Major Battery Drain even after factory reset!

[shaneontherocks]

Anyone else experiencing this? Ever since I updated to 4.1.2 my battery drains so much faster than before. I had all these bugs too with the keyboard lagging to pop up.. and then it would trip out and expand past the size of my screen and would really bug out when using the contact dialing app.. I notice the draining happens so fast when using the phone. I can literally watch the percentage drop while I use it. every min I feels it drops a percent. To give you an idea I took it off the charger this morning at 8:15 am and right now 2 hours later 10:18 am I am at 83% with very little usage. Before my phone would not even drop below 90% until like noon if I barely used it. Sometime it would be 1 pm and I would still be at 95% with little to no usage. What is going on?

I did a factory reset yesterday hoping it would fix the bugs and the major battery drain. Thus far the bugs in the keyboard are gone! but the battery drain is still in full effect. Any ideas? I know some people will ask about if I have brightness full etc .. Before you go that route remember all my settings (at least to the best of my knowledge) have all been the same so I am thinking it's the latest firmware to be the culprit? 4.1.2. I am non-rooted fully stock.

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

4.1.2 shouldn't be causing this. Many people have upgraded and aren't having battery issues. In fact, most seem to report slightly better battery life, if anything.

Let's start by posting the standard 3 screen captures: the battery stats page, the page you get when to tap the graph there, and the screen usage page. Let the battery get down to about 50% or thereabouts so there's enough time to see meaningful information.

Take a look at the About device page, in Settings, and verify the values for Build Number, Android version, Baseband version and Kernel version.

Also take a look at this thread: http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...android-system-eating-your-battery-check.html Use System Panel and the Show CPU Usage option to see if there's a particular app or process that's chewing up the CPU.

 

[shaneontherocks]

Ok take a look and let me know.I know you said 50% but thought I would send you what it's at now. will post at that percentage later if you like. I work 9-5 and everyday at work I know my battery used to stay the same.. right now it should be at 85% but as you can see it's down to 70% , Something is wrong. I know you might ask if I have email syncing , fb sync etc but like I mentioned all my settings have been the same and all of a sudden I am experiencing major battery drain. Especially when I turn on the device and start using it I can watch the percentage go down DRAMATICALLY. Example I opened up gmail real quick then responded to a text and my battery dropped 5%.

Thanks for your input in advance meyerweb!

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Well, I don't see a huge issue here. 5 hours at 30% utilization implies 15 hours at 90%, which isn't tremendous but isn't terrible either.

Are you working in the same location as before? Not just the same company, but the same desk? I notice that your cellular signal is pretty weak for most of this period, and that's certainly something that will drain the battery faster. The steepest drops in battery seem to happen where you lost signal completely (black on the signal bar). I don't suppose you have any screen captures from before the upgrade that would let you compare signal strength?

Your wake states pretty much match up to screen on time, so it doesn't look like you've got some process running out of control. Are you sure your screen brightness is set where it was before? Doing the update can change some settings back to default values. The screen is using 50% of the usage so far, and your screen on time doesn't look very high. That kind of indicates to me that either your screen is turned up pretty bright, or nothing else is using much power at all (which would be a good thing.) Right now, screen is only 29% of my battery use, Android system 22% and Android OS 15%. Did your 5% drop in a few minutes correspond to a time of real weak signal, if you can tell?

If you load System Panel, you'll be able to break down Android System cpu usage into individual processes, which might show you something interesting.

 

[shaneontherocks]

Well, I don't see a huge issue here. 5 hours at 30% utilization implies 15 hours at 90%, which isn't tremendous but isn't terrible either.

Are you working in the same location as before? Not just the same company, but the same desk? I notice that your cellular signal is pretty weak for most of this period, and that's certainly something that will drain the battery faster. The steepest drops in battery seem to happen where you lost signal completely (black on the signal bar). I don't suppose you have any screen captures from before the upgrade that would let you compare signal strength?

Your wake states pretty much match up to screen on time, so it doesn't look like you've got some process running out of control. Are you sure your screen brightness is set where it was before? Doing the update can change some settings back to default values. The screen is using 50% of the usage so far, and your screen on time doesn't look very high. That kind of indicates to me that either your screen is turned up pretty bright, or nothing else is using much power at all (which would be a good thing.) Right now, screen is only 29% of my battery use, Android system 22% and Android OS 15%. Did your 5% drop in a few minutes correspond to a time of real weak signal, if you can tell?

If you load System Panel, you'll be able to break down Android System cpu usage into individual processes, which might show you something interesting.

Wow. Thanks for all the advice/info. I am at the same office/desk since I got the phone. The only thing I can think of is right before the update I switched from CDMA only to CDMA/LTE because I heard even though my area hasn't been given the green light, that LTE is up and running in certain spots in Orange County. And I have noticed I get 4G all around my area of work and my home... Maybe this is why my battery now drains faster? and I am unfamiliar with System Panel.. ?? and I am 100% sure my brightness has always been set to high since I got the phone 8 months or so ago. and it's just weird to me because I could normally go all day at work and after getting home at 5 pm and by the time I go to bed I always had 40--50% and could leave if off the charger and wake up the next morning and it still be around 35-45%... What I noticed is now anytime I turn on the phone and use anything on it it drains dramatically no matter what I am doing on the phone. It's not normal. and I could prob drain the whole battery in a matter of an hour if I was constantly on it... I am not gonna like to hear that I can't use LTE or it will drain my battery! so whack lol. PS. I am always on wifi anyways when in my office and at home... I know people say wifi drains battery but again before this update 4.1.2 all my settings have been the same and now all of sudden it's dropping faster than I can count the current percentage. Now I have 45 percent left and it's not even 5 yet. Rrghh! :'(

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Wow. Thanks for all the advice/info. I am at the same office/desk since I got the phone. The only thing I can think of is right before the update I switched from CDMA only to CDMA/LTE because I heard even though my area hasn't been given the green light, that LTE is up and running in certain spots in Orange County. And I have noticed I get 4G all around my area of work and my home... Maybe this is why my battery now drains faster?

BINGO! So all your settings AREN'T the same. Yes, LTE definitely uses more power than CDME. There's your answer for the general difference in battery life.

and I am unfamiliar with System Panel.. ?? and I am 100% sure my brightness has always been set to high since I got the phone 8 months or so ago. and it's just weird to me because I could normally go all day at work and after getting home at 5 pm and by the time I go to bed I always had 40--50% and could leave if off the charger and wake up the next morning and it still be around 35-45%... What I noticed is now anytime I turn on the phone and use anything on it it drains dramatically no matter what I am doing on the phone. It's not normal. and I could prob drain the whole battery in a matter of an hour if I was constantly on it... I am not gonna like to hear that I can't use LTE or it will drain my battery! so whack lol. PS. I am always on wifi anyways when in my office and at home... I know people say wifi drains battery but again before this update 4.1.2 all my settings have been the same and now all of sudden it's dropping faster than I can count the current percentage. Now I have 45 percent left and it's not even 5 yet. Rrghh! :'(

System Panel is a diagnostic app you can download from the Play store.

I'm not sure I really see anything in your stats that I would call dramatic drain. 5 hours on 30% is pretty reasonable on LTE. And I think if LTE is on, and you're in an area without LTE, it probably drains even faster. That said, if using the data is really draining it so fast that you'd go through most of the battery in an hour, something's not right.

But you say you're always on WiFi at home and at work. When WiFi is on, cellular data (3G and 4G) is off. When you had the 5% drop checking gmail and texting, were you on WiFi or 3G/4G?

When you get a chance, and have a little time, try this: Install System Panel. Then, with the battery full, or close to it, actually use the phone heavily. Send and receive some emails and texts, surf some web sites, use Facebook. Then do screen captures of the battery stats, and the system panel cpu usage stats, and lets see what things look like.

 

[oskar1995]

Shaneontherocks,

I believe I?m seeing the exact same issue you have noted. My battery drain has been in the neighborhood of 5-6% an hour since the most recent update, compared to 2.5-3.5% before. I would be curious to see what your ?screen on? time is. Over the nearly 5 hours you dropped about 30% with a usage pattern similar to me. I have CDMA only (no LTE strong enough on the area) and based on your graphs, its not a cellular signal issue.

I think something weird is happening with the screen. I currently have a clean refurbished device and I?m seeing the same thing I saw my previous S3 after the update. My screen percentage is WAY too high for how much I actually use the phone. I?m currently down 17% after a little over 3 hours. My on screen time is only about 25 minutes. My ?screen percentage? is 33%. My day to day usage is almost scary consistent, and I can?t remember seeing this number above 10 at this point in the day. Brightness is set to auto (just like my previous phone) timeout is set at a minute (dropped from 2 mins), no smart stay or smart rotation. I do have auto adjust screen tone checked at the bottom (can?t confirm or deny this was set earlier).
Thoughts, anyone?

 

[oskar1995]

Also, it has nothing to do with the auto adjust screen tone, that is actually intended to reduce battery usage, so likely was set on before.

 

[shaneontherocks]

OK Meyerweb, I changed from CDMA to CDMA/LTE this morning and NOTHING HAS IMPROVED! It's 11:15 am and I am already down to 65%!!!! Something is not right! And yes I was on wifi at work so 3g and LTE wouldn't even apply! And who is the developer of System Panel? Want to make sure I download a good one. I hate downloading random apps.

 

[shaneontherocks]

Oskar1995, I really think it's this STUPID UPDATE! It's killing my battery. It has to be. I even factory reset the phone and it's still messed up. My phone is orig, and I bought brand new. I even turned OFF Multi-Window thinking that could be draining my battery. This is really starting to **** me off! If I stay on my phone much more I bet you I could get the battery down to 0% by 1pm PST!

 

[oskar1995]

Yea, its getting rather frustrating for me as well. Did the whole factory reset, moved some stuff around, tried a handful of different things. The screen just eats through the battery. I've had my S3 since launch day set to auto an was always wildly impressed by the battery life. I did some more poking around online and there seems to be a handful of issues relating to recent updates and issues with screen being way too high on the usage list.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

OK Meyerweb, I changed from CDMA to CDMA/LTE this morning and NOTHING HAS IMPROVED! It's 11:15 am and I am already down to 65%!!!! Something is not right! And yes I was on wifi at work so 3g and LTE wouldn't even apply! And who is the developer of System Panel? Want to make sure I download a good one. I hate downloading random apps.

System Panel ==> https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...tempanel&feature=search_result&token=d-JdclYn..

 

[shaneontherocks]

cool, thanks! I will do what you said and post the results and hopefully you can shed some light as to what the hell is going on!

 

[Golfdriver97]

Have you tried clearing the cache through recovery? Sometimes the old ROM leaves a little bit of a footprint, and confuses the OS making it compute when it doesn't have to.

 

[shaneontherocks]

I am stock not rooted... how do I do that?

- - - Updated - - -

I am stock not rooted... how do I do that?

- - - Updated - - -

I am stock not rooted... how do I do that?

 

[shaneontherocks]

ok thanks so much but if I do this again won't it delete everything all over again right? like settings, pics, messages, etc? I don't think I can handle starting all over again.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

If you did a factory reset, that should have cleared cache, too, but it can't hurt to try. It's been so long since I used the stock recovery, I"m not sure, but to boot into recovery:

1. Power phone completely off
2. Press and hole volume up, home, power at the same time.
3. As soon as you see the Samsung logo, let go of all three buttons. If you release too early or too late, it will boot normally. Just power down and try again.
4. You'll see a menu. If one of those menu items is clear cache, use the volume rocker to select the option, and the power button to execute the one you select. (I think it's power--if that doesn't work it's the home button. Like I said, I haven't had the stock recovery in quite some time.)

 

[shaneontherocks]

If you did a factory reset, that should have cleared cache, too, but it can't hurt to try. It's been so long since I used the stock recovery, I"m not sure, but to boot into recovery:

1. Power phone completely off
2. Press and hole volume up, home, power at the same time.
3. As soon as you see the Samsung logo, let go of all three buttons. If you release too early or too late, it will boot normally. Just power down and try again.
4. You'll see a menu. If one of those menu items is clear cache, use the volume rocker to select the option, and the power button to execute the one you select. (I think it's power--if that doesn't work it's the home button. Like I said, I haven't had the stock recovery in quite some time.)

ok thanks so much but if I do this again won't it delete everything all over again right? like settings, pics, messages, etc? I don't think I can handle starting all over again.

 

[seanskiT1]

ok thanks so much but if I do this again won't it delete everything all over again right? like settings, pics, messages, etc? I don't think I can handle starting all over again.

Factory reset will wipe messages & settings. Pics will still be there on sdcard. Contacts should be entered as google acct. then the contacts reload once you log back in.

Sent from my GS3 sporting Wicked Sensations...

 

[shaneontherocks]

I don't have sd card... and ok so clearing cache in recovery does pretty much the same thing as factory reset... I think I am going to pass then because I did a factory reset and my battery not sucks donkey you know what.