I bought myself Arc S, it came loaded with .62 firmware. On my initial run, battery ran for about a day, later on for two or maybe even three days. Then I started to work in another country. As far as I remember, battery life was the same, even though the network was not (where I work now is 2G only, in my home country 3G). Then one day messed around with a Xperia S apps, did a stupid mistake and started to get force closes with launcher. I had to repair software.
Since the software reinstallation, my battery life degraded to less than a day without even touching it. Therefore I installed Battery Monitor Widget, to see, what is going on. I noticed, that battery drainage is about 70-110 ma in average, as far as I know, it should be much lower (under 30ma?). I have to say, that I tested this with .62, .42 firmware and it's all the same. When I turn phone to airplane mode, energy consumption lowers to under 5ma - which is normal i guess.
It began to bug me even more, as we bought small alarm clock with radio. I noticed, that when this alarm clock is on, despite from 2 other phones our room, my Arc S is the only phone, which makes this kind of searching-for-signal or calling speaker interference (noise coming out of speaker). My phone does that all the time, even in idle mode. This can be also heard when we have our TV on on. So, if I don't want to hear that, I have to unplug the alarm clock or put my phone into airplane, which sucks.
I asked a guy next building, if he has the same problems with Arc S, and he says that his phone can live up to 5 days with one charge (is connected to the same network provider), so I guess it is not network related?
I wonder, is there a possibility, my phone's radio is broken somehow? Or it was faulty, and firmware reinstall somehow broke it to the end? So that is draining battery all the time - looking for signal? Any way to fix this? Flashing different base bands did not help, tried that already...anybody knows a fix for this, apart from returning it to my provider - since I'm 4 months away from my country
Anybody heard for any similar problem with Arc S?
Thanks in advance! (if needed, I can also post battery usage screenshot, but I think it's not much of a help)
lyteo said:
Then I started to work in another country. As far as I remember, battery life was the same, even though the network was not (where I work now is 2G only, in my home country 3G)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems like the issue here if I'm understanding you correctly. If you don't have 3G service where you currently are, and you did not turn off 3G, your phone will constantly try and find a 3G signal.
Airplane mode fixing the issue makes this seem even more likely. Try disabling 3G and see if it helps.
Problem is, that's what I did almost instantly when I came here, I set it to GSM only. One thing I noticed right now, when I check into About phone, under Mobile network type, my Arc S has: UNKNOWN, where my friends HTC says EDGE. Maybe here lies a problem? Why my phone can't detect network type?
Incredibly, I found the reason for my drainage and signal search. When I came into that country where I work now, my provider offered me to turn off data transfer (provider turns it off for me). Of course I did not want any unintended data transfer, so I turned it off by sending sms to service number. After I reinstalled software (that was my first reboot here), phone couldn't find network type for that reason, and was searching for it all the time. Yesterday I allowed data transfer by sms again, phone found EDGE network, can't hear any more noise on our alarm clock and battery drainage is about 4% per 8,5 hour. Excellent
I hope this helps anyone out there with drainage problems.
I think you can also turn off/disable data transfer/traffic with the Data traffic widget, if you want to avoid using data.
xperia arc s
hold up, i dont understand. so im pretty sure i have the same problem. get about 17 hours with berely using my phone on any rom/kernal/firmware. even with data turned off, betterbatterystats shows 'noor unknown signal' and 'no data conection'? i sued to able to get 3 or more days out of my phone??
I think there is an application, which might be keeping the phone alive.
dout it, still drains after a complete rom wipe
Related
Hey guys,
I have been trying to solve this on my own for two days now, but I would like to consult the forum now.
So, I was running Pink Sense 1.8 for about 2 weeks with setCPU profiles and was getting satisfactory battery life. I had re-calibrated the battery info maybe 2 weeks before flashing the Pinky ROM (as described here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755903).
All of a sudden, without any app installation or change to either the ROM or software/hardware settings I started getting horrible battery life. The battery would drain completely for less than 6 hours with GPS, 3G, and WiFi off.
*Another strange thing (which I don't know if it was related to my battery issue or not) was that when I would plug the charger it would turn the screen on but switch to the default clock app instead of the HTC sense homescreen. If I pressed home or back it would disappear. This would happen randomly and not always.
So, I figured it's time to jump ROMs and I decided on LeeDroid. I wiped cache, etc. and flashed the ROM. Out of the box the battery life was again pretty crappy (the battery was virtually disappearing in front of my eyes). I found some threads where it was suggested to disable market notifications and that slowed the battery drain a bit but it's still crappy.
I just charged it fully, 3G and WiFi off, and was with the screen off for 99% of the time and it still drained 18% battery in 1hour and 25 mins.
So, my question is - what the hell is going on???
Should I wipe battery info? Should I install a non-WiFi n rom? What more can I do?
I would really appreciate help and advice.
p.s. I am running the latest radio too.
wich radio have you the .23 drains the batery with my desire try with the .30_2
the battery life is better.
did you try reboot your phone maybe your optical joystick dead and drain your battery.
load any new apps recently?
cr1960 said:
load any new apps recently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, the problem appeared with absolutely no new apps installed and persists after flashing a new ROM.
How do I know if my optical joystick is dead? It still works if that's what you mean (although I don't like using it).
I will try flashing the 30_2 radio, thanks for that suggestion.
slyn4ice said:
How do I know if my optical joystick is dead? It still works if that's what you mean (although I don't like using it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it works he's not dead
after flashing your radio and if the battery still drain check if the rom you use has his own rules for the cpu freq. if you are in that case don't use cpufreq or something like that because of conflicts.
PS: Sory for my bad english
Sithlord31 said:
If it works he's not dead
after flashing your radio and if the battery still drain check if the rom you use has his own rules for the cpu freq. if you are in that case don't use cpufreq or something like that because of conflicts.
PS: Sory for my bad english
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I just flashed the 17_2 radio. It doesn't look like LeeDroid has any requirements for cpu frequencies. I will post an update after an hour.
slyn4ice said:
Thanks, I just flashed the 17_2 radio. It doesn't look like LeeDroid has any requirements for cpu frequencies. I will post an update after an hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There seems to be no change with 17_2 radio. 15% drop for 1h45m. I will go through a charge/recharge cycle and if nothing has changed I will flash the 30_2 radio.
Some people had the same effect. It happens when you flash your ROM while the phone is connected to power/charging. The battery stats simply get messed up.
An easy indication for this is if you charge the phone fully while powered on, LED is green, as soon as you unplug the charger the battery drops to some 90%.
The fix is easy too. If the phone is fully "charged" while on, disconnect the charger and switch it off. Then plug the charger in again. The LED should turn orange again and the remaining percentage will be charged. Wait until you have a green LED and your problems are hopefully gone.
Look out for the battery calibrating thread here for more info.
Hope that helps...
Mac
mmaacc said:
Some people had the same effect. It happens when you flash your ROM while the phone is connected to power/charging. The battery stats simply get messed up.
An easy indication for this is if you charge the phone fully while powered on, LED is green, as soon as you unplug the charger the battery drops to some 90%.
The fix is easy too. If the phone is fully "charged" while on, disconnect the charger and switch it off. Then plug the charger in again. The LED should turn orange again and the remaining percentage will be charged. Wait until you have a green LED and your problems are hopefully gone.
Look out for the battery calibrating thread here for more info.
Hope that helps...
Mac
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions. I always thought it would be better to flash with the ac adapter plugged.
I have tried the method you described above but it hasn't really solved any of the problems.
The battery drain is now at least manageable - i had 50% drop while sleeping for 6 hours (at least it didn't drain it completely). I am going to flash the 30_2 radio and try again.
slyn4ice said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I always thought it would be better to flash with the ac adapter plugged.
I have tried the method you described above but it hasn't really solved any of the problems.
The battery drain is now at least manageable - i had 50% drop while sleeping for 6 hours (at least it didn't drain it completely). I am going to flash the 30_2 radio and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have access to a spare battery, maybe you can try that too?
Normally when I have unexplained problems with the phone, the last drastic step I would take is to wipe everything, data/app/cache. Do a nandroid backup first so that if that doesn't solve your problem you could always get back all your setups.
You could also try Titanium to help save your setup. But I would be careful with what I restore. The last thing I would want is to get the messed up setting back in.
I have noticed also whenever I flash a new rom, the battery seems to get worse. So I would always do a recalibration. The proper step is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755903 (and wipe the battery status on the last power up before using).
Lastly, I would use as stock as possible first to see if it is things that I introduce that cause the problem.
pehkblui said:
If you have access to a spare battery, maybe you can try that too?
Normally when I have unexplained problems with the phone, the last drastic step I would take is to wipe everything, data/app/cache. Do a nandroid backup first so that if that doesn't solve your problem you could always get back all your setups.
You could also try Titanium to help save your setup. But I would be careful with what I restore. The last thing I would want is to get the messed up setting back in.
I have noticed also whenever I flash a new rom, the battery seems to get worse. So I would always do a recalibration. The proper step is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755903 (and wipe the battery status on the last power up before using).
Lastly, I would use as stock as possible first to see if it is things that I introduce that cause the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I can definitely confirm the radio is the problem. There is barely any battery drain in airplane mode (1% drain per hour with WiFi on). I am back to 32.43.00.32U_5.09.00.20 but it seems to drain battery faster than before.
Now that I think back, this battery problem started when i switched to the newer 32.47.00.32U_5.10.05.23 radio. No matter what I do now though even after rolling back to older radios it's still a problem. Damn it.
slyn4ice said:
I think I can definitely confirm the radio is the problem. There is barely any battery drain in airplane mode (1% drain per hour with WiFi on). I am back to 32.43.00.32U_5.09.00.20 but it seems to drain battery faster than before.
Now that I think back, this battery problem started when i switched to the newer 32.47.00.32U_5.10.05.23 radio. No matter what I do now though even after rolling back to older radios it's still a problem. Damn it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don´t know (because i never updated radios above .20 and have no problems with battery)...but...maybe flash a original ruu rom...and root again
maybe this help...with kind regards..Alex
Alex-V said:
Don´t know (because i never updated radios above .20 and have no problems with battery)...but...maybe flash a original ruu rom...and root again
maybe this help...with kind regards..Alex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that doesn't help, ive tried it already
TieT said:
that doesn't help, ive tried it already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I have awesome news! Thanks to user "lenik" on modaco forums I got some extra RIL settings (radio settings) he found for Softbank (my cellphone company here in Japan). Here are the settings:
ro.ril.enable.a52=0
ro.ril.enable.a53=1
ro.ril.fast.dormancy.timeout=3
ro.ril.enable.sbm.feature=1
He said the first two should be found on most ROMs, while the last two are probably carrier specific for SoftBank. Anyways, I just downloaded the latest LeeDroid ROM, modified /system/build.prop file (none of the above settings were in there) to include the above settings and ... got a 5% drop in battery for 10 hours on standby (wifi off, setCPU set to 245Mhz when screen is off). This is unbelievable.
Anyways, here are lenik's blog posts about it:
http://lazydroid.com/2010/06/battery-life-improved/
http://lazydroid.com/2010/06/back-to-1-21-...ry-consumption/
I hope this helps other people out there!
slyn4ice said:
Ok, I have awesome news! Thanks to user "lenik" on modaco forums I got some extra RIL settings (radio settings) he found for Softbank (my cellphone company here in Japan). Here are the settings:
ro.ril.enable.a52=0
ro.ril.enable.a53=1
ro.ril.fast.dormancy.timeout=3
ro.ril.enable.sbm.feature=1
He said the first two should be found on most ROMs, while the last two are probably carrier specific for SoftBank. Anyways, I just downloaded the latest LeeDroid ROM, modified /system/build.prop file (none of the above settings were in there) to include the above settings and ... got a 5% drop in battery for 10 hours on standby (wifi off, setCPU set to 245Mhz when screen is off). This is unbelievable.
Anyways, here are lenik's blog posts about it:
http://lazydroid.com/2010/06/battery-life-improved/
http://lazydroid.com/2010/06/back-to-1-21-...ry-consumption/
I hope this helps other people out there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VERY nice results! Do you think that these RIL settings should work on any network/carrier?
It's very odd because today I noticed my battery performance dropping large, BUT before it was always great. I am also on LeeDrOiD 2.1, and while at home, with WiFi + BT on AND connected to my router + handsfree, I lose only about 3-4% an hour.
Today when I left the house and went shopping, I was in the store for 1.5 hrs and I had lost near 15%! I had even turned off Wifi so it wasn't trying to scan APs. Very very strange...
Anyways, I want to maybe try these RIL settings if it will work on any carrier. Does anyone know if I can edit build.prop while in recovery, or do I have to edit it in the ROM .zip then reflash the entire ROM?
Thanks for the post and hunting down a solution slyn4ice, I'm glad that it has helped you out big time!
*** EDIT *** - After looking more into my JuicePlotter graphs, I notice that the battery life gets killed when I am using APN / 3G / HSPA network. I would have thought Wifi would take more power, but that seems not to be so. I DID have "Network Mode" set to "WCDMA only" (in Mobile Network Settings) because I heard it might save battery not having to switch back and forth from EDGE to 3G, but I guess that didn't help...I've since switched it back, but need a lot of charging before I can test again.
Does anyone else notice that when they're on 3G/H the battery drops MUCH quicker than if you were connected to Wifi instead? This is just my last hurdle towards a PERFECT ROM!
Thanks in advance all!
3G uses waaay more power than WiFi. After all, the data usually travels long distances and needs to be amplified. This effect is pronounced especially if in the limit zones of 2G/3G coverage and you have 3G preferred, the phone boosts the power to maximum to maintain 3G.
Gsm Auto (PRL) prefers 2G if 3G coverage is too low. WCDMA Preferred tries to maintain 3G connection even if it means sacrificing battery life.
If you are constantly in good coverage zones, no problem, but to the people living on the edges of proper 3G coverage it meas a big hit to battery life, especially if the mobile data is used. This partly explains why some get superb battery life and others far worse.
Jgruar said:
3G uses waaay more power than WiFi. After all, the data usually travels long distances and needs to be amplified. This effect is pronounced especially if in the limit zones of 2G/3G coverage and you have 3G preferred, the phone boosts the power to maximum to maintain 3G.
Gsm Auto (PRL) prefers 2G if 3G coverage is too low. WCDMA Preferred tries to maintain 3G connection even if it means sacrificing battery life.
If you are constantly in good coverage zones, no problem, but to the people living on the edges of proper 3G coverage it meas a big hit to battery life, especially if the mobile data is used. This partly explains why some get superb battery life and others far worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazing explanation and reaffirmation of my thoughts Jgruar (JuicePlotter confirms it). I guess from my old WinMo days, I always remember Wifi being the power hog. I actually did change it back to GSM/Auto since that was the only change I made lately, but I thought I'd chime in while my device was charging back up, hoping for a reply just like that!
Thanks a bunch!
scar45 said:
VERY nice results! Do you think that these RIL settings should work on any network/carrier?
It's very odd because today I noticed my battery performance dropping large, BUT before it was always great. I am also on LeeDrOiD 2.1, and while at home, with WiFi + BT on AND connected to my router + handsfree, I lose only about 3-4% an hour.
Today when I left the house and went shopping, I was in the store for 1.5 hrs and I had lost near 15%! I had even turned off Wifi so it wasn't trying to scan APs. Very very strange...
Anyways, I want to maybe try these RIL settings if it will work on any carrier. Does anyone know if I can edit build.prop while in recovery, or do I have to edit it in the ROM .zip then reflash the entire ROM?
Thanks for the post and hunting down a solution slyn4ice, I'm glad that it has helped you out big time!
*** EDIT *** - After looking more into my JuicePlotter graphs, I notice that the battery life gets killed when I am using APN / 3G / HSPA network. I would have thought Wifi would take more power, but that seems not to be so. I DID have "Network Mode" set to "WCDMA only" (in Mobile Network Settings) because I heard it might save battery not having to switch back and forth from EDGE to 3G, but I guess that didn't help...I've since switched it back, but need a lot of charging before I can test again.
Does anyone else notice that when they're on 3G/H the battery drops MUCH quicker than if you were connected to Wifi instead? This is just my last hurdle towards a PERFECT ROM!
Thanks in advance all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I understand you need to update RIL settings in the ROM and then flash the modified ROM. I just edited the /system/build.prop file in the Leedriod zip file and saved (didn't resign or anything). Flashed the ROM through ROM Manager recovery (I also tried flashing it through the normal recovery but it failed on the "verifying image" stage - I guess because I didn't resign the archive).
As far as the options themselves - only the last two should be carrier specific. I haven't researched anything about them, so I have absolutely no idea what they actually do. "lenik" just copied them from an official Softbank ROM.
God, i just checked JuicePlotter and i dropped 1% for 1h10m (everything off except the radio + setCPU to ~400Mhz when screen off). This is just crazy ... awesome ))))
Is the setting rom specific, or will it work om opendesire?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
slyn4ice said:
Ok, I have awesome news! Thanks to user "lenik" on modaco forums I got some extra RIL settings (radio settings) he found for Softbank (my cellphone company here in Japan). Here are the settings:
ro.ril.enable.a52=0
ro.ril.enable.a53=1
ro.ril.fast.dormancy.timeout=3
ro.ril.enable.sbm.feature=1
He said the first two should be found on most ROMs, while the last two are probably carrier specific for SoftBank. Anyways, I just downloaded the latest LeeDroid ROM, modified /system/build.prop file (none of the above settings were in there) to include the above settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LeeDroid ROM (LeeDrOiD_V2.1_A2SD+_.zip) build.prop includes:
ro.ril.enable.a52=0
ro.ril.enable.a53=1
but no:
ro.ril.fast.dormancy.timeout=3
ro.ril.enable.sbm.feature=1
Just checked.
Sometimes the battery works great, lasts a couple days. And sometimes, I get strange spikes where the battery drains extremely quickly (see attached images).
I have tried:
1. New device - I swapped my unit yesterday
2. Hard reset - restore all factory settings (and erase everything) off the phone
3. Battery cycle - i.e. let the battery run out entirely, recharge it from scratch
I have also tried diagnosing the issue via the stock battery app, GO Power Master, and BetterBatteryStats, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary when the battery usage spike occurs. Maybe there is some process running wild, but it doesn't seem to do anything...
Has anyone had similar issues? The only non-Google Play store app I have installed is Visual Voicemail - the apk I downloaded from this board.
You have tried everything I would normally suggest, but might have noticed something. Your sharp drop coincides with that red band on your signal bar. The red part signifying no cell tower signal. The sharp drop seems to start there. Is your phone stuck searching for cell towers when it has already re-established a signal? The earlier dip in the battery also has a red bar under it.
Also battery performance is not linear. If you are at 50% after 24 hours, you will not necessarily get another 24 hours. I am alwaysfinding myself at 50% after 18 hours and think, "Cool, I've found the right kernel" but sure enough I'm still plugging it into charge at 24 hours!
I know you say you normally get two days (which is very good) but this is all I can think of.
I use a powerful automation app called Tasker. With it you can set any phone setting to any phone condition. I've just checked, and it is possible to set a profile based on signal strength. With this you could specify a weak or no signal to do any manner of things, from play a notification sound, to turn off 3G and auto-sync. Set an exit task and it will also turn 3G and auto-sync back on when signal strength is healthy again. Might be worth a try.
Edit: If you have root access, Tasker supports the app 'Quick Boot Plus' as a plugin. With this you could set Tasker to reboot your phone if it is out of signal for more than 'x' seconds. I know it might not be very practical, but it would tell you if you we are looking at the real culprit.
Another edit: Scratch that. You could set Tasker thatif it sees no signal for 'x' seconds, turn on airplane mode, wait 'y' seconds, turn off airplane mode. No need to buy a plugin.
Thanks, wnp_79 - appreciate the thoughtful response!
Yes, that's a good point - there is a drop in battery starting with the red line for the signal. I take the subway to/from work in the morning and evening. But I don't see any problems connecting after I get outside (i.e. it doesn't seem to be searching for signal).
Perhaps next time I can try setting airplane mode on/off when I notice the battery draining quickly - and see if that helps the issue. If it does, clearly it's a signal issue.
I like the Tasker idea, I will give that a try! Thank you for the suggestion.
I wasn't by any means expecting another 24 hrs, but that drain of "50%" occured over a span of like 3 hours... with no screen usage (i.e. the phone was just sitting next to me at the desk, supposedly "idle").
Whatever you do, don't cycle your battery deeply unnecessarily.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Thanks tsleng, will keep that in mind.
I guess I am surprised other people haven't seen this issue. Maybe it's something specific to my software...
I've got this issue but it's down to my signal. At home it's fine and battery last's me well but as soon as I get to work my battery starts to dip due to Vodafone having poorer signal. Bad signal is killing my battery too bad we can't change radio's as of yet due to no S-OFF.
what happens when we can s-off? i mean what adv will we encounter regarding with the issues that we are having?
mohaimed said:
what happens when we can s-off? i mean what adv will we encounter regarding with the issues that we are having?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well S-OFF, we can unlock bootloader without having to use HTCDev meaning we can revert back to stock easily and without it tampering the status. We can lock it back to it's original state.
We can flash kernels without having to use fastboot.
We can flash radios. By flashing other radios we can improve our signals if one radio is bad, an improved signal is friendlier on the battery.
I get a weird spike too but mine causes the phone to die. Also mine was done overnight when I was sleeping. (see attachment) I'm not really sure what I can do. I hope this was a one time problem...but i'm not so sure. I'm still under warnty and this is my second HOX
neocryte said:
Sometimes the battery works great, lasts a couple days. And sometimes, I get strange spikes where the battery drains extremely quickly (see attached images).
I have tried:
1. New device - I swapped my unit yesterday
2. Hard reset - restore all factory settings (and erase everything) off the phone
3. Battery cycle - i.e. let the battery run out entirely, recharge it from scratch
I have also tried diagnosing the issue via the stock battery app, GO Power Master, and BetterBatteryStats, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary when the battery usage spike occurs. Maybe there is some process running wild, but it doesn't seem to do anything...
Has anyone had similar issues? The only non-Google Play store app I have installed is Visual Voicemail - the apk I downloaded from this board.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have the LTE version of the one x Maybe they can help you there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1538
Hi guys,
I am hoping someone may notice what's going on with my device... I am at a loss. Attaching all screenshots and dump file from BetterBatteryStats (may need to open in Wordpad for the spacing work).
To summarize, my battery drain is very inconsistent. Some days it lasts a long time, 2-3 hrs of screen time, can stay in standby for over 2 days. And then some days it drains very quickly, like right now - it drops by 3% every time I basically turn on the screen to check e-mail/messages. I think we can all agree that 4 hrs of standby and 15 mins of screen usage should not use 50% of the battery.
I have tried two different units (swapped thinking my battery was faulty), and the issue persists - so I think it has to be something related to my software setup. I am running the AT&T LTE stock phone, 1.85 firmware. I have tried doing the full factory reset (clearing all settings/apps/storage), and cycling the battery.
Some folks have mentioned that my drain seems to begin when I hit an area with low/no signal (I take the subway to work in the morning), and then persists - as if something is trying to sync/connect somewhere, but can't... so it keeps looping and draining the battery.
My autosync is only on for Gmail, Google calendar (not contacts), and Weather (every 2 hrs only). Phone is not overly hot, battery is at 86 degrees right now. My brightness is at 40%.
If someone has any ideas, please share - I am at a loss, I don't know what to do... but battery life has got to be better than this, at least in terms of consistency.
Thanks so much.
Hello, i've take a look to your screenshots and it looks like its clearly not an app that drains your battery.
You talked about weather. How many towns have you got in the main clock screen ?
I read here that if you have too many towns, it can drain the battery ...
Just remove all the towns and setup your home town only in clocks main screen's parameters.
And i recently modified something on my phone, in some hidden menu.
( You should call *#*#INFO#*#* and the menu appears ... ).
It was on "WDCMA preferred" ( 3G+ forced even low !!! ) and i set it to "GSM Auto PRL".
I didn't noticed lots of changes for battery usage, but it looks like i have "weirdly" more often H connection instead of 3G or 2G.
It should be the opposite, and i should be more often on 3G/2G ... ...
Maybe its just your phone trying to connect to a WDCMA network that is very poor and that drains battery.
Setting the "GSM Auto PRL" appear to avoid this kind of "forced" connection to WDCMA network and minimize battery consumption.
Here is more information on that point i found here on XDA : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=688492
Just try another "preferred mode" and see what happens ...
Good luck
Thanks DanRZ. I only have 1 town for weather (New York), and I am on the LTE network - so not sure if those various modes are applicable?
if you are on lte than you are in the wrong forum... the one x cant connect to lte
Ah man, didn't realize there was a separate one. Thank you!!
Btw something is keeping your device awake , it doesnt go to deep sleep---- Sorry i have made a mistake i saw like 7 hours awake in badass , it was minutes . Also what i have noticed is that you have 18 min without signal ,maybe that is draining battery - constantly switching data connection
I was having similar battery problems. It didn't seem like there was an app draining my battery...but after I did a factory reset and installed none of the same apps (except for betterbattery stats) my phone no longer had the same battery problems as before. I'm going to slowly install the old apps one at a time until I figure out which one was the problem.
The problem is that the phone will not ring for either incoming or outgoing calls. Someone phoning me gets no rings, it goes immediately to voice mail. When i try to call out the screen looks perfectly normal - all of the correct icons are showing up so it looks like it is ringing, but it is not ringing either at my phone or at the person i am calling.
The problem is cured by restarting the phone. Only after i restart the phone do i get notification about any messages that were left.
This happens only when the battery is at about 40%, but not always - just occasionally and rarely. It happened today for the first time in a few months; it also happened a few times, a few months ago.
I would think that at 40% battery there should be no battery charge related problems? 40% should be plenty to run the phone?
Any ideas? I am going to return it to the store and ask about this, but i would like to have some more info to go on, if any is available.
TIA,
Mick
mdawdy said:
... This happens only when the battery is at about 40%, but not always - just occasionally and rarely. It happened today for the first time in a few months; it also happened a few times, a few months ago ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update: It may very well be happening more often than i thought. I do not get a lot of calls, certainly not every day, so it could be quite consistent and i may not have noticed. For the next while i'll let it run down every other day and check.
It happened today. I just decided arbitrarily to check. Battery at ~35%. I phoned to check if i had any messages. Everything looked normal as i said in my original post, but it did not ring and did not connect.
Before re-starting i checked to see if Mobile Data was working. It was not. After re-start both Mobile Data and the Phone were working.
I am wondering what is the technical significance to the Phone problem of the Mobile Data also not working? They must be somehow related in the hardware or software structure of the phone.
I got my phone back today. On the report it says ...
Complaint
#1[]C56-no service
phone antenna cutting out intermittently
Symptom code C56
Work performed
[202]-Full sw upgrade & phone reset
;sw re-flashed then rebuild to factory default
Repair code 202
I'll see if it happens again or not over the next few days and report back. To me it sounds like they did nothing to the physical components of the phone, just flashed/installed/configured the various software components.
Mick
Here we are, exactly one week later, and the phone failed in exactly the same way. So the "repair" process they applied did not work. I'll be returning it to the Rogers store today and will report back here with the results.
I may have the solution to this problem of network drops now, finally. I took it back to the Rogers store where i bought it. This time there was a more knowledgeable guy there. He took one look at the screen and said "I know exactly what is the problem". What he noticed was that the LTE notification was not showing. This city is an LTE hot spot. The phone should connect with LTE virtually anywhere, anytime. He said it is not the phone at all, but that there is a "switch" that needs to be reset for my account; something to do with the SIM card. After a couple of phone calls he returned the phone and said that it is fixed.
Time will tell. I'll post again.
Mick
False alarm. The fix made it worse. Now it not only drops network connections, but also drains 50% of the battery over the course of one day with very little use. Used to drain 20%.
Mick
Just reporting that the so-called knowledgeable guy was incorrect. Still dropping the networks. I went back and he was incorrect again as he believed that you had to have Mobile Data enabled to make/receive calls. Oh well, he was doing his best. Got thru today so far with no dropouts, and battery drain returned to normal ~20% loss for the day. Will see what happens overnight and tomorrow.
Getting kind of tired of having an unreliable device. Hope this gets settled soon. I'll be back to him as soon as it drops out again.
Mick
I really do wish some of the more technical guys on this forum would take an interest in this perplexing problem.
Here is a summary of this problem and of the work done by the official repair center, the results, and finally at the end a couple of questions ...
Here is a description of the technical problem with the phone ...
1. The phone will work normally for an indeterminate time period, perhaps a few hours or maybe a week or so. Then it will malfunction as follows -
2. Signal strength is tiny. The phone will not ring for either incoming or outgoing calls. Someone phoning me gets no rings, it goes immediately to voice mail. When i try to call out the screen looks perfectly normal - it visually appears to be calling as the active icon is on the screen and the message says "dialing". There is no dialing sound. It never connects, it eventually gives up.
3. Mobile Data is not working. With Mobile Data enabled there is no icon on the notification bar. Google search and PlayStore do not run.
4. Wi-Fi is working. The icon is on the notification bar when it is enabled. Google Search and PlayStore work with Wi-Fi.
5. The problem is temporarily cured by restarting the phone. Only after i restart the phone do i get notification about any messages that were left. Then eventually the problem re-occurs.
When i sent phone back the first time this is what they did ...
[202]-Full sw upgrade & phone reset
;sw re-flashed then rebuild to factory default
When i sent it back the second time this is what they did ...
[051]-No trouble found
;RF Calibration performed to enhance RX/TX performance and network connectivity. Passed RF compliance test to meet manufacturer soecifications. Adjusted battery level to optimize power usage
When i sent it back the third time they did exactly the same as the second time. The phone is now working better as i will explain, but it has not been long enough to confirm if the real problem is solved.
I have set up the CleanMaster [CM] and BatteryDoctor [BD] Apps. I have turned off any automatic options in both. I make only light use of the phone - a few calls per day, maybe one Google search, nothing else. I run the 1 Tap Boost CM Widget and the Save Power BD Widget after each use of the phone.
I also have installed NoWallpaper [saves a wee bit of battery power], SmoothCalendar [very nice and very useful] and one of the Clock Apps [with a useful 1 x 2 Widget].
I have not yet disabled the 50+ Apps that CleanMaster reports as harmless to disable as my phone is still under warranty and has this issue that the service people have not yet been able to resolve. But i will be doing that and i highly recommend it to others.
I have had the phone back from the 3rd repair for 6 days now. I am leaving it powered on overnight. At the end of the first day battery = 89%, second day 74%, 3rd day 55%, 4th day 46%, 5th day 31%. That is 5 days of light use. Was 23% this morning so i re-charged it to 100%. I'm happy with 5 days of light use.
I do not have written notes on the previous battery performance. But from memory it used more than 20% the first day, at least an additional 30% the second day. There was not enough to trust it for the third day as it lost more overnight. I was running BD and CM, using the CM Widget but not the BD Widget.
I am wondering when the phone will fail again. I'll post again when that happens as i feel certain that it will. But i secretly hope it will not
So, finally, here are my two questions ...
What is the actual, presumably hardware, problem with the phone that they are not able to find?
What did they do to improve the battery performance so dramatically? Did they for example lower the CPU clock rate?
mdawdy said:
I really do wish some of the more technical guys on this forum would take an interest in this perplexing problem.
Here is a summary of this problem and of the work done by the official repair center, the results, and finally at the end a couple of questions ...
Here is a description of the technical problem with the phone ...
1. The phone will work normally for an indeterminate time period, perhaps a few hours or maybe a week or so. Then it will malfunction as follows -
2. Signal strength is tiny. The phone will not ring for either incoming or outgoing calls. Someone phoning me gets no rings, it goes immediately to voice mail. When i try to call out the screen looks perfectly normal - it visually appears to be calling as the active icon is on the screen and the message says "dialing". There is no dialing sound. It never connects, it eventually gives up.
3. Mobile Data is not working. With Mobile Data enabled there is no icon on the notification bar. Google search and PlayStore do not run.
4. Wi-Fi is working. The icon is on the notification bar when it is enabled. Google Search and PlayStore work with Wi-Fi.
5. The problem is temporarily cured by restarting the phone. Only after i restart the phone do i get notification about any messages that were left. Then eventually the problem re-occurs.
When i sent phone back the first time this is what they did ...
[202]-Full sw upgrade & phone reset
;sw re-flashed then rebuild to factory default
When i sent it back the second time this is what they did ...
[051]-No trouble found
;RF Calibration performed to enhance RX/TX performance and network connectivity. Passed RF compliance test to meet manufacturer soecifications. Adjusted battery level to optimize power usage
When i sent it back the third time they did exactly the same as the second time. The phone is now working better as i will explain, but it has not been long enough to confirm if the real problem is solved.
I have set up the CleanMaster [CM] and BatteryDoctor [BD] Apps. I have turned off any automatic options in both. I make only light use of the phone - a few calls per day, maybe one Google search, nothing else. I run the 1 Tap Boost CM Widget and the Save Power BD Widget after each use of the phone.
I also have installed NoWallpaper [saves a wee bit of battery power], SmoothCalendar [very nice and very useful] and one of the Clock Apps [with a useful 1 x 2 Widget].
I have not yet disabled the 50+ Apps that CleanMaster reports as harmless to disable as my phone is still under warranty and has this issue that the service people have not yet been able to resolve. But i will be doing that and i highly recommend it to others.
I have had the phone back from the 3rd repair for 6 days now. I am leaving it powered on overnight. At the end of the first day battery = 89%, second day 74%, 3rd day 55%, 4th day 46%, 5th day 31%. That is 5 days of light use. Was 23% this morning so i re-charged it to 100%. I'm happy with 5 days of light use.
I do not have written notes on the previous battery performance. But from memory it used more than 20% the first day, at least an additional 30% the second day. There was not enough to trust it for the third day as it lost more overnight. I was running BD and CM, using the CM Widget but not the BD Widget.
I am wondering when the phone will fail again. I'll post again when that happens as i feel certain that it will. But i secretly hope it will not
So, finally, here are my two questions ...
What is the actual, presumably hardware, problem with the phone that they are not able to find?
What did they do to improve the battery performance so dramatically? Did they for example lower the CPU clock rate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based upon your post, should my daughter stay away from this phone. She has a G2 right now.
alhadee12 said:
Based upon your post, should my daughter stay away from this phone. She has a G2 right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have posted about this problem on four S4 mini forums and on one S forum. No one has ever seen or heard of this problem. It is clear that my phone is the only one with this problem.
mdawdy said:
I have posted about this problem on four S4 mini forums and on one S forum. No one has ever seen or heard of this problem. It is clear that my phone is the only one with this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks fort the response, i told her not to get the phone.
Well, it gets worse. The phone messed up today same as before. A bit more than two weeks after the "repair". I was at home in one of the strongest signal areas. Would not receive or make calls or use mobile data. So back to the Rogers store. By the time i got there it had started working again so i could not demonstrate the problem. Also used a lot of battery power today, about 40% with light usage compared to 15% or less per day for the past two weeks.
What the counter guy at the Rogers store said is that there is nothing wrong with the phone, that all cell phones do this, and that i should adjust my expectations.
Here's another ConnectionChecker app. This one attempts to reconnect ...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.jeremychase.ConnectionChecker
My S4 mini SGH-i257M was malfunctioning so i sent it in for repair. The local Rogers store sent it to FutureTel in Markham [Toronto] Ontario Canada. This is what they did, according to the Completion Report that came back with the phone ...
;RF Calibration performed to enhance RX/TX performance and network connectivity. Passed RF compliance test to meet manufacturer specifications. Adjusted battery level to optimize power usage.
It has been two weeks now and not only has it not malfunctioned, but the battery life is significantly improved - from 2 or 3 days of light use [usually just 2] to 5 days of light use.
What did they actually do? Does the recalibration affect hardware or software? Did they perhaps re-clock the CPU down to a slower speed? Any way to check this? What do they mean by adjusted battery level?
The phone is running KitKat 4.4.2, not rooted.
Thank you,
Mick
Here are three replies from other forums to this same question. Anyone here want to include an opinion? It would be most appreciated ...
The first part (RF calibration) means they adjusted the radio to improve reception and transmission(rx/tx), so your call/network/wifi reception will be better; the battery level adjustment implies they altered the voltage to improve battery life. In both cases it's more likely they replaced faulty parts with fully functioning ones. Good to see you finally got your issue solved Mick
It seems like what they did is install the OS from factory state and give u a new battery and maybe re clocked the CPU. Unfortunately they won't give you the proper information on what they did nor will u able to find it. There are some apps which tell u what system and software it uses but that's about it
All that I can tell you is RF stands for Radio Frequency. Apparently your cellular radio was tuned a bit off from whatever frequency(ies) your carrier uses. I wonder how they calibrate this.
Their statement "Adjusted battery level to optimize power usage" makes no sense to me. It's almost an oxymoron! But then, when signal level or reception of signal is poor, firmware detects this and gives the hardware an extra kick of battery juice. So maybe that's what they adjusted?
I'm really just guessing about RF calibration and battery adjustment. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable will shed better light, especially regarding your questions about processor speed
mdawdy said:
Here are three replies from other forums to this same question. Anyone here want to include an opinion? It would be most appreciated ...
The first part (RF calibration) means they adjusted the radio to improve reception and transmission(rx/tx), so your call/network/wifi reception will be better; the battery level adjustment implies they altered the voltage to improve battery life. In both cases it's more likely they replaced faulty parts with fully functioning ones. Good to see you finally got your issue solved Mick
It seems like what they did is install the OS from factory state and give u a new battery and maybe re clocked the CPU. Unfortunately they won't give you the proper information on what they did nor will u able to find it. There are some apps which tell u what system and software it uses but that's about it
All that I can tell you is RF stands for Radio Frequency. Apparently your cellular radio was tuned a bit off from whatever frequency(ies) your carrier uses. I wonder how they calibrate this.
Their statement "Adjusted battery level to optimize power usage" makes no sense to me. It's almost an oxymoron! But then, when signal level or reception of signal is poor, firmware detects this and gives the hardware an extra kick of battery juice. So maybe that's what they adjusted?
I'm really just guessing about RF calibration and battery adjustment. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable will shed better light, especially regarding your questions about processor speed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also would like to know what they did with 'improving radio frequency'. Got the same problem as you, and would like to check if it's possible to manually fix the radio/frequency-problem, cause the guys from the repairshop didn't fix anything for me..
Otherwise: is there an app that notifies me when network connection is lost ?
I found this one : (updated url) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cnigrini.networkmonitor that works well..i now see immediately when my phone loses network connection.
However, now i still have to manually reset it by turning on/off airplane mode. Is there a way / app that does these steps automatically ?
So notifies when network dorps, and then refreshes it..
That would be one way to solve the problem i think..
Your link is to an earthquake detection app ???
I'll post more info later or tomorrow.
I updated the url. It's this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cnigrini.networkmonitor
It notifies when network is lost. However it doesn't refresh the network unfortunately.
Well, it gets worse. The phone messed up today same as before. A bit more than two weeks after the "repair". I was at home in one of the strongest signal areas. Would not receive or make calls or use mobile data. So back to the Rogers store. By the time i got there it had started working again so i could not demonstrate the problem. Also used a lot of battery power today, about 40% with light usage compared to 15% or less per day for the past two weeks.
What the counter guy at the Rogers store said is that there is nothing wrong with the phone, that all cell phones do this, and that i should adjust my expectations.
Here's another ConnectionChecker app. This one attempts to reconnect ...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.jeremychase.ConnectionChecker
Anyone have seen another app for this that they like?
mdawdy said:
Well, it gets worse. The phone messed up today same as before. A bit more than two weeks after the "repair". I was at home in one of the strongest signal areas. Would not receive or make calls or use mobile data. So back to the Rogers store. By the time i got there it had started working again so i could not demonstrate the problem. Also used a lot of battery power today, about 40% with light usage compared to 15% or less per day for the past two weeks.
What the counter guy at the Rogers store said is that there is nothing wrong with the phone, that all cell phones do this, and that i should adjust my expectations.
Here's another ConnectionChecker app. This one attempts to reconnect ...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.jeremychase.ConnectionChecker
Anyone have seen another app for this that they like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Mdawdy, thanks for posting that one, when reading the descripting it seems like this one is doing both things: checking when connection is down, and when it is, puts the phone on/off airplane mode so that it reconnects again.
I will be testing this one for this time now..
It's probably true that all cell phones lose connection some times, for example when being in a place where connection is very low, but the problem with this Galaxy s4 mini is that it doesn't reconnect again when in an area where signal should be good...
Probably some software thing i think..
I'm still at 4.2.2 by the way.
Edit: found out that with a non-rooted device with android 4.2 or above, it's not possible for an app to toggle airplane mode on/off. So there are probably no (non-root) apps existing that will do this .
However a forum member made a tool that does this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/app-jelly-bean-4-x-airplane-mode-helper-t2385625
Mascarponi said:
I updated the url. It's this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cnigrini.networkmonitor
It notifies when network is lost. However it doesn't refresh the network unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed and tried this one. Appeared to be working altho i did not have a network drop. Then i turned on, used, then turned off Wi-Fi. From then on the App continually reported that the network was lost even when it was good. Restarting the phone did not fix it. So i uninstalled the app.
mdawdy said:
I installed and tried this one. Appeared to be working altho i did not have a network drop. Then i turned on, used, then turned off Wi-Fi. From then on the App continually reported that the network was lost even when it was good. Restarting the phone did not fix it. So i uninstalled the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it's also not working properly, and i bought the full version (
It's not notifing me when connection/wifi drops.. but I only see it when opening the app.
Also, like i said, i don't think there's an app that toggle's airplane mode on/off when gsm-connection is lost, because it's not possible with a non-rooted android phone that runs android 4.2 or above..
Very disapointing..