EXTREME battery problems

[Tafa83]

Running on 5.0.1.
I have uninstalled many games to help my battery problem! I have forced stopped and disabled several apps. It's not helping! I just took my battery out for thirty seconds it was on 12% battery. When I put it in it all of a sudden was 30% charged. I had the same thing happen 1 wk ago. Where our was 30 something % charged. Took battery out put it back in and was less than 10% charged! Can somebody please help me. I'm literally going crazy. Now I do spend alot of time on my phone for the record. Also when charging battery for 6-8+ hrs it mostly doesn't charge 100% HELP!

 

[SpookDroid]

Not to be negative or anything, but it sounds like your battery might be failing. Have you tried a different battery to see if the same behavior occurs?

To rule out a software problem, you could try running your phone in Safe Mode, which basically disables all 3rd party apps from starting up at boot. If in that mode and without you using any apps it still does the same, it's quite probable that it's a battery/hardware issue. If in that mode your battery behaves normally, then it is a software issue and we could try to find the culprit app(s) but in that case it's usually faster just to do a factory reset.

You can try letting the battery run down on its own, then charge to 100%, then use it as normal. This helps 'recalibrate' the reading if that's what's failing.

 

[Tafa83]

Thank you. I'm placing a spare battery from a galaxy s4 in my phone now and I'll check the status in the morning and post updates here. Ty again...

 

[Tafa83]

I put in another battery and just got on phone and its only at 91% . Been on my phone played only 2 songs and reloaded this page twice and I'm already down to 87% that's kinda fast

 

[Tafa83]

Last update ik it's kinda to soon but only 5 minutes later it's used up another 5%, of battery

 

[SpookDroid]

But fast battery consumption isn't the same as a jumpy battery reading like you were describing in the first message... Does it behave the same?

 

[Tafa83]

No bc I haven't taken battery out again like that. However my battery will only stay around the 50 something mark. Also it failed to charge 100% please tell me what I should do. Also what's the normal amount of ram that should be being used at various times of day?

 

[SpookDroid]

If you're sure the second battery is OK, then I'd say you have a hardware issue, and one that can only be further diagnosed by a repair center. I would still test the safe mode option to rule out that any 3rd party apps are causing issues.

Does it charge properly when the phone is off? If it doesn't, then it's definitely hardware-related.

As for the RAM, there's no 'normal'. It depends on which apps you use and are loaded in the background. Remember that RAM in Android is handled differently and doesn't necessarily mean that if your RAM is being used your apps will start running slowly all of a sudden.

 

[Tafa83]

I don't know if it will charge properly when turned off I can try. How do I start my phone in safe mode? I'd like to let u know I'm very grateful for ur help!

 

[SpookDroid]

No problem, we're all glad to help as much as we can!

Here's a link to Sprint's instructions. Should be the same for any S4.
Access Safe Mode - Samsung Galaxy S® 4 (Dual Band)

 

[Tafa83]

Just started phone in safe mode. Will update in a few hours. I contacted Samsung live chat to enable safe mode. In which they had me power off device. Then power on, once device vibrates, let go of power button and hold down volume down key until phone is completed booted back up. (Just thought I'd put the instructions up for anyone needing this information) again, using Samsung galaxy s4 active.
To start phone in normal mode, simply power phone off and turn back on.

 

[Ujini]

I don't think lithium ion batteries suffer too much from battery calibration; But try fully draining the battery and then charging back to 100%, it may not work, but it's worth a shot.

 

[SpookDroid]

The calibration is not so much for the battery rather than the software reading. But yeah, newer battery tech doesn't really 'care' about re-calibration that much.