Old phone won't charge

[Galaxygal4ever0325]

I have an old s4 I have sentimental photos on. It's from the sprint network and only model number I see is SPH-L720.

Long story short, I lost the phone for a long time, upgraded to a s8, then found the phone under a seat in one of our vehicles.

Phone never had an issue before being lost and seemed to work once found. I should have immediately transferred pics then but set it aside. Now it won't charge. I plug it in and it either won't do anything or acknowledge the charger but not actually charge (the green battery light comes up). I left it overnight thinking it needed a long long charge and the level indicator never moved. It powered on and immediately shut off.

I ordered a new battery to try off Amazon. But I read I may need to install a new charging port (watch a bunch or videos, seems easy enough). I found one on Amazon but it says model S4 i9500F only. Obviously that's not what my phone says behind the battery. Can someone help me find this charging port???

 

[ocnbrze]

i would worry about the battery first.....most of the time that's usually the issue. then if the battery does not work then you have other issues other then the charge port.

 

[olbriar]

I would doubt that your charging port went bad while hanging out in your auto. I'd try the new battery and go from there. If it boots up, gather your photos from the phone which is your primary mission. If you can charge the battery, all the merrier.

 

[Galaxygal4ever0325]

I would doubt that your charging port went bad while hanging out in your auto. I'd try the new battery and go from there. If it boots up, gather your photos from the phone which is your primary mission. If you can charge the battery, all the merrier.

I have a new battery coming in tomorrow to try 1st! It just seemed after all my reading that these phones tended to do this and it was the charging ports issue. Fingers crossed a new $15 battery fixes it

 

[olbriar]

I have a new battery coming in tomorrow to try 1st! It just seemed after all my reading that these phones tended to do this and it was the charging ports issue. Fingers crossed a new $15 battery fixes it

It's certainly the place to start. Charging ports usually start having intermittent connection problems before they completely fail. That doesn't mean that your charger port is in working order. The old battery is definitely the most likely suspect for your charging problems and is the place I'd start. Good luck.

 

[Galaxygal4ever0325]

It's certainly the place to start. Charging ports usually start having intermittent connection problems before they completely fail. That doesn't mean that your charger port is in working order. The old battery is definitely the most likely suspect for your charging problems and is the place I'd start. Good luck.

Thank you! Yes, hoping for a quick fix. All the photos of my youngest son's 1st life are on that (yes I learned a lesson after this about clouds and backing up!). I just want the pics, so a new battery fix would be optimal. But I'm confused if that's not the issue, what the S4 i9500F is since my number is so off.....

 

[ocnbrze]

Thank you! Yes, hoping for a quick fix. All the photos of my youngest son's 1st life are on that (yes I learned a lesson after this about clouds and backing up!). I just want the pics, so a new battery fix would be optimal. But I'm confused if that's not the issue, what the S4 i9500F is since my number is so off.....

where are you seeing i9500?

checkout ifixit.....best place for parts and guides:
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/Samsung-Galaxy-S4/Charger_Boards

 

[kate]

Very likely it's a dead battery, when they sit uncharged for a long time the battery can go bad.

where are you seeing i9500?

GT-i9500 is the international Galaxy S4
SPH-L720 is the Sprint version.

Other models of the S4:
SCH-I54
SHV-E300K
SGH-I337
GT-I9508
...and about 10 more. Wide variety of model names in that year.

 

[Hadron]

If you just want the pictures off and the new battery still won't charge it might be worth seeing whether you can find a compatible external battery charger rather than a replacement port. All you need is to be able to charge the battery so that you can get the pictures off, which even if the USB port is completely finished can be done by copying them to a microSD card or using WiFi.

I'm just thinking that this might be a simpler and lower-risk solution than trying to replace the port.

However it's quite likely that it's just the battery: what was an old battery to start with, left for a long time to go into deep discharge, could easily have degraded to the point where it can't be recharged. That actually sounds more likely to me than the port having gone bad just from being left alone for a time (the port is surely more likely to fail as a result of use rather than disuse).

 

[Galaxygal4ever0325]

where are you seeing i9500?

checkout ifixit.....best place for parts and guides:
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/Samsung-Galaxy-S4/Charger_Boards

I saw that random number on the piece I found on Amazon.

 

[Galaxygal4ever0325]

Very likely it's a dead battery, when they sit uncharged for a long time the battery can go bad.


GT-i9500 is the international Galaxy S4
SPH-L720 is the Sprint version.

Other models of the S4:
SCH-I54
SHV-E300K
SGH-I337
GT-I9508
...and about 10 more. Wide variety of model names in that year.

Ah! Gotcha. Thank you so the two are absolutely different and that piece is not compatible with mine.

 

[puppykickr]

For future reference, when ordering cellphone batteries--

It is best to just open your browser, enter the entire model number of the battery {and nothing else}, and then hit 'enter'.

Ignore any information about whatever particular phone that it is supposed to fit that may come up.

The model number of the battery is what is important-- as long as that matches you are golden.