• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help How I solved our 0% battery / No charge conundrum

Zenwafer

Well-Known Member
Feb 24, 2012
205
101
Pennsylvania
I had the 0% battery problem just last night

Fix it your self like so:

Get comfortable and ready to hold buttons for what seems an obscene amount of time

Plug in Moto G in and LEAVE IT PLUGGED IN. If the cord worked to charge it before it will work to charge it now :smokingsomb:

Press and hold the VOL- and POWER buttons until your LED indicator light shows you that there is hope after all. This should take maybe 2 full minutes of holding VOL- and POWER together

Release the buttons and you should boot to Fastboot

Select Normal Powerup in Fastboot by pressing the VOL+ button

After that last step my screen went to this -

GEDC0086.jpg


I then pressed the power button one more time to get to this -

GEDC0087.jpg


Then I let it charge to 17% and rebooted to this -

Fixed.png


:D
 
I THINK I understand the cause of this: The phone tries to charge "by hardware" from whatever you plug it into. Then after some time it tries to boot, and part of the boot process will run off the internal battery.

If the charging happens from a slow charging powersource, the charge in the battery will be insufficent to bridge the "no charging" part of the boot process, the phone will shut down again and not resume charging!

So, if you charge from a "faster" charger, that can provide more current, then by the time the boot happens, there will be enough charge in the battery to bridge the gap. This would also explain why Motorola suggests a wall charger and not USB. On the other hand, I seem to remember that it would only charge at USB-speeds even from a "capable of higher currents" charger.

Anyway, the "go to the boot menu" trick works because it increases the time before the "gap" happens.

Motorola told me to hold those two keys for two minutes (120 seconds, and not a second less). It turns out 20 seconds is enough. The menu only comes up after you RELEASE the buttons.

By keeping the buttons pressed, you keep the hardware in "charging" state, with the display off. This gets as much juice into the battery as possible. I suspect that keeping the phone in the boot menu works as well.

If someone reading this has this problem again, try pressing VOL- and POWER at the same time for 20 seconds, and then let go. THEN leave it like that for 10-15 minutes before selecting "normal boot". Report here if that worked!
 
  • Like
Reactions: bcrichster
Upvote 0
Well charging slowly is much better than not making any progress with respect to charge level at all.

My phone was charging a little, booting, running out of battery and repeat....

Previously the trick to getting it back into working order was: pass it to my colleague, let him fiddle with it, and after a while he'd say: Here, now it charges again. Asked what he did he couldn't say. This is unreliable: I don't know if he's around next time I run into this problem, and he might be unable to repeat what he did if he doesn't know what he did exactly.

So if "fastboot" breaks the loop of trying to boot, while draining the battery again, that's much better than being stuck in the loop.

I have the impression that my phone now does NOT try to boot. I've had to "revive" it again yesterday. The thing is, I just connected it to my powerbank, and then it charges again. I have to manually turn it on.

My current theory: the charge/boot/drain/crash loop happens when the phone thinks it is on a computer-usb link, and it WANTs to be on to handle the usb link. So while the phone still works, find a charger where the status is "charging AC" and not "charging USB". Technically this should happen when USB-D+ and USB-D- are connected.
 
Upvote 0
I THINK I understand the cause of this: The phone tries to charge "by hardware" from whatever you plug it into. Then after some time it tries to boot, and part of the boot process will run off the internal battery.

If the charging happens from a slow charging powersource, the charge in the battery will be insufficent to bridge the "no charging" part of the boot process, the phone will shut down again and not resume charging!
Could be... could be.

Here's my experience: I ran the phone all the way into the ground this last weekend. (Took a good long while, too!) Let it "rest" about a half hour and put it on the charger. (Using the charger that came with my 8" Vizio VTAB 1008, so plenty of juice.) The battery level indicator came on just about right away. After a time I noticed the phone booting. Or trying to. It went back to the battery level graphic.

I left it on the charger for about a half hour after I noticed it had hit 100%. Took it off the charger, pressed and held the power button. It booted up.
 
Upvote 0
I had the 0% battery problem just last night

Fix it your self like so:

Get comfortable and ready to hold buttons for what seems an obscene amount of time

Plug in Moto G in and LEAVE IT PLUGGED IN. If the cord worked to charge it before it will work to charge it now :smokingsomb:

Press and hold the VOL- and POWER buttons until your LED indicator light shows you that there is hope after all. This should take maybe 2 full minutes of holding VOL- and POWER together

Release the buttons and you should boot to Fastboot

Select Normal Powerup in Fastboot by pressing the VOL+ button

After that last step my screen went to this -

GEDC0086.jpg


I then pressed the power button one more time to get to this -

GEDC0087.jpg


Then I let it charge to 17% and rebooted to this -

Fixed.png


:D
i did this but my motorola screen keeps coming up, and it wont let it charge
 
Upvote 0
How about my samsung sIII(SHV-E210L) it always boots up at 0% even i measured the battery voltage resulting at 4.0v. Even i use cpuz to read voltage, it reads 0v. But some times it boots up with accurate battery reading. I also removed the board and chip inside the battery(even nfc will get useless and battery temperature sensor) and solder battery terminals directly on my phone. Same result, it always boots up at 0% and some in a hundred boot up it reads accurately. Is there an app or software for my problem. PS without rooting it.
 
Upvote 0
My wife's Moto G4 was completely discharged last evening and wouldn't charge with the factory charger. While charging, the phone would randomly power cycle, showing the charging symbol, and sometimes would try to boot. If it booted, it would get to the point of being booted, show 1% power in the notification area -- noting that the notification icon had a vertical red line through it -- and would immediately shut down and start the cycles all over again. I left the phone plugged in all night, and this morning it showed no charging progress -- still 1%.

After reading several posts about how, at a low battery point, the phone goes through various charging 'modes', here is how I fixed it:

I held the power button down for several minutes while I had it plugged into the factory charger and cable. The phone cycled through the charging screen, the booting process, then repeating that. After about four minutes, I let go of the power button and let it boot up normally. It stayed booted long enough for me to check the charging icon and again, it was at 1% with a vertical red line through the battery icon, indicating that it wasn't charging. I tried another charger (Samsung this time) and the same not-charging icon showed (it briefly showed the charging/lightning bolt icon, but reverted to the not-charging icon).

I then plugged it into my computer and the battery icon changed to a charging icon. After about 15 minutes, the phone showed 6% battery. Again I tried the factory charger, thinking it would charge it faster, and it still showed the not-charging icon.

My wife had to leave and took the phone with her, but I assume that her car charger will continue to charge it, and that we will be able to use the factory charger once it reaches a threshold:

Here's a summary, following the steps I took:

1. Plug the Moto G4 into the factory charger and cable. Hold down the power button for several minutes (like 4-5 minutes). The phone will cycle through several booting/charging screens

2. Release the power button, then press the power button to make the phone boot.

3. Plug the phone into a computer or other non-factory charger; it should begin to charge, albeit slowly.

4. After it has charged over 10% or more, try plugging it into the factory charger and see if it charges normally.
 
Upvote 0
I had the 0% battery problem just last night

Fix it your self like so:

Get comfortable and ready to hold buttons for what seems an obscene amount of time

Plug in Moto G in and LEAVE IT PLUGGED IN. If the cord worked to charge it before it will work to charge it now :smokingsomb:

Press and hold the VOL- and POWER buttons until your LED indicator light shows you that there is hope after all. This should take maybe 2 full minutes of holding VOL- and POWER together

Release the buttons and you should boot to Fastboot

Select Normal Powerup in Fastboot by pressing the VOL+ button

After that last step my screen went to this -

GEDC0086.jpg


I then pressed the power button one more time to get to this -

GEDC0087.jpg


Then I let it charge to 17% and rebooted to this -

Fixed.png


:D
Thanks man it worked fast on my YU unique model 4711. I thought I lost it
 
Upvote 0
DATE: 02/09/22

SOFTWARE ISSUE PREVENTING CHARGING & THE FIX FROM A RETIRED MOTOROLA ENGINEER.

IT IS THREE EASY STEPS TO FIX PHONE.
1. PLUG YOUR PHONE NORMALLY YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRAP THE WIRE OR KINK THE PLUG. JUST PLUG IT IN AS IF THERE WERE NO ISSUES. :rolleyes:

2. WHILE HOLDING THE VOLUME DOWN BUTTON AND THE POWER BUTTON IN SIMULTANEOUSLY WAIT ABOUT 20 SECONDS THEN RELEASE BOTH BUTTONS SIMULTANEOUSLY. THIS LOADS THE PHONES "BOOTLOADER" MENU, SOME CALL IT FASTBOOT IT DOESN'T MATTER. THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE NORMALLY....

PXL_20220210_035119417.MP~2.jpg


I SAID FIXED IN THE PHOTO ABOVE WHAT I MEANT IS WORKING PROPERLY. IF YOUR SCREEN LOOKS LIKE THIS CONGRATS YOUR A TECH PRODIGY AND FIXED YOUR PHONE IN ONLY 2 STEPS! LEAVE YOUR PHONE IN THIS STATE TO CHARGE OVER NIGHT.

FOR ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE BATTERY STATE INFO THAT SAYS CHANGING SLOWLY AND THE TEXT IS RED (sorry no photo) YOU'LL BE DONE IN ABOUT TWO MORE HOURS! IT'S TIME TO PERFORM THE LAST STEP!

3. NOW DO ONLY THIS...
NOT BY PHONES PLUG BUT BY THE USB END YOU WILL UNPLUG THE PHONE FROM THE WALL OUTLET AND PLUG IT RIGHT BACK IN.

FIXED? YEP THE TEXT IS NOW GREEN AND IT'S CHARGING NORMALLY.

SORRY ABOUT THE 2 MORE HOURS TO GO PRANK, LIGHTEN UP YOU FIXED YOUR PHONE! CONGRATS

TOMORROW MORNING SELECT "START" USING THE VOLUME UP/DOWN BUTTONS WHEN YOU HAVE START HIGHLIGHTED CLICK POWER AND PHONE WILL START NORMALLY ALL CHARGED READY TO GO!

HOPE THAT HELPED!
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
I just replaced my Moto G4 Plus battery and plugged it into the original Motorola charger (different USB cable). The white LED at the bottom of the phone is blinking but the screen is just flashing between a white lightening bolt icon, a black screen and the blue screen with the red Moto logo as if it is going to boot.

If I hold the power and volume down buttons together, I can get to the fastboot menu, which says "battery OK (charging)" in green letters, but choosing power down doesn't seem to work, and choosing recovery menu doesn't do anything either.

I've tried leaving it on the fastboot menu but eventually, after a few minutes, the phone screen just starts flashing as before.

I've tried plugging the phone into my laptop to charge instead and it just has the blinking white light without anything on the screen (screen is just black) but I can't get to the fastboot menu or anything.

I can't seem to get the screen showing the battery percentage whatever I do.

So is the battery just dead?

Do I need to wait longer for it to charge (and if so, do I leave it plugged into the laptop USB or the mains charger even though the screen flashes?)

Or might the new battery be faulty?
 
Upvote 0
DATE: 02/09/22

SOFTWARE ISSUE PREVENTING CHARGING & THE FIX FROM A RETIRED MOTOROLA ENGINEER.

IT IS THREE EASY STEPS TO FIX PHONE.
1. PLUG YOUR PHONE NORMALLY YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRAP THE WIRE OR KINK THE PLUG. JUST PLUG IT IN AS IF THERE WERE NO ISSUES. :rolleyes:

2. WHILE HOLDING THE VOLUME DOWN BUTTON AND THE POWER BUTTON IN SIMULTANEOUSLY WAIT ABOUT 20 SECONDS THEN RELEASE BOTH BUTTONS SIMULTANEOUSLY. THIS LOADS THE PHONES "BOOTLOADER" MENU, SOME CALL IT FASTBOOT IT DOESN'T MATTER. THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE NORMALLY....

View attachment 161375

I SAID FIXED IN THE PHOTO ABOVE WHAT I MEANT IS WORKING PROPERLY. IF YOUR SCREEN LOOKS LIKE THIS CONGRATS YOUR A TECH PRODIGY AND FIXED YOUR PHONE IN ONLY 2 STEPS! LEAVE YOUR PHONE IN THIS STATE TO CHARGE OVER NIGHT.

FOR ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE BATTERY STATE INFO THAT SAYS CHANGING SLOWLY AND THE TEXT IS RED (sorry no photo) YOU'LL BE DONE IN ABOUT TWO MORE HOURS! IT'S TIME TO PERFORM THE LAST STEP!

3. NOW DO ONLY THIS...
NOT BY PHONES PLUG BUT BY THE USB END YOU WILL UNPLUG THE PHONE FROM THE WALL OUTLET AND PLUG IT RIGHT BACK IN.

FIXED? YEP THE TEXT IS NOW GREEN AND IT'S CHARGING NORMALLY.

SORRY ABOUT THE 2 MORE HOURS TO GO PRANK, LIGHTEN UP YOU FIXED YOUR PHONE! CONGRATS

TOMORROW MORNING SELECT "START" USING THE VOLUME UP/DOWN BUTTONS WHEN YOU HAVE START HIGHLIGHTED CLICK POWER AND PHONE WILL START NORMALLY ALL CHARGED READY TO GO!

HOPE THAT HELPED!
I get that screen, however it only says "battery ok". does not say "charging" any help?
 
Upvote 0
I get that screen, however it only says "battery ok". does not say "charging" any help?
I've got the same problem. screen shows 'battery ok' in green but not the word '(charging)'. I've just left it connected to the charger like this for a day but noting happened. When disconnecting it from power I am back to the same situation. Power charging symbol (white on black background) comes up without showing a percentage below it and phone simply does not operate at all..

Did you find a solution?????@mamanami
 
Upvote 0
DATE: 02/09/22

SOFTWARE ISSUE PREVENTING CHARGING & THE FIX FROM A RETIRED MOTOROLA ENGINEER.

IT IS THREE EASY STEPS TO FIX PHONE.
1. PLUG YOUR PHONE NORMALLY YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRAP THE WIRE OR KINK THE PLUG. JUST PLUG IT IN AS IF THERE WERE NO ISSUES. :rolleyes:

2. WHILE HOLDING THE VOLUME DOWN BUTTON AND THE POWER BUTTON IN SIMULTANEOUSLY WAIT ABOUT 20 SECONDS THEN RELEASE BOTH BUTTONS SIMULTANEOUSLY. THIS LOADS THE PHONES "BOOTLOADER" MENU, SOME CALL IT FASTBOOT IT DOESN'T MATTER. THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE NORMALLY....

View attachment 161375

I SAID FIXED IN THE PHOTO ABOVE WHAT I MEANT IS WORKING PROPERLY. IF YOUR SCREEN LOOKS LIKE THIS CONGRATS YOUR A TECH PRODIGY AND FIXED YOUR PHONE IN ONLY 2 STEPS! LEAVE YOUR PHONE IN THIS STATE TO CHARGE OVER NIGHT.

FOR ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE BATTERY STATE INFO THAT SAYS CHANGING SLOWLY AND THE TEXT IS RED (sorry no photo) YOU'LL BE DONE IN ABOUT TWO MORE HOURS! IT'S TIME TO PERFORM THE LAST STEP!

3. NOW DO ONLY THIS...
NOT BY PHONES PLUG BUT BY THE USB END YOU WILL UNPLUG THE PHONE FROM THE WALL OUTLET AND PLUG IT RIGHT BACK IN.

FIXED? YEP THE TEXT IS NOW GREEN AND IT'S CHARGING NORMALLY.

SORRY ABOUT THE 2 MORE HOURS TO GO PRANK, LIGHTEN UP YOU FIXED YOUR PHONE! CONGRATS

TOMORROW MORNING SELECT "START" USING THE VOLUME UP/DOWN BUTTONS WHEN YOU HAVE START HIGHLIGHTED CLICK POWER AND PHONE WILL START NORMALLY ALL CHARGED READY TO GO!

HOPE THAT HELPED!


Thanks for the tip. I've done all that. screen shows 'battery ok' in green but not the word '(charging)'. I've just left it connected to the charger like this for a day but nothing happened. When disconnecting it from power I am back to the same situation. Power charging symbol (white on black background) comes up without showing a percentage below it and phone simply does not operate at all..

Any tip on how to resolve this @Getjkelly2 ?
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones