Develop Bugs

[Q] Kernels and charging

I've been messing around with roms for a while now, and I've finally chosen one that I really like, but the other day I decided to start playing with kernels, and I flashed netarchy-toastmod-4.3.2-cfs-sbc-havs-more-universal-signed. Once I flashed it, my phone would no longer charge at all. When I plug it in, the orange charging indicator would come on for just a second, and then turn off as if I unplugged it.
I had this happen once before, when I installed the fullHDMI app, I read that if I installed a custom kernel I would get better performance, and the same thing happened.
Luckily I am OCD about most things I do, and I ALWAYS Nandroid, so I was easily able to revert back to my former rom and kernel with no problems.
And the last time, my phone would charge fine if it was off, so worst case scenario, until I did a restore, I could get by just turning my phone off and charging til it was ready. But this time, my phone wouldn't do either! When its on, again, light comes on for a second, then turns off. And when its off, I don't even get that much!
I have never had an official htc charger (bought my phone on Craigslist and the guy "forgot it"), but I used to use my old Samsung Reclaim charger with no problems. Therefore, I can't remember whether or not the charger I'm currently using (stupid Rocketfish micro usb charger from best buy) ever charged my phone when its off.
Which brings me to my question, really. How do kernels affect charging on the Evo? I've read elsewhere about people having issues after flashing a new kernel. And really, does it matter if you're using an aftermarket charger or the OEM htc charger?
I would love to be able to play with new kernels and see what's best for my battery life, but every time (btw, if its relevant, the 2 times I've tried flashing a kernel without a full Rom I've had charging issues) I've tried I run into trouble, and I am terrified that I'll flash and forget, and won't have enough battery life to restore to my old kernel!
Edit: Also, whenever I forget my charger at home, I can usually find one laying around at work, and the one I usually use, some AT&T micro usb charger, has never worked unless my phones off, even with the built in kernels. It works perfect, on or off, with my buddys stock, non-rooted Evo. I haven't tried it lately, so I'm not sure if it'll even charge while off. I just feel like my charging issues are kernel related, and I wouldn't think the kernel would affect anything while the phone is turned off? Do different kernels work only with certain chargers? And do some chargers only work when enabled by certain kernels? I find it hard to believe that there's anything physically wrong with my phone when I can always restore and get it working again, but at the same time, its weird to me that some work while my phones off, and others do not.

Update: Just tried the Rocketfish charger while off. Phone does not respond to it whatsoever.. I need my Reclaim charger back! But again, this raises the question, do some chargers only work when enabled by certain kernels? Why would this charger not work when the phone is off, when no software is running, but work fine when its on and certain kernels are running??

Nothing??
Does anybody know anything about this?

that's weird man. if your phone isn't charging even when the phone is off, then it's not kernel related, it would be hardware related (possibly your charger port on the bottom of the phone) i read somewhere that the charger port has been reported to break off easily. have you connected it to a computer to see if the computer recognizes it?
edit: i noticed you were using an SBC kernel. I'm not gonna get into the whole debate about if sbc fries batteries and stuff, but have you tried swapping out your battery for another one? maybe the battery is fried?

gotshores said:
that's weird man. if your phone isn't charging even when the phone is off, then it's not kernel related, it would be hardware related (possibly your charger port on the bottom of the phone) i read somewhere that the charger port has been reported to break off easily. have you connected it to a computer to see if the computer recognizes it?
edit: i noticed you were using an SBC kernel. I'm not gonna get into the whole debate about if sbc fries batteries and stuff, but have you tried swapping out your battery for another one? maybe the battery is fried?
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I think its your charger too. I've had other phone (hybrids..yuck) that were very charger sensitive so it would not surprise me at all. THIS is the same charger that came with the phones so it will work or if your an ebayer like myself than go THIS route since its cheaper. And I've used SBS kernels since they first arrived on the seen and still to this day have had no problem, but everyone is different.
I also have had a phone with a broken usb port. It wont let you charge unless the port is wiggled just right and as soon as the phone is moved itd stop charging. Your issue definitely sounds like a charger problem to me.
Also, next time try to sum everything up in a paragraph or so. Many people will turn down a question when they have to read an essays worth of info.

Yeah sorry, I know I wrote a novel. I was kinda drunk and wanted to get the facts out there. I know my problem is not hardware related though. Charges perfect, no wiggling required, while my phone is on. Won't charge whatsoever, no matter how much I wiggle, with the phone off. It's just weird to me..

And the second the kernel loads after the boot animation (screen dims and 4 softkeys light up) my phone starts charging. Can a kernel make a charger that's not compatible compatible?

I believe the kernels are based off of HTC Stock Kernels, they are just tweaked to achieve greater performance. I've never seen any evidence of Dev's adding/removing charger compatibility so Id say its safe to say no.
mhoffman54 said:
... I was kinda drunk...
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Nuff said! Been there. lol

mhoffman54 said:
Yeah sorry, I know I wrote a novel. I was kinda drunk and wanted to get the facts out there. I know my problem is not hardware related though. Charges perfect, no wiggling required, while my phone is on. Won't charge whatsoever, no matter how much I wiggle, with the phone off. It's just weird to me..
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mhoffman54 said:
And the second the kernel loads after the boot animation (screen dims and 4 softkeys light up) my phone starts charging. Can a kernel make a charger that's not compatible compatible?
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I've never experienced anything like that before. Very strange. I wouldn't think that a kernel would prevent the phone from charging while the phone is powered off. I also wouldn't think that a kernel could make an 'incompatible' charger 'compatible'. If the charger is Micro USB, it *should* be compatible. I always use the charger that came with my phone, but I have used other ones in a few different instances, and have never had a charging issue whatsoever. Some chargers have different ratings, such as 1Amp charge output, or .5A charge output. Generally USB and car chargers charge at .5A, while wall chargers charge at 1A. The Evo should charge with either one, as long as the cable is Micro USB. I just don't see how a charger could even be 'incompatible', unless the charger itself was no good. My guesses are, either a bad battery, or a bad connection where the battery makes contact. Or, a hardware issue. There is a known problem for some Evo's, where the solder joints that connect the USB charge port to the motherboard fail. Poor solder joints. That could be your problem. I just don't buy that it's software related, because the phone should charge when it's powered down, regardless of the software. However, it is strange that this happened right after changing kernels, and nandroid restoring to your previous setup alleviated the problem...that is strange. I guess the easiest and least invasive thing to try would be flashing a few different kernels, and see how different kernels affect the problem. If the problem persists no matter what kernel / rom combo you're on, then it's not software related. If the problem goes away when you change kernels, then maybe somehow it is software/kernel related. It's just very odd.

Htc Evo not charging

My evo was getting low on battery and I plugged it in. I went to check on it a half hour later and it wasn't charging. I plugged it into my computer and used multiple charging cords and it still won't charge. The battery is dead now. What can I do now? I am rooted and am scared to take it in.

Dany8907 said:
My evo was getting low on battery and I plugged it in. I went to check on it a half hour later and it wasn't charging. I plugged it into my computer and used multiple charging cords and it still won't charge. The battery is dead now. What can I do now? I am rooted and am scared to take it in.
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Just to be clear, did the phone die completely before you tried to start charging it? Or did you plug it in before it actually died, and then it still wouldn't charge, and died anyways?
If it died completely on it's own, and then you plugged it in, and it won't take a charge (no led charging light), then your battery is most likely toasted. You can try leaving it plugged into the wall charger for some time, and see if it starts charging again, but it may not. Lithium Ion batteries don't like to be drained completely. They can get so low, to a point that the battery won't recieve a charge. It has something to do with the software in the phone not letting it. I've heard that if you have an actual wall charger, to put the battery directly on that, and it may charge up again. Otherwise, you need a new battery, most likely.
If you plugged it in before it actually died, and it still wouldn't recieve a charge, I would have to take a guess and say that there might be a problem with your usb/charge port (because you did say you tried other cables already, right?, so that should rule out a bad cable)
If you have any other batteries, try one. Or if you do happen to have a direct wall charger, put the battery on that and try to charge it up.
What rom/kernel combo are you currently on?

The battery was at about 24% when I plugged it in. I plugged in and the led didn't come on. It's been on the charger for about an hr. I tried a bb charger no luck and also plugged it into my computer.
I was running CM7 RC4 with savage zen 1.0.1 cfs havs sbc at the time. I got scared that i would have to take it in when the battery was getting low so I tried to flash the pcj136 zip on my sd card but it was corrupted (good time to find outit was corrupted) but after that I flashed back to my stock rooted backup. That's what it's on now. The led still didn't come on.

Dany8907 said:
The battery was at about 24% when I plugged it in. I plugged in and the led didn't come on. It's been on the charger for about an hr. I tried a bb charger no luck and also plugged it into my computer.
I was running CM7 RC4 with savage zen 1.0.1 cfs havs sbc at the time. I got scared that i would have to take it in when the battery was getting low so I tried to flash the pcj136 zip on my sd card but it was corrupted (good time to find outit was corrupted) but after that I flashed back to my stock rooted backup. That's what it's on now. The led still didn't come on.
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Okay, so you were able to successfully get the stock rooted rom flashed before the battery died? So you were running the stock rooted rom before it actually died? Still no charging on the stock rooted rom eh? Personally, i would find a way to get your battery charged up. Either take it to a sprint store, or if you have any friends that have a hero or an evo, pop it in there and charge it up. Once you're charged up, you can then have some time to unroot and turn S on if you need to, so you can take it in. It would also allow you test a couple more things, and be sure that it's not software related. (sounds like a bad usb/charge port to me) There isn't a lot you can do without being able to turn it on.
And you meant to say you tried to flash a PC36IMG, right?

Haha yes PC36IMG
Yes now I am running the stock rooted rom. As soon as I flashed the stock rooted rom it died.
My friend has a evo so I think I'll try to use my friends battery to see if it will work. To me it seems like a bad USB port but I'll try the battery. Hopefully it will work.

Dany8907 said:
Haha yes PC36IMG
Yes now I am running the stock rooted rom. As soon as I flashed the stock rooted rom it died.
My friend has a evo so I think I'll try to use my friends battery to see if it will work. To me it seems like a bad USB port but I'll try the battery. Hopefully it will work.
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Yea, as I stated above, I also believe it's a bad usb/charging port. I just think you should use your friends evo to charge your battery, so you can then put your fully charged battery back in your phone, and unroot it if you need to take it in. Just beware, that if it is a bad usb/charge port, I have heard of Sprint giving people a tough time with repairing it (its a known problem). Sprint claims it to be cosmetic damage or physical damage or some bs like that.

I thought this issue would be fixed already. I got my evo in Dec and it's hw 0004.Cosmetic damage? Wow. How is it cosmetic damage when you can't use your phone? If I do have to take it in will sprint fix my evo? I have insurance through best buy.

Dany8907 said:
I thought this issue would be fixed already. I got my evo in Dec and it's hw 0004.Cosmetic damage? Wow. How is it cosmetic damage when you can't use your phone? If I do have to take it in will sprint fix my evo? I have insurance through best buy.
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I have seen people reporting here on XDA, that Sprint refused to fix the problem, and insisted upon either sending it to HTC or using your insuarnce. I'll see if i can find the thread for ya to look at, it wasn't too longg ago.

Cool, thanks

Dany8907 said:
Cool, thanks
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1008960
I've seen more on the subject kicking around here, but the dang search is currently down. I got lucky by finding that one on page 7!

This happened to me as well. I was using my EVO (rooted to Warm ROM) as a GPS today driving down to NYC. The battery wasn't completely dead yet and I was using a car charger to the phone. All of a sudden, the phone just reset! I had no clue why. I used my brother's EVO for GPS and after a little while, his started to reset as well! After I got home my phone wouldn't charge with the wall charger USB so I used my cradle charger to directly charge the battery, which worked and now my phone is on and the usb wall charger works again.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004T07XNY/ref=cm_cr_thx_view

[Q] Battery charged 10% in 2 hours

My original phone had problems with charging (it wouldn't charge at all) so I decided to bring it to the nearest Sprint store only for them to decide that the best course of action is to replace the phone with a refurbished one (and so I did).
Now, this new phone has shown a couple of horrible results:
The phone does not charge unless left alone. (Meaning it would not charge when I use it whilst plugged in; in fact it drains about 1% per 10 minutes!)
When it charges (while left alone) it charges UBER slow, it charged up 10% in 2hours prior to posting this forum topic
- EDIT: as of now 8:08pm PST, the phone charged an additional 7% to a total of 17% charged in ~5hours
And last, I tried charging it overnight while the phone is off. This morning it said 100%, but as soon as I turned the phone on the battery dropped to 45% and in a few minutes down to 28%
Now, I've searched and searched for solutions to similar problems but could not find any of which has any closely similar symptoms.
I love this phone so much, I thank everyone who will help in any way possible!
I'm in college and in dire need of this phone everyday! It's ruining my schedule/life!!!! :crying:

In settings > about phone > status does charging say AC or USB? If it's USB your charger may be bad. You can try changing chargers but you need a wall wart the same Amps as your stock charger which I believe is now 2.0A when older devices only used 1.0A. You can also go to dialer hit ##3282# > edit > enter MSL and then disable USB charging I forget which label it's under but if you peek around you'll see it. Just uncheck the box back out of dialer and reboot.
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
In settings > about phone > status does charging say AC or USB? If it's USB your charger may be bad. You can try changing chargers but you need a wall wart the same Amps as your stock charger which I believe is now 2.0A when older devices only used 1.0A. You can also go to dialer hit ##3282# > edit > enter MSL and then disable USB charging I forget which label it's under but if you peek around you'll see it. Just uncheck the box back out of dialer and reboot.
I like to break stuff!
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Thank you for your response, although unfortunately it says AC so that's not the issue as of the moment. Thank you though

johntwothreefour said:
Thank you for your response, although unfortunately it says AC so that's not the issue as of the moment. Thank you though
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Have you tried a differnt charger? Maybe your wall wart or cable are slightly off and not allowing proper current flow. The only other thing I can think of is its the battery or the hardware of the phone itself, so I say start with the charger/cable since its the cheapest
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Have you tried a differnt charger? Maybe your wall wart or cable are slightly off and not allowing proper current flow. The only other thing I can think of is its the battery or the hardware of the phone itself, so I say start with the charger/cable since its the cheapest
I like to break stuff!
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It's not the charger as well, I tried it on my friend's GS3 and i works fine.

johntwothreefour said:
It's not the charger as well, I tried it on my friend's GS3 and i works fine.
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The only thing I can think of then is either the battery has a bad charging circuit or theres something wrong with your USB port/voltage regulator. Have you tried cleaning the USB port with compressed air and then a dab of 91%+ alcohol on a twisted up piece of paper towel to get any sticky gunk off of the contacts? Thats the last thing I can think of trying b4 jumping to switching batteries and then taking it to a repair center for them to test the phone itself.
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
The only thing I can think of then is either the battery has a bad charging circuit or theres something wrong with your USB port/voltage regulator. Have you tried cleaning the USB port with compressed air and then a dab of 91%+ alcohol on a twisted up piece of paper towel to get any sticky gunk off of the contacts? Thats the last thing I can think of trying b4 jumping to switching batteries and then taking it to a repair center for them to test the phone itself.
I like to break stuff!
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Alright, I'll try those, thanks
Although I'm really leaning towards this being more of a problem with the software because of reason #1 on OP.

johntwothreefour said:
Alright, I'll try those, thanks
Although I'm really leaning towards this being more of a problem with the software because of reason #1 on OP.
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That was what originally had me thinking it was charging in usb mode. Cuz when im plugged into my pc and doing stuff it wont chsrge fast enough to keep up with the drain. Thag could also be a symptom of the voltage regulator being bad, not getting more power in than power out.
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
That was what originally had me thinking it was charging in usb mode. Cuz when im plugged into my pc and doing stuff it wont chsrge fast enough to keep up with the drain. Thag could also be a symptom of the voltage regulator being bad, not getting more power in than power out.
I like to break stuff!
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HOLY cheese-its. Cleaning the thing with twisted paper and hand sanitizer (as you said, but didn't have rubbing alcohol with me) yielded a result: it is now showing an estimated time before it is fully charged (wherein before, it was stuck at "calculating"). I'll be updating if there are any more progress
THANKS!

Thank my kids for gunking up my phones on the regular
I like to break stuff!

Do I need a new battery?

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S 2 X t989d running liquid smooth rc9
Haven't been able to charge it, with phone turned on, or off, battery will get up to maybe around 10, and then if left plugged in it actually uncharges. Started about 2 days ago when I used a dollar store cigarette lighter charger with a usb cable, and noticed after having it plugged in for about an hour, my battery of around 90% had gone down to 10%. It seemed to have been decharging.
For a month or two the micro usb input in the bottom has been slightly falty, as in certain charges/usb cables that don't fit snug have to be pulled in a certain angle in order to connect and start charging. Some cables fit snug and work fine.
Before I go looking for a new battery, is this for sure a battery problem? Anything I should do to diagnose/fix the problem?
If it's just the battery, will a telus store carry a replacement? Or where is the best place to go? Would prefer not to have to wait for shipping.
Thanks

InsouciantSoul said:
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S 2 X t989d running liquid smooth rc9
Haven't been able to charge it, with phone turned on, or off, battery will get up to maybe around 10, and then if left plugged in it actually uncharges. Started about 2 days ago when I used a dollar store cigarette lighter charger with a usb cable, and noticed after having it plugged in for about an hour, my battery of around 90% had gone down to 10%. It seemed to have been decharging.
For a month or two the micro usb input in the bottom has been slightly falty, as in certain charges/usb cables that don't fit snug have to be pulled in a certain angle in order to connect and start charging. Some cables fit snug and work fine.
Before I go looking for a new battery, is this for sure a battery problem? Anything I should do to diagnose/fix the problem?
If it's just the battery, will a telus store carry a replacement? Or where is the best place to go? Would prefer not to have to wait for shipping.
Thanks
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Sounds more like a phone problem to me. The only battery issue that I know about is the bug that you can see in certain threads, where the phone won't charge if it's dead. In that case, you take out the battery for 10 minutes, then plug in the phone, then put the battery back in and let it charge.
Your problem seems different. However, i don't recommend dollar store chargers anyway. Try the charger and cable that came with your phone. If you need a new one, I would suggest getting one for your specific phone on eBay.
Beyond that, you've likely borked your usb port on your phone, either from using sub-standard cords, or perhaps someone has tripped over the wire while it was charging. These things happen but in that case you will have to have the phone replaced or repaired.

Well, I got it to fully charge. Oddly enough, right now the only thing that will charge it is my computer. The charger that comes with a phone, or my LG micro usb charger, or even my girlfriends pc, all seem to make the phone quickly discharge. Even when using the same usb cable that i plug into the LG charger, it works great on my computer.
I have a setting in my bios to make things charge faster through usb 3.0. I first tried without, then with, and both options work.
I think this must rule out that it's the micro usb port on the bottom of my phone. Using the same cable on different computers/plugs doesn't work. So it must be something weird with the battery, or maybe using that ****ty dollar store charger messed up how my rom/kernal is handling my battery?? Or does the rom/kernal even effect how a phone charges at all? I'm kind of confused..

I may try flashing a new rom. Any recommendations? Looks like liquid team is dead. Seemed to the best rom at the time, is there anything better now? Too many to test them all. Looking at all-star rom.. seems legit? pacman? What's stable and awesome?

I have played with so many of them... If you're looking to stay with the stock feel then try galaxy sbean - the unicef rom. Snappy and lots of goodies. Myself, I always come back to aokp. It's by far my favourite one out there.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

InsouciantSoul said:
I may try flashing a new rom. Any recommendations? Looks like liquid team is dead. Seemed to the best rom at the time, is there anything better now? Too many to test them all. Looking at all-star rom.. seems legit? pacman? What's stable and awesome?
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Pacman is the sh*t...

Note 2 charging complete randomness - bad port?

Hey guys:
I'm an IT tech and I'm really confused on this one. Started happening a week or 2 ago. I'd be charging my phone and it'd randomly cut out. I run Carbon ROM and have the notification light set to be a solid yellow when charging so I know if it's charging or not. It would happen very infrequently, but would cut out. I'd unplug and replug and it would be fine for the most part. It's gotten progressively worse. I was running NEAK kernel so I tried to go back to stock Carbon trinity kernel, same problem. The other day my phone would also randomly go in and out of "car mode" too which was weird. Currently, I have it plugged into my computer so it's charging in USB mode (lower voltage) and as of right now it's holding charge. But prior to last rebooot it was going on,off,on,off with the charge. Today my phone has locked up a few times when plugged into a full AC charger even. Seems to be completely random right now. I'm just looking for any advice. Going to flash a different ROM and see if that does anything. If not, what part would I need to order? I saw a Youtube instructional video on how to replace USB port and I'd be willing to do that. I bought my phone off Craigslist and have had it for like 6 months. No proof of purchase, which you need for Samsung warranties right? The battery is not "swollen" in the middle. Oh, also this morning, when it was going in,out,in,out,in,out constantly (on full AC charger), i could actually HEAR the (official Samsung) charger resetting itself almost, in sync with when the charge would cut out, if that makes sense. I could actually hear the charger making a "click" everytime it would lose charge then it would try charging again, and would click off again, over and over. Lastly, today I also saw in settings->battery it saying "charging" even though the charge light on my phone was off AND i saw it drop a percentage so it wasn't actually charging. VERY random. Maybe clear battery stats? Doubt that'd do anything... I have CWRP on my phone...
Any thoughts at all on this or if you've seen this would be great. Likely new USB port needed. Where to buy? If new ROM does not fix, it must have to be replaced. That's all I can think of....

Currently, it is holding a charge. I re-installed NEAK kernel, and set the AC charging to 1000 instead of the default of 1700. This happens though. When it seems to be holding, it's fine until I unplug and try later and then all the randomness begins. No idea what to think of it. Don't even know if setting to 1000 had anything to do with it working, likely not....

Didn't see it mentioned. Have you tried a different cable or even a different charger? Would do that before changing a usb port on the phone. Doesn't sound like the port if you are able to charge via a PC USB.
Sent from my SGH-I317 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

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