Help Desire randomly powers up and shuts down

[ifb-online]

I wouldn't be surprised if my Desire's battery is on the way out, after all it's over 18 months old. So I could understand the phone running out of juice prematurely and unexpectedly, which it does sometimes. But how do you explain the phone switching itself on randomly? In fact the other night the phone, while attached to the charger, switched itself off and back on several times.

This has only started to happen in the last week or two. I updated the phone to the official HTC Desire Gingerbread upgrade a couple of months ago.

Ian

 

[rowlers]

sounds similar to mine... generally does it when its under a bit of load and or warm.
doubt its the battery more like the mainboard reboot problem, discussed all over the 'net.
prob back to HTC for warranty repair

 

[ifb-online]

Mine's not under warranty any more so I have ordered a new battery as the old one was definitely not holding its charge very well any more. I don't think my problem is related to load or heat as it spontaneously powers when off while being charged. I did remove the battery for half an hour and then power back on and it was reliable for the rest of the day yesterday, except that the charge was nearly gone after just 6-7 hours. Normally I can get several days of stand by as long as wifi and 3G are turned off.

Ian

 

[rowlers]

Mine's not under warranty any more so I have ordered a new battery as the old own was definitely not holding its charge very well any more. I don't think my problem is related to load or heat as it spontaneously powers when off while being charged. I did remove the battery for half an hour and then power back on and it was reliable for the rest of the day yesterday, except that the charge was nearly gone after just 6-7 hours. Normally I can get several days of stand by as long as wifi and 3G are turned off.

Ian

Charging generates heat taking the battery out allows it to cool down. Not saying its deffo the notorious mainboard reboot issue, but something to think about. Also AFAIK all HTC devices have a 2 year warranty if purchased after Jan 2010. Check it out!

 

[SUroot]

Mine's not under warranty any more

Water damage? Tampering with screws and void stickers? Because if not, the two year warranty cannot have expired as the desire wasn't released two years ago.

 

[ifb-online]

OK, I assumed it was a 1 year warranty, so thanks for that. I'm sure the battery is not guaranteed for that long, but in any case, if the new battery does not fix the problem I will be contacting HTC.

Ian

 

[ifb-online]

Well, I got the new battery but the problem wasn't solved. So I have been reading up on the re-boot hardware issue that some Desire owners have been experiencing. I was therefore expecting that mine would have to go back for repair, but as it seems you're asked to do a factory reset before being booked in for the repair, I thought I would do this anyway. Two days now and my Desire is running faultlessly and the battery life is back to normal. Looks like something software-wise went rogue inside my Desire.

Ian

 

[Tyseyh]

Well, I got the new battery but the problem wasn't solved. So I have been reading up on the re-boot hardware issue that some Desire owners have been experiencing. I was therefore expecting that mine would have to go back for repair, but as it seems you're asked to do a factory reset before being booked in for the repair, I thought I would do this anyway. Two days now and my Desire is running faultlessly and the battery life is back to normal. Looks like something software-wise went rogue inside my Desire.

Ian

You got any hunch of a clue as to what it was?

 

[ifb-online]

You got any hunch of a clue as to what it was?

No idea, and the phone has just re-booted all by itself despite working faultlessly for the last three days

Just about to call Carphone Warehouse...

Ian

 

[ifb-online]

As the phone is more than a year old CPW told me to contact HTC directly and they have booked a collection for next Monday. Apparently 2.3.5 is the latest Android release for the Desire. I'm running 2.3.3. Is anyone else running 2.3.5?

Ian

 

[ifb-online]

Phone was collected by UPS yesterday afternoon - let's see what the turnaround time is like!

Ian

 

[ifb-online]

Well that was impressive - my phone was collected on Monday afternoon and returned on Thursday morning. The mainboard has been replaced, along with some connectors and the IMEI number is different. I was a bit worried they might send me a replacement with an SLCD screen instead of the AMOLED one, but I can see that it's the original screen and shell.

Unfortunately, it was returned installed with Android 2.2 when I had upgraded to 2.3.3 and I was told it would come back with 2.3.5.

A nice touch is that it came back in a neat little box with "I'm Back!" printed on the top

Ian

PS Looks like I was told in error that 2.3.5 was available for the Desire according to a support rep. I have just spoken to and apparently phones are returned from repair with the last OTA release of Android, and of course 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) for the Desire was not releasted via OTA.

 

[ifb-online]

Hmmmm... phone reset itself early this morning I did unintentionally leave the wifi switched on overnight, but the battery wasn't flat... Ijust hope this is a one-off.

Ian

 

[ifb-online]

Hmmmm... phone reset itself early this morning I did unintentionally leave the wifi switched on overnight, but the battery wasn't flat... Ijust hope this is a one-off.

Ian

100% reliable for the last week...

Ian

 

[billyroy]

Solved the heating/rebooting problem!!
What I did was taking the phone apart, take out the bottom pcb.
At the back (front side) there is a metal cover. Remove it, and use a solder heat gun to heat the processor and reflow the connections. Let it rest for 10 minutes and put the phone back together.

My Desire does not reboot any more!

 

[ifb-online]

Solved the heating/rebooting problem!!
What I did was taking the phone apart, take out the bottom pcb.
At the back (front side) there is a metal cover. Remove it, and use a solder heat gun to heat the processor and reflow the connections. Let it rest for 10 minutes and put the phone back together.

My Desire does not reboot any more!

Was your Desire no longer covered by the 2 year HTC warranty?

My own unit only started to reboot randomly in the last couple of months so if it is heat-related a cause must have occurred recently as in the summer months when using the phone in the car as a satnav the unit used to be almost too hot to touch and yet it didn't miss a beat.

Ian

 

[SUroot]

Continued exposure to heat does do damage