Samsung Galaxy S4 - Not Charging - Grey Battery
- Thread starter kevinr77
- Start date
I had the exact problem... The difference is that I went skiing and it fell in the snow... After that it worked fine for a couple of hrs. but before the battery drained it gave a weird android message on a black screen that said not to turn off but it turned off because it was not charging. I checked the stickers and they are still white so I sent it to Samsung. Hopefully they don't notice anything. Does anyone know if Samsung they replaces phones? 
I registered to this forum just to reply to these thread haha!
But this is to show my appreciation on how i fixed my grey battery problem.
I have tried the following suggestions in the thread and here are the results:
>Change charger or adapter: NOT WORKED
>Use blow dryer to clean ports: NOT WORKED
>Cleaned the usb port via vacuum: NOT WORKED
>Change phone configuration: NOT WORKED
>Replaced the USB port: WORKED!!
I just bought mine in less than three months (From Kimstore, online shop in Phils) when the problem showed up.
I really need to connect Galaxy S4 to my computer so i want this problem fixed asap.
I have no time to have it replaced or checked with warranty plus its a hassle to go to the Samsung service centers here in the Philippines.
So I decided to change it myself with a help of a youtube video on how to open S4
>>Samsung Galaxy S4 Screen and Charging Port fix. Complete tear down. - YouTube
Anyway after changing the port it was immediately fixed! the charging sign can be seen when i charged it and I can now connect it to my laptop haha.
Difficulty:
Moderate (needs no special skills)
Price:
Prying set: Php 300 ($6.5; plastic pryer with screw holders)
Replacement USB port: Php 400 ($8.9; M&K Brand)
Duration:
1 hour (mine is around 45 minutes; first time opening an S4)
Parts Location; Philippines:
Carriedo cor Quiapo Church. There is a building there where laptop and phone parts are sold.
Try asking where you can buy "S4 USB port" or you can show this pic. When you finally find a stall,
you can also purchase there the prying set
Hope this helps
CMSO
But this is to show my appreciation on how i fixed my grey battery problem.
I have tried the following suggestions in the thread and here are the results:
>Change charger or adapter: NOT WORKED
>Use blow dryer to clean ports: NOT WORKED
>Cleaned the usb port via vacuum: NOT WORKED
>Change phone configuration: NOT WORKED
>Replaced the USB port: WORKED!!
I just bought mine in less than three months (From Kimstore, online shop in Phils) when the problem showed up.
I really need to connect Galaxy S4 to my computer so i want this problem fixed asap.
I have no time to have it replaced or checked with warranty plus its a hassle to go to the Samsung service centers here in the Philippines.
So I decided to change it myself with a help of a youtube video on how to open S4
>>Samsung Galaxy S4 Screen and Charging Port fix. Complete tear down. - YouTube
Anyway after changing the port it was immediately fixed! the charging sign can be seen when i charged it and I can now connect it to my laptop haha.
Difficulty:
Moderate (needs no special skills)
Price:
Prying set: Php 300 ($6.5; plastic pryer with screw holders)
Replacement USB port: Php 400 ($8.9; M&K Brand)
Duration:
1 hour (mine is around 45 minutes; first time opening an S4)
Parts Location; Philippines:
Carriedo cor Quiapo Church. There is a building there where laptop and phone parts are sold.
Try asking where you can buy "S4 USB port" or you can show this pic. When you finally find a stall,
you can also purchase there the prying set
Hope this helps
CMSO
The only solution is to change the USB port to resolve this probleme definitivly, ( also in S1 , S2, S3, Tab, and notes), all the operation that can cost in Morocco 15$-25$ (including parts). in about 30 minutes.
Samsung S4 Not Charging, Not Syncing, Repair - Fix - YouTube
Samsung S4 Not Charging, Not Syncing, Repair - Fix - YouTube
I was having an issue where I would restart my phone and the phone would say that the usb connector was connected in the top banner even though it wasn't connected. When I would connect my phone to a charger, whether connected to a usb or a wall outlet, the phone would not charge unless it was turned off. My PC would also be unable to read the s4 when it was connect via usb. The phone was slow to charge even when it was turned off, showing a grey battery and then doing a double vibrate and then showing the green battery for a short time. So I left my phone pulled into the charger for eight hours and left it. When I returned the phone was fully charged and extremely hot. But now I can connect to a charger no problem. I'm unsure if it was the fact I left it charging for so long or if the extreme heat somehow counter intuitively fixed the issue.
I faced the issue and my phone was only 30 days old. I brought it back to Verizon and they had to send me another phone because the phone simply would not turn back on it was dead. This is a sign that there is something dramatically wrong inside the phone therefore it will not charge. When they tested my battery I still had 32% of battery but it wouldn't shows 0%.
Ok...my issue is a bit different.
The phone won't charge at all with the wall charger.
It sometimes charges with the car charger
It will always charge when hooked up to the computer but the computer will not recognize the phone.
Seems to be some contradiction here. Any ideas?
The phone won't charge at all with the wall charger.
It sometimes charges with the car charger
It will always charge when hooked up to the computer but the computer will not recognize the phone.
Seems to be some contradiction here. Any ideas?
I have a DIFFERENT approach folks can try:
My phone discharged completely and went dead, would not charge the battery, just sat there rebooting and showing a gray battery. I theorized the battery was too weak to accept a charge, at least that's what the phone was probably thinking. Even car batteries can get in such a state that a "smart" car battery charger won't charge it. Some of you might be familiar with this type of situation, where a battery is drained "too low to charge".
What happens is the "smart" charger sends a brief pulse of electricity to the battery and then samples the voltage of the battery to see if it is in a good enough condition to accept a charge. If your battery is too low on power, you're up the creek right? WRONG! You can often get a weak battery going again by "tricking" it into charging up just a little bit; enough to get the automatic charger to accept it again. Here's what I did on my Samsung Galaxy S4 Active that was only a month old:
I inserted the charger for a few seconds, removed it for a few seconds, and did this over and over again, perhaps 10 or 15 times. Eventually the green bar showed up and I gently placed the phone down and walked away from it for awhile. Then I held the power button and it booted up fully and was once again running and charging!
The moral of my story is sometimes the battery isn't bad, the phone isn't bad; it's just that the battery got too "dead" and these so-called "smart" phones can be awfully stupid sometimes!
Have you ever gotten your (modern) car stuck in an inch of snow, at the end of your driveway? Because that damn "traction control" refused to allow even the slightest bit of tire slippage? If so, you probably know all about that traction control button in your car and how you can turn it off so the darn car will actually MOVE for you !!!! Got to love technology!!!
-AtariJeff001
My phone discharged completely and went dead, would not charge the battery, just sat there rebooting and showing a gray battery. I theorized the battery was too weak to accept a charge, at least that's what the phone was probably thinking. Even car batteries can get in such a state that a "smart" car battery charger won't charge it. Some of you might be familiar with this type of situation, where a battery is drained "too low to charge".
What happens is the "smart" charger sends a brief pulse of electricity to the battery and then samples the voltage of the battery to see if it is in a good enough condition to accept a charge. If your battery is too low on power, you're up the creek right? WRONG! You can often get a weak battery going again by "tricking" it into charging up just a little bit; enough to get the automatic charger to accept it again. Here's what I did on my Samsung Galaxy S4 Active that was only a month old:
I inserted the charger for a few seconds, removed it for a few seconds, and did this over and over again, perhaps 10 or 15 times. Eventually the green bar showed up and I gently placed the phone down and walked away from it for awhile. Then I held the power button and it booted up fully and was once again running and charging!
The moral of my story is sometimes the battery isn't bad, the phone isn't bad; it's just that the battery got too "dead" and these so-called "smart" phones can be awfully stupid sometimes!
Have you ever gotten your (modern) car stuck in an inch of snow, at the end of your driveway? Because that damn "traction control" refused to allow even the slightest bit of tire slippage? If so, you probably know all about that traction control button in your car and how you can turn it off so the darn car will actually MOVE for you !!!! Got to love technology!!!
-AtariJeff001
i get the same error, which is strange, as when i plug the USB into the S4, the screen opens but tells me to "connect your charger" (since my battery was low)... i have ordered a USB port and it should be here within a few days.. let's see how that turns out..
samsung s4 i9505.
samsung s4 i9505.
Alright, I’m so pissed right now. I bought a new Galaxy S4 last year, and it lasted me for a whole year without any problems until the charging port started going wonky on me, and my phone wouldn’t charge. I ended up getting it to work again, but I was worried it would completely quit on me and I still have to keep this phone for a whole other year, so I filed an insurance claim. (I had taken it to Verizon first, but they couldn’t help me, and gave me a little insurance claim booklet thing instead.)
So I filed the insurance claim, (you have to pay 90 some dollars, and if you don’t send your old device back in a certain amount of time they make you pay even more money) and I got my phone the next day. They also send you a new SIM card, charger, and battery. I’ve had this new phone for maybe two weeks, and the charging port already seems to be broken again. I thought maybe it was because I was still using my old charger since they let you keep all that other stuff, but when I tried using the new charger it wouldn’t even go in my phone.
Now I love my phone, but apparently a lot of the Galaxy phones, or maybe just Samsung phones in general are doing this. When I took it to Verizon this one man thought I had an S5 apparently, and he said a lot of them were doing that and that Samsung was trying to fix the problem, but until then they were giving out new chargers that worked somehow. (obviously once they realized I had an S4 they couldn’t help me anymore, because the charger only goes with the S5)
I’ll probably try contacting the insurance place, but until then I’ve bought this thing on Amazon that charges the phone’s battery once you’ve taken the battery out of the phone. I’ve got two batteries now also, so hopefully it works well for me. And if all these phones have wonky charging ports, then I don’t see a point in trying to get it fixed or replaced if its’s just going to break again.
Edit: And now any time I plug my charger in to see if it will work, it makes this weird noise, almost like it’s frying it. ugh.
So I filed the insurance claim, (you have to pay 90 some dollars, and if you don’t send your old device back in a certain amount of time they make you pay even more money) and I got my phone the next day. They also send you a new SIM card, charger, and battery. I’ve had this new phone for maybe two weeks, and the charging port already seems to be broken again. I thought maybe it was because I was still using my old charger since they let you keep all that other stuff, but when I tried using the new charger it wouldn’t even go in my phone.
Now I love my phone, but apparently a lot of the Galaxy phones, or maybe just Samsung phones in general are doing this. When I took it to Verizon this one man thought I had an S5 apparently, and he said a lot of them were doing that and that Samsung was trying to fix the problem, but until then they were giving out new chargers that worked somehow. (obviously once they realized I had an S4 they couldn’t help me anymore, because the charger only goes with the S5)
I’ll probably try contacting the insurance place, but until then I’ve bought this thing on Amazon that charges the phone’s battery once you’ve taken the battery out of the phone. I’ve got two batteries now also, so hopefully it works well for me. And if all these phones have wonky charging ports, then I don’t see a point in trying to get it fixed or replaced if its’s just going to break again.
Edit: And now any time I plug my charger in to see if it will work, it makes this weird noise, almost like it’s frying it. ugh.
SOLVED
Had same issue not charging / gray battery symbol when off (still charged when off but not when on).
Had accidentally dropped very lower edge of phone into some water when problem started....
dried phone in rice for 18 hrs = nothing
tried to dry out with hair dryer for 5 minutes.... = nothing
Switched ON daydream (Settings-display-daydream) and set to BOTH (no clue if that helped or not) - blew out charging port with canned air for 10 seconds.... = SUCCESS!
Verified!
Hope this helps!
Had same issue not charging / gray battery symbol when off (still charged when off but not when on).
Had accidentally dropped very lower edge of phone into some water when problem started....
dried phone in rice for 18 hrs = nothing
tried to dry out with hair dryer for 5 minutes.... = nothing
Switched ON daydream (Settings-display-daydream) and set to BOTH (no clue if that helped or not) - blew out charging port with canned air for 10 seconds.... = SUCCESS!
Verified!
Hope this helps!
Spread the word..... when you have the grey battery on screen.....hold down power button, up and down volume button all at the same time until grey battery goes away...charging battery will/should show up...hit battery button again and phone will/should turn on...or don't and let charge...
Attachments
Hi,
I replaced my sch-i545 (Verizon)'s USB charger port/board and I am still getting the grey battery icon when my battery is below 10%! I previously had the battery down to 0% to get the battery icon/vibrate sequence to occur and now still the only method that allows me to get the phone to turn back on is to do the Power On +Vol-up&Vol-down button sequence followed by pressing and holding the power button. I am wondering if the replacement USB charger board is defective or if there is a different problem?
Thanks
J
I had same issue with my galacy s4 wouldn't keep a charge and said charger is incompatible. I was using a car charger not made by Verizon or samsung and I believe it bent the pron in charging port with a little wiggle up and down and move it in place my phone is charging perfectly and also says charging ac instead of charging usb. Just a little wiggle to put the pron back in place and it's good don't listen to anyone saying to spend money or reset or delete this or that. My cousin works in IT he fixed it said the charger pron got bent cuz of the car charger. No problems anymore charging perfectly.
My phone galaxy s4 was not charging, it vibrate when I plug it to a power socket and this gave me a lot of botheration. What I did was to vacuum the charging port as advised, and it worked is required.
Thanks for this great forum
Thanks for this great forum
I had an accident yesterday when some coffee spilt all over me . I had the Galaxy s 4 in my pocket but i didnt realize immediatlely that it god wet .After 2 hours i pluged the charger but it had no respond on my device . Then i blew they charging port a little bit and tried it again . A grey battery icon appeared . It was showing like it was charging but they battery was slowly draining and not charging at all.
Hi ,
I just SOLVED this annoying problem. The dilemma started when I was on a pretty wet camping tour....I guess wet entered somehow via the usb port. The rest you know...only charging when its turned off, grey battery and vibrating every couple of seconds.
I tried everything posted here ....nothing worked. I am now pretty convinced that the above phenomenon can be caused by different reasons.
1. broken usb port: solution (the only) change it
2. Dust in the port: take it out somehow (preassure vacuum, needle, etc)
and 3rd (my problem) wet:
here is my solution:
"Bake " your phone at 70°C for 30 min under ventilation in the kitchen ofen. With back cover removed
(before take out battery, sim card and sd card).
let it cool down - wait 30 min.
and then connect it to the charger.
when I did this, battery was still grey for 5 min, but then turned green again and everything was fine...
good luck phix
I just SOLVED this annoying problem. The dilemma started when I was on a pretty wet camping tour....I guess wet entered somehow via the usb port. The rest you know...only charging when its turned off, grey battery and vibrating every couple of seconds.
I tried everything posted here ....nothing worked. I am now pretty convinced that the above phenomenon can be caused by different reasons.
1. broken usb port: solution (the only) change it
2. Dust in the port: take it out somehow (preassure vacuum, needle, etc)
and 3rd (my problem) wet:
here is my solution:
"Bake " your phone at 70°C for 30 min under ventilation in the kitchen ofen. With back cover removed
(before take out battery, sim card and sd card).
let it cool down - wait 30 min.
and then connect it to the charger.
when I did this, battery was still grey for 5 min, but then turned green again and everything was fine...
good luck phix
Last edited:
Kevin, can you let me know how to select the correct micro usb board for my samsung S4? I see that there are many variations that look alike. Could it be that there has been superseded part numbers? I have seen that there are i337 and i545 part numbers, both for S4 phones. Is the i545 a newer version with different options? How to determine which one will work?
Similar threads
Trending Posts
-
Hello Buddies Is there anyone who can guide me as a newbie?- Started by happysoul
- Replies: 1
-
Returned to Android for the first time since 2011- Started by Buckruhe
- Replies: 4
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram