Razr Maxx Death already?

[diablo316]

I bought a Razr Maxx a little over one month ago. Yesterday, I took the phone out of my pocket and tried to manuever around search, Facebook, Twitter. It was at 3G and maybe 1 bar ... going nowhere. My wife has an iPhone and my daughter has an iPod. Both had no issues and were manuevering without issue. So, I powered down and back up and immediately was at 4G, 4 bars, flying in all areas I could not just minutes before. So I hit the on/off switch and went back to watching basketball. Maybe 3 mins later I take the phone out and it appears to be rebooting. All the initial screens were popping up as if the phone was just starting up again. However, it locked on the screen with the red laser morphing into the "Droid" name.... and kept cycling and cycling. I could not shut the phone down by holding the power button. Back of the phone was a little hotter than normal. I called customer service and they said they could not do anything about it other than ship me a new phone. So ... nearly a month from original purchase. the phone is being replaced. The lady I spoke to said that she had been getting more and more of these calls. Has anyone else had this issue? I had thought I originally read that you could take the phone into an offiicial Verizon store and they could change the battery, but the tech on the phone told me this was not the case and once the battery wears out, there will be nothing that can be done. She DID tell me that the battery should last me at least "a year or two!" Seems like a short shelf life. Any suggestions on how I can restore from this dead phone to the new one? I DID get the "My back-up pro" when I switched from the Droid X to this Razr Maxx and it worked great ... so I should be able to at least restore the original, but I had added things since... sorry for the length, but wanted to make sure I had enough details because I am very disappointed to already be getting a replacement after a little more than a month.

[FoxKat]

Rather than quote that, I'll simply answer. Your issues sound very similar to others' whose battery levels have gone out of sync with the battery meter. Let me guess, you never charged the phone to 100% with the power off, or never fully charged the phone right out of the box before using it, again with the power off (like most everybody else).

If my suspicions are correct, the problem may be that the battery was actually basically discharged below the minimum needed to successfully boot the phone, but since the meter believed there should be enough power, it didn't shut down as it should have, and instead tried to reboot as a precaution thinking apps were pulling too much current. Once the reboot process started, it was unable to accomplish the reboot and so gets stuck in a boot loop.

The only way out is to press and hold both the power and volume down to force a battery pull.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[Trash Can]

The only way out is to press and hold both the power and volume down to force a battery pull.

I know that's how we 'pull the battery', but won't that reboot the phone as well, something that it's not capable of in this case due to it's low power state? I dunno because I've never had to do it.

[FoxKat]

I know that's how we 'pull the battery', but won't that reboot the phone as well, something that it's not capable of in this case due to it's low power state? I dunno because I've never had to do it.

You're correct, but with the Power cord plugged in, at least he'd regain control and then could power down manually and begin the charge only sequence.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[diablo316]

Rather than quote that, I'll simply answer. Your issues sound very similar to others' whose battery levels have gone out of sync with the battery meter. Let me guess, you never charged the phone to 100% with the power off, or never fully charged the phone right out of the box before using it, again with the power off (like most everybody else).

If my suspicions are correct, the problem may be that the battery was actually basically discharged below the minimum needed to successfully boot the phone, but since the meter believed there should be enough power, it didn't shut down as it should have, and instead tried to reboot as a precaution thinking apps were pulling too much current. Once the reboot process started, it was unable to accomplish the reboot and so gets stuck in a boot loop.

The only way out is to press and hold both the power and volume down to force a battery pull.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

FoxKat:
First let me say that I appreciate your time and responses on this forum.
In answer to your reply, yes, I DO turn the power off to charge my phone. I also charged the phone completely when I took it right out of the box.
The tech at Verizon told me that I could do the power and volume down button, but she was afraid that it might wipe my memory clean, like a factory reboot ... so I held off. What I DID do was just let the phone continue to run until the battery was out. I then plugged it in to charge overnight. It was at 100%. I powered on and everything booted fine and I thought the phone was back on track. Checked a couple sites, couple apps and the time was also correct. Approx. 2 mins later, I took the phone out of my pocket and, sure enough, it was in the same ol' dreaded reboot phase that I could not get out of before. That's when I called Verizon back and just asked them to send me a replacement. So that's where I left it ... but, sometimes, I would charge the phone in my car without powering it off when I left work. It would be down to 70-80% after an 8 1/2 hour workday with hardly any activity on the phone ... I knew I would be using it a lot that evening, so I wanted to "top it off," as I have heard people call it.
So ... any other insight or suggestions or recommendations would be great.
Again ... thanks in advance for your time, consideration and responses.

[hookbill]

diablo 316, I have never seen a Razzr but it seems to me that what that phone needed before sending it back would have been a factory data reset Now I noticed on my Bionic there are two check marks for backing up. I would do it without backing it up and just restore my paid apps from the Play Store and added the free ones on an as needed basis.

It's pretty strange IMHO that they didn't have you do a reset. If it happens on your replacement, give it a try. Should be settings/privacy and then you'll see the factory data reset.

[FoxKat]

FoxKat:
First let me say that I appreciate your time and responses on this forum.
In answer to your reply, yes, I DO turn the power off to charge my phone. I also charged the phone completely when I took it right out of the box.
The tech at Verizon told me that I could do the power and volume down button, but she was afraid that it might wipe my memory clean, like a factory reboot ... so I held off. What I DID do was just let the phone continue to run until the battery was out. I then plugged it in to charge overnight. It was at 100%. I powered on and everything booted fine and I thought the phone was back on track. Checked a couple sites, couple apps and the time was also correct. Approx. 2 mins later, I took the phone out of my pocket and, sure enough, it was in the same ol' dreaded reboot phase that I could not get out of before. That's when I called Verizon back and just asked them to send me a replacement. So that's where I left it ... but, sometimes, I would charge the phone in my car without powering it off when I left work. It would be down to 70-80% after an 8 1/2 hour workday with hardly any activity on the phone ... I knew I would be using it a lot that evening, so I wanted to "top it off," as I have heard people call it.
So ... any other insight or suggestions or recommendations would be great.
Again ... thanks in advance for your time, consideration and responses.

Well, I certainly am impressed. Almost nobody follows those "safe charging" methods at first. Usually people "try the phone" right out of the box to "see if it has any charge", and when they discover it does, they start playing with it right away.

These batteries are very sensitive to under-voltage, as are the phones, so to prevent problems the manufacturer charges the batteries to about 50% before leaving the factory...not so it can be powered up and used right away, but so the batteries will not self-discharge to below the minimums needed to activate the charging circuitry and also to prevent the battery from falling into protection mode.

Frankly the Verizon phone center store representatives are as much to blame as anyone since they usually start and activate the phones at the store while the customer watches and then hand the phone over while powered on. What they should do is turn the phones back off and tell the customers to charge fully while off before turning back on again. Of course most people will ignore that advice anyway since they are anxious to try their new toys.

Several other users on this forum have dealt with the exact same issue as you and the resolution for some was to force shutdown with the power and volume down, while the plug from the charger was in, and then allow it to charge in charge only mode until it reached 100%, then powered up, use until it signaled low battery at 15%, and charge with the power off again.

This may have saved your phone, but for future reference, you should avoid ever allowing the phone to discharge to anywhere close to 0%, avoid having the phone power off by itself if at all possible and instead power it down manually before then, and once every month or two, go through the charging routine above to keep the phone's charging circuitry and the battery happy playing together.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[weatherlover1]

Well my story is a little different. I have had my phone just under two weeks when the sound just stopped working. I called and Verizon is sending me a new out out today(hopefully). But yesterday things got weirder. When I pulled it off the charger it rebooted and now my battery is discharging at an alarming rate and its not an app or program. Its only been off an hour and its down to 83%. Plus my phone is now warm and will not cool down even when powered down. Its like the battery is now going too. I also did a full power up with it off when I got it. My phone is now not as hot this morning as it was but the screen is warm to the touch even when just sitting here. I am a little worried about these batteries..

[Dingbat]

Know this is an old thread but maybe it will help someone. My MAXX went dead after about a month. Nothing. With charger or without. I did and do follow the initial charging sequence you folks recommend. I had used the phone about 2 hours earlier and it had 80%. I called VZW and got a great tech. He had me push and hold all three buttons (power, Vol Up, Vol down) down simultaneously. After about 20 seconds there was a quick green line flash and then nothing else for about 45 seconds and it started booting. All is normal now...nothing lost. He annotated my file in case it does it again and they'll replace it. He also noted I was paying for way too many minutes and we knocked the minutes down to where I am saving $20/month still with plenty of minutes. A good experience. Just FYI.

[19hoosierdaddies67]

I have only had my Razr Maxx about a month, of course after my first one had cracked screen after the first 12 days without being dropped....Which I was able to convince Verizon to replace without using the warranty, anyway that is another story. So today I was on a telephone call and then when I tried to switch to speakphone I noticed the screen was black and I couldnt push anything. I asked my girlfriend who i was talking to to call me back to end the call. Anyway the phone was compltely dead and would not repond to the power button. i pressed the power and both volume buttons for the recommended 20 second, recieved the slight blue flash and the phone rebooted. all seems well at this time. Whew!!!I thought i was really screwed for a second time with this thing.