Warning - don't let it discharge too far!

[wrigglesworth]

Hi all,

Last night my phone was sitting by itself getting very low on charge, as it always does by the end of the day. I heard a plaintiff bleep from it, but I ignored it because I was busy. When I did get to look at it, it had turned itself off. Fine, I thought, I'll put it on the charger. However, it simply won't charge.

When it's on the charger either no light appears at all, or a slowly flashing red light. It's been like that for nearly 24 hours, and it's showing no signs of actually charging, and I certainly still can't turn it on. There seems to be very little info online about this, but from what I can glean the slowly flashing red light means that the battery is "very" low. So low that it can't even power up whatever firmware is needed to initiate and monitor the charging process, so it can't actually get anywhere at all, despite being on the charger. And yes I've tried a variety of chargers, both plugged into the wall and into a USB port. And I've tried holding down the power button, and pressing volume up and volume down while trying to power it up.

Vodafone have agreed to replace it, although frankly I'd rather have a different phone, but they turned that idea down flat. Unfortunately I'm going away tomorrow, so I will have to manage without a phone until after the bank holiday when I get back.

This seems to be a pretty seriously design flaw - the phone should turn itself off before its battery gets to this state. If it had a removable battery it wouldn't be so bad - there would be a way of charging the battery outside the phone and getting it going that way.

Anyway, a warning not to let your HTC One X discharge too far. If anyone knows of any solution that can get it up and running before the bank holiday I'd be delighted to hear it!

 

[TheBobmanNH]

I've had mine shut off on me twice from low battery, with no problems recharging after. Hopefully you just had a dud battery?

 

[NikkiC]

I've also let mine discharge fully and turn itself off without problems. Certainly a dud battery I'd say. Hopefully it's just a one off and won't happen to you with the next phone.

 

[wrchad23]

My new one (replacement) was completely dead out of the box and wouldn't turn on. Worried us a little at first. Took about 3-4 minutes of charging before it'd even power on.

 

[Tomo1971]

Likewise, mine has switched off a couple of times due to been out of charge. Plugged into charger and has been fine.

I really do think that posts like this should be titled and worded better, to me, its written as if this problem will effect everyone, which simply isn't true. You simply have a faulty phone or battery.

Steve

 

[Deleted User]

Where are you charging it?
I had the same issue with the Car dock the only time I have used it. But off the wall, absolutely fine. I suspect your charger is a problem?

 

[El Presidente]

If I recall, HTC kernels are coded to report the battery being full at 90-95% to prevent overcharging and to turn the phone off when it reaches 2-3% (despite it reading 0).

It's generally bad practice to let Lithium batteries get that low anyway, especially after the first few charge/discharges. It's why the phone tells you to plug in your charger at 15%.

Did you have fastboot enabled? If yes, even when off, it's not actually off so it would still lose power (albeit minimal) even when turned off.

 

[forum4um]

discharging and letting your battery run out are two completely different things. I'm not sure if anyone else is having this issue or not but when i plug my phone in to charge and my screen isn't turned on it wont start charging. Instead it will read that my battery is "discharging" in the power setting menu. Once i turn my screen on and plug it in it then reads "charging". HUGE problem if discharging actually runs your battery completely dead.

 

[forum4um]

i must have gotten a bad phone because i just returned my phone to ATT and got a new one x and this one does not have the discharge problem at all.

 

[alcohol]

I discharge my phone almost every night. Have no problems.

 

[deejfive]

The SAME exact thing happened to me. The battery was low and I heard a beep that reminded me to connect my phone to the charger, but when I did it would not light up, and it will not charge. So although this may not be a common problem, the fact that there are 2 phones that did exactly the same thing on a brand new phone sounds like something to look into. I had my phone for exactly 10dys. And now its on backorder and can't be replaced for now.

Additionally, there were times when I had an incoming call that the screen was not the usual screen and there was no way to actually answer the phone. So maybe it is the phone itself

 

[mjohns12]

Battery was more than likely defective and was going to crap out sooner or later. Sucks when it happens because you want quality in what you buy.

 

[deejfive]

So update, I went back to the AT&T store to see if they could 'reset' my phone and it didn't work. I was told it will be awhile before they get stock in the HTC One-X as they were called back to the warehouse. In other words the phone is being recalled. First for some software update issue, but then there are more cases of the phone dying just like mine. So apparently this IS something that may affect everyone...

 

[El Presidente]

I don't believe they are being recalled? A certain number were recalled by customs inspectors to ensure they didn't infringe on some ridiculous patent claim by Apple, I don't think it was because they were faulty.

 

[cinekcnx]

Hi, I've just registered to post on this thread. I had a similiar situation with my HOX like author of the thread:

I discharged my phone totally, so it turned off. After that I tried to turn it on again (without any charging) and it worked, I made even one phone call (battery charge status was 0%). Then I let the phone stay the whole night without charging. When I woke up, the phone was turned off and plugging it to the USB did nothing at all. Even red LED stayed off.

I tried not to panic (switching between many chargers and so on) and let it charge for a while with original cable and charger. After ~30 min red LED appeared and the phone was able to turn on. Before it happened and after reading this thread my heart stopped for that 30min

If you will get into situation like this, first of all don't panic. Let your phone charge calmly, maby your case isn't the worst (like mine wasn't).

 

[prakhardeep]

I really do think that posts like this should be titled and worded better, to me, its written as if this problem will effect everyone, which simply isn't true. You simply have a faulty phone or battery.

Steve

+1.

These things create more panic than actually needed.

 

[Rusty]

My Sensation used to do that. The solution was to charge it for a bit, unplug it, power it on (it wouldn't power on when plugged in after completely dying) then reconnect the charger.

 

[JasonC]

I discharge mine fully all the time and never had any problems so, it does not affect everyone.

 

[Ironclad]

My battery has emptied & 'over'charged several times now. Not only has the machine survived I actually think the battery is better. (though it is likely i'm unconsciously better at using the thing)

 

[PaxtonPetty]

It's generally bad practice to let Lithium batteries get that low anyway, especially after the first few charge/discharges. It's why the phone tells you to plug in your charger at 15%.

So it's not good for the battery to let it discharge completely all the time?

 

[El Presidente]

So it's not good for the battery to let it discharge completely all the time?

Not Lithium Batteries, no. It drastically shortens their life and if you let it die completely, you'll need a special charger to fire it back in to life. When your phone says it has no charge, it actually has 5-6% (I believe), at this point, it turns itself off to stop it fro discharging completely.

I'll only let mine turn itself off once a month or so.

When I've a bit more time, I'll dig out some links for you if you like.

 

[PaxtonPetty]

Not of Lithium Batteries, no. It drastically shortens their life and if you let it die completely, you'll need a special charger to fire it back in to life. When your phone says it has no charge, it actually has 5-6% (I believe), at this point, it turns itself off to stop it fro discharging completely.

I'll only let mine turn itself off once a month or so.

When I've a bit more time, I'll dig out some links for you if you like.

Gee, thanks. Actually, my battery just crossed the 37h battery test made by GSMArena, it died on the 41st hour - just when I thought my HOX has a faulty battery. I'll follow your advice.

 

[krudra]

I have had my phone for 15 days now and have no problems like this with my battery. Though i feel the battery life is a little less, but it has died many times and never got this problem..

 

[Rizard]

Ok so hi. Since there is indeed very little info on this matter, I thaugt I'd register and share my experiences.

Owning a HTC Sensation XE (don't blame me for wrong section, this was one of the very little I found and want to make it more informational) and recently started noticing the same problem. Good news or bad, I only have the slow charge and the flashing Amber/Orange/Red light when my phone is turned of.... But then again I have it all the time when I charge that way!! (Slow flashing by my def.: off 7 sec, on 5 sec,...)
Just left it for a night (read +/-9 jours) and when disconnected and turned on (there is no way to turn it on while 'charging' in off mode) it said to have 90% battery life (my ass! After 30 min it is at 70% which is abnormal)

So charging while turned on is working, thank god, but never had the full battery capacity experience since a few days. Never really wanted to fully discharge, happened few times tho.

HTC support newbie told me to reset but honestly I don't think it'll help. Probably the battery then eh? I'll check for warranty since I owned it for 6 months.

Hope we were able to help out some googlers.

 

[joela85]

I also got the slow flashing red light when phone died and was put on charge, it wouldn't charge the phone. tried several times with different charges. eventually get a solid red light when it's charging. What is causing it? should I get my phone replaced?