Database Develop

Battery isn't charging?

So i messed up my phone...and it won't get past the motorola screen when you turn it on...i figured out how to fix it however my battery is too low to do it...so i plug it into the wall and again it just turns on to the motorola screen and thats it and it doesn't seem like its charging....does it not charge when its at this point?

jpen said:
So i messed up my phone...and it won't get past the motorola screen when you turn it on...i figured out how to fix it however my battery is too low to do it...so i plug it into the wall and again it just turns on to the motorola screen and thats it and it doesn't seem like its charging....does it not charge when its at this point?
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=892026
Your battery is too low to flash, but you can't charge because it can't get to the screen. Trust me, was there two nights ago.
Check that thread, find an old USB cable (I used a USB to USB A mini, worked fine). Took a couple times to strip it, lost about 4 inches in it because of it. Worked like a charm. The issue you'll find is you'll need to strip about 1/4 of an inch of cable (exposed wire). from there, you'll need some tape. Take it and follow (red to +, black ground to -). You'll fail about 6-7 times where one wire slips out. Then from there, jam that sucker into the back and try to get it so it'll rest right under the camera area. That should be enough force for them to connect and then you can get into fastboot since you'll have +5V direct flow.

jpen said:
So i messed up my phone...and it won't get past the motorola screen when you turn it on...i figured out how to fix it however my battery is too low to do it...so i plug it into the wall and again it just turns on to the motorola screen and thats it and it doesn't seem like its charging....does it not charge when its at this point?
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Click to collapse
Not sure about the bionic...but when i fked up my DroidX like this, it would charge when i left it off and plugged in. Don't even turn it on, leave it off and plug it in and wait a min to see what it does (my X came up with a battery screen). I left it for a lil bit to charge, then ran an sbf through it.

My understanding is you can apply more than the max the phone was designed for, 5V at 850mA, to the USB connection. I am just a little weary of what I apply directly to phone innards. There isn't really documentation on what the circuit can handle.
I have a connection I could use that pushes a bit more current.
What is the maximum current you can apply directly to the phone's battery connection terminals? Will 4.5V at 1.5A be okay? Do I have to find an old USB wire and run the standard old 5.1V at 500mA from my computer?
/*Edit: If the 1.5A is too much, and I ran that in series with the battery, (IE, stuffed the wires into the battery terminals, and jammed it into the phone) would that be okay? */

Wont Power On

I am looking at trading for a Bionic, however it has a problem. The guy I might trade says it wont turn on for him. If he plugs it into USB it will get a white LED, cant remember if he said it blinks or not.
I am quite familiar with modding phones as I have a Fascinate running 4.0. As such I have a lot of software. Any help or advice would be great. Thanks.

Anyone have any ideas.

jaed.43725 said:
Anyone have any ideas.
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Yeah its Superbricked(battery dead, AND Stuck on "Fastboot Flash Failure" or some other "Failure". All you need is a new battery and Follow These Steps to get to stock. There is another way to charge a battery.
1. Get a spare USB Cord.
2. Cut and strip the end down(the end you stick in the phone)
3. Strip it. Give it at least 2 inches.
4. There are 4 wires. Black, Red, Green and White. Ignore the Green and White and strip the plastic off the Red & Black until its just the wires.
5. On the back of the battery there is a "+" and a " - ". Black is negative. Red is positive.
6. Connect wires accordingly. Use the OUTSIDE slots not the middle.
7. connect USB Cord to computer or wall charger and let it charge.
I HAVE DONE THIS TO CHARGE MY BATTERY IT WORKS. I did fold the wires a little to make it stick(more like jam it in here) and used a fingernail to push it to those two sides in each slot(you'll see what I'm talking about when you look at the battery).
YouTube link.
PS: Don't leave it on there for an extened amount of time(the longest I had mine on was about an hour because you will need some juice to flash to a stock rom).

So my situation is a bit different. I have a Bionic completely stock, just performed a factory reset via the menu options on the phone. It was on and working with the set up screen. It was not active and therefore couldn't go past the setup screen.
Now, my 6 yr old nephew took the phone. Had it for a couple of days, took it to school but not important, when i got the phone back it would not turn on. I figured it was a dead battery. So i plugged it in an left it for a few hours while i was at work. When i got home, it would not turn on. When i plug the phone into a charger that I verified per another phone works nothing happens. When I take the battery out of the phone and plug into my computer the led light comes on and is solid. But phone will still not come on, i even try to hold down both volume buttons and the power button at the same time.
So is my device bricked as well? And how could this have happened? Do i have to purchase a brand new battery or can I use the charging trick on my current battery?
Thank you for the help in advance!

Hard bricked Motorola Atrix HD

Hi, as the title of this thread says, my mobile just died i dont know how but i cant do anything, i cant enter in recovery mode, i cant enter into fastboot mode, it wont recognize any command i put. The only thing it does, its that when i plug in the usb cable it turns on the green led and wants to start but when it gets to the "Warning: Bootloader unlocked" advice, it turns off again and starts again. I dont know if this can be fixed, i hope so. Thanks
PS: Sorry about my english XD

matiamb said:
Hi, as the title of this thread says, my mobile just died i dont know how but i cant do anything, i cant enter in recovery mode, i cant enter into fastboot mode, it wont recognize any command i put. The only thing it does, its that when i plug in the usb cable it turns on the green led and wants to start but when it gets to the "Warning: Bootloader unlocked" advice, it turns off again and starts again. I dont know if this can be fixed, i hope so. Thanks
PS: Sorry about my english XD
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Just a guess, but you might have a bad battery. To test that, you can either buy or make a Motorola Factory Cable (google it) or get a new battery. Factory Cables power the phone directly from USB, bypassing the battery -- meaning if it works with the Factory Cable, the problem is with the battery. If it doesn't work with the Factory Cable, you might be screwed and need an actual repair from Motorola.
Also, try powering on the phone holding down all the buttons. That's how you access the boot menu, if you can get to that menu, you should be able to access fastboot and recovery.
And don't charge it with a PC, use the wall plug charger or a car charger. The phone treats a PC connection differently than the rest, even if the phone is off and only being plugged in to be charged -- it'll force boot/power on with a PC USB connection when it's turned off (it does for me). See if it'll take a charge with the wall/car.
My Bravo acts like this when that battery is really, really low and I plug it into a PC to charge when it's low....it also did exactly what your post said a year ago and I had to replace the battery....don't by a cheapo generic battery, I did and I regret it very badly (it has already gone out and doesn't work...the generic battery).

skeevydude said:
Just a guess, but you might have a bad battery. To test that, you can either buy or make a Motorola Factory Cable (google it) or get a new battery. Factory Cables power the phone directly from USB, bypassing the battery -- meaning if it works with the Factory Cable, the problem is with the battery. If it doesn't work with the Factory Cable, you might be screwed and need an actual repair from Motorola.
Also, try powering on the phone holding down all the buttons. That's how you access the boot menu, if you can get to that menu, you should be able to access fastboot and recovery.
And don't charge it with a PC, use the wall plug charger or a car charger. The phone treats a PC connection differently than the rest, even if the phone is off and only being plugged in to be charged -- it'll force boot/power on with a PC USB connection when it's turned off (it does for me). See if it'll take a charge with the wall/car.
My Bravo acts like this when that battery is really, really low and I plug it into a PC to charge when it's low....it also did exactly what your post said a year ago and I had to replace the battery....don't by a cheapo generic battery, I did and I regret it very badly (it has already gone out and doesn't work...the generic battery).
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It might be the battery, because my mom dropped it into the water some weeks ago. I'll try factory cable now and see what happens. I tried holding down all the buttons but nothing happens. Just minutes ago I made it into fast boot mode, and now I'm scared of turn it off haha. I'll see what happens and let you know. Thank you for the reply!

matiamb said:
It might be the battery, because my mom dropped it into the water some weeks ago. I'll try factory cable now and see what happens. I tried holding down all the buttons but nothing happens. Just minutes ago I made it into fast boot mode, and now I'm scared of turn it off haha. I'll see what happens and let you know. Thank you for the reply!
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Just leave it in a wall charger for a few hours then. Sounds like you might get lucky.
My Dad has dropped his in the toilet twice now (seriously, twice...figured he'd learn the first time) and on the second time, it had to be powered off, wrapped in a paper towel, and left in rice for 24 hours before it worked again (6 hours on his bed the first time). Rice draws out the moisture and is a cheap easy way to dry the internals of a phone if its soaked....just telling ya for future reference.
Mines been wet, but never soaked. These phones aren't hard at all to take apart and put back together (I repaired my Dad's cracked digitizer a few days ago in under a half hour...never taken one apart before then...the 22 #5 torx that are removed are damn annoying), so you could take it apart, blow dry it (warning: don't say on any one area for more than 5 seconds, you'll risk both unsticking the glue that holds the screen on as well as warping the motherboard), and use some PC cleaner or isopropyl alcohol (99% alcohol) and clean the board up being careful to not get alcohol on the screens -- (warning: alcohol can weaken certain plastics, but it's perfectly fine as a cleaning agent for a silicon based motherboard...alcohol also dries and removes trace amounts of moisture and can clean oxidation spots.
I can see oxidation on the battery terminals making the phone act like this. IRL, I install custom, solar powered, automatic iron gates, and the #1 repair I have to do is cleaning battery terminals. 30 seconds, a terminal post cleaner tool (glorified wire brush), and some WD-40 (acts as a sealant/water repellent) can make a non-functional gate into a working gate. Bad power flow is hell on electronics.
Just look at the EB40 mod guide. It has the exact same steps you'll need to do if you want to attempt cleaning the terminals, well, except for that step where you put in a better battery.

How to flash with a low battery

My 'charger' I'm using is nothing more than cutting the end off of a usb cable, stripping the red and black wires bare, and twisting them so the strands are tightly twisted. Then I carefully stick the red into the positive pin slot of the battery and the black into the negative. I then insert the battery into the phone and snap the cover on. Plugging the usb into a charger makes the phone think it's fully charged so I can flash.
I just wanted to put this here in case anyone has a low battery and needs to flash. If anyone needs more info/help let me know.

There is a special cable you can get with special wiring, often referred to as a Motorola factory cable, that can power the phone through the regular charging port instead of using it to charge, and that can also be used for basically the same purpose as what you did. There are multiple places online to buy these. It is another option for those who don't want to modify cables themselves.

I should get one of those as we've still got this Bionic and a MotoX in the house.

I was considering posting some warning about that cable, but found this page I'd previously read with various precautions and warnings and other info, I think written by the person who released the schematic for the cable: http://www.shop.teamblackhat.info/Factory-style-programming-cable-for-Motorola-FactCable.htm
There may be more phones it works with than those listed, but personally I'd only use it with ones people somewhere have reported that it works with.

[Q] Mighty AtrixHD/MB886 killed by digitizer & battery replacement?

Hey all,
Before I even start here, please no snide replies about using the search box on here or anywhere... if the answer is out there, I'm at a loss for the keywords to get it. Fair enough? As FYI, bootloader is (was??) unlocked, rooted, and has cwm recovery.
So I dropped my MB886 cracking the screen (round of applause please) and in the process of disassembling the case to install replacement I tore (severed) the battery connection cable. Fast forward to phone now reassembled with new screen and battery installed --> -->
The phone now has a green LED that will respond with blinks to button certain presses i.e. the simulated battery pull, but the device doesn't show up in lsusb output or device manager. I've read of similar problems where the phone has been brought back, and I've read of the exact problem with no solution. Basically the only two things I've really read that supposedly work are battery pull button sequence and using OEM charger/cable to get battery to take a charge.
Unlike, say the Atrix 2 where the lonely white LED is there to serve as a reminder that it is a hard brick and that's all you're ever going to get from it again, I haven't even read that this is in fact the #1 sign device is now a brick. So could someone verify it is or isn't? I've never tried to access a device this way, but Is JTAG an option?
I don't get why this should be, despite battery issue, it's all simple hardware swapping involved here as the software wasn't touched and was 100% working even with cracked screen.
Thanks for anyone with an answer or the direction to one.

2 things it could be then: you over- or under-tightened the new battery cable screws to where there isn't a good connection with the board. The screws have to provide equal pressure on the positive or negative contacts or otherwise there's a fault in the circuit.
OR
Your new LCD/digitizer is defective OR wasn't seated well.
Since it was working before, and since you didn't break anything else (to your knowledge), those are the two things I would check.

Dr. Orange said:
2 things it could be then: you over- or under-tightened the new battery cable screws to where there isn't a good connection with the board. The screws have to provide equal pressure on the positive or negative contacts or otherwise there's a fault in the circuit.
OR
Your new LCD/digitizer is defective OR wasn't seated well.
Since it was working before, and since you didn't break anything else (to your knowledge), those are the two things I would check.
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hey, thanks for the input. I remember battery connections being snugged when I originally took it apart, and to be honest, short of having a mini torque wrench I don't know I could put them back any closer to that. the digitizer could certainly be either defective or perhaps have a bad connection, and i am certainly willing to test/check for either, however do you know that this would prevent the phone from booting or cause it to only display the green led as a sign of life? something of the "halt on all errors" in pc bios? seems logical that the led would (or could've) been used like the oc speaker and blink out some code relaying you've got a bad O2 sensor or the gas cap isn't tight.

Over tightening can cause problems. So loosen them a bit if it's just-short-of torque wrench tight. I don't know why it does, but I've read people had problems when they over tightened those screws. That green light could be telling you that the battery is connected poorly.

Is there a possibility that the battery is so depleted that it won't charge? For that, you need a factory cable to charge the battery with power off.

Sorry, to clarify, no I just snugged the battery connections when reassembling, I only meant that i don't think i could get them any closer to the way they were originally without aid of something like a torque wrench.
As for battery charge as a potential issue... to be fair, I only have a OEM Moto wall charger and I think the cable I am using is Samsung. Surely the cable itself isn't the weak link in this chain? A car battery on a multimeter reading 12.0 volts is something like 50% charged and about 12.8 volts is looking pretty good, anyone know what I should get out of the 3.8V Li-Ion on a meter?
PS I double checked the both data cable connections to the motherboard, so I doubt just a bad connection is to blame here.

slerros-1.0 said:
Sorry, to clarify, no I just snugged the battery connections when reassembling, I only meant that i don't think i could get them any closer to the way they were originally without aid of something like a torque wrench.
As for battery charge as a potential issue... to be fair, I only have a OEM Moto wall charger and I think the cable I am using is Samsung. Surely the cable itself isn't the weak link in this chain? A car battery on a multimeter reading 12.0 volts is something like 50% charged and about 12.8 volts is looking pretty good, anyone know what I should get out of the 3.8V Li-Ion on a meter?
PS I double checked the both data cable connections to the motherboard, so I doubt just a bad connection is to blame here.
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Click to collapse
You should get from 3.8 to 4.1.

slerros-1.0 said:
As for battery charge as a potential issue... to be fair, I only have a OEM Moto wall charger and I think the cable I am using is Samsung. Surely the cable itself isn't the weak link in this chain?
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Click to collapse
When I say "factory" cable, I'm not talking about the cable that came with the phone. There is a special Motorola cable (that you can even make yourself) that can charge your phone in situations when your phone is normally not willing to accept a charge.
If all else fails, try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1077414

Yes! This is brilliant and certainly answers a few questions. It'll take me a bit to get this together to try it, but I'll post back when I get a result. Cheers!

slerros-1.0 said:
Yes! This is brilliant and certainly answers a few questions. It'll take me a bit to get this together to try it, but I'll post back when I get a result. Cheers!
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Scratch my previous answer. Seems I misunderstood what a "factory cable" is for. It can't actually charge your battery, instead it is used to power the phone so that you can flash/diagnose it, even when your battery is dead. Normally, you need a working phone to charge the battery (with the stock "charging cable").
This information may or may not help you. At the very least, using a "factory cable" may allow you to power your phone on, which would tell you whether the problem is your battery or the phone.

quasihellfish said:
Scratch my previous answer. Seems I misunderstood what a "factory cable" is for. It can't actually charge your battery, instead it is used to power the phone so that you can flash/diagnose it, even when your battery is dead. Normally, you need a working phone to charge the battery (with the stock "charging cable").
This information may or may not help you. At the very least, using a "factory cable" may allow you to power your phone on, which would tell you whether the problem is your battery or the phone.
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well, i'll take it regardless... i've acquired one of these mythical factory cables and it gets me into fastboot and recovery, so i'd wager, even though i haven't seen it, that it would boot all the way. so being that i don't have either the original charger (although have one that's motorola) or cable (samsung), my best bet is probably just find a store that has both an OEM motorola charger and cable even if they're not for the MB886? surely one for a moto x would work to charge battery, no?
or is this like a chicken and egg problem i now have? a catch 22? i can't charge the battery without a working phone, and i can't have a working phone without a charged battery? golly gee, anybody out there with an MB886 want to charge my battery for me? can i just hotwire the battery to a couple of leads from a charger and bypass using the phone as the charging device? at least to give the battery say 15%-20% to get something to happen... like get this rain cloud perpetually parked above me to blow over from above my head for a day or two maybe?
so, with phone plugged in with "factory cable" here's what i get and when... the phone bootloops on the "bootloader unlocked" warning screen if i don't press anything. volume down gets me fastboot, volume up gets me recovery. phone shows up in both and takes commands... so is it possible i just need to restore a nandroid backup, or is the battery charge the better bet now? i would just try the nandroid for $h!ts and giggles, but the last one i have isn't as fresh as i'd like, but is certainly usable if i must.

slerros-1.0 said:
well, i'll take it regardless... i've acquired one of these mythical factory cables and it gets me into fastboot and recovery, so i'd wager, even though i haven't seen it, that it would boot all the way. so being that i don't have either the original charger (although have one that's motorola) or cable (samsung), my best bet is probably just find a store that has both an OEM motorola charger and cable even if they're not for the MB886? surely one for a moto x would work to charge battery, no?
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Any generic USB charging cable SHOULD be good enough to charge and flash your phone, especially a Motorola cable. I'm currently using an old Blackberry cable for everything. They should be all the same. In rare instances, a cheap cable may give you issues (I think I had a cable from an old Samsung phone that I couldn't get to work right).
I guess just keep trying until you find one that works. Hate to tell you to go spend $20+ on an official Motorola charger...
Regarding your battery, yes you may be in a bit of a pickle. I've never had to do it, but I've read of users who had to short some leads in order to directly charge the battery. Trying searching through the forums, I'm sure the info is here.
---------- Post added at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------
slerros-1.0 said:
or is this like a chicken and egg problem i now have? a catch 22? i can't charge the battery without a working phone, and i can't have a working phone without a charged battery? golly gee, anybody out there with an MB886 want to charge my battery for me? can i just hotwire the battery to a couple of leads from a charger and bypass using the phone as the charging device? at least to give the battery say 15%-20% to get something to happen... like get this rain cloud perpetually parked above me to blow over from above my head for a day or two maybe?
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Try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=892026

All hope is lost, I am now looking for a replacement.
Ok, so here's where I am at with this now... As we're basically talking about any regulated power supply that can put out an excess of (around) 3.8V and 800mA I've opted to use an old ATX computer power supply and wired the mini B USB end of a cable known to have in fact to have charged this very phone... nothing. I have also, for sake of hope, even tried using the wall wort from an iPad (which puts out a cool 5.1V and up to 2.1A). The green LED will shut off after a while of being plugged into said charger, but still no booty action.
As stated before, the phone still works with the factory cable.
So, I gather from this that...
A. some hardware component (i.e. resistor, etc...) on my phones board that is involved in the charging process has gone kaput.
or
B. There is some software flag flipped somewhere that could be unflipped with or without some trickery to what actually is VS what I want the phone to think it's seeing.
Anyone have any thoughts on this or something similar pertaining to B as a course of action?
*update to my update* ... umm, which should now be up to date??
I did a complete wipe of the phone (/system, /data, /data/media, /cache, and /dalvik-cache) and reinstalled the rom... and still nothing.