Develop Bugs

Well and truly bricked - desperate

Hi all,
I desperate need help. After an unsuccessful radio flash, my Desire won't even turn on. No response from any buttons or lights. Here's how it happened:
I'm relatively new to Android. I recently bought a Desire, to replace my Touch HD, which has seen about 25 different WM ROMs, over it's life.
I successfully rooted my Desire and had tried a few ROMs. I was sitting on the MoDaCo Custom ROM r17, which was all customised and running perfectly. I'd even used ADB to successfully update my wifi config to connect to my company LEAP-authenticated network.
I decided to flash the latest radio (32.37.00.32U_4.06.00.16_2), from this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=687464
I entered Recovery using 'Fake-Flash';
I started flashing the radio image;
All the good messages were scrolling down the screen;
I kept one eye on the phone while I worked on my laptop;
I saw a message saying something to the effect of "Finished installing radio..." (sorry, I don't remember the exact wording);
The blue recovery menu had returned, with 'reboot device' as the default selection;
As I clicked the trackball, I saw another message appear under the 'finished' messages, which said "Writing rad " I guess it didn't have time to print the whole message, when I selected reboot.
The screen went blank then a graphic appeared in the middle (where the recovery exclamation mark and triangle usually appear), of a software box with a curved yellow arrow over it and the android icon peeking out from behind it. I left it for a while (already had that sinking feeling) then pressed the power button. It switched off and stayed there.
Since then, nothing that I've tried has received any response. Various combination's of button pushes, USB connection, removed SIM, SD and battery...nothing, not even an LED.
I've searched and haven't been able to find any solutions to this particular situation. Can anyone help, or am I totally bricked?
Regards, PF.

The radio update does 2 reboots to install it. The software box with yellow arrow is the default graphic used by the fake flash recovery as far as I know so that wasn't any real problem.
I know this might sound silly, but is the battery charged?

socktug said:
The radio update does 2 reboots to install it. The software box with yellow arrow is the default graphic used by the fake flash recovery as far as I know so that wasn't any real problem.
I know this might sound silly, but is the battery charged?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No question is silly under this circumstance!
Yes. I'd just taken it off overnight charge. 100%. If I plug the USB cable in now, there is no response from the LED.

Leave the charger plugged into it for about 5 minutes and see if there is any response to it. With the usb bricks it would take nearly 5 mins to register and the led to light up.
I know this isn't a usb brick, but I've not seen anyone with a failed radio flash that has caused the phone to totally die to the extent that it won't even switch on.
I take it you have tried the usual power and volume button combos etc?
I suppose if there is no quick fix for this, the fact that it's totally dead may go in your favour if you try to get it repaired/replaced under warranty

socktug said:
Leave the charger plugged into it for about 5 minutes and see if there is any response to it. With the usb bricks it would take nearly 5 mins to register and the led to light up.
I know this isn't a usb brick, but I've not seen anyone with a failed radio flash that has caused the phone to totally die to the extent that it won't even switch on.
I take it you have tried the usual power and volume button combos etc?
I suppose if there is no quick fix for this, the fact that it's totally dead may go in your favour if you try to get it repaired/replaced under warranty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok. The charger has been plugged in for 35 minutes and still no response.

Also don't want to sound patronizing, but have you taken the battery out and turned on with the back button helld?
Ignore me, just reread your original post.

the procedure u said sounds rite, thats whats ment to happen, when you flash a radio, only other thing that comes to mind is, sure the radio u flashed was for the gsm desire?

so what youre saying is that your phone simply doesnt turn on, not for a second?
if you press the power button NOTHING happens?
are you sure your charger isnt broken?
have you tried charging it through your pc?
have you seen if its recognised through adb devices on your computer?
have you tried a new battery?
if your phone is simply dead, it must be a hardware problem, in which case you can probably send it off for repair and not have your warranty void as the whole phone will need to be replaced. they cant identify if you have voided your warranty if your device doesnt turn on.

cgrec92 said:
so what youre saying is that your phone simply doesnt turn on, not for a second?
if you press the power button NOTHING happens?
are you sure your charger isnt broken?
have you tried charging it through your pc?
have you seen if its recognised through adb devices on your computer?
have you tried a new battery?
if your phone is simply dead, it must be a hardware problem, in which case you can probably send it off for repair and not have your warranty void as the whole phone will need to be replaced. they cant identify if you have voided your warranty if your device doesnt turn on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right first time. It won't turn on at all. It doesn't react in any way to any of the button combinations I'm aware of from rooting and flashing it. Nothing happens at all.
I live in an HTC household, so I've tried a number of chargers and cables, including the PC's USB port. I haven't tried another battery...but the incumbent battery was holdng a good charge and was 100% at the time. What's more, I remember that the phone can run on the charger without the battery.
Not surprisingly, adb devices shows no connected devices.
I think everyone is right, it's back to HTC. I *hope* you're right that they cover it under warranty. I'm going on the weekend, so I'll let you all know the result.
Thanks to all for your help.

I think you can try to remove battery, leave the phone with no battery for 30 minutes and then try to insert battery and connect to usb without power it on to check if LED (and than the phone) is revived.
I had an Acer Liquid that gave me same problem, pratically when a flash on the radio go wrong, the device go in "protection mode". You must also check on the net if there is a protection mode on Desire too, and if there is a button combination to unlock it. I repeat: i just giving an idea becouse the same problem happened for me on an Acer Liquid, so i'm not sure if it's the same for the Desire.
Good Luck

Maybe a usb brick? No usb is no charging. So when you didn't had a full battery, it may be went wrong on that.
Try another battery, if you can get to one.

peewster said:
Maybe a usb brick? No usb is no charging. So when you didn't had a full battery, it may be went wrong on that.
Try another battery, if you can get to one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the usb brick situation you can still charge. This isn't it!

socktug said:
In the usb brick situation you can still charge. This isn't it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok i didn't know that.

If the phone doesn't turn on at all, you can maybe try sending it back to the shop for replacement. Chances are, they won't be able to know what happened, so you can pretend it just stopped working.
If it gets back to HTC, they probably won't bother to figure out what's wrong with the phone and just give you a replacement. Otherwise, they'll just send you the phone back and you won't have lost much (maybe postage costs?).

ash1684 said:
I think you can try to remove battery, leave the phone with no battery for 30 minutes and then try to insert battery and connect to usb without power it on to check if LED (and than the phone) is revived.
I had an Acer Liquid that gave me same problem, pratically when a flash on the radio go wrong, the device go in "protection mode". You must also check on the net if there is a protection mode on Desire too, and if there is a button combination to unlock it. I repeat: i just giving an idea becouse the same problem happened for me on an Acer Liquid, so i'm not sure if it's the same for the Desire.
Good Luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion. I left the battery out overnight. Then tried to activate it (all the usual button combos) with:
Battery out, USB cable plugged in;
Battery in, USB unplugged;
Battery in, USB in.
I scoured the 'net for anything on protection mode for the Desire...no luck. If there is one, it hasn't been posted yet.

I would just act stupid and try to return it under warranty!

I think it should be ok to RMA this, if its completely bricked there is no way of them knowing that you tried a different radio.

Umbrella Corp. said:
I think it should be ok to RMA this, if its completely bricked there is no way of them knowing that you tried a different radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if it's totally bricked then just send it back to HTC and they will change it with no problems just same as acer done with my Liquid

All's well that ends well
Good news...
The HTC service centre were kind enough to replace my 'faulty' handset.
Re-flashed with r19 and radio updated (patiently) successfully.
Thanks all for your support.

Nice one. Glad it worked out for you

Evo damaged (screen doesn't work), not sure what is wrong.

Someone tried to steal my phone while I was recording a video, when I got it back, the screen didn't turn on. The backlight works when I turn it on, when it boots in, the backlight turns off and the screen remains black and the buttons light up, pressing the power does nothing when its on (the buttons remain on).
Not sure if it can be fixed or if its just broken.

This happened to me a few times, just pull the battery, replace and reboot. If it boots into that screen off phase plug it into a power source, and if it still doesn't light up then leave it off for a few hours, could be an overheat. If all that fails then you may end up on the toilet giving Sprint a ring.

SavocaFTW said:
This happened to me a few times, just pull the battery, replace and reboot. If it boots into that screen off phase plug it into a power source, and if it still doesn't light up then leave it off for a few hours, could be an overheat. If all that fails then you may end up on the toilet giving Sprint a ring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be a corrupted battery,you can try pulling the battery and plug the phone into the wall and try turning it on.

Hey,
Pull an Andy Sandburg and throw it on the ground! then take it to sprint and have TEP replace it lol
just kidding, yeah it sounds like a hardware issue of some sort, like they said try a different battery or see if pulling it and trying to boot makes a difference.
When booting hold volume down as well as the power button to see if you are able to boot into the bootloader.
If neither of those things work I would say its the screen or in internal component man and you will need to take it somewhere to get evaluated and fixed!
Good luck!
I hope I helped If I did please hit the thanks button!
Stevo

I tried different batteries, and unfortunately it seems to do the same thing. I opened it up and I'm almost sure there was some sort of internal damage, but I have no idea what it was.
Its such a nice phone, I am gonna be so sad if it doesn't work. I'm putting it on the charger right now with a dead battery. I hope it works. If not, I have a very expensive HTC battery charger... :/
Its been broken for like a few months now, so I don't have much hope, but if it works then I'll be happy.

hey,
Yeah I have a broken htc and i use it to charge my batteries to, it works really well since you dont power it on but yeah,
I hope it works for you man. good luck
Stevo

T989 keeeps vibrating, shows splash screen and turns off!!

Hi, today i received this T989 that has this strange behavior. When i insert the battery it will try to boot by itself without touching the power button. But then it will turn off by itself also and starts to continuosly vibrate like its trying to boot but it wont. If i try to get to download mode with the JIG it will get to download mode but once i take the JIG out it will turn off again. My question is, could that be because it is bricked? Or maybe the power button damage? Perhaps the phone got wet? The sticker is kind of red, but if it was, i dont think it was too much because ive seen worst phones inside, i mean theres no sign of damp inside. I ask because if the case is that it might be bricked i will send it to mobiletech so they can fix it. But if its hardware then i will just have an expensive lcd display for sell lol..........

enelyam said:
Hi, today i received this T989 that has this strange behavior. When i insert the battery it will try to boot by itself without touching the power button. But then it will turn off by itself also and starts to continuosly vibrate like its trying to boot but it wont. If i try to get to download mode with the JIG it will get to download mode but once i take the JIG out it will turn off again. My question is, could that be because it is bricked? Or maybe the power button damage? Perhaps the phone got wet? The sticker is kind of red, but if it was, i dont think it was too much because ive seen worst phones inside, i mean theres no sign of damp inside. I ask because if the case is that it might be bricked i will send it to mobiletech so they can fix it. But if its hardware then i will just have an expensive lcd display for sell lol..........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a stuck rocker button?

Thought the power button might be shorted. But i dunno! I didnt want to touch the mobo but since it looks like theres nothing to do except try that i guess ill change that button and see how it goes....

enelyam said:
Thought the power button might be shorted. But i dunno! I didnt want to touch the mobo but since it looks like theres nothing to do except try that i guess ill change that button and see how it goes....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did this end up working for you? I'm having the same issue...

Fairly certain its a power button issue. Went through the same thing myself in late July. Samsung logo shows, then it attempts to boot up only to be shut down and have the vibration pulse for a long time.
If you're able to Odin it back to stock, you can try and get T-Mobile or Samsung to replace it for you. If not, mobile tech videos has a button repair service.
Best of luck guys!
Sent from my SGH-T989

Hello, the same thing happened to me. I was able to bring it back to life by removing the back plate and disconnecting the motherboard completely. Then i inserted the jigg and put the battery back in. After 2 seconds i removed the jigg and connected the usb cable. Then i opened up odin 1.85 and the yellow com part stayed on i then flashed the program and my phones been working ever since. Good luck. Let me if you try it and if it worked for you.

Mine does it too.
Definitely the power button.

any solutions for the problem?
i cant trade my cell phone because i am on brazil ...i bought the t989 on ebay last year

My T-989 does the shiver and shake but won't start!! Please HELP!!!
aest said:
Hello, the same thing happened to me. I was able to bring it back to life by removing the back plate and disconnecting the motherboard completely. Then i inserted the jigg and put the battery back in. After 2 seconds i removed the jigg and connected the usb cable. Then i opened up odin 1.85 and the yellow com part stayed on i then flashed the program and my phones been working ever since. Good luck. Let me if you try it and if it worked for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I'm having the same problem as the original post - what's worst is that I'm in Argentina and I bought the phone on ebay. I will attempt your solution but what is the jigg???? As scared as I am to open up my phone, I am more scared about traveling for another month without a phone! :crying::crying::crying:
Any other suggestions before I perform an operation on my phone??
Please and Thank you!

Have you tried a different battery? It sounds like a bad battery. My wife's Skyrocket was doing this until I charged her battery outside of the phone. I wouldn't open the phone until you try charging the battery.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

Simple solution is to tap or beat on the power button with an eraser many times.
This problem is common on t989 and it is caused by sticky power button.
Tapping the power button with Eraser or rubber multiple times should do it.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

sharpeyedman said:
Simple solution is to tap or beat on the power button with an eraser many times.
This problem is common on t989 and it is caused by sticky power button.
Tapping the power button with Eraser or rubber multiple times should do it.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,, It works..It wouldn't boot on just kept vibrating. I press the power button many times..and it boot it fine...:good:
Power button must be going bad on mine:silly:

Phone died?

Hello everyone.
I have been using Tasks ROM for a while now. Last night my phone had a random reboot and other than that, no troubles.
Well about 20 minutes ago, my phone just turned off and will NOT come back on at all. I have done nothing different, cant get in to get a logcat or lastkmsg. It will not even boot up to the samsung screen.
It will vibrate when I plug it in or take out the battery and reput it in.
The only response I am getting is taking everything out (batter/sim/sd) and plugging it into my comp. The response is a Red light in the notification LED and a short vibrate, then nothing.
I get a Samsung logo if I just pull battery and reinsert.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

So you can't get into CWM or TWRP? And what Galaxy S3 Variant are you using?

axel4401 said:
Hello everyone.
I have been using Tasks ROM for a while now. Last night my phone had a random reboot and other than that, no troubles.
Well about 20 minutes ago, my phone just turned off and will NOT come back on at all. I have done nothing different, cant get in to get a logcat or lastkmsg. It will not even boot up to the samsung screen.
It will vibrate when I plug it in or take out the battery and reput it in.
The only response I am getting is taking everything out (batter/sim/sd) and plugging it into my comp. The response is a Red light in the notification LED and a short vibrate, then nothing.
I get a Samsung logo if I just pull battery and reinsert.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks[/QUOTE
Ii it possible you may have a bad battery? How new is it?(not that age of it matters) Also, do you have a case on the phone? Check to make sure the power button is not stuck. If you can get to boot logo, then its not dead-dead. If you've had your phone for awhile, double check the battery terminals are not oxidized. Unlikley, but worth checking and maybe check battery wih voltage meter if you have access to one. Then charge it overnight and check it again. One last thing to try is plug it in with the battery out and see if that does anything. Have you flashed anything lately? Modem? Scripts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have taken the battery out and plugged the phone straight into the computer and all that i get is a red light where the notification light is and then it disappears.
As for age, its a little over a year old.
I wasnt doing any flashing at the time, it just went kaput right after a phone call.
I had a mophie case on it, but not right now. I guess ill take it a part when i can and throw som alcohol on the battery button to see if it loosens it up. But other than that, I'm at a loss.
Not trying to pay $80 for a craigslister either.
Bubba Fett said:
axel4401 said:
Hello everyone.
I have been using Tasks ROM for a while now. Last night my phone had a random reboot and other than that, no troubles.
Well about 20 minutes ago, my phone just turned off and will NOT come back on at all. I have done nothing different, cant get in to get a logcat or lastkmsg. It will not even boot up to the samsung screen.
It will vibrate when I plug it in or take out the battery and reput it in.
The only response I am getting is taking everything out (batter/sim/sd) and plugging it into my comp. The response is a Red light in the notification LED and a short vibrate, then nothing.
I get a Samsung logo if I just pull battery and reinsert.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks[/QUOTE
Ii it possible you may have a bad battery? How new is it?(not that age of it matters) Also, do you have a case on the phone? Check to make sure the power button is not stuck. If you can get to boot logo, then its not dead-dead. If you've had your phone for awhile, double check the battery terminals are not oxidized. Unlikley, but worth checking and maybe check battery wih voltage meter if you have access to one. Then charge it overnight and check it again. One last thing to try is plug it in with the battery out and see if that does anything. Have you flashed anything lately? Modem? Scripts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Man, I don't know. Sounded like a charging issue at first, but looking I'm not so sure now. Anything stuck in your power slot? Maybe try leaving battery out overnight and see if it clears anything. If it starts to boot I would go right to recovery and try flashing something. I would be concernedabout going straight to download mode and using oOdin cause of it does during the flash that is really bad...

Can you get into download mode? Pull battery plug in USB and hold volume down and home buttons I think... when you plug USB in to computer does Odin recognize it at all?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

I just started having the same issue. I have a an ATT S3 running the newest Hyperdrive. Mine wasnt doing a random reset, but it seemed like it has been turning itself off. Totally intermittent, i couldnt pinpoint the cause.
Then just today when i went to see if i had any messages and the phone was off again (i had about a 60-75% charge) I hit the power button a few times and now i am getting the symptoms described above.
When i try to go into TWRP, i get the blue text at the top left of the screen, sometimes i make it to the first hyperdrive screen, then it goes black.
When I go to download I can get to the hit up or down screen, i hit up to go into download, i get to the next screen then it goes black again.
I did leave the battery out for about 15minutes and no dice. I even tried to leave it on the charger thinking i lost all charge or something.
I am just a mere user, but i have always been able to tinker around enough not to bother the devs and get my way out of these situations, but I think i am stuck. Anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!

nightwulfss said:
I just started having the same issue. I have a an ATT S3 running the newest Hyperdrive. Mine wasnt doing a random reset, but it seemed like it has been turning itself off. Totally intermittent, i couldnt pinpoint the cause.
Then just today when i went to see if i had any messages and the phone was off again (i had about a 60-75% charge) I hit the power button a few times and now i am getting the symptoms described above.
When i try to go into TWRP, i get the blue text at the top left of the screen, sometimes i make it to the first hyperdrive screen, then it goes black.
When I go to download I can get to the hit up or down screen, i hit up to go into download, i get to the next screen then it goes black again.
I did leave the battery out for about 15minutes and no dice. I even tried to leave it on the charger thinking i lost all charge or something.
I am just a mere user, but i have always been able to tinker around enough not to bother the devs and get my way out of these situations, but I think i am stuck. Anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a stuck power button? Try cleaning it out a little. .. sounds like it's rebooting itself.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

blaker13 said:
Maybe a stuck power button? Try cleaning it out a little. .. sounds like it's rebooting itself.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying that, it doesn't seem like there is anything in there, but you never know.
If the power button was stuck on, wouldn't the phone keep trying to restart? Or no?

nightwulfss said:
I am trying that, it doesn't seem like there is anything in there, but you never know.
If the power button was stuck on, wouldn't the phone keep trying to restart? Or no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe so, unless you pull the battery. In fact pull battery plug into usb and go into down load mode and see if it restarts. Or go into recovery without holding power button, and if you can then that means the power button is stuck on.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

blaker13 said:
I believe so, unless you pull the battery. In fact pull battery plug into usb and go into down load mode and see if it restarts. Or go into recovery without holding power button, and if you can then that means the power button is stuck on.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried that as well. Whenever it goes into download mode the screen goes black after a couple of seconds. And it doesn't boot into recovery as well since it seems to go dead too quick.
I mainly just want to recover my pictures at this point. I am leaving the battery out of the phone for the day and see if that makes a difference this evening.
I am out of ideas, lol

nightwulfss said:
I have tried that as well. Whenever it goes into download mode the screen goes black after a couple of seconds. And it doesn't boot into recovery as well since it seems to go dead too quick.
I mainly just want to recover my pictures at this point. I am leaving the battery out of the phone for the day and see if that makes a difference this evening.
I am out of ideas, lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take the six acres it and open her up, Take out button off and clean it and where it goes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

blaker13 said:
Take the six acres it and open her up, Take out button off and clean it and where it goes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure the flex cable on you're power button is not working as intended, could be a short from a rain drop or just everyday wear and tear another issue could be that the battery is fried and can't hold a charge, but this seems unlikely given you're circumstance.
I always tell people to utilize pie controls to save you're everyday use from wearing out our precious hardware buttons, My power and home only get pressed to wake the device, everything else is pie control via LMT launcher

That happened to me a few months ago. I was at work when it happened. The phone would just continually restart, vibrate, restart, back and forth. I ended up taking the battery out so it wouldn't get drained. Had it out for about four hours. Once I got home, I put it back in and never had any more problems. It was just a random thing, so try keeping the battery out for a while.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. I took the phone apart last night to clean it out and it was pretty spotless. But It keeps shutting off after trying to boot after a few seconds. I just hope I can get to a point where I can get my pictures off of it now.

nightwulfss said:
I'll keep my fingers crossed. I took the phone apart last night to clean it out and it was pretty spotless. But It keeps shutting off after trying to boot after a few seconds. I just hope I can get to a point where I can get my pictures off of it now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello all, as an update, I did nothing to my S3 over the weekend haping something magical could happen.
Today I went through all the normal steps again, and still a dead soldier. Now it wont ever SHow the Samsung logo however - just a short vibrate then nothing..
Still get a red light and a short vibrate when plugging into the comp without battery in though.
I have NOT taken it apart yet, but I will tonight most likely.
Thanks for all the suggestions and Ill keep this updated.

axel4401 said:
Hello all, as an update, I did nothing to my S3 over the weekend haping something magical could happen.
Today I went through all the normal steps again, and still a dead soldier. Now it wont ever SHow the Samsung logo however - just a short vibrate then nothing..
Still get a red light and a short vibrate when plugging into the comp without battery in though.
I have NOT taken it apart yet, but I will tonight most likely.
Thanks for all the suggestions and Ill keep this updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello again,
Some news, I am able to get it into download mode for about 1 second then the phone shuts off - just like the other person in this thread with the same issue.
I took the phone apart and used a Qtip with 91% isopropyl Alcohol to try and clean the power button (which looks surprisingly clean). Still the same thing happening.
I'm running out of ideas here, so please chime in if you have any.
Thanks

axel4401 said:
Hello again,
Some news, I am able to get it into download mode for about 1 second then the phone shuts off - just like the other person in this thread with the same issue.
I took the phone apart and used a Qtip with 91% isopropyl Alcohol to try and clean the power button (which looks surprisingly clean). Still the same thing happening.
I'm running out of ideas here, so please chime in if you have any.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to try the alcohol tonight, but I am afraid that I will have same results. I am going to try a new battery from another s3 tomorrow. I will post the results.

nightwulfss said:
I was going to try the alcohol tonight, but I am afraid that I will have same results. I am going to try a new battery from another s3 tomorrow. I will post the results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Final update (hopefully)
I got the qtip and scrubbed anything to do with the battery, pressed the power button, got more alcohol in by the button (not a lot) scrubbed some more terminals, and the battery terminals, etc. waited about ten minutes and put the battery in...
Low and behold, something worked and now the phone comes on.
I dont know which part of the scrubbing actually did it, but something worked.
All in all I have no idea what actually fixed it, but the point is that it works.
Thank you for who those that insisted that it was a power button issue - you were most likely right.

So here are my results as of today, and what I have tried to get to this point:
After my S3 died and wouldn't boot up into recovery i tried cleaning all the internals with alcohol. I cleaned thoroughly, and focused on the charging port, the power switch and battery terminals. The phone acted exactly the same.
I then tried putting it in a bowl of rice for about 24 hours. I was thinking that it might have been caused by some condensation. No success.
I was thinking since the power would turn on whenever i plugged the battery in, that maybe the switch was stuck. I took it apart again and tested the switch with a multi-meter. The switch seemed fine. It was responding when i pushed it, so i figured that wasn't the problem.
I kept reading that apparently this is an issue with the mother board. I tried the broken PS3 method of heating up the motherboard with a heat gun in hopes to re-seat something that may be loose. This did not work either. After this, I figured i was SOL since I was out of ideas and out of warranty (which didn't really matter anyway since I am running Hyperdrive).
Earlier today I figured the best tool in your toolbox sometimes is a hammer. I started tapping the phone on the side of my table, especially around the power button, while trying to turn it on. It didn't seem like it was doing anything either. I then plugged the phone into the charger since i thought the battery was totally dead.
A few minutes after i walked away from the phone, I came back into room and the red charging light was on. I tried turning it on, and holy cow it works...wtf...
I have no idea what made this work. It could be a complete coincidence. But, this phone has not worked since last Saturday. I just kept messing with it and may have just gotten lucky. I don't think banging your phone will fix this, but if truly was a hardware issue, maybe something in the phones mother board is becoming loose from the extreme heat they endure at times. I know my S3 has gotten pretty hot when I use it to navigate and leave it in the case.
I don't know if any of this will help anyone, but this is my experience so far of my S3 having what I think is the sudden death failure. I will followup with any updates if it decides to act up again.

hardware issue?

My phone won't boot unless it is plugged in via wall charger.
If I got it to boot while charging, it instantly turns off when I unplug it even with battery at 100%.
I am able turn to go into hboot mode(power + volume down), even when it is unplugged. But it dies if I access recovery. I am able to perform "show image crc" function.
The problem started while I was using the camera and it just turned off by itself.
I was on SROM at the time when the problem started.
I managed to change ROM to SD, and even used lollipop RUU(verizon), but the problem wasn't resolved.:crying:
What do you think? Am I right to assume this is a hardware problem?

yakultski said:
My phone won't boot unless it is plugged in via wall charger.
If I got it to boot while charging, it instantly turns off when I unplug it even with battery at 100%.
I am able turn to go into hboot mode(power + volume down), even when it is unplugged. But it dies if I access recovery. I am able to perform "show image crc" function.
The problem started while I was using the camera and it just turned off by itself.
I was on SROM at the time when the problem started.
I managed to change ROM to SD, and even used lollipop RUU(verizon), but the problem wasn't resolved.:crying:
What do you think? Am I right to assume this is a hardware problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have same problem!

Bump. I have the same problem too. Seems to have come out of the blue for an otherwise functional phone. Can't figure it out.
I'll add that I can get into twrp and it seems to function without the charger plugged.. But otherwise, if the charger is removed, phone dies like OP.
Anyone can help?

Hey, this happened to me too while I was using the camera too! What's the linkage?
@yakultski, have you figured this out yet?

Try to flash a RUU and if you got the same it should be an hardware problem...

yakultski said:
My phone won't boot unless it is plugged in via wall charger.
If I got it to boot while charging, it instantly turns off when I unplug it even with battery at 100%.
I am able turn to go into hboot mode(power + volume down), even when it is unplugged. But it dies if I access recovery. I am able to perform "show image crc" function.
The problem started while I was using the camera and it just turned off by itself.
I was on SROM at the time when the problem started.
I managed to change ROM to SD, and even used lollipop RUU(verizon), but the problem wasn't resolved.:crying:
What do you think? Am I right to assume this is a hardware problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you resolve the issue. I heard it could be the battery failing, but i'm not so sure anymore, because when i run antutu benchmark my phone shuts down when using fisheye image processing or 3D, it turns off even when it's plugged in.
I suspect it's the GPU failing or something similar. That is weird since i wasn't using any intense 3D games. I'm sure this is my last HTC.

yakultski said:
My phone won't boot unless it is plugged in via wall charger.
If I got it to boot while charging, it instantly turns off when I unplug it even with battery at 100%.
I am able turn to go into hboot mode(power + volume down), even when it is unplugged. But it dies if I access recovery. I am able to perform "show image crc" function.
The problem started while I was using the camera and it just turned off by itself.
I was on SROM at the time when the problem started.
I managed to change ROM to SD, and even used lollipop RUU(verizon), but the problem wasn't resolved.:crying:
What do you think? Am I right to assume this is a hardware problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you managed to solve your problem, but in my case I replaced the battery and now the problem is gone. So defective battery is the reason in my case. I replaced it my self which is quite a task but not so hard, you just need patience and time. So if you have time to reply me, please do, as i would like to help.:good:

Gunman84 said:
I don't know if you managed to solve your problem, but in my case I replaced the battery and now the problem is gone. So defective battery is the reason in my case. I replaced it my self which is quite a task but not so hard, you just need patience and time. So if you have time to reply me, please do, as i would like to help.:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Gunman84, my phone is behaving in a similar fashion as the OP. I have an AT&T phone converted to a GPE. So everything is stock in that sense. If plugged in, phone operates normally. As soon as I unplug it, a couple of seconds later it will power off. If I boot into hboot, the phone will stay on for a long time (its been an hour+ already and its still on).
I watched a youtube video showing how to replace the battery and that was pretty intimidating - haha. Where did you get your battery replacement? and how much did it cost?
thanks

clemdaddy said:
Hey Gunman84, my phone is behaving in a similar fashion as the OP. I have an AT&T phone converted to a GPE. So everything is stock in that sense. If plugged in, phone operates normally. As soon as I unplug it, a couple of seconds later it will power off. If I boot into hboot, the phone will stay on for a long time (its been an hour+ already and its still on).
I watched a youtube video showing how to replace the battery and that was pretty intimidating - haha. Where did you get your battery replacement? and how much did it cost?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, it's not so intimidating . Well you just need to be careful and patient, there are lots of small resistors, connectors and so on. Check the iFixit site for proper instructions here is the link https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HTC+One+%28M8%29+Teardown/23615 this is full teardown, and here is 2nd link where they focus mainly on replacing the battery https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/HTC+One+M8+Battery+Replacement/41650. I'm from Slovenia, and the battery cost me 20€, which is around 25US dollars, the battery was original one. I bought it from local supplier. It took me around 2-3 hours to replace it, or something like that, that's because i wanted to be careful.

Gunman84 said:
Hi, it's not so intimidating . Well you just need to be careful and patient, there are lots of small resistors, connectors and so on. Check the iFixit site for proper instructions here is the link https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HTC+One+%28M8%29+Teardown/23615 this is full teardown, and here is 2nd link where they focus mainly on replacing the battery https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/HTC+One+M8+Battery+Replacement/41650. I'm from Slovenia, and the battery cost me 20€, which is around 25US dollars, the battery was original one. I bought it from local supplier. It took me around 2-3 hours to replace it, or something like that, that's because i wanted to be careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for the links.
The phones behavior really makes me question if its the battery. For example, it stayed on in the hboot/recovery screen for 10+ hours (without being plugged in). So the battery can definitely hold a charge.
I'm afraid to open up the phone (and potentially break it), when there is potentially something else going on (maybe a software issue). I guess if I run out of ideas, I'll have no choice but to attempt the battery replacement.
thanks again!

clemdaddy said:
Thanks so much for the links.
The phones behavior really makes me question if its the battery. For example, it stayed on in the hboot/recovery screen for 10+ hours (without being plugged in). So the battery can definitely hold a charge.
I'm afraid to open up the phone (and potentially break it), when there is potentially something else going on (maybe a software issue). I guess if I run out of ideas, I'll have no choice but to attempt the battery replacement.
thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well in my case i could also stay in recovery mode(TWRP) indefinitely also in bootloader mode, that's because you are not in the operating system. The graphics are not running at that point and so on, it doesn't drain that much power at that point either.. It's a different story if you try to flash a rom in aroma, at that point the phone shuts of if not plugged in. It is the battery, trust me.

Gunman84 said:
Well in my case i could also stay in recovery mode(TWRP) indefinitely also in bootloader mode, that's because you are not in the operating system. The graphics are not running at that point and so on, it doesn't drain that much power at that point either.. It's a different story if you try to flash a rom in aroma, at that point the phone shuts of if not plugged in. It is the battery, trust me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really appreciate your responses. Makes sense what you say. I'm going to attempt the battery swap. Got no other option!
For the adhesive parts of the phone. When putting it back together, did you need to reapply more adhesive?
Thanks

clemdaddy said:
Really appreciate your responses. Makes sense what you say. I'm going to attempt the battery swap. Got no other option!
For the adhesive parts of the phone. When putting it back together, did you need to reapply more adhesive?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, no additional adhesive was needed in my case. I used the hair dryer to soften the original adhesive. The speaker grills were difficult to remove as they are glued quite well, but eventually they came off. The toughest part was separating the back casing, as you do need quite a few prying picks or guitar picks.
Just be careful with the motherboard, slowly remove the tape that covers the connectors, you don't want to rip apart any flat cables. And don't throw away that tape, you will need it.

Ohh i have the same issue.i used phone normally before and battery worked fine.but then i flashed ICE rom and when i was using the camera this happend.is this really a battery issue?
Sent from my HTC Desire EYE using XDA-Developers mobile app

Kasun72 said:
Ohh i have the same issue.i used phone normally before and battery worked fine.but then i flashed ICE rom and when i was using the camera this happend.is this really a battery issue?
Sent from my HTC Desire EYE using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if yours symptoms are the same as clemdaddy has, then yes. Sorry, but at least now you know what the problem is.

Got the new battery today and performed the phone surgery. All the connections looked good. Pieced it all back together and everything works BUT the new battery won't charge. The phone is running off the battery, so the connections I made must be correct. Running off the battery the phone no longer exhibits the symptoms I described above (so this most likely confirms my previous battery was the culprit). I tried the hold all buttons for 2 minutes to re-calibrate the new battery. All that did was made the phone now display a full battery (instead of the empty battery it initially showed).
On the weekend I'll open it up again and see if I missed something.

Got the replacement battery. Re-opened up the phone. This time I over heated the upper and lower panels which caused them both to warp a bit, and one of them to have its paint bubble :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:
I replaced the new defective battery with the most recent one. Put the phone back together and it is back to normal again! Also probably because of the over heating, there is now a little bit of a rainbow effect on the lower part of the LCD screen!
A real pity the first battery was defective, causing me to have to re-open it and carelessly overheat it. Otherwise the 1st attempt would have been a flawless repair!
With the warped panels, the bubbling paint and now the rainbow effect on the screen, I wonder how long I'll keep the phone. These little things are definitely bugging me... If I get rid of it, I'll really miss my google edition htc one m8! Nothing like a nexus like experience with a remove-able microSD card. Such a thing no longer exists