Broken power button - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have a sort of weird issue. I've got a rooted evo4g with an unlocked bootloader running alter rom. I had some issues with it a while back, so I ran fix permissions and cleared the caches through amon-ra. when I did that, all hell broke loose. my power button stopped working and the volume button took over to wake up the screen. Not only does the power button not work when booted anymore, it won't even work in recovery or in the bootloader. the volume buttons will navigate in recovery, but not in bootloader.
I would like to do a nandroid backup so I can reflash my phone and then just restore my texts, call logs, etc on a clean flash...but since I can't select any menu options in recovery I can't do a nandroid backup.
I have cwm touch for my nexus s 4g, but I don't see one for evo 4g....only standard evo. is that one the same? can I still use it on an evo4g? I know some phones are not interchangeable with recovery on variants...like nexus s, for example hs two recoveries...one for 3g, one for 4g.
also, does anyone have any idea what may have caused the buttons to go haywire like this? I've never seen anything like it. I mean, sure buttons die. All moving parts fail at some point...it's in their nature....but switching control to another hw button???? That jusy makes my head hurt to think about how it could have happened!! lol

Download smelkusmod recovery. It has touch scrolling and you can scroll, select and Deselect with the haptic buttons.
Your power button issue could be a hardware failure. Possibly one of the connectors came undone rendering the power button useless.

death-by-soap said:
Download smelkusmod recovery. It has touch scrolling and you can scroll, select and Deselect with the haptic buttons.
Your power button issue could be a hardware failure. Possibly one of the connectors came undone rendering the power button useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even though death by soap has twice as many posts but the same number of thanks as you, he is right on about this.
smelkus is a great recovery and is, essentially, touch screen. what do you do if your phone turns completely off, and are you a little familar with adb?

johnny.dalvik-cache said:
even though death by soap has twice as many posts but the same number of thanks as you, he is right on about this.
smelkus is a great recovery and is, essentially, touch screen. what do you do if your phone turns completely off, and are you a little familar with adb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm...good question. It's actually my sister's phone. I'm also interested in knowing how she turns it back on...I'll definitely ask her that. when I turned it off I had to pull the battery and I quickly re-inserted it so it would trigger a start-up, but I'm not sure about how she turns it on if it's been off for a while.
...and yes, I'm novice-level with adb. I know adb, fastboot, etc...enough to get by, at least I have a black belt in google-fu, too...so anything I don't understand google teaches me lol
(btw, my thank you's came from the ns4g section. I posted the first working jb rom for my device and everyone clicked thanks for it....I'm no star dev or anything to say the least )
****
I just texted her...she says it always auto boots when the battery is re-inserted as long as it has a charge. it almost sounds like the power button is just stuck in a pressed position...but wouldn't I notice that when android is booted by the power control menu always being displayed (which I can't even get to display if I do press the button)???
****
I just tested with my ns4g by holding down the power button all the way through a reboot, until after the phone FULLY booted....no power menu popped up.
what are the odds the button is just stuck in a pressed position?? anyone want to take bets? I'm gonna take it apart tonight and see if that's what it is unless someone has any other ideas.

death-by-soap said:
Download smelkusmod recovery. It has touch scrolling and you can scroll, select and Deselect with the haptic buttons.
Your power button issue could be a hardware failure. Possibly one of the connectors came undone rendering the power button useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hp420 said:
hmmm...good question. It's actually my sister's phone. I'm also interested in knowing how she turns it back on...I'll definitely ask her that. when I turned it off I had to pull the battery and I quickly re-inserted it so it would trigger a start-up, but I'm not sure about how she turns it on if it's been off for a while.
...and yes, I'm novice-level with adb. I know adb, fastboot, etc...enough to get by, at least I have a black belt in google-fu, too...so anything I don't understand google teaches me lol
(btw, my thank you's came from the ns4g section. I posted the first working jb rom for my device and everyone clicked thanks for it....I'm no star dev or anything to say the least )
****
I just texted her...she says it always auto boots when the battery is re-inserted as long as it has a charge. it almost sounds like the power button is just stuck in a pressed position...but wouldn't I notice that when android is booted by the power control menu always being displayed (which I can't even get to display if I do press the button)???
****
I just tested with my ns4g by holding down the power button all the way through a reboot, until after the phone FULLY booted....no power menu popped up.
what are the odds the button is just stuck in a pressed position?? anyone want to take bets? I'm gonna take it apart tonight and see if that's what it is unless someone has any other ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just saw this thread. and seeing as how the phone auto-boots when the battery is put in, it does sound like the power button is stuck in the 'down' position. i recently went through a similar thing with the power button, and i opened up the phone and just put the button back in place. does the button acutally LOOK like it's depressed ( ...hehe..sorry, i dont know how else to ask that..) like..is the button not protruding out like it should? if you're down for opening the phone up (which is surprisingly easy if you have the proper little screw-drivers) then it MIGHT be an easy fix. i had never done it before, and it really was easy. you can put that black-belt to use for some easy video tutorials. but, please procede with caution.

atljatl said:
just saw this thread. and seeing as how the phone auto-boots when the battery is put in, it does sound like the power button is stuck in the 'down' position. i recently went through a similar thing with the power button, and i opened up the phone and just put the button back in place. does the button acutally LOOK like it's depressed ( ...hehe..sorry, i dont know how else to ask that..) like..is the button not protruding out like it should? if you're down for opening the phone up (which is surprisingly easy if you have the proper little screw-drivers) then it MIGHT be an easy fix. i had never done it before, and it really was easy. you can put that black-belt to use for some easy video tutorials. but, please procede with caution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say if it looks pressed since it's not currently in front of me...I know exactly what you mean, though. The inner workings of the button get stuck, and the outer rubber piece will be sort of caved in instead of sticking out like it should.
I build gaming computers as a side-hobby. I'm sure a little disassembly won't be too difficult, as long as I'm not removing any of the guts and I can just get to it by opening the case, I should be ok....too much more and I run into issues when things are that tightly packed into a case.
(reading a tear-down tut now )

Awesome! It should be a piece of cake for you, especially with your video game background. Cool. Let me know how it goes.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

Related

***please help!!***

my power button will not turn off the phone. 9 times out of 10 it ends up bringing up the power menu. are there any apps that you can remap the volume keys to be the power button? i'm on a rooted evo. any help would be awesome! thanks
Holding power button wont bring up the option to turn the devoce off?
Omg rly?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Ok I didn't mean shut down the phone, I meant put it to sleep...
I know there is an issue with my power button. Even when I do a battery pull and put it back in the phone restarts on its own because the power button is stuck down.
sent from my MikFroyo evo
Just shooting from the hip here, but do you have the "stay awake" option clicked on? I've never used it, so I'm not sure if the power button makes the screen turn off or not.
Nope its not on "stay awake" mode. It will shut off every now and then... maybe 1 or 2 times out of 10
sent from my MikFroyo evo
Probably goes in the Q&A forum for future reference.
Try a different ROM if you're rooted, and be sure to do a full wipe. Not wiping can cause some really weird problems.
If that doesn't fix it, it could be a bad power button and should be under warranty.
Sirchuk said:
Probably goes in the Q&A forum for future reference.
Try a different ROM if you're rooted, and be sure to do a full wipe. Not wiping can cause some really weird problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this wont work. i had the same exact thing happen to me. it started after sprint replaced my screen cause it was cracked. it ws okay at first then just progressively got worse and worse. yesterday i couldnt make the phone wake up or anything. the power/sleep button was just useless.
i did the stock ruu.exe and it didnt do squat. i took it to sprint today and i will be getting another phone by thursday or friday cause they said it was unrepairable.
OP: just flash it back to stock and take it to sprint.
well i found out a fix. there is an app in the market called ButtonRemapper. Its a really cool app. it allows you to remap any hardware or software buttons to do pretty much anything. you have to be rooted. i have been lookin for this even before my power button bit the dust. so now my up volume key is my power button. you can remap keys to be the camera also which is what is sorely lacking on the evo. i guess good things can come out of problems! thanks for all the responses though!

[Q] Power Button messed up

The power button on my S3 (SGH-i747) is pretty messed up. When i'm not touching it, it decides to register a press and completely messes up everything im doing on the phone. It has such frequent reboots that i can barely boot into recovery. The only way i can actually boot is by holding the phone horizontally with the power button facing down. Is there any fix to this? I'm on CM10.1.0 so would flashing back to stock decrease the sensitivity of this button? Or is it necessary to fix at the shop?
Also i have a cracked screen, so im not sure it would be accepted under the warranty even if it's unrooted.
r8revealed said:
The power button on my S3 (SGH-i747) is pretty messed up. When i'm not touching it, it decides to register a press and completely messes up everything im doing on the phone. It has such frequent reboots that i can barely boot into recovery. The only way i can actually boot is by holding the phone horizontally with the power button facing down. Is there any fix to this? I'm on CM10.1.0 so would flashing back to stock decrease the sensitivity of this button? Or is it necessary to fix at the shop?
Also i have a cracked screen, so im not sure it would be accepted under the warranty even if it's unrooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardware failure, repair it or get a new phone
nothing you can do, the flex cable that connect's the button to the board is either busted or shorted
Danvdh said:
Hardware failure, repair it or get a new phone
nothing you can do, the flex cable that connect's the button to the board is either busted or shorted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issue.
There's absolutely nothing I can do? I thought maybe if I'd open up the device and tinker with it... maybe I can get it working.
s1mpd1ddy said:
I'm having the same issue.
There's absolutely nothing I can do? I thought maybe if I'd open up the device and tinker with it... maybe I can get it working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this is quite an annoying problem. If you're having the same problem, are you able to boot into download mode? I can't for some reason.
r8revealed said:
Yes this is quite an annoying problem. If you're having the same problem, are you able to boot into download mode? I can't for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something like this you don't want to boot into download mode. What if it resets while you're pushing a file? then your whole phone will be messed up.
I got mine to boot. My method is a bit unorthodox though.... i kept pressing the power button throughout the boot process up until the lock screen. Once it finally loads... i flicked the power button a few times really hard.... it seems to stay in the position but remains extremely sensitive.. as in, i dont even have to press it to turn off the screen.
sucks man... i think this is happening to a lot of power users. I'm literally one week past my warranty.
s1mpd1ddy said:
Something like this you don't want to boot into download mode. What if it resets while you're pushing a file? then your whole phone will be messed up.
I got mine to boot. My method is a bit unorthodox though.... i kept pressing the power button throughout the boot process up until the lock screen. Once it finally loads... i flicked the power button a few times really hard.... it seems to stay in the position but remains extremely sensitive.. as in, i dont even have to press it to turn off the screen.
sucks man... i think this is happening to a lot of power users. I'm literally one week past my warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i didnt want anything to happen while anything is installing etc. I somehow got into recovery, but it shut down within a second. (thankfully the first option in cwm is reboot, so that saved me). I can't return for warranty because I'm rooted on CM10.1.0, which was why i wanted to attempt unrooting (but that seems impossible at the moment).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1753574
That thread seems to be the solution to our problem, but i feel that if i open it up, something worse will happen. Right now, the phone boots up fine when held horizontally (but shuts down ~2min later) and i can easily backup my data.
One strange thing that i've noticed with this problem that maybe isn't right. Normally , do you have to hold down the power button to shut it off? I always used to think that a power menu would show, THEN you could select shut down, but here, it just shuts down. The power menu flashes sometimes, but shuts down anyway. This may also have me believe that something other than the power button is the problem.
r8revealed said:
Yeah i didnt want anything to happen while anything is installing etc. I somehow got into recovery, but it shut down within a second. (thankfully the first option in cwm is reboot, so that saved me). I can't return for warranty because I'm rooted on CM10.1.0, which was why i wanted to attempt unrooting (but that seems impossible at the moment).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1753574
That thread seems to be the solution to our problem, but i feel that if i open it up, something worse will happen. Right now, the phone boots up fine when held horizontally (but shuts down ~2min later) and i can easily backup my data.
One strange thing that i've noticed with this problem that maybe isn't right. Normally , do you have to hold down the power button to shut it off? I always used to think that a power menu would show, THEN you could select shut down, but here, it just shuts down. The power menu flashes sometimes, but shuts down anyway. This may also have me believe that something other than the power button is the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you hold the power button for 5 seconds or more , it will skip that power menu and reboot. So this still sounds like power button to me.
thanks for the link, been searching everywhere... so fckin hard to search all the S3 threads on XDA. They need to consolidate
r8revealed said:
Yeah i didnt want anything to happen while anything is installing etc. I somehow got into recovery, but it shut down within a second. (thankfully the first option in cwm is reboot, so that saved me). I can't return for warranty because I'm rooted on CM10.1.0, which was why i wanted to attempt unrooting (but that seems impossible at the moment).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1753574
That thread seems to be the solution to our problem, but i feel that if i open it up, something worse will happen. Right now, the phone boots up fine when held horizontally (but shuts down ~2min later) and i can easily backup my data.
One strange thing that i've noticed with this problem that maybe isn't right. Normally , do you have to hold down the power button to shut it off? I always used to think that a power menu would show, THEN you could select shut down, but here, it just shuts down. The power menu flashes sometimes, but shuts down anyway. This may also have me believe that something other than the power button is the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you able to fix your problem with the fix in that link? I seem to be having the same problem as you.
No, I ended up buying a new phone (I was going to upgrade anyway). I took out the power button, but that wasn't the problem. In a way, it was the button under the button that was sensitive. I would have to take out the motherboard to see the exact problem.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-i337) via Tapatalk 4

[Q] Back/Return capacitive button not responding.

Hey guys, just wanna ask what should i do with this issue. I've had my phone for about 3.5 months now and I just started having this issue this morning. I haven't dropped my phone in any kind of way (no water damage or anything). When i woke up this morning i was trying to to tap it, but it just wont work. I rebooted my phone to TWRP and the back button is working just fine. I thought there was just something wrong with the rom i was using (wicked v5.1, its awesome btw) so i wiped my phone and re flashed it, but it didn't fixed it, I tried flashing a different rom but the results were still the same. Then i thought that its probably because of my screen protector (iloome Tampered screen protector) but then again,I've had the screen protector on for a very long time already, and i never had an issue pressing the menu and back button.
For clarification, which is not working?
You mentioned you tapped the screen and nothing happened.
Is the screen not responsive to touch?
You mentioned that the back button works in recovery.
You also mentioned you never had issues with back and menu buttons.
What is not working, and is the issue intermittent?
hello, thanks for the rep.
Biker1 said:
For clarification, which is not working?
You mentioned you tapped the screen and nothing happened.
Is the screen not responsive to touch?
You mentioned that the back button works in recovery.
You also mentioned you never had issues with back and menu buttons.
What is not working, and is the issue intermittent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im talking about the capacitive back button, and when i mentioned that it works in TWRP, im specifically talking about the capacitive button, not the on screen buttons like on nexus devices. And it also seems to work sometimes if i pressed on it hard enough while its connected to my charger.
Beelzebub24 said:
Im talking about the capacitive back button, and when i mentioned that it works in TWRP, im specifically talking about the capacitive button, not the on screen buttons like on nexus devices. And it also seems to work sometimes if i pressed on it hard enough while its connected to my charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm....
So the back capacitive button is working intermittently.
Sounds like a possible hardware issue.
I know you don't want to, but to rule out the protector, one would have to remove it, but that canbe sa last resort.
If all else fails to resolve issues, and you have insurance, you'd have torremove it anyway. Even if under Samsung warranty and no insurance.
- you can try the setting that's used for gloved hands which increases screen touch sensitivity. I forget it's exact location, but easy to find out.
- you can check if this is a known issue, etc.
- try wiping cache and dalvik cache in Recovery again

Can't start, can't access recovery or download

Okay. When I put my battery into my phone, the Samsung screen shows up. Then, it restarts, and I don't even make it to the Samsung screen before it restarts again and does the little vibrate it does when it starts. When I try to access recovery, it shows the default recovery screen for a couple of seconds, and then it goes back to what I said earlier. I don't even make it to the download mode screen AT ALL. And when I plug it into the wall, it shows the battery screen for a couple seconds, but then its just back to constant restarts. I have had my current ROM install for a long time now and I just want to flash the stock kernel to my phone. Is there any hope in me being able to get the stock kernel flashed through Odin seeing as that I can't even get to the download screen?
Sounds like a bad power button
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app
Would another sign of a bad power button be that before this happened, my button was SUPER touchy? Like, I would barely lay a finger on it and it would sense it.
I THINK YOU'RE RIGHT. I found a post and some of the signs are: Black screen with intermittent vibrating, unable to enter recovery before phone restarts, unable to enter download mode before restart, phone turns on when battery inserted. Looks like I need to take the phone apart. Thank you for mentioning it could be the power button.
Never mind. The Bandaid Fix for the power button did not work.
guitarhero923 said:
Never mind. The Bandaid Fix for the power button did not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a few fixes suggested in the bandaid thread. I think one of them involves banging the button with a rubber eraser. Hopefully one will work for you.
I beat the ever living sh*t out of the power button with a screw driver out of anger. Did not help.
guitarhero923 said:
I beat the ever living sh*t out of the power button with a screw driver out of anger. Did not help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
usually the button doesnt click-like the feel you get from the volume buttons-if it doesnt click its bad or going bad. on mine i kept squeezing with small pliers until it started clicking-(found on youtube) thats been a year ago, still going
Fasted12 said:
usually the button doesnt click-like the feel you get from the volume buttons-if it doesnt click its bad or going bad. on mine i kept squeezing with small pliers until it started clicking-(found on youtube) thats been a year ago, still going
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well. It clicks, but the click isn't as... how do I explain this, as quick and CLICK LIKE? It just feels like there is a bit of resistance and it doesn't do a full intense click lol. If that makes any sense.

[Q] Power Issues... Even in recovery/download mode

Phone randomly turns off/reboots (mostly reboots). Sometimes the phone won't go past the "SAMSUNG" screen on boot. I booted the phone into recovery and download mode multiple times but it'll reboot after a minute or two.
I've tried another battery and still had the same issue. I've removed the battery and held the power button down to discharge power. I've opened up the phone, blew the dust out, and made sure that the power button was not getting stuck. I'm fairly certain it's not a rogue app causing the issue, but I've factory reset the phone to stock.
Please advise!
dwrdbg said:
Phone randomly turns off/reboots (mostly reboots). Sometimes the phone won't go past the "SAMSUNG" screen on boot. I booted the phone into recovery and download mode multiple times but it'll reboot after a minute or two.
I've tried another battery and still had the same issue. I've removed the battery and held the power button down to discharge power. I've opened up the phone, blew the dust out, and made sure that the power button was not getting stuck. I'm fairly certain it's not a rogue app causing the issue, but I've factory reset the phone to stock.
Please advise!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have a sd card, sometimes a funky sd card will cause this as well. remove yours for a while to check if its causing your issue
Sounds like the same problem I was having. Take your finger and lightly move it up and down over the power button.. if it acts up or reboots it could be the button issue..
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
I was having the EXACT same issue. I thought it might be the recent upgrade to the cm11 nightlies since before it was once a week but now it's just non-stop. Is the issue the actual power button switch or the plastic buttons?
Orion78 said:
Sounds like the same problem I was having. Take your finger and lightly move it up and down over the power button.. if it acts up or reboots it could be the button issue..
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
beantek said:
I was having the EXACT same issue. I thought it might be the recent upgrade to the cm11 nightlies since before it was once a week but now it's just non-stop. Is the issue the actual power button switch or the plastic buttons?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it was the power button itself.. Read my post on how to fix the issue yourself if you dont want to take your phone into Sprint
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2679936
Fixed (kind of )
I've taken my phone apart before to replace the speaker/audio jack module after my headphone jack stopped working in one ear (also a common s3 problem). I did as suggested and added a piece of paper wedged in between the button and the button switch. Surprisingly the switch was perfectly clicky so any problem will have to be internally such as corrosion or just worn out. The problem seemed to have been fixed (kind of, not really) as the phone turned on and wouldn't freak out when I rubbed the power/hold button. I got all my data off the phone successfully. The buttons themselves are pretty cheap online but I don't want to have to solder considering I have an upgrade. I'll just get an S5 whenever they are available. Thanks for the help.
Orion78 said:
For me it was the power button itself.. Read my post on how to fix the issue yourself if you dont want to take your phone into Sprint
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2679936
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions. I determined that it was in fact a power button issue.
My "FIX" (for anyone with similar issues):
Temporary:
I removed the logic board from the phone and flicked the button up and down and that helped a little with the button's hypersensitivity. Because a slight tap would make the button "stick" and power off, I took apart the phone and physically removed the plastic power button. I could hit the button if necessary with a small screwdriver or my watch strap thingy, but I did my best to keep the battery from dying out. As for dealing with a lack of "lock" button, I installed an xposed module that let me remap my volume up button as a lock button.
Permanent:
My mother recently upgraded her phone and gave me her S3. Unfortunately it had a cracked screen. I removed her logic board and swapped it out with what was in phone and reactivated her phone as mine.
Thanks for everyone's help, and hopefully this can help someone else too!

Categories

Resources