Swolen battery and more! - G1 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So my G1 died a few weeks ago and I am finally able to afford the N1, but I have a few things I want to get clear before I go flashing roms and overclocking.
I was running the latest cyanogen (with apps2sd) which OC'd the CPU to 512 (I believe). When it ceased to obtain a connection to the tmobile network I brought it in and the guy noticed my swollen battery. He told me it was from overcharging. Does that sound right? Would running at 512 have anything to do with this?
About the network problem, I searched for this issued and tried everything I could find. Could this have happened from the custom ROM that I installed?
So my big questions are: How am I to avoid overcharging my N1; Should I only charge to 100 then unplug it, that may be very hard at night. Would using a custom ROM jack **** up that much?
I guess I only have one question, as the second one sounds stupid as I read it off the screen >.<; there probably would be a lot of threads about this... So, swollen battery, overclocking or overcharging. Or both?!?! Anyone have similar issues with a known cause?
Thanks for the info!

Batteries do swell from overcharging. To help with that, let your battery completely die before you plug it in. You can't really avoid leaving it plugged in over night. Overclocking it wouldn't affect the battery, it would just heat up the phone, but even then, 528 mhz doesn't really heat up the phone.
Overclocking it should not have any affect on the network connection either. Not to my knowledge at least. Did you make sure the APN was set correctly?

pretty sure on the apn thing, it tells me error trying to connect to network. replaced my sim and everything, but still nothing.
but I'll double check tomorrow, but if you fixed my g1 I'm *not* returning my n1. :O

Related

G1 shuts off randomly and thinks it's dead?

Hey, guys, I tried dong some research but I can't find anyone with a similar problem.
I've got a T-Mobile (USA) G1 and I've got Cyanogen's Eclair ROM flashed on it. Prior to flashing Cyanogen's ROM, I was using OpenEclair. OpenEclair was working [relatively] well until my phone randomly started shutting off. I thought it was a battery calibration problem, so I recalibrated my battery by letting it die completely and then charging it fully, but that didn't work. I flashed Cyanogen's Eclair and hoped that my problem would be fixed, but the problem still persists.
I can't really isolate the problem. My phone can shut off in the middle of a call, in the middle of writing a txt message, or without me even using it while it's in my pocket. It shuts off regardless of the battery level (I've seen it shut off at like 97%). This wouldn't be THAT bad except the phone refuses to turn on right after it shuts off. When I press the power button, the phone will show the G1 logo for a few seconds and then shut off again as if it was dead. Sometimes if I press the power button, the phone won't turn on and I'll see the LED flash red which gives me the idea that the phone "thinks" it's dead. In order for me to turn the phone back on, I need to plug in the charger. This is becoming extremely annoying.
Does anyone know what the problem could be? I would try wiping/re-flashing but I don't wanna lose all my data :/
Thanks,
Gerard
I'm having the same exact problem ever since installing cyanogen 5.0.7 Test 1... so im not sure whats going on but i went to T-Mobile today... and they said my battery is warped or somethin not to tech savy... yet it was working fine like totally so... hmmm anyone know anything?
yea this has happened to me too! It shuts off randomly then i cant turn it back on until like 30 minutes later without touching it. I noticed that it happened after i flashed a open eclair rom that wouldnt start but i did flash it correctly. I have wiped battery stats and dalvik cache. Well i hope we can get some answers
I had the same problem I have tried just about every rom out there so dont remember when it started but i ordered a new battery off ebay for 10 bucks and havent had a problem since
jjovro1611 said:
I had the same problem I have tried just about every rom out there so dont remember when it started but i ordered a new battery off ebay for 10 bucks and havent had a problem since
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you think it's a hardware problem? I find it kinda hard to believe that all of us coincidentally got this problem after installing Ecalir ROMs...unless Eclair destroys our battery somehow?
:/
yeah same here but mine started with Amon Ra 1.2.3 and the blue haze rom. I updated my recovery to the latest 1.6.2 I think and switched to htcclay's superfast and the danger spl slso tmobile is comping me a new battery just to be safe, although switching rom's seem's to have helped my battery life a little. hope this helps someone.
Have you tried replacing the battery?
PurpleLlamaLover said:
Have you tried replacing the battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I'm part lazy and part unconvinced that it's a hardware issue. I mean if the phone reads that the battery is like 95% charged, why would it just give out randomly? I don't know much about hardware though, so maybe I'm wrong...
I want T-Mobile to get a new Android phone that's like incredible I want a new phone already damnit!!
im just gonna buy a battery on ebay or something because my battery does look kinda swollen so it could possibly be the battery. Gonna give it a try though
eric3043 said:
im just gonna buy a battery on ebay or something because my battery does look kinda swollen so it could possibly be the battery. Gonna give it a try though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You think you could update us when you find out whether it changes anything or not? :/
This phone gets me really frustrated because first it started shutting off and now i have a unresponsive lock screen! I push all the buttons and the screen is black like if its turned off. I have to do a battery pull but theres a risk of the phone not turning back on and shutting off on the g1 screen. I was planning to buy the battery today but i think im just going to use a different phone for now. I hope someone can really resolve this problem. Cant wait for the samsung galaxy s
For what it's worth, I started having the same issue last week with my G1. I think it's entirely coincidental that you switched to the CM 2.1 Test branch and your phone started getting screwy.
I looked at my battery as the first suspect, and what did I find when I pulled it out of the case? A badly swolen battery. By the end of the week, the swelling had gotten so bad that it was visibly bulging the plastic backing on my G1.
I took it to 3 separate T-Mobile stores looking for a replacement battery. The first two were of no luck, but the 3rd finally had one in stock. The CSR saw my battery and almost freaked out. She says I was lucky that it didn't pop because it was ready to at just about any moment.
Long story short, since replacing my battery, I have had ZERO issues, and my battery life has once again been phenomenal (well, for the G1).
I just checked my battery and I think it's possible that it's swollen. On the side where it says "htc Innovation," is it supposed to be perfectly flat? There's like a rectangle that's slightly raised above the rest of surface. I'm a little hesitant to buy a $50 battery if that's the way the battery is supposed to be.
Thanks,
Gerard
Spontaneous power off - sunspots?
Yes, this happened to me fairly frequently about 3 months ago. Now it happens (maybe) once a week.
In my experience, it isn't a Cyanogen issue - it would spontaneous die when I used Enomther's official rom, SuperD (one of the previous versions), and some others. That made me think it was hardware, but ... I haven't changed hardware, and still drop the G1 into my pocket like usual.
So if it isn't ROM software and it isn't hardware, what is it - sunspots?
grardb said:
I just checked my battery and I think it's possible that it's swollen. On the side where it says "htc Innovation," is it supposed to be perfectly flat? There's like a rectangle that's slightly raised above the rest of surface. I'm a little hesitant to buy a $50 battery if that's the way the battery is supposed to be.
Thanks,
Gerard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be perfectly flat. A new, good battery does not have the bulging rectangle in the middle you are talking about. Mine did the same thing. In fact, both sides were swelling. The battery would no longer sit flush in the back. My theory was simply that some sort of movement was causing it to lose contact and shutting off the phone.
If you take the battery out and lay it flat the table, you shouldn't be able to rock it by pressing an edge. If you can, your battery is dying.
I just bought a battery yesterday on amazon for 15$ You should check it out. Hope this battery resolves my problem. I also fixed my lock screen issue. I had set cpu to 120 instead of 128 so it unresponsive.
I have the same problem, and indeed when i now look at it my battery seems a bit swollen. I ordered a replacement battery on dealextreme. They have a few different battery replacements for the G1 for cheap (and lots of other things, regular customer) with free shipping. So i hope that will fix my problem .
I found this thread because I've been having random shutoffs as if the battery were pulled (black screen immediately, no "Shutting Down" prompt first), and it would only do this when NOT charging. This started happening when I first ran Firerat's all-in-one script but I think it was coincidental. So anyways, I found this thread after wanting to pull my hair out because of the random shutoffs, and sure enough, I pulled my battery and it's a bit puffed out. Time for a new battery.
My question is : does anyone think this is a result of the extra strain placed on the battery / heat generated from being overclocked? Once I get a new battery, I'd like to prevent it from happening in the future.
definately a battery problem. had the same thing on my g1. got into a whole big argument about how it WAS NOT PHONE in the cyanogen6 thread. guess what....it was my phone.
its not the rom. its your phone. seriously.
also, just to point out, most of us here got our phones relatively early in its release, and lot of people are having this problem now apparently. battery has life of 2yrs by my calculations.
if you can mimic a reboot with the phone plugged into usb or wall charger...it may be rom. but if you phone DOES NOT DIE while PLUGGED IN...ITS YOUR BATTERY.
Had the same problem with my 2008 bought g1, swollen battery and random shutdowns. Just inserted an new bought battery. Hope it fixes the problem.

Battery use and temp after root normally worse?

Hello all,
before anyone yells at me I did search and didn't find anything that makes sense cause this does seem common.
My battery life is still decent not as good as before rooting but I could live with that and not even over clocking is set to max of arround 990 or so but my thing is does seem like I am even just reading a book or the screen is on the bottom part of the phone gets warmer then it did before I rooted my phone.
I have tried different roms like modacos r22 desire r19 froyo, cyan 5.0.8, and rodreigez style and all seemed to have done it.
Seems ok when locked and not used for a while but with screen running for about 10 mins or so I can feel it getting warm. The stock unrooted frf50 i was on did not do that. Maybe recovery you think? Or should I just completely unroot put back stock recovery and all. Will be official then since I didn't unlock bootloader.
I am using setcpu from market and that is set to profiles
sleep 245-460 on demand
charge 245-883 on demand
fail 245-245 on demand
any ideas if I just did something wrong or do I need to flash a different kernel?
*edit*
also may be relevant since I live in 3g coverage I used to have the phone plugged in and download files and never leave 100% battery. Even with it undervolt kernel and not over clocked it drains now when I do this.
Anyone? And something else I noticed, if I plug in with more then 90% power to the pc it wont charge even though shows is charging till gets below 90% till 89 then will start charging. Any ideas?

[Think Tank] Modify Kernel to fix charging

I haven't actually looked at the battery driver or even the kernel for that matter, but does it specifically state the cutoff voltages for charging the battery? If it does, we should compare those to what the phone is charging the battery to when the phone is off and make them match. Hell if you want to live on the wild side bump it up another .05 - .075V or so...
Just a question.....but do you know what you are talking about??
Froyo seemed to solve the charging 'problem' for me, then again I never had a charging problem.
Qazme said:
Just a question.....but do you know what you are talking about??
Froyo seemed to solve the charging 'problem' for me, then again I never had a charging problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm, how did it fix it? We still have that problem.
I believe what he is talking about is modifying the kernel to allow the battery to fully charge when powered on rather than leaving the "buffer" which requires the bump charge to get the extra 10% or so out of the battery. I'd definitely like to see this as well, but I've found performing the recalibration did help a bit.
Disclaimer: I'm a noob and don't know ****!
However, it would seem if htc (or google), put code in the kernel to prevent the phone from charging to 100% while turned on, I'm sure they had good reason. My guess would be to keep the phone from over heating.
It would seem that if the phone is on and draining the battery, but at the same time you're trying to charge the battery, achieving that last few percent might be difficult and could take considerable more time, and thus getting hotter.
Just a guess though.
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider 2.5.2 Sense
Hrdra kernel ocuv_ov_v10 (#2)
I'll look at the battery driver when I get home (currently at work), but I have seen devices where charging limits were invoked directly in the kernel. These could be modified if they are.
On the issue of heat, manufacturers play it VERY safe. It looks bad if someone is charging their phone in their car during the summer and the battery cooks off in the passenger seat. I'd be fairly comfortable pushing the battery to a little bit higher voltage than it is right now.
What about the charging SPEED? Myself and several others have noticed that Froyo ROMs charge at a much slower rate, plugged in to ac power, compared to 2.1 Rom. For me, it takes about twice as long to charge. Is this something that could also be addressed with a kernel fix? I literally went from being able to charge from ~10% to full in about 90 mins, to now taking about 4 hours on Froyo.
bast525 said:
What about the charging SPEED? Myself and several others have noticed that Froyo ROMs charge at a much slower rate, plugged in to ac power, compared to 2.1 Rom. For me, it takes about twice as long to charge. Is this something that could also be addressed with a kernel fix? I literally went from being able to charge from ~10% to full in about 90 mins, to now taking about 4 hours on Froyo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 2.15 radio probably broke the phone's ability to differentiate between the wall-charger (fast) and normal USB (slow). The reason I say "radio" and not "kernel" is because it charges slowly when powered off as well. Hopefully the radio included in the upcoming OTA will fix this.
I had the slow charging problem on the 2.05 radio as well but doesn't change much about what's being said about a potential fix.
Anyone able to confirm that this (something in the radio) is the reason?
Hope the OTA comes soon so I can get back to recharging in a timely fashion.
Sent from my Dinc using XDA App
Qazme said:
Just a question.....but do you know what you are talking about??
Froyo seemed to solve the charging 'problem' for me, then again I never had a charging problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently you are one of the users that were lucky enough not to have this issue. This thread is not for you. Move on. And btw, Froyo did not fix this problem. Again, nothing for you to see here, move on.
For the rest of us who are interested in solving this issue we will continue to put ideas out there in the hope that a smart one figures this out. Until then, we will keep reading about how fortunate some people are and how some other unfortunate people are willing to work on this. Thanks OP.
the difference between bump charging and not never really affected me because the phone charged so damn fast, that just plugging it in for a few minutes helped out a ton. but now with froyo, it literally take 5 to 6 times longer to charge to 100%. its ridiculous
i got sick of letting my phone charge overnight then 10 min after i unplug it in the morning its down to 92%. and unless you charge it while the phone is off it rapidly drops all the way down to like 80% before it starts decreasing normally, at least for me. so i started turning it off and topping it off in the mornings for about 30-45 min before i would leave for work, doing this i noticed a HUGE difference in my battery life through out the day. that got to be a pain because sometimes i just don't have time to do that in the mornings, so i ended up buying an external charger and an extra battery. this way charge the extra battery overnight on the external charger, pop the fresh battery in the phone in the morning and i'm ready to go. but all this could be avoided if the phone would charge the battery as good as the $2 wall charger, so if you could find a fix for this battery problem it would be awesome.
I had slow charging with 2.05 and 2.15 radios, unfortunately...
Did any of you that are having this issue root and install froyo immediately after buying the phone? a friend of mine is having a similar issue. Have you tried battery recalibration? Also I would recommend checking your up time and awake times in battery info and see if there's something keeping your phone awake while charging . One last thing, try installing battery save mode toggle from market.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
I've been messing with the slow charge issue all night tonight, and as far as I can tell, it is not the 2.xx radio, and it must be the .32 kernel.
Slow charging started for me when I installed the first 2.2 leak which had the 2.05 radio, and remained on the the 2nd 2.2 leak and 2.15 radio. Before that I had the 2.05 radio on 2.1 and charging was normal, tonight I rolled back to complete stock 2.1/1.0 radio and charging was normal again, I kept the 1.0 radio and installed a 2.2 rom, charging slowed again, changed to 2.15 radio, still slow, so I installed the old CM6 test 8 rom which was used the old kernel with the broken camera, and sure enough, charging was fast again.
I'd really love to figure this out, if any of you get on IRC and want to discuss this, /msg digi
earthtodigi said:
I've been messing with the slow charge issue all night tonight, and as far as I can tell, it is not the 2.xx radio, and it must be the .32 kernel.
Slow charging started for me when I installed the first 2.2 leak which had the 2.05 radio, and remained on the the 2nd 2.2 leak and 2.15 radio. Before that I had the 2.05 radio on 2.1 and charging was normal, tonight I rolled back to complete stock 2.1/1.0 radio and charging was normal again, I kept the 1.0 radio and installed a 2.2 rom, charging slowed again, changed to 2.15 radio, still slow, so I installed the old CM6 test 8 rom which was used the old kernel with the broken camera, and sure enough, charging was fast again.
I'd really love to figure this out, if any of you get on IRC and want to discuss this, /msg digi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great work. on testing at least...
Is there anyone out there who can help fix this? I hate these slow charge times.
I thought the issue was that the phone starts running off battery one its at 100%, not that it can't charge the last 10%...am I misunderstanding that?
I've tested this by taking it off the charger as soon as the light turns green...seems I get much better battery life this way.
This doesn't quite explain why some of us have had no problems at all either. Maybe an issue with newer devices but personally my device has been up for over 31 hours since charge and haven't noticed this issue but a friend of mine has complained of it, and he recently bought his device. Tomorrow after I charge my device I'll post with findings after charging.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
trunksta said:
This doesn't quite explain why some of us have had no problems at all either. Maybe an issue with newer devices but personally my device has been up for over 31 hours since charge and haven't noticed this issue but a friend of mine has complained of it, and he recently bought his device. Tomorrow after I charge my device I'll post with findings after charging.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this has to do with 2.2 and new kernels. not stock 2.1.
trunksta said:
This doesn't quite explain why some of us have had no problems at all either. Maybe an issue with newer devices but personally my device has been up for over 31 hours since charge and haven't noticed this issue but a friend of mine has complained of it, and he recently bought his device. Tomorrow after I charge my device I'll post with findings after charging.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pre-ordered my phone and I have the charging issue as well so it can't be new phones vs old phones. I hope it gets figured out soon.

[Q] Battery health

Hi, I would like to know the best way to measure my battery health. For about a month my battery starts to drain fast. I know my phone is already old and battery don't handle the same charge, but I have recharged the phone all night long and in ten minutes using wifi to just update some apps the battery just gone.
It is just ridiculous as I don't use any different configuration.
To be more specific, my phone configurations are:
- Cyanogenmod 7.2 by vo-1 (31/06/2012) deodexed by me;
- Firekernel Unnoficial OC (22/07/2012), CPU governor: smartassv2, max 787, min 245;
- Adrenaline Engine 4.2b;
One more thing. I was facing the same problem with blackhawk kernel.
I just think a battery can't die a sudden.
Could anyone help me with this?
Floydroider said:
Hi, I would like to know the best way to measure my battery health. For about a month my battery starts to drain fast. I know my phone is already old and battery don't handle the same charge, but I have recharged the phone all night long and in ten minutes using wifi to just update some apps the battery just gone.
It is just ridiculous as I don't use any different configuration.
To be more specific, my phone configurations are:
- Cyanogenmod 7.2 by vo-1 (31/06/2012) deodexed by me;
- Firekernel Unnoficial OC (22/07/2012), CPU governor: smartassv2, max 787, min 245;
- Adrenaline Engine 4.2b;
One more thing. I was facing the same problem with blackhawk kernel.
I just think a battery can't die a sudden.
Could anyone help me with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a few things that can be causing this, but the first thing that you can try is to wipe your battery stats using "BatteryCalibration" app. After flashing a few things, it's best to do this. I had the same thing happen after flashing my third ROM or so.
After that, it basically comes down to the apps and widgets that you have running. Shut them off with a task manager so they don't end up draining your battery, but it might not be that either....
The only other thing that I can think of is that I heard in another thread (I really wish that I could find it again ) that the ace has a motherboard fault that causes it to drain faster than usual.
Other than that, all I can say is that the Ace generally has poor battery life, and it really does suck, but I don't really know how much more you can do. You could try flashing a stock-light ROM and see if it does the same thing (wipe battery stats too). But I would say is that you should try wiping the stats and see if anything changes.... Other than that.... I`m out. Hopefully it helps, and if it doesn`t, you might need to take it in (Service Center or wherever you bought the phone).
Maybe try searching in other threads (as it is a common problem) but besides that, goodluck :fingers-crossed:
thatdude02 said:
There are a few things that can be causing this, but the first thing that you can try is to wipe your battery stats using "BatteryCalibration" app. After flashing a few things, it's best to do this. I had the same thing happen after flashing my third ROM or so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot to mention but I already did the calibration, using the app and manually to see if I could get different results.
I even tried to force a better charge, charging the phone off, waiting till 100%, unplugging and recharging, till the phone gets 100% again.
Ace's battery isn't good, but a month ago my phone was holding 12-14 hours without charge, using wifi a lot, that's why I think something is wrong.
Well, I'm flashing the original stock rom to see if get some change.
Thanks about the motherboard information, this is new for me :good:
Gonna see tomorrow if the battery holds better with the original stock ROM.
Thanks again!
Wiping the battery stats is a myth. All it does it clear the battery usage screen!
Android has a built in tool which can try to check the health of your battery.
Open the dialer
type *#*#4636#*#*
then go to battery information
Look at battery health.
Feedback
Just to give a feedback, my battery was really damaged. I bought a new one, stock because I didn't find other, and the phone now easily last a day, even using wifi a lot.
But that's not the only reason why I posting here again, I want to share how my old battery is. Comparing with new one, I realized that the old battery had stuffed something about 5 mm
If you pay attention, you'll see the small deformation.
Don't know yet what could have cause this, but I think it was heat and bad recharges...
Thanks for the help :good:
Floydroider said:
Just to give a feedback, my battery was really damaged. I bought a new one, stock because I didn't find other, and the phone now easily last a day, even using wifi a lot.
But that's not the only reason why I posting here again, I want to share how my old battery is. Comparing with new one, I realized that the old battery had stuffed something about 5 mm
If you pay attention, you'll see the small deformation.
Don't know yet what could have cause this, but I think it was heat and bad recharges...
Thanks for the help :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd recommend you to use SetCPU to prevent this on your new battery. Set up a profile with sound notification when it hits around 40degree, and underclock it at the same time.
I faced a similar problem. Battery was hardly six months old when it died but it was my fault. I was running a wi-fi tether and continuously charging it for about two days. :silly:
Got a new one under warranty. Been a year with the new battery and just recently facing problems with it. 3G just sucks the life out of it.
OK I just got 3g on my phone (yay for promotional 6gb plans!). But yeah, the 3g definitely kills my battery. I used to be able to go two or three days with very little use. Now I can only go one day even with standby with my 3g enabled. As long as I can put my phone on to charge before it dies, its all good to me
Finally with my 3g going, I understand everyone else's pain with the battery life haha
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium

Weird battery problems

I have had my international unlocked M7 for almost 2½ years now. For the past 6 months or so I have had weird battery problems.
When on the lower half of the percentage, i.e. below 50%, sometimes it drops incredibly fast, and the phone just dies. At times it goes from 30% to nothing for instance. When I add the charger it lists the battery as 2-5% or something.
Nothing gets hot, and I have tried to use the saver functionality. I don't think there are any apps that cause this, I have tried to keep an eye on it.
I have also tried GSAM, but it didn't tell me anything new - I can install it again and post some logs, if that would be helpful.
What I have done:
* Recently I went to a shop and had the battery replaced, since I assumed this was the problem (battery getting old), but it didn't changed anything. There is, of course, a remote chance that the shop screwed up and didn't replace the battery and screwed me - I have no way of telling...
* I have also recently rooted/unlocked/wiped all caches and installed a ROM from here (Eragon), but that didn't change anything either...
My only conclusion is that this must be a hardware problem - am I correct in assuming that?
Any help/tips are welcome!
Thanks!

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