Battery Drain Issue: Cell Standby (No Signal)

[gnex_please]

All,

I have noticed that my battery, while I sleep, has gone from 100% to 0% in a matter of 6-7 hours.
This is attributed to cell standby according to the battery telemetry.
I have done some thorough searching of the forums and have decided this is not a 'rogue' app problem.
I live downtown in a large city where I theoretically should have excellent service.

Another tidbit of information is that my 4g and 3g connections go from blue to grey very often.
Sometimes when I make calls and sometimes when the device fetches data.

This is my second Nexus.
I had to exchange my first Nexus as it would reboot constantly even after a factory reset.
The first nexus seemed to have a better radio in that it had more bars and never really lost connection to 3g or 4g.

It is likely this could be a difference in the radio software or hardware (hopefully not).
However I felt I would start this thread in the hopes that the educated android gurus here could provide me with some insight.

I am not rooted, and running 4.02.
Regards,

 

[thebignewt]

Couple of suggestions: look at the signal strength under Settings-about-network. Look at it with 4G on and with it off. For instance mine is usually between -83 (stronger) and -92 (weaker) I don't get 4G but if I were you I'd just turn it off and see if the battery gets better. That would tell you if it's searching for 4G a lot (or not). You didn't say whether you use WiFi at home or not (I assume not).

 

[gnex_please]

Thanks for the advice.

The screenshot was in wifi mode in this particular case, however I think it happens in both modes (wifi on and wifi off).
I normally turn 4g off to increase battery life.
I'd imagine wifi on would increase battery life too since the radio only has to transmit a few feet instead of hundreds of feet to a cell tower.

Results:
(3g) -93dBm
(4g) -93dBm

I'll continue to try this at home tonight and see if my results vary.

 

[Silent Patriot]

This issue began occurring for mine right after they pushed out PRL 52642. I first noticed it due to the battery being run down to off while sitting where it normally does on my nightstand a few days ago. Figured it would be a good time to calibrate the battery, so plugged it in and let it charge to full before turning it back on, but the problem continued to occur, requiring it to be plugged in most of the time. I was going from full-charge to "please plug in" dialog in about 6 hours with hardly any use. In a 4-hour period this morning, I had 55% signal loss. The problem seems to occur more often overnight or early in the morning.

Called tech support this morning and explained what has been going on. The rep flagged me for "Hybrid" PRL 13014 (he didn't know what version number it would push, just that it was described as a hybrid, but that I would definitely see the number change); which arrived within an hour (he said it could take up to 4) and seems to have dramatically helped. I'd recommend calling in and asking for Tier 2 to push it out and see if it helps you too.

 

[moosc]

My prl is 15098 newer then the hybrid u have. Are u running stock radios or did u upgrade to the newer radios

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk

 

[Silent Patriot]

My prl is 15098 newer then the hybrid u have. Are u running stock radios or did u upgrade to the newer radios

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk

Stock radios and not rooted. Had 15098 until I noticed 52642 - no prompt or notification it had been changed.

 

[moosc]

Yea the phone will auto update prls makes it on call.

Stock radios and not rooted. Had 15098 until I noticed 52642 - no prompt or notification it had been changed.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk

 

[Silent Patriot]

Update: "Hybrid" PRL does not seem to have fixed the problem. Lost connection to entire network again overnight and drained the battery down to warning in under 4 hours

It did seem to help hold the connection a bit better during the day - passing off between 4G/3G was working smoother, and I was able to force and hold a 3G for several hours (couldn't do that with 52642), but this is troubling. Background data requests are waking up the phone and when it doesn't have a network signal, it keeps polling away for one, draining the battery away.

 

[thebignewt]

What is PRL and where does it appear under About? I assume these are not rooted phones (the OP says so).

 

[Silent Patriot]

What is PRL and where does it appear under About? I assume these are not rooted phones (the OP says so).

PRL is found under Status within About Phone, about half-way down, beneath MIN.

 

[Sergio337]

Has this issue been resolved?
I received a new device from Google two days ago. The first night, I turned WiFi off by accident while at home. I woke up with the phone's battery completely drained. When I looked at the battery status, it showed a complete lost of signal under Mobile network signal. It was red all the way until the phone shut itself off. I repeated it last night and same thing happened.
I don't remember having this problem with my older phone. The connections keep dropping and also during the day, I'm getting a constant fade between blue and gray bars.

 

[Phadunkin]

Wow.. Galaxy Nexus is a huge letdown. I feel sorry for you guys.

Poor battery, dropped calls, poor radio, 5MP camera, weak design, battery draining for no reason.. bad 3G-4G transitions..

Razr Maxx is still available