Phone battey dead?

[Magarnical]

My phone died and when i got home to charge it the red charge light wouldn't turn on and it wont take a charge. What gives?
(And on a side note the charger is making a buzzing noise)
I now have tried a few different chargers like my old S2 charger and an old blackberry charger and nothing....
Don't do this to me Google...
Any ideas?

 

[anon(94115)]

If it will not turn on, all you can do is return it.

 

[Magarnical]

That was all i thought i could do, but i was hoping for someone to have a better answer :'(

 

[N4Newbie]

That was all i thought i could do, but i was hoping for someone to have a better answer :'(

What charger are/were you using with your Nexus 4? The one that came in the box, or another?

If another, look for small print on the charger which states the "output" rating; something like, "Output: 5v 1.0A" and tell is what it says. If you have been using multiple chargers, tell us the ratings for each of them.

PS: Lucky for you, apparently more N4's are available immediately - Google just sent mass email stating they are going back on sale today, November 27, at 12:00 noon PST.

[edited to change "1.0mA" to "1.0A"]

 

[Magarnical]

these are what i tried

stock n4 charger
samsung s2 charger
blackberry bold charger

 

[N4Newbie]

these are what i tried

stock n4 charger
samsung s2 charger
blackberry boldView attachment 48460 charger

At 0.7A and 700mA (these are two different ways of saying the same thing), both the Samsung and Blackberry charger are seriously underpowered as compared to the "original equipment" n4 charger which is 1.2A (A=Amps, mA = Milliamps).

It is conceivable that you damaged the phone's charging circuitry and/or battery by using those underpowered chargers. Not saying it is so, just that it is possible.

 

[rclifton]

At 0.7A and 700mA (these are two different ways of saying the same thing), both the Samsung and Blackberry charger are seriously underpowered as compared to the "original equipment" n4 charger which is 1.2A (A=Amps, mA = Milliamps).

It is conceivable that you damaged the phone's charging circuitry and/or battery by using those underpowered chargers. Not saying it is so, just that it is possible.

Doubtful that he damaged it as I'm willing to bet that USB charging and the wireless charging share a good deal of the same circuitry, and most wireless chargers are rated for between .5A and 1A max. Using a charger with a lower amperage rating will generally just result in a much longer charging time.

Op before you ship it back try this, plug it in and leave it for about 30 minutes, then with it still plugged in press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds. Hopefully you will feel the device vibrate a few seconds later and then boot up as normal.

 

[bilago]

I have used underpowered chargers many times before on many electronic devices and never have damaged circuitry. That doesn't even make sense. Now, if it was a higher output, then yes, I can see damage occurring. Isn't there a button combo you can press as a full reset? I know on my moto Xoom, I have had it not power on at all, but when I held the power and the Vol + key , it actually got it working.

 

[rclifton]

I have used underpowered chargers many times before on many electronic devices and never have damaged circuitry. That doesn't even make sense. Now, if it was a higher output, then yes, I can see damage occurring. Isn't there a button combo you can press as a full reset? I know on my moto Xoom, I have had it not power on at all, but when I held the power and the Vol + key , it actually got it working.

Even a higher rated charger should be fine. Voltage and polarity are the bigger issues in almost all modern electronics as the charging circuitry is generally desgined to limit the amount of current drawn.

 

[bilago]

Even a higher rated charger should be fine. Voltage and polarity are the bigger issues in almost all modern electronics as the charging circuitry is generally desgined to limit the amount of current drawn.

I agree, I didn't mean higher output as in amperage, but like you said, voltage. Higher amperage can cause your battery to heat up, but it won't damage internal circuitry on your phone.

 

[Techmajesty1]

a friend of mine has a similar issue but only once in a while. And he is using a wall charger.

 

[N4Newbie]

My phone died and when i got home to charge it the red charge light wouldn't turn on and it wont take a charge. What gives?
(And on a side note the charger is making a buzzing noise)
I now have tried a few different chargers like my old S2 charger and an old blackberry charger and nothing....
Don't do this to me Google...
Any ideas?

Now that I think of it, what red charge light are you talking about? When I plug in with the stock charger, the only indication I see at all is that the phone turns on and the battery symbol at the top-right of the screen changes slightly to indicate charging. If I deliberately turn the phone off at that point, I see nothing but a black slab with a wire sticking out the bottom.

No "lights" of any kind, red or otherwise, on the phone or the charger.

 

[tlc000]

my phone is stuck with the red notification light but won't turn on....did you manage to get yours to switch back on?

 

[palitsyn]

my phone is stuck with the red notification light but won't turn on....did you manage to get yours to switch back on?

I had a similar situation - http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-4/230941-wont-switch.html

The phone wouldn't turn on for almost 3 hours. I think I eventually tried tried turning it on whilst unplugged, saw a very dim red light flash, plugged it into the mains, red light started flashing, and the screen came on eventually. When the phone booted up, the battery was at 2%, which obviously means it wasn't charging before.

 

[tlc000]

I had a similar situation - http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-4/230941-wont-switch.html

The phone wouldn't turn on for almost 3 hours. I think I eventually tried tried turning it on whilst unplugged, saw a very dim red light flash, plugged it into the mains, red light started flashing, and the screen came on eventually. When the phone booted up, the battery was at 2%, which obviously means it wasn't charging before.

thanks, i guess i just have to see if i get lucky...

i called google and i was advised that my phone was basically dead and should arrange for a replacement.

 

[N4Newbie]

I have to ask again, what red notification light? My N4 has no such light while charging.

If my phone is in a "powered on" state (sleeping perhaps, but not powered off), the screen will wake up when I plug in and a small white lightning bolt appears across the green battery icon.

If it is powered off (totally dead or press and hold power button while on until pop up menu appears and then select "Power Off"), when I plug in I see a large animated battery icon drawn in white in the center of an otherwise black screen. The icon disappears after a minute or so and then reappears briefly every few minutes.

If you guys are waiting for a red notification light, I can only assume that you have Lightflow or a similar app installed. This is just an educated guess, but I would assume that Lightflow, being a software app and not a part of the phone's firmware, is non-functional when the phone is in a power off/dead battery mode.

Now, just for the heck of it...

Last week I installed this iBlason case Amazon.com: i-Blason Slim Fit S Line Flexible TPU Case for Google Nexus 4 Smart Phone E960 LG 8gb 16gb (Black): Cell Phones & Accessories (although it was only $9.95 when I bought it, now it is $12.95??). It has a nice sized cutout at the bottom for the micro USB connector; nevertheless, I have found that some of my USB cables have more bulk around the connector than others and so some of them either barely make electrical contact when plugged in to the phone - as in the slightest movement will break the contact and stop the charging - and one of my cables simply cannot make electrical contact unless I remove the case.

Any chance any of you guys are actually dealing with a similar issue?