Last year I picked up a Huawei Mate 9 (MHA-L29), but never really was able to use it as I couldn't activate it with my carrier at the time. So the phone sat in the box for more or less a full calendar year. It was fully functioning, I never rooted or flashed any kind of ROM/recovery on it, 100% stock.
After changing carriers, I decided a few days ago to try and activate it. Initially, it wouldn't power on at all. It wouldn't charge either, even with the original cable (or any other cable I tried). Then I remembered reading something about batteries in a Reddit thread (ELI5: "Why do 'dead' batteries work when you take them out of the remote and switch slots," or something like that) and somebody mentioned a chemical reaction triggered by the body heat transferred while handling them. So I decided to put the phone in my pocket and warm it up between my legs for about 10 minutes, and bam, suddenly it would power on with the charger connected, but it was stuck in a bootloop, wouldn't bring up the charging animation, and just repeated the process of showing the "Powered by Android" screen.
So now I'm stuck on this bootloop, can't access recovery/fastboot menus, nothing. It just powers off and powers on, over and over. Also, it won't power on without being connected to the charger. I've let it sit for as long as an hour or so charging, but it doesn't seem to do anything, as once it is unplugged, it immediately turns off. My computer doesn't seem to recognize it either, when plugged in and going through it's bootloop cycle.
Any ideas? Is this thing hardbricked? Is the battery a goner? What route might I take to go about fixing it, or getting it repaired? Is it even worth trying to get it repaired?
Any feedback would be appreciated!
Related
Here's my little story. I dropped my N5 and cracked the screen. It worked, but I wanted it to be pretty again. So I bought a screen/case and proceeded to do the swap. I watched several videos, read guides, etc and followed them step-by-step. After it was done, I was surprised how smoothly everything went. I then went to power it up and got nothing. I checked all the cable connections, reseated them, and still got nothing. I put everything back with the cracked screen. Still nothing. I check the cables carefully, there are no cracks or breaks in them. I left it on the charger all night and the next day, checking periodically, still nothing. I checked the battery connector with a multimeter, and it was getting a reading off it, so the thing must be receiving power, right? Anyway, I gave up for a few days, busy with the rest of life.
I came back to it one day, plugged it into the charger and this time I got the red blinking light. I searched around, and that seems to indicate the battery had lost it's charge completely. Again I charged it overnight, still nothing. I got adventurous and removed the battery and tried powering it with just the power cable plugged in. This time it displayed the charge full battery/lightning icon. Success! I hit power and it starts to boot, displays the Google logo, then shut down after maybe five seconds. So, it must be getting power through the system from the USB port. The mainboard/cpu/screen works, it's able to start booting. It even boots to the bootloader, keys work there.
Again I turned to the problem being the battery. I picked up another, thinking perhaps mine had gone bad somehow even though I never had a bit of trouble out of it (about 1.5 years old). I played with it some more, with either battery inside, it doesn't do anything. Without a battery, it starts to boot but gives up. Hoping I could get something from the bootloader, I plugged it into my PC, but the USB port doesn't seem to provide enough juice to get it back to the bootloader with no battery.
Finally, during one of my tests, I plugged in the battery while it had the charging cable in. Then it popped up the battery charging animation. Exciting! It must be successfully charging, now. Previously, it didn't display anything when I charged it for many hours. Now it's been charging about six hours. The battery animation still shows it filling from the bottom, usually it would blink the animation from like halfway to the top, right? I hold the power button, and the battery animation disappears and it goes dead yet again. I run the same tests, battery in, battery out and get the same results. It boots when there's no battery and the charging cable in, nothing when the battery is in with or without the charging cable.
So, here I am stuck again. Any other ideas? Thanks.
I posted this on the tmobile site but can't seem to get an answer. I have no idea what to do.
So I've had my phone on for at least 7 days. A notification from Samsung's plus app told me to reboot it because blah blah it helps or something.
So I turned it off.
Now it wont turn back on. Tired holding power plus volume down. Tried booting into recovery. Don't have a Windows PC irght now to plug into and try things , but will install windows on a mac via bootcamp.
When I plug it into any charger. Nothing.
When I set it atop a wireless charger. The wireless charger detects it, meaning it lights up. But the phone itself doesn't give any LED notification.
Phone gets warm while on wireless charging pad also. So it may be charging.
What is going on? Any advice?
Plug it into a charger, hold the vol down and power button for like 30 seconds then the screen should turn on saying its charging, then just power it it on.
Nothing. It gets warm when charging. But nothing.
Am I pressing it wrong maybe?
Strange that usually worked for me when i couldn't turn on my phone normally, can you get into download mode? Vol up + home + power.
Well this sucks i can't turn my phone on now, the battery was depleting somewhat rapidly so i rebooted the phone, once it got to the unlock screen it froze. Now no matter what i try i can't get it to turn on.
Today it managed to start charging, but when I turn it on when it's charging the screen freezes into a garbled mess, without charging it manages to boot.
peachpuff said:
Today it managed to start charging, but when I turn it on when it's charging the screen freezes into a garbled mess, without charging it manages to boot.
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Same charging from PC?
Tried a different cable?
I have a Lumia 535 that messes up touch if I use my Sammy charger, same if I use my Raspberry Pi charger on my Windows tablet, the touch screen goes mental
Try a different charger / USB lead
I used various cables/chargers so that wasn't it. I went to a Samsung repair center and they suggested that... I have too many apps installed and that's causing the issue? Oooooook, granted this was just a rep and not someone doing the actual repairs.
Again my battery was low and I decided to reboot it and I can't start it again, very strange. If I get it working again it seems easy to duplicate if I goto Samsung again.
Called my credit card company and they have extended warranty on all purchases so i'm safe, the samsung store suggested to bring it in if happens again and they'll extend my warranty 3 months too.
peachpuff said:
I used various cables/chargers so that wasn't it. I went to a Samsung repair center and they suggested that... I have too many apps installed and that's causing the issue? Oooooook, granted this was just a rep and not someone doing the actual repairs.
Again my battery was low and I decided to reboot it and I can't start it again, very strange. If I get it working again it seems easy to duplicate if I goto Samsung again.
Called my credit card company and they have extended warranty on all purchases so i'm safe, the samsung store suggested to bring it in if happens again and they'll extend my warranty 3 months too.
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Too many apps installed... how do these guys get the job in the first place, even as a rep?
It does sound hardware related, I'd probably use your 3 months ext warranty before it expires and the S7 finally commits suicide
Don't think knowledge is a requirement for these types of jobs, phone died again after a reboot and I can't start it anymore, going to the repair center after work.
It would seem not
Hopefully you get someone with at least some knowledge to help this time, likely you'll be needing a new motherboard / phone, unless it's something a bit less drastic like a dodge USB port
I thought it would be the usb port too but i tried using my wireless charger and the light on the charger was on meaning it was charging but it still wouldn't power up, i had it plugged in the whole day today and its completely dead.
Anyway it seems samsung warranty goes by build date + 1 year + 3 months leeway, unless you give them a receipt and then its just one year, so mine was built in feb 2016 so it has warranty till the end of may without a receipt.
Ah well, I suppose at least you get a new phone / board out of it, even thought it's a PITA RMAing your phone
Mine was manufactured 2016.08.16, just two weeks before I got it, so I guess that means November this year without a receipt, but pretty sure I still have the receipt anyway
They replaced the board and all is well now, first time any of my phones failed like this, and it had to be the pricey one.
They did it there and then for you? Was expecting a few days at least, nice job
Yea I've not had any failed phones to date either, hopefully not this one either
I dropped it off at 4 yesterday and it was ready by 7, i was a bit surprised by the speed too, seems they got all the parts in stock.
Can't complain about that service, makes you wonder if they have them in stock and can replace them in such a short time for a reason though... hope it's not a common fault
I recently dropped my phone on the ground and the glass is now broken. But it worked normally for about 14 days. Then suddenly one day at work it shut down on its own. After that I wasn't able to start it. No reaction for any of the buttons, nor their combinations. Even when I plugged the charger in, no sign of life. I thought it's over.
Then the next day, I plugged the charger in and the screen with 0% battery appeared. So I left it charging, but when I came back to it (20 minutes) it was dead again. Not even the diode indicating it is charging. Again no response for the buttons, nothing. So I tried to disassemble it, disconnected everything. Put it together and viola! The screen indicating 0% battery was there again. I left it like that for a while, and when it was charged a little, I tried to start it. It started and normally worked. At least it seemed to, but after a while (1 - 3 minutes) while I was using it, it went to the dead phone again.
So I discovered, that when I disconnect the battery for a while and then connect it again, I am able to boot the phone. I was even able to do factory reset. I thought I got it and that it was some software fault. However after like 5 minutes (it downloaded all apps, logged to my google account, looked all ok) the screen shut down again and again the phone played dead.
Now I have the phone booted, and charging (almost 100% now). But I guess when I start using it again, it will again go to the dead mode (since it did it everytime after I used it a little, no specific action done, totally random).
I guess it has to be related to the broken glass. Maybe some water or humidity got through it and the phone is trying to save itself from damage by going to the dead mode. It's weird because sometimes (like now) the phone is OK when not used, normally chraging and not shutting down (now it's ON for about 40 minutes), but if it shuts down, it takes about 3 or 4 battery disconnect and connect again, before it boots to the main screen. Sometimes it just dies before the screen, sometimes it dies when I try to plug the charger in, really no idea what causes it.
How should I diagnose it? USB debugging and check the log when using it and when it dies? Or has anyone experienced this too? Or could the battery be damaged? Or can I somewhere set the phone to prevent from selfkilling actions? Today I will try my main board in my friends G Flex 2, to see if it's the board, or something else.
Error log from console before it shut down
mazlixek said:
I recently dropped my phone on the ground and the glass is now broken. But it worked normally for about 14 days. Then suddenly one day at work it shut down on its own. After that I wasn't able to start it. No reaction for any of the buttons, nor their combinations. Even when I plugged the charger in, no sign of life. I thought it's over.
Then the next day, I plugged the charger in and the screen with 0% battery appeared. So I left it charging, but when I came back to it (20 minutes) it was dead again. Not even the diode indicating it is charging. Again no response for the buttons, nothing. So I tried to disassemble it, disconnected everything. Put it together and viola! The screen indicating 0% battery was there again. I left it like that for a while, and when it was charged a little, I tried to start it. It started and normally worked. At least it seemed to, but after a while (1 - 3 minutes) while I was using it, it went to the dead phone again.
So I discovered, that when I disconnect the battery for a while and then connect it again, I am able to boot the phone. I was even able to do factory reset. I thought I got it and that it was some software fault. However after like 5 minutes (it downloaded all apps, logged to my google account, looked all ok) the screen shut down again and again the phone played dead.
Now I have the phone booted, and charging (almost 100% now). But I guess when I start using it again, it will again go to the dead mode (since it did it everytime after I used it a little, no specific action done, totally random).
I guess it has to be related to the broken glass. Maybe some water or humidity got through it and the phone is trying to save itself from damage by going to the dead mode. It's weird because sometimes (like now) the phone is OK when not used, normally chraging and not shutting down (now it's ON for about 40 minutes), but if it shuts down, it takes about 3 or 4 battery disconnect and connect again, before it boots to the main screen. Sometimes it just dies before the screen, sometimes it dies when I try to plug the charger in, really no idea what causes it.
How should I diagnose it? USB debugging and check the log when using it and when it dies? Or has anyone experienced this too? Or could the battery be damaged? Or can I somewhere set the phone to prevent from selfkilling actions? Today I will try my main board in my friends G Flex 2, to see if it's the board, or something else.
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Adding the error log from console
OK so it was probably mother board fault, so I had to buy a new phone It is like 3 months, and I just yesterday accidentally poured some water on it, so i destroyed another one. It is still in warranty but I guess with water damage there is no warranty. Anyone knows where to find all the water damage indicators? Or is it even possible to make it look like there was no water damage?
This Tuesday my OnePlus One fell into a lake. I let it dry for 2 days before powering it on, but there are a couple things wrong. The screen has messed up colors and what looks like artifacting (water stains I've heard them called?) so I've resigned myself to buying a new phone (hopefully tomorrow), but there are some files I had stored on my now old phone that I'd like to try to recover.
Even after leaving it to charge all night, it won't turn on unless plugged in. When plugged in, it will continuously show the Low Battery screen (with the Chinese text). If I hold volume-down while plugging it in, it will enter a bootloop (vibration, OnePlus logo, screen off, repeat) until unplugged, at which point it immediately stops and turns off. My PC doesn't register it at all when either of these two things happen. The screen doesn't turn on if I hold volume-up while plugging it in, but it will register on my PC as QDLoader 9008.
Before all this I was running the latest nightly of LineageOS and TWRP with an unlocked bootloader.
I've been very happy with my phone for the past 4 years but with the screen the way it is I'm not interested in fixing it, all I want is to access the data partition from my PC. I have Android Studio, adb, etc installed on my PC, is there any way to get adb to recognize my phone either in the low-battery screen or when recognized as QDLoader? Turning off immediately when the charging cable is removed makes me think its a broken battery which I could just replace, but I'd prefer not to spend any money if I don't have too seeing as I'm buying a new phone.
I've spent hours searching forums and Google for solutions, but all the solutions seem to involve wiping the drive to save the phone, while I'm not interested in saving the phone, just my data. The stickied debricking thread also seems to be targeted to hard-bricks, but considering the circumstances I don't think my phone is actually bricked at all, it just probably has a damaged battery.
Thanks!
Sorry to hear about your phone. Have you opened it up to check that all the contacts are dry? Water may have caused corrosion. Also, if you encounter water damage in future, it would be better to place your phone in a desiccant.
I've had this phone 3 years and it worked well. It's an unlocked ATT phone so no OTA updates other than the standard app updates. It's on Lollipop 5.1. Been working perfectly fine until yesterday, I was watching the CBS app, when the phone rebooted. Now it's stuck on a boot loop and initally went to optimizing apps which it rarely finishes but the times it does, the phone just powers off. It then got into another loop later last night where it'd get to the Kyocera logo then reboot over and over. I let it do that until the battery died 2.5 hours later. Then I kept attempting to boot until the batter was entirely drained to the point it wouldn't attempt to power up any more.(battery is not removable on this model). I've now charged it up, trying to enter recovery mode with power+volume down. That doesn't seem to register. Tried volume up+volume down+power with no effect. Now after charging, it will do the reboot loop mentioned earlier to the Kyocera logo. If I plug it into a charger, it will go to the optimizing apps portion and repeat the above. At the optimizing apps screen, if I unplug the charger, the phone powers off immediately. It appears to be holding a charge according to the charge indicator and the fact that I can try to boot over and over unplugged. Any suggestions? Phone wasn't dropped or damaged in anyway. Very weird what could have happened.
An update: Phone finally got past the "optimizing app" phase last night sitting on the charger. Out of no where the phone booted completely. However, it only works while plugged in. If I remove the charging cord, the phone shuts down after about 2 seconds. Booting without charging cord results in the same boot loop. I've considered the battery has failed however when plugging in the charger, battery shows 100% and it will decrease appropriately over time. I'm thinking there must be a hardware issues at this point. Somewhwere in the charging/power circuit. Any other suggestions?
Last update I guess. I was able to keep the phone up and booted as long as it was plugged into a wall charger. PC USB was not enough. I managed to grab my photos etc. thankfully. Factory reset the phone from the settings menu. Unplugged from charger, ran for about 2 minutes. Still said 99% charged, then went into boot loop again. Phone still shows near full charge if you let it run for awhile and decrements the charge state appropriately as time goes on. However, i guess this 3 year old phone is toast. No known reason for it to fail unfortunately. Thought I'd share the experience if anyone else has this issue.
djhurt1 said:
Last update I guess. I was able to keep the phone up and booted as long as it was plugged into a wall charger. PC USB was not enough. I managed to grab my photos etc. thankfully. Factory reset the phone from the settings menu. Unplugged from charger, ran for about 2 minutes. Still said 99% charged, then went into boot loop again. Phone still shows near full charge if you let it run for awhile and decrements the charge state appropriately as time goes on. However, i guess this 3 year old phone is toast. No known reason for it to fail unfortunately. Thought I'd share the experience if anyone else has this issue.
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I have the same exact problem. It started the crazy booting process in my pocket, and I did all the same things you did. Factory reset didn't correct the problem, so I'm think the battery has had a stroke. Sine your problem and my problem are very close to the same time frame, our phones are also probably about the same age, and its a quality control issue. Not bad quality control, just that these batteries were designed to last X number of months or cycles, and probably they died. Too bad, because my E6560 is the very best cell phone I have ever owned. Built like a tank and thank God for that.