Help Phone won't charge from flat - Are Samsung Right

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

Sorry this is a bit long-winded but it's so you know whats gone on.

My phone battery went flat after a full days use and the phone shut down. Nothing unusual with that so I just waited until I got home and put my phone on charge and left it for an hour or so. Came back to the phone and noticed the red LED wasn't on like it normally is. Tried powering on the phone and there was nothing so I then proceed to go through the different cable and charger routine trying to find what was wrong until I could only conclude the phone or battery was at fault.
Spoke to Samsung and they agreed so my phone was sent back to be repaired under guarantee. A few days later I had a call from them saying that the fault was down to water damage and not covered by the guarantee so I would have to pay

tube517 · Jan 5, 2014

Sounds like it's been your battery all along. When you say it "goes flat" are you letting the battery drain completely to 0%?

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

The Battery goes flat to the point where the phone turns off and I can not get the phone to turn on again.
But if it is the battery, I don't understand why it will charge in my friends phone but not in mine.

quickaudi · Jan 5, 2014

replace it with a new battery

tube517 · Jan 5, 2014

richgm said:
The Battery goes flat to the point where the phone turns off and I can not get the phone to turn on again.
But if it is the battery, I don't understand why it will charge in my friends phone but not in mine.

But is the battery at 0% or does it just randomly shut off and not turn back on?

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

I've just tired powering the phone off with a battery still at 75% and putting it on charge. It appears that it doesn't charge unless the phone is switched on, no matter how full or empty the battery.

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

tube517 said:
But is the battery at 0% or does it just randomly shut off and not turn back on?

The battery was fully drained when it turned off.

tube517 · Jan 5, 2014

richgm said:
The battery was fully drained when it turned off.

Like Audi posted above, get a new battery

funkylogik · Jan 5, 2014

Seems strange how the battery works fine in Rich's friend's phone though....
have the water damage indicators under the battery/battery cover changed colour?
swap the battery with your friends and problem solved lol

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

funkylogik said:
Seems strange how the battery works fine in Rich's friend's phone though....
have the water damage indicators under the battery/battery cover changed colour?
swap the battery with your friends and problem solved lol

Water damage indicator under battery is as it should be. Nice thought about swapping batteries but there is no guarantee that that one will charge if I let the phone go flat.

eBay has a dual charger dock and battery for under a tenner. Would mean even if a new battery doesn't work then I could remove it and charge it in the cradle if and when necessary.

tube517 · Jan 5, 2014

funkylogik said:
Seems strange how the battery works fine in Rich's friend's phone though....
have the water damage indicators under the battery/battery cover changed colour?
swap the battery with your friends and problem solved lol

Yeah, i thought that was strange, too.

Could it be an app that is draining the battery too fast?

Very hard to troubleshoot without physically seeing the phone.

funkylogik · Jan 5, 2014

Could even be a kernel problem. Has the firmware updated during this problem Rich? Are you on 4.3?

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

funkylogik said:
Could even be a kernel problem. Has the firmware updated during this problem Rich? Are you on 4.3?

Have Just updated to 4.3 yesterday.

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

tube517 said:
Yeah, i thought that was strange, too.

Could it be an app that is draining the battery too fast?

Very hard to troubleshoot without physically seeing the phone.

Just to be clear the battery life seems about normal for how I use the phone.

richgm · Jan 5, 2014

richgm said:
I've just tired powering the phone off with a battery still at 75% and putting it on charge. It appears that it doesn't charge unless the phone is switched on, no matter how full or empty the battery.

I cant help but think this is significant but don't know if it points to phone or battery. Why would it only charge when the phone is turned on?

funkylogik · Jan 5, 2014

Arent there two charging modes.. slow with the phone off and fast with it on, anyone?

kolosus · Jan 7, 2014

My wife and I have the same phone. S3. She tends to let the phone drain down to zero. She has the same issue. If the battery is drained till it reaches zero and doesn't have enough juice to turn on the phone then there is no way to charge the battery. Only time the battery charges is when the phone us on. In her case I think the culprit is the fact that she tends to use it while on the charger. That had damaged the charge port somewhat.

desmofan · Jan 7, 2014

I have had this exact same issue with my SIII since I bought it used a little over a year ago. If I let the battery go completely flat, I can charge it by simply using the regular charger. But, in order to turn the phone back on, I have to remove and replace the battery, then turn it on. It makes absolutely no sense to me, but it works every time.

EDIT: And when I charge the flat phone, the red light does not come on, but the battery still charges fine.

tensazan · Jan 7, 2014

Would you be able to try to find a charger you put the battery directly into for those days when the phone won't come back on. Just let it charge for a while, then pop it back in your phone and see if it comes back up and lets you charge the battery in the phone again.

richgm · Feb 4, 2014

Just a quick update for anyone who ever suffers the same problem.
I've purchased a charger off eBay that allows me to charge the battery external to the phone. Now if the battery ever goes completely flat I can charge the battery with this charger for 5 mins then put the battery back in the phone and turn it on. Then I can charge the battery as normal.

Thanks to everyone who replied to my original post.

FartyMcFly · Aug 13, 2014

do you have a custom Firmware installed?

i used cyanogen 10.2 on samsung galaxy s3 for months... and now it is showing this behaviour.

if battery is drained... no charging possible.

if phone is on... charging possible.

you and i will have to revert to stock rom to test if it is a software problem.

Help Phone won't charge from flat - Are Samsung Right

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