Have been busy lately.
Anyway... Have you tried booting into safe mode? With the phone off, hold the power button like you're turning it on normally, but place you finger where the menu button should be. That will run your phone without any third party apps so you can see if any apps you downloaded are culprits.

[birnatta]

Hi Mr Ambassador
I´ve booted the phone into safe mode and back again, and it did not change the function of the phone; the screen is constantly turned on - and using a lot of energy. I deleted an app that I downloaded recently, before the malfunction.
Question 1: How can I "see" if an downloaded (third party) app is a culprit?
Question 2: Since the problem persist, is this then a system or hardware problem?

birnatta

[birnatta]

Hi again.
I read your first respond to me and came across the word wake lock, so I googled it and came up with an app that is a Wakelock Detector in google play. After installation of the software I found out that my Messenger seems to be a major wakeup trigger. Should I uninstall it?

birnatta

[birnatta]

Here is a screen shot from the Wakelock Detector

[UJ95x]

Here is a screen shot from the Wakelock Detector

Sorry again for the late reply. It does look like Messenger is the culprit. It's worth clearing cache for that app and uninstalling + reinstalling again to see if it fixes your issue