Samsung Galaxy S3 battery draining problem

[nicyap97]

Hi everybody out there.

I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 and I am having a problem with it. The battery keeps on draining. It didn't used to be like this. When I first used it, for example, if I leave my phone on standby and do nothing with it for 8 hours, the battery will have 92% remaining. But now, if I leave it on standby for the same amount of time, it drops to 11%. And that is a very huge drop.

I sent my phone for a repair and they changed my battery. Even after I changed it, it still won't stop drainage. I later discovered that it has something to do with the 'media'. Due the media, I can't read my external SD card properly, can't download anything from the browser, can't transfer files into my external SD card. This is something that I want to solve. I'm not a huge user on my phone but I would want to solve this problem that I'm facing. I have to bring a portable battery pack wherever I go.

Here are some screenshots below to show you guys what is happening on my phone. I would really like to have your help on this.

 

[sfilansno1fan]

Try the app juice defender its worked a treat for me

 

[anon(973539)]

It seems you have a corrupted media file, possibly an mp3 on your memory card, the phone can't deal with it so it's constantly trying to access the file etc which means it's killing the battery. Take your media off the card and try and identify what's causing it by putting media back a little bit at a time. Same thing happened to me, I took all the media off and formatted the card. That seemed to solve the problem for me.

 

[nicyap97]

that didn't help me out tried it before

 

[my21heartbeats]

Maybe you should download Better Battery Stats and it should be able to better diagnose the problem. Or you could simply restore your phone. Do a search for: better battery stats xda and you should be able to find it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[meyerweb#CB]

What happens if you remove the SD card completely (assuming you have one)?

 

[neebi007]

It's nothing to do with your media I.e. mp3 or music or videos... This is happening cos you system us stuck in a download loop..... Its consistently keeping your phone in wake condition and using network... Go to home screen select download delete everything you see in there. And plz report back here...

 

[NancyinWI]

I am not the original poster, but I found this thread when looking for a solution to the same problem with my phone.

This started just a few days ago. My phone battery drains while I watch it.
I also have something called "media" consuming 49% of my battery. I have deleted everything in "downloads." I downloaded a power saving app, which isn't even making a difference.

How can I tell what it is that's causing my phone battery to drain?

 

[Ladie Clair Forever]

SOME MORE ADVISE: I don't know if you found a fix for this yet but I recently had the same problem. It was bad. I took my fully charged phone off the charger and literally within seconds it went down to 55%, within a few more minutes I was down to 21%. I had a phone that I couldn't use unless it was plugged into the charger. Also, the internet and other functions would be insanely slow. I did some research and did everything that everyone here has already recommended. I used Power Save Mode, turned off GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, powered the phone down and removed the battery (which also got hot for no reason). That stuff was helpful but not a fix. My battery was still draining fast, even while on the charger. I gave it some thought and remembered that the problem began after I downloaded an app (Jurassic Park Builder) that was advertised across my screen while I was using another app. I deleted that app and reset my phone and now the problem is completely fixed. So my advice to you is - Remove any apps that came from advertisements (if you have any) and never download apps that are solicited to you while you're in another applications. There's a chance that the apps are tracking your use so they can further advertise to you or put add-ware on your phone. Hope this helps somebody.

 

[chris mart]

Got the same issue. My battery drain 100% to 88% with in 13 minutes normal usage (data, WiFi, GPS off). Brightness set at the lowest level. Media eat 41% and screen eat13%. Going to try these recommendation. Thanks guys.

 

[lizzy458]

I have been experiencing this same problem. I took it back to the verizon store, where they said they had never seen anything like it. I had them factory reset the phone...got back in the car...checked the battery and the media icon was the first line on the battery consumption. Obviously, I had not put anything back on the phone at that time. I kept force stopping the media every few minutes and sometime through the night it seemed to magically disappear. Four days later, I got a notification that Verizon Wireless and Samsung had an update that would take about 8 minutes to download. So I downloaded it. Went and checked my battery, and sure enough, that media download icon was right back at the top of the list. I called Verizon tech support...went through the whole story with her and she thought it could possibly be a software problem. They shipped me out a new phone which I received today. I backed up all my contacts...switched the SIM card and SD card over and got the new phone fired up. I went back to settings to check the battery and guess what was the top battery eater...the media!!! There was nothing on the phone...no apps...nothing! How can this be??? I have now taken the SD card completly out of the phone. The only apps that I have on this phone is Facebook, Trulia, Zillow and Clean Master - all of which I downloaded from the playstore. At this time, the screen is using the most batter(which is normal) and the Media is down to 29%(with the SD card out and me force stopping it every 15 minutes or so)
I have tried everything possible to figure this out. Many hours wasted, and a very big inconvenience

 

[Vikas Soni2]

It definitely has to do with the SD card..
I had the same issue with my S3.
First it had issue with the poor Galaxy Charger.. The charger gone mad with in one week after purchase.. I had to buy new samsung travel adapter. Which has been working very good till date.
Second was issue with Battery drain.. I use to keep all my apps "force quit". use to restart the phone once in a while to keep the RAM low, ( clearing RAM is baddest feature here, every body is aware). Then I check in battery option it had something with MEDIA, and sometimes screen brightness.
And Soon after it Third issue started, the glitchy Video recording. And, the OS alway used to flash the Message "BLANK SD CARD" , CARD NOT SUPPORTED" needs to be formatted.
I use to do that too(Crazy it is, what's use of SD card it I format it every day). After sometime card stopped mounting for almost 9 out of 10 times.
Because of this the Battery used to drain like mad. for me after full charge the overnight 8 hrs standby left me with 11% battery or switch off. The phone also used keep itself hot all this while. And, charging my phone to me became my taboo LOL.
I changed my problem creator Sandisk 16 GB Micro SD card to Transend.
Life if back to normal after that. You know my total battery drain on 8 hrs standby was only 6%. I was so happy to see my phone left with 94% charge after overnight standby(that too I was reading book and before going to sleep it was already 97%),
So you know who's fault it???bloody SanDisk.

Now, its been 16 hour without charging the phone and with.... few calls, text messages, few minutes of gaming. using data on what's app etc, done PDF document scanning, taken few screenshots, photos. Read PDF for few minutes, transferred few data over Bluetooth and gone through linked-in today,
Its still 70% left.
Only 30% drain?? its was a wise decision for me to change the Sandisk SD card.
Thanks to transcend. You solved my one of highly irritating problem
I think you can also try changing the Card, you will find the difference.

 

[Vikas Soni2]

I have just posted my experience few minutes ago today 8th july 2013. I hope it will help you.

 

[Immortal Cappy]

I signed up just so i could post this:

Having EXACT same problem.
Problem is definately with the Verbatim memory card, mines 8GB.
Once i unmounted it my battery has only drained 2% in an hour and ive been on the net most of that time.
Had the same mysterious 'Media' running in the background draining my battery last 2 days using 97% of my standby time !!!!
Also the gallery, video and music players couldnt access my sd card, i could access them through 'files' however it would be slow and fail most of the time.
Note: my sd card stopped working in my tv a few weeks prior to this, then just after i backed it up on my laptop it didnt work on their either.
Id say the chip is fried and the bad link is whats causing the constant drain.
Im going to buy another brand tonight and see if that helps.
- Cappy

 

[fl0wmastr]

It's nothing to do with your media I.e. mp3 or music or videos... This is happening cos you system us stuck in a download loop..... Its consistently keeping your phone in wake condition and using network... Go to home screen select download delete everything you see in there. And plz report back here...

I dont see download anywhere. how do i access the downloads?

I don't have an SD Card in my S3 , so that isnt causing the Media Drain for me :-$

 

[acuellor]

I have the same problems recently, and I read in other post that wiping the system cache improves drastically the battery life. And it works. It's effortless and not put in risk your cell

There's a how to:
1. power off your cell
2. hold down volume up + home + power all at once
3. wait until the boot screen comes up and it will says recovery in the top left very small, let go at this point
4. use the volume up and down to scroll and use the home button to select
5. choose wipe cache
6. than choose boot system

 

[bullseye144]

I have had this same problem since the last Android update, alternating between "Media" and "Gallery" as the culprit. I have never had a memory card in my S3, and the "wipe cache partition" solution worked for only about a day and a half (rebooting my phone used to work for a little while but now does nothing), and it's actually been much worse since the problem started again. Has anyone found a more permanent solution that does not involve a problem with the SD card? Thanks!

 

[GSDer]

bullseye144,
Welcome to the forums!

If you really want help with battery life issues you'll need to provide more information:
- post the three screenshots from Settings -> Battery that you'll find below
- be sure the phone starts fully charged
- do not perform any intermediate charge cycles
- let the battery run down to 30% or less

You may also want to try the following apps:
GSam Battery Monitor Pro: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm.pro - (there's also a free version) see the Radio Detail screen below; you can also include that screenshot
Wakelock Detector: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector - helps to identify apps that may be keeping your phone awake when it should be sleeping

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[cuan van rooyen]

I have had this same problem since the last Android update, alternating between "Media" and "Gallery" as the culprit. I have never had a memory card in my S3, and the "wipe cache partition" solution worked for only about a day and a half (rebooting my phone used to work for a little while but now does nothing), and it's actually been much worse since the problem started again. Has anyone found a more permanent solution that does not involve a problem with the SD card? Thanks!

 

[cuan van rooyen]

Hi everybody out there.

I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 and I am having a problem with it. The battery keeps on draining. It didn't used to be like this. When I first used it, for example, if I leave my phone on standby and do nothing with it for 8 hours, the battery will have 92% remaining. But now, if I leave it on standby for the same amount of time, it drops to 11%. And that is a very huge drop.

I sent my phone for a repair and they changed my battery. Even after I changed it, it still won't stop drainage. I later discovered that it has something to do with the 'media'. Due the media, I can't read my external SD card properly, can't download anything from the browser, can't transfer files into my external SD card. This is something that I want to solve. I'm not a huge user on my phone but I would want to solve this problem that I'm facing. I have to bring a portable battery pack wherever I go.

Here are some screenshots below to show you guys what is happening on my phone. I would really like to have your help on this.

https://sites.google.com/site/fsjdfooidsm/home/Screenshot_2013-05-04-14-45-41.png
https://sites.google.com/site/fsjdfooidsm/home/Screenshot_2013-05-04-14-45-49.png