TL;DR: My phone, a Moto G7 Plus, only charges one way round on my USB-C-to-USB-C charger while the phone is on. When it is off it charges on both sides. It works on both sides of a USB-A-to-USB-C cable always. What is happening?!
My phone, a Moto G7 Plus, behaves very strangely. It will work in specific circumstances in inconsistent ways with a USB-C-to-USB-C (C-C) cable, but it will always work with a USB-A-to-USB-C (A-C) cable.
Imagine my C-C cable has two sides, A and B, which should both work (as it used to) since it is a reversible cable. When my phone is on, charging works on side A, but not side B. When I turn off my phone, it works on side A and B. If I turn on my phone with side B plugged in, it also works. But if I then unplug the charger and plug it back in on side B, it doesn't work. Sometimes charging with a C-C cable doesn't work at all unless I restart my phone.
My A-C cables all work on both sides.
If my phone works with A-C cables but not C-C cables, I guessed it was either a hardware problem. But if it's a hardware problem, the problem should be the same when the phone is off. Is it therefore a software problem? Is there a problem with the negotiation of power to the phone? Is one of the pins dirty? What on earth is happening?
I decided to clean my phone's port in case there was dust or dirt in the way interrupting the contacts. But this has not helped.
Ultimately I have done the following to diagnose the problem—and I am none the wiser.
Steps to resolve:
Removed lint from the port with a toothpick (obviously turning off the phone first)
Cleaned the port with rubbing alcohol and cotton wool (with the phone off).
Blasted the hole with compressed air.
Blasted the cable hole with compressed air.
Tried other A-C and C-C cables.
Bought a new 3.1 C-C cable.
Plugged the phone into a computer's USB-C port rather than a wall-charger.
Cleaned the contacts with a pin wrapped in alcohol-drenched cotton wool.
Does anyone have any insight into this very odd behaviour? I am stumped for troubleshooting.
UPDATE 28/10/2020, 12:55 p.m.:
Using an A-C cable, transferring data to computer only works on one side, but not another. Presumably a specific pin in the phone is faulty or dirty that is only used in a specific orientation.
Related
Hello
I am not sure how to properly explain this but hopefully someone understands what is going on.
My Nexus S (i9020a) doesn't charge properly. The original Micro USB cable that came with my phone frayed and no longer works so I went and picked up a third party one for $20. For some reason my phone will only either charge on an angle or upside down with this charge cable.
(It isn't the cable its self it works perfectly on everything else Micro USB wise)
I do find it weird that I originally thought it was the USB port on the phone that was dying so I cracked it open and there seemed to be no sign of destruction on the board so I put it back together. I then plugged it into my Nexus 7 Asus wall charger with the Asus cable and the phone charges properly no angles or upside down.
Any suggestions besides buying a $24 charger from Google?
Things I have tried:
1: Different wall chargers
(Nexus S wall charger + 3rd party M-USB):crying:
(Original Galaxy Tab 7.0 Wall charger + 3rd party M-USB):crying:
(Asus Nexus 7 wall charger + Asus M-USB):good:
2:Cracking the phone open to check the usb port on the board.
Phone: Nexus S i9020a
Carrier: Telus
Rooted: No
Version: 4.1.1
PS: Let me know if you need anymore information.
The thumbnail below is what I mean by Charge on an angle.
I doubt opening your phone will show you if the usb port is broken, unless you opened it previously. The most likely problem is that your USB port is worn out, dirty, etc and it's having trouble making contact with the cable ('charging at an angle' is usually caused by this). My recommendation is to try to clean it. First power off your phone, then try sticking something that can scrape the little metal pads in the usb port. Be careful that you don't bend or snap anything inside or outside the phone, so be very gentle.
Another possible reason, which is a problem I've run into myself, is that the charger you're using just doesn't work with the phone. My Nexus S doesn't charge when I connect it to a generic USB charger in my car, nor does it charge with most wall chargers and the original Wall charger that came with my phone was DOA. The only way for me to charge my phone is at my computer or with some wall chargers that, I guess, output more amps (I'm noob when it comes to electrical stuff! ). If it doesn't charge in one USB port, try connecting to another one and/or switching cables.
If it doesn't charge at your computer, then it's probably dirty.
AlexRamallo said:
I doubt opening your phone will show you if the usb port is broken, unless you opened it previously. The most likely problem is that your USB port is worn out, dirty, etc and it's having trouble making contact with the cable ('charging at an angle' is usually caused by this). My recommendation is to try to clean it. First power off your phone, then try sticking something that can scrape the little metal pads in the usb port. Be careful that you don't bend or snap anything inside or outside the phone, so be very gentle.
Another possible reason, which is a problem I've run into myself, is that the charger you're using just doesn't work with the phone. My Nexus S doesn't charge when I connect it to a generic USB charger in my car, nor does it charge with most wall chargers and the original Wall charger that came with my phone was DOA. The only way for me to charge my phone is at my computer or with some wall chargers that, I guess, output more amps (I'm noob when it comes to electrical stuff! ). If it doesn't charge in one USB port, try connecting to another one and/or switching cables.
If it doesn't charge at your computer, then it's probably dirty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for input.
I don't think the plug is worn out since it works perfectly with my Nexus 7 charger. I did look into the bottom of the phone and it does look a little dirty so that could be a small part of the issue but that doesn't explain why it it would work perfectly with one charger and not another. It does sound like it could be just the wall chargers I am using are not as good as the Nexus 7 charger (When I use the nexus 7 cable and charger the cable seems to fit alot better and it very firm when it is plugged in where when I plug in my 3rd party cable it is loose and feels like it is going to fall out. I might just buy the extra asus charge set from google since I know its a 100% work rate. was just hoping I wouldn't have had to spend that on just a wall chargers. >...<
My charger keeps breaking, to be specific the cable.
The cable is very, very poorly designed. It contains 1 wire which is covered by braided shielding. The wire is the positive and the braided shielding negative. At the point where the braided shielding comes together for connecting to the micro adapter the shielding keeps breaking. This means no charging. I have tried soldering couple times but the shielding and wires are so thin it´s just usable a couple of times, until it breaks again.
I tried to make a DIY cable, but i didn´t get it to work. Probably need to place a resistant over some pins, however on the acer micro usb i couldn´t found one on the board where the micro usb is soldered on. Acer didn´t follow the usb standard with this adapter, the wire inside the cable is white, normally this is data instead of positive.
So i´m waiting for the 2nd time for a new 50 euro charger.
Just curious if more people also experienced this problems.
Yeah, I'm on my third charger now. You can charge them through USB although the charging light doesn't show and it takes about two full days to charge from low to 100%.
I have heard, though that a USB 3.0 supplies enough power to charge the a700. Haven't tried it yet, though. It may be cheaper just buying yourself a USB 3.0 PCI card for your PC and charging to that way.
Sent from my A700 using xda app-developers app
I had similar issues where I thought my charger was broken, but it was a thermal problem. It seems, that if the charger keeps plugged into the socket for example over night, it can get so hot that it triggers some thermal protection and switches of. To reset the termal protection, It's not enough to let it cool down (which it does on it's own after shutting down anyway), but I had to unplug it for a couple of minutes, then replug it again - charger working!
I never had an issue with the cable though...
always showing show charging when i connect to samsung charger.
any solution to get back fast charging ?
bhaavuu said:
always showing show charging when i connect to samsung charger.
any solution to get back fast charging ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In 90% of cases this is caused by either a faulty cable or a faulty powerbrick. Are you sure it isn't either of it?
Else try cleaning your port, once had this issue (but with microUSB) that it charged 5%/h just because there was so much dust in the port.
Also I had one (really cheap) USB-C cable which was just working when plugging in with one dedicated side up - so when I flipped the cable 90°, it wasn't even recognizing the cable -> turn back and even fast charging worked.
No faulty cable or no any cut with cable.. its genuine..
sometime getting fast or cable charging
jaannnis said:
In 90% of cases this is caused by either a faulty cable or a faulty powerbrick. Are you sure it isn't either of it?
Else try cleaning your port, once had this issue (but with microUSB) that it charged 5%/h just because there was so much dust in the port.
Also I had one (really cheap) USB-C cable which was just working when plugging in with one dedicated side up - so when I flipped the cable 90°, it wasn't even recognizing the cable -> turn back and even fast charging worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some time i m getting fast charging or cable charging if i reinsert pin 4 to 5 times....
jaannnis said:
In 90% of cases this is caused by either a faulty cable or a faulty powerbrick. Are you sure it isn't either of it?
Else try cleaning your port, once had this issue (but with microUSB) that it charged 5%/h just because there was so much dust in the port.
Also I had one (really cheap) USB-C cable which was just working when plugging in with one dedicated side up - so when I flipped the cable 90°, it wasn't even recognizing the cable -> turn back and even fast charging worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any Idea that how to clean port ???? i think its dust there.
i have exactly the same problem started happening today. multiple chargers and cables still shows slow charging
Same problem with me. Please help
I use a push pin (thumbtack with a plastic head) to clean the port. I have had to do this a few times since I got the phone a couple years ago. I have scraped pretty hard the bottom of the port and not caused any damage. Of course you do need to show some restraint. I don't want to be the cause of you breaking your phone. I had the most trouble with a car charger, but also the OEM charger. The cleaning has always fixed it for me.
USB-C Port Issues - "Charging Connected Device via USB" is a Constant Notification
Back info: So I charged my Pixel 3 once via the USB-C cable that came with it about a month ago, and I also tried the USB-C headphones too (around the same time) and both of these work just fine. I've since been using wireless charging and Bluetooth headphones.
I just got the pixel stand and noticed about 2 days after using that I keep getting a notification that says "Charging Connected Device via USB" even though I'm not using the USB-C port. At first it went away, but now it is staying through reboots and even shows up in safe mode sometimes. So I tried connecting the USB-C cable to the phone to see if it goes away, and I notice the cable doesn't charge the phone. Now if I power down the phone and plug the USB-C cable in one of two things will happen, but it depends on what side of the (reversible) USB-C cable is facing up:
1. The phone will start to charge and continue to charge if I hold down the power button and turn the phone on.
2. The phone will turn one when the cable is connected, but not charge the phone.
I don't think this is a hardware problem because I can use a USB-A to USB-C cable from my computer and it will charge/transfer files no matter what side of the USB-C cable is up. I also don't think this is cable or charger issues because I've used two different USB-C to USB-C cables and chargers (the set that came with the Pixel 3 and the set that came with the Pixel Stand).
I have also tried the USB-C headphones again and those are not really working either. I got them to work once by activating the Google Assistant as I was plugging them in, and they would continue to work after that until I plugged the charging cable back in. I tried the headphones again after the power cable, and they stopped working again. I now notice that the "Charging Connected Device via USB" will show up when I plug the USB-C headphones in one direction and not show up if I flip the USB-C port over.
There are some people with the issue over on Reddit, but no one seems to have a fix. One person said that a factory reset fixed his issue, but I've so many 2-factor authentication apps, that it is a real hassle to do a factory reset.
Well, the overall description of your problem does seem to point at a HW problem, since USB-C cables should be fully reversible on a hardware level.
Looks like it was corrosion.... I took a small brush to the port and cleaned it out. I cleaned it over clean surface and no debris fell out, so it is kind of concerning that corrosion would build up after halving the phone for just under a month.
Yesterday my Pixel 3a stopped accepting charge.
I use 2 chargers - the original google charger and a Xiaomi USB-A with a quality cable.
When I connect the Pixel charger + cable, Pixel 3a shows the wave charge motion, the status icon changes to "flash in battery" for a sec. Then it stops charging. The charger works fine with my Pixel 6.
Same situation with my Samsung PD charger.
The Xiaomi USB-A charger works but extremely slowly. The Ampere App used to show ~1,2A but now only between 50-100mA.
The charger works fine with Pixel 6.
I cleaned the seemingly clean Pixel 3 socket, nothing changed.
Any ideas, please?
Thanks
V
We already have an old phone. Perhaps your battery is worn out?
The battery is perfectly fine.
I've gone to the bottom of this. Literally.
After carefully cleaning the contacts of the Pixel 3a socket with contact cleaner, the phone still didn't started to charge properly.
However, I noticed that after wiggling the plug a bit, PD charging came back on.
So I cleaned even more intensely by rubbing contacts carefully with a toothpick which I had to shape with a knife in order to reach down into the socket.
There was still some tiny amount of black gunk down there I could not spot even with a watchmakers loupe.
Now we're back in biz.
I have a similar issue - bought a Pixel 3a recently from eBay, charging works but there is no connection to the computer via USB.
I tried it in Windows 10 and Ubuntu, used even a usb drive which I plugged into the adapter, I think something is wrong with my usb-c port.
Can you please be more detailed on how you cleaned the port? did you rub hard with the plastic toothpick?
v said:
The battery is perfectly fine.
I've gone to the bottom of this. Literally.
After carefully cleaning the contacts of the Pixel 3a socket with contact cleaner, the phone still didn't started to charge properly.
However, I noticed that after wiggling the plug a bit, PD charging came back on.
So I cleaned even more intensely by rubbing contacts carefully with a toothpick which I had to shape with a knife in order to reach down into the socket.
There was still some tiny amount of black gunk down there I could not spot even with a watchmakers loupe.
Now we're back in biz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you spray the contact cleaner inside the USB-c port?
a_petrov303 said:
did you spray the contact cleaner inside the USB-c port?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. I put it on paper tissue wrapped around carved toothpick.
a_petrov303 said:
did you rub hard with the plastic toothpick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I carefully rubbed the contacts with a wooden toothpic on which I put a drop of mild non corrosive contact cleaner. Initially I tried rubbing with tissue wrapped, later bare wood. The latter worked.
Have same charging issue, and proper clean help. Original pixel cable should make little click sound and dont't fall out even when you hang phone holding by cable
Usb c has 24 pins. The pin 6 and 7 should be at the top side, then charging is working again. That means, try to plug in the usb c in the other direction