Droid 4, ? battery and possible usb port issues

pinkone

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I've had this droid 4 for a year and a half, and all the sudden a couple weeks ago it started dying on me. It's impossible to get an indication of the battery unless the phone is turned off, but once the phone shuts off (after no warning, I've literally been mid-text when the screen goes black) and I've plugged it into the charger it will turn on to the Motorola symbol -- and go no further. I've been turning it off manually (often takes a few tries), then letting it charge. Except for the battery indicator either stuck at a false percentage or displaying a question mark, it works normally otherwise.

Last night I thought I'd fatally discharged the battery, since it was at 0%, and was still at 0% this morning. However, I had some success getting it to work using the USB charger with my computer -- that was also the first thing to make the green indicator light turn on since I can remember. However, both using the USB and outlet to charge I've found it doesn't seem to charge UNLESS the phone is powered down. Since I've been sitting here it's very slowly charged up enough to turn on via the USB, only to deplete that and die a minute later despite not being moved.

I've previously had one issue with the battery, where I had to send it in and get it factory recharged, about half a year ago.

No new apps in months, so I can't imagine they have anything to do with it.

This is incredibly distressing, and any advice or just insight would be very much appreciated! I'm planning to take it into a Verizon store this weekend to get it looked at, or is my phone a lost cause? :( I'd rather not lose app info, if it could be helped. (If it comes to that, is there a way to save/retrieve my info off the dead phone? I'm pretty nonchalant about saving things, since I'm an idiot. (And it's nothing important, just sentimental.))

EDIT:
Now the USB is actually charging the phone while on, miraculously. Up all the way to 10%! However, the green LED has gone off again. I'm suspecting this particular issue is related to the loose port, which makes it very picky about when it wants to charge. I'm too afraid of messing it up to switch to the wall outlet though.
 
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pinkone

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Posting again in case someone else is looking into this same problem!
After nursing my phone at the computer all day (charging via USB) I was able to I guess get it back to the wall with enough juice that it would charge properly. This time I was able to let it charge fully back to 100 %, something that it hadn't been doing no matter how long I let it sit. I think this was key, since I hear that depleting the battery all the way then charging fully to 100 can fix some battery issues.

After taking it off the wall (before turning it on) my phone wouldn't turn on at all. Oh ****, right? So I returned it to the computer, and after letting it sit and "charge" like at idiot, I pressed the power button and it came on! This was surpising since earlier when the green light was on (it was this time) I couldn't turn the phone on, I had to wait for it to turn on itself. It charged up, still full charge, and was fine when I took it off the charger. What's more, now the battery doesn't appear "stuck"! The "charging" message actually went away when it was unplugged, fantastic!

As an extra safety I followed the advice from the other thread and cleared the cache (following instructions here: https://motorola-global-portal.cust...tail/a_id/87765/p/30,6720,8302/kw/clear cache). I'm not sure exactly what it's supposed to do, but the person in the other forum said that it seemed to clear up their problem with rebooting issues and randomly dying.

This is the other post that led me to this solution: Droid 4 dying randomly, battery indicator not working, not always charging - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com
They note that a big point in the charging thing is to NOT turn on your phone before it reaches 100%.

I'm really happy this got resolved. :) Phone issues are absolutely terrible when it's your only way to communicate reliably in a LDR. Though I had (infinitely) more views than comments here, thanks for your help!


Edit: Also, no info on the loose port, but it seems to be charging okay now so I guess we'll see. And the android central discussion has a link in it you can only see as a member, but I assure you it's just to the cache-clearing steps I linked to above.
 
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