Maxx Shuts Off by itself - False Low Battery?

[phillipsjosh2415]

I love my Maxx so far for the most part, but there have been a few issues. Most of them are minor and can be fixed by rebooting. One that I can't figure out is this. Three times now my phone has shut completely off by itself. I would pull it out of my pocket or off the desk and the screen is black just as it would be in sleep mode. I push the power button to wake the phone up and nothing happens. So I push multiple times and nothing happens. Then I hold the power button in to restart the phone and nothing. It won't turn on or wake up. Thinking that maybe the battery was completely dead I put it on a charger. I know each time this happened I had 80% battery left or more but charged it anyway. But putting it on the charger made the phone restart. That is the only thing that would do it. The last time it happened I happened to notice that right before the restart the battery icon (with the lightning bolt) showed up on screen for about one second then went away. The battery icon was empty except for barely a little red at the bottom meaning normally a low or dead battery. I know each time though that I had plenty of battery left. After the phone restarts I can take it off the charger after one minute or less and it shows my 80% battery like I knew I had before it happened. There is no way it was dead and then charged back to 80% in one minute. I am confused about the battery icon popping up quickly showing red. It almost seems like the phone thinks it has a low or dead battery so shuts off and the only way I can power it up is by plugging in the charger. But after the restart it goes back to showing the real battery level I knew I had. It seems like some kind of false low battery issue if there is such a thing. Has this happened to any other Maxx users? Any suggestions on what it is and how to resolve it?

Thanks,
Tony

 

[syndicate0017]

Sounds like you're getting a Black Screen of Death. If it happens again, I'd try holding Vol - and Power for 10 seconds and see if it restarts you.

 

[phillipsjosh2415]

I have read up some on the black screen of death since the last post. It sounds kind of like what has happened to me. I just haven't found where anyone else talks about plugging it to a charger to get it to come back on and then seeing the low (red) battery icon for a split second, then going back to my nearly full charge. Everyone just talks about doing the power/Vol down button hold for reboot. I will try that next, but I am curious what is causing this for me.

 

[monkey_man]

Did you install third party launcher or Weather widget?

 

[phillipsjosh2415]

I did download the weather.com app but i am not running it as a widget. Not sure what a third party launcher is.

 

[monkey_man]

If you don't know what 3rd party launcher is, then it shouldn't be an issue. 3rd party launcher apps can be ADW, GO Launcher, or can be different name. I was frustrated too during my transition from OG Droid to Bionic. I had many problems where I thought using the SD card from OG Droid was the problem. The easiest way if you are not rooted and still under 14 days is to replace the phone as you have a 1-time new replacement from Verizon. I asked about 3rd party home launcher earlier because it seems Motorola isn't as friendly with this since Droid 2 Global. I used 3rd party launcher to hide junk apps instead of deleting or freezing the apps. System error can make the phone unable to turn back on as it's unable to choose which is the default homescreen. I am crossing my fingers as its been a week since I installed a rebooter app that I have not had BSOD as I had with previous Bionics. Thankfully I have 2 razr maxxes now unlike with Bionic that now I can compare and contrast via self experimentation :icon_ banana:. I'll monitor it for few months.

 

[thaDroidz]

I would return if in the 14 days.


----posted maxx'ed out----

 

[FoxKat]

If you don't know what 3rd party launcher is, then it shouldn't be an issue. 3rd party launcher apps can be ADW, GO Launcher, or can be different name. I was frustrated too during my transition from OG Droid to Bionic. I had many problems where I thought using the SD card from OG Droid was the problem. The easiest way if you are not rooted and still under 14 days is to replace the phone as you have a 1-time new replacement from Verizon. I asked about 3rd party home launcher earlier because it seems Motorola isn't as friendly with this since Droid 2 Global. I used 3rd party launcher to hide junk apps instead of deleting or freezing the apps. System error can make the phone unable to turn back on as it's unable to choose which is the default homescreen.

Getting back the stock Blur launcher can be accomplished by downloading Moto Home Fix. This is a known issue with the Gingerbread launcher in at least the RAZR but that app is able to reset the default.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[FoxKat]

I have read up some on the black screen of death since the last post. It sounds kind of like what has happened to me. I just haven't found where anyone else talks about plugging it to a charger to get it to come back on and then seeing the low (red) battery icon for a split second, then going back to my nearly full charge. Everyone just talks about doing the power/Vol down button hold for reboot. I will try that next, but I am curious what is causing this for me.

Your phone battery may actually be close to fully discharged but the metering circuitry can get confused by charging while the phone is on, causing it to think the charging cycle is near completion even when it's no where near complete. This can set off the symptoms you are experiencing.

Also if the phone was never fully charged while powered off, or if it wasn't fully charged while powered off before using initially (from brand new on the box), the same results can be experienced.

How do you charge it and how often? Do you keep the phone on while charging, and have you ever done a full charge (to 100%), while the phone is powered off? Did you fully charge it (100%) right from the box BEFORE using it?

If not, I suggest you power of the phone by pressing the power button and choosing "Power Off". Then plug the charger in and allow it to boot into "Charge Only" mode (the large battery with the simulated liquid on the display). Allow it to reach 100%, which may take several hours.

To check along the way, just tap the power button briefly, but be careful not to trigger a full boot. If it happens to boot up, repeat the process to put it back into "Charge Only" mode until 100%. Then use the phone normally thruout the day until it reaches the "Low Battery" level of 15% and charge again from there. This will reset and calibrate your meter to the battery's actual capacity.

This may very well resolve your phone's issues.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[phillipsjosh2415]

I have tried FoxKat's advice above about charging the phone with it powered off. Actually, I had never done that. It had power when I opened it out of the box and I just used it. From then on I have been charging every night whether I have low battery or not and I always leave the phone on. I never turn it off unless something is wrong and I have to. I powered off and charged it to 100% Tuesday night and then used the phone until it got down to 10% before charging again. By the way, I went from Tuesday night until Friday night on that charge! Pretty good! I powered off and charged again Friday night and have gone on that charge until tonight (Monday). So far I have not experienced the BSOD or whatever my problem was in the original post anymore. But it's still kind of early to tell if that was actually the problem and if it is truly resolved. I will post here later to tell whether it has happened anymore or not. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[FoxKat]

I have tried FoxKat's advice above about charging the phone with it powered off. Actually, I had never done that. It had power when I opened it out of the box and I just used it. From then on I have been charging every night whether I have low battery or not and I always leave the phone on. I never turn it off unless something is wrong and I have to. I powered off and charged it to 100% Tuesday night and then used the phone until it got down to 10% before charging again. By the way, I went from Tuesday night until Friday night on that charge! Pretty good! I powered off and charged again Friday night and have gone on that charge until tonight (Monday). So far I have not experienced the BSOD or whatever my problem was in the original post anymore. But it's still kind of early to tell if that was actually the problem and if it is truly resolved. I will post here later to tell whether it has happened anymore or not. Thanks for all the advice.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[tomad9]

I have had the "BSOD" a couple of times. It has happened after I hung up after a phone call. I know the battery is more than 80%. I do the power/volume down and it reboots and all is fine. Annoying, think it is a software issue.

 

[FoxKat]

I have had the "BSOD" a couple of times. It has happened after I hung up after a phone call. I know the battery is more than 80%. I do the power/volume down and it reboots and all is fine. Annoying, think it is a software issue.

There are certainly other possible causes to the BSOD, and they may or may not be related to the battery. If you've experienced it after a phone call, could still be battery related since the phone is drawing current to run the cellular radio. If the current draw pushes the available voltage down too low, it may trigger the same symptoms.

A unique characteristic of these batteries, which is both a benefit and can also result in charging and battery meter confusion is that the voltage remains relatively flat from about 20% of capacity to about 80% of capacity. The benefit is for devices that need a stable constant voltage supply these batteries will meet the demand. The problem is this presents the battery meter with a difficulty in accurately determining charge levels through that range. So the battery meter must rely on past cycles and known minimum and maximum levels (set at the last 100% charge while powered off combined with the following 15% low battery warning), along with active power usage monitoring to estimate charge levels through that range.

You may benefit from the charge sequence above and you may not, but since it can't hurt the battery or phone, isn't it at least worth a shot?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[jsh1120]

Foxcat,

This has been a very interesting thread to me. As it happens, I also own a Kindle Fire and have noticed a number of reviews and posts on the Amazon customer feedback sites citing problems of the KF "dying" after a few weeks or months. It's especially interesting that many of these reports claim they've received replacement units (or even two) from Amazon with the same problem. (The chances of multiple faulty units sent to the same person are, of course, miniscule.)

I'm strongly suspecting that the problems stem from the same source cited here, especially since (a) many KF users are accustomed to devices that can last for weeks on a single charge and (b) many don't make the connection between a smartphone and the KF despite the obviously similar hardware.

 

[raygun91]

I have had a similar issue with my Maxx.

I have had the phone for just under a month. For the most part the phone operated smoothly. However, there were a couple of instances when the phone froze multiple times in a day, but a "battery pull" seemed to fix it and un-installing recently downloaded apps seemed to fix it. I have not "rooted" the phone (I'm not even sure what that means).

However, on the way home from work today the phone went into an endless rebooting cycle. Performing a battery pull would shut down the phone momentarily, only for it to power back on on its own a few seconds later, reentering its rebooting cycle. I finally managed to get the phone to stay powered down. I waited for about half an hour to power back on but the same rebooting problems occurred so I powered down for good.

I searched online for help and finally ran across this thread. From FoxKat's posts I noticed I had not ever properly charged my Maxx since taking it out of the box. I always charge it while powered on. So, thinking my problem could be power, I plugged my still powered off phone in and the it shows the typical charging battery, only the battery is empty with only a large question mark inside.



So should I leave it plugged in until it shows it's fully charged? I am at a loss:blink:

Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated:smile: