Database Users

Repair.zip

Reading the forum I came across people referring to "repair.zip". Apparently it was helpful in recovering from "GSM- ERROR"
Where can I download this zip from?
Any hints would be appreciated.

If you are still looking for it I have uploaded it here http://www.gsm-info.co.uk/public/

Lonegunma
I could not fix my XDA and was getting anywhere so eventually I had it repaired.
However this may be helpful next time and others may find this useful now.
Thanks a lot

No worries.

What are the symptom?
lonegunman said:
If you are still looking for it I have uploaded it here http://www.gsm-info.co.uk/public/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds like it might be useful given the problems I am having with my phone, but before I try it, what problem exactly does this repair.zip solve?
My problem has to do with extreme system-wide slowdown, a soft-reset that takes 20 minutes, and the dreaded "GSM Error" at the Wallaby bootloader screen.
Thanks,
-Jason-

The problem with the GSM error is a nightmare, the GSM side of the XDA etc etc has from what I can see all the battery controls as well, so if the gsm side is F**ked then you have no way of charging the battery which means unless you have something like 70% charge in the battery no matter what you try it will not go past the 1% error part, so unless this has just happened on your phone you are stuffed might as well send the unit to service center to get repaired, at the moment I have 2 units with gsm error and can't do a thing with them, I'm trying to get hold of a good battery to see if I can sort them out or find a way of charging the battery off the XDA.

I'm glad I came here, I have the same problem, and last night, I had that 1% error, and the hint from lonegunman is very helpful, I have a Cadex c7400 battery analyzer, I don't think there will be a problem with charging the battery.
In general, you will have first to disassemble your ppc, (four screws in the back, then slowly apart the two sides of the cover with a strong thin knife like plastic tool) look at the battery, in my qtec, it is the far left and right terminals that are for charging, but as I didn't test this yet, so it is very much possible that you will need to connect the ( - ) terminal to one of the in middle terminals to close the circuit and to be able to charge (I will test and post back).
You can use a normal 500 - 1000 mah / 5 V charger, depending on your battery capacity, you can determine for how long you need to charge it, If your battery is 1500 mah, then it will charge in about one and half hours using a 1000 amh charger, if this is the case, I advice that you don't charge it for more than one hour and 15 mins, lithium/ lithium polymer batteries are very vulnerable for over charge, and for over heat, if the battery gets too hot to be touched, stop charging immediately (temp must not exceed 60 c). If you find out that the charge is not enough, add 15 mins at the time. Lithium batteries does not suffer from what is known as memory effect and can be charged when at any level of charge (you can charge it when not full, almost full ... but this will affect the life count of the battery). This also may be useful for any one who has a spare battery that is not in use, lithium batteries must never be stored empty. Also please not that life span of a lithium battery is around three years when used properly.
Now I have a question, is it normal with GSM error that I can't connect my ppc to the computer via the USB and activesync? because this is what I have, I can only use sd card but not the USB connection.

OK, now after I tested it, you can charge your battery by connectong the charger to the far left and right terminals of the battery, in qtec 1010, they are the bigger terminals. It is preferable to use a charger made for charging lithum batteries.

Andida long lasting battery 1600mAh

Hi i get this battery from my friend.its made for htc hd 2 but when i put the battery into my phone the phone keeps rebooting itself.i can see the energy logo at the beginning and the screen goes off and starting again.i was trying to recharge the battery in the dock station but seems not working
Any ideas?
Thanks

If the battery has been laying around for quite some time, it should now be completely empty, close to 0V, a state those batteries should never be allowed to reach. This can easily cause what you are describing.
The best thing to try in order to revive it is probably just charging it externally, either in some special commercial product intended to do just that, or using a lab power supply (set the voltage to 4.2V, set the current limiter to about 700mA connect the battery, when the voltage finally climbs back to those 4.2V, disconnect it).
Anyway, if doing what i've described isn't an option, try just keeping the phone connected to it's charger, with that battery in, for 15..20 minutes, it may eventually be able to charge it enough to get out of this state.

Important, u8800 overcharges?

For example if i leave all night charging, does it damage the battery? Some batteries after fullycharged, they wont charge anymore. What about u8800?
And what happens if i charge while phone is open and not fully empty? Does it damage?
My charge lasts 16 hours, why is it? I dont use wifi, games, etc. Please help

All ROMs should stop the charging process when reached 100% (the icon changes, on the stock ROM the flash disappears of the icon), therefore I believe that the battery cannot be damaged by leaving the phone plugged in the whole night.
I'm sure that it doesn't matter when you recharge the phone, if it's 10% or 50% it makes no difference to the charging process or the battery. It use to matter on the Li-Nch batteries, but those are long gone...
The fact that the battery only lasts 16 hours, it's an unrelated problem, that I've been struggling with for months now...It's one of the system/hardware components that hangs and doesn't allow the phone to go to sleep...therefore, the battery lasts up to 24h.
Look at this thread, so many users are affected by this...probably most of them and only the recent kernels (.void/Miui) have measures against this problem.http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1043760

I did not make any rom differences or overclock. Still stops the charging?
Sometimes i charge from pc via usb, can it damage?
It goes 16 hours without wifi or blueetooth or 3g. I dont use too much but goes for 16 hours.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1043760
Here, it is about sleeping mode. My phone goes black screen after 15 seconds idle. What is sleeping mode?

Cursed Chico said:
I did not make any rom differences or overclock. Still stops the charging?
Sometimes i charge from pc via usb, can it damage?
It goes 16 hours without wifi or blueetooth or 3g. I dont use too much but goes for 16 hours.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1043760
Here, it is about sleeping mode. My phone goes black screen after 15 seconds idle. What is sleeping mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Charging from USB is somewhat preferable to wall charger, due to it charging slower, therefore generating less heat. Although, a wall charger won't do any harm. When the screen is off and the phone is not doing anything, the CPU is suppose to go into a deep sleep state, yet with this phone it does not.

wall charging should be preferable in my experience

Ok, let me clarify a few things here.
The battery recharging process is simple, when the battery reaches 2.2V, then the current inside is not enough to sustain the hardware and it's considered empty. Any standard phone charger, will pump current until the voltage is 4.3 and then the so called "negative delta v" signal is being sent and the charger stops pumping.
USB is a BUS designed to carry data, but to be able to carry data it needs to provide a power supply to the connected device. Therefore, any USB should be able to deliver 5V and 500mA to any device connected.
As this phone's battery, according to the wall charger specification, takes up to 1Amp, the simple math tells us that the wall charger will charge the battery twice as fast. Since I've been dealing with batteries, I can tell you that in this case USB charger is a much better choice to recharge this battery, as it delivers only 500mA. The less current going through the electrodes, the lower the chance of damaging the battery due to high temperature.
For more info:
http://www.mpoweruk.com/chargers.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_charger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery
According to Wikipedia:
"Most modern cell phones, laptops, and most electric vehicles use Lithium-ion batteries. These batteries last longest if the battery is frequently charged; fully discharging them will degrade their capacity relatively quickly.[23] When storing however, lithium batteries degrade more while fully charged than if they are only 40% charged. Degradation also occurs faster at higher temperatures. Degradation in lithium-ion batteries is caused by an increased internal battery resistance due to cell oxidation. This decreases the efficiency of the battery, resulting in less net current available to be drawn from the battery."

These batteries last longest if the battery is frequently charged; fully discharging them will degrade their capacity relatively quickly.
So we must usually charge from usb and must stop before reaching %100 charge, maybe %98?
But when connect to pc, there is an icon shown, before disconnecting we need to click "disconnect secure" icon on system tray, if i dont do, it damages the system of phone?

Cursed Chico said:
But when connect to pc, there is an icon shown, before disconnecting we need to click "disconnect secure" icon on system tray, if i dont do, it damages the system of phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a very small chance on XP, dunno about vista, no harm on win7.

So we should usually charge from usb and must stop before reaching %100 charge, maybe %98?

It is more safe since there is half of the current that passes compered to Charging with the AC adapter. But it theoretically takes almost double time.

Cursed Chico said:
So we should usually charge from usb and must stop before reaching %100 charge, maybe %98?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's correct. But, I wouldn't worry about stopping before 100%. I know for sure that the stock ROMs are stopping the charging process when reached 100%.

Cursed Chico said:
But when connect to pc, there is an icon shown, before disconnecting we need to click "disconnect secure" icon on system tray, if i dont do, it damages the system of phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.You're not going to damage anything by disconnecting the cable directly. That "safe disconnect" is only for data transfer, nothing to do with charging.

Because of the exploding nature of li-ion cells when misused, the battery itself has a protection circuit to prevent overcharge and discharge. So whatever how much the rom wants to charge, the battery will protect itself...

Exactly; the ROM does not have any influence on the charging process - that is why your phone can charge the battery even though it is turned off. The whole process is completely independent from the software your phone is running.
In 2011 it is very hard to damage a battery, it will most likely die from old age. There is just one thing that is not the best thing to do: Trying to switch on the phone when the battery is empty already. If the voltage of the battery drops below a certain point, the battery might be damaged and thus have less capacity afterwards.
To be on the safe side I always turn off the phone a few minutes before the battery is completely empty.

I agree that there is a separate circuit that does the charging, so no matter if the phone is on or off, battery would still charge. But, I believe that the Rom can interfere with the charging process, that's why on some Roms you get the flashing buttons when phone is fully charged or sometimes you can't unlock the phone from the first attempt, when battery is full.
In reality, i believe that charging process has 2 control points, the default (when phone is switched on) and the "failsafe" one that charges the phone when voltage has dropped below a certain value (which has to be is different in terms of current values, as there is no power consumption).

[Q] N7 discharging when plugged in

Lately – I’m not sure when this stated, my Nexus 7 (running 4.4.2) has been charging absurdly slow. I’m talking 20%-30% in a span of 24 hours. It’s like it’s hooked up to a trickle-charge. I’ve tried 2 different OEM cables and 2 different OEM chargers (I had the one that came with it, and I ordered an official Asus OEM replacement charger with cable as well, to have as a spare).
I downloaded Battery Monitor Widget and while it sees it as plugged in via AC, the charge rate is -9ma (in other words, while plugged in, running nothing but the battery monitor, instead of actually charging, it simply reduced the discharge rate from negative 718ma to negative 9ma).
The only thing I can think of is this: as I understand it, USB AC adapters capable of “fast charge” (2ma) first test the device to see if it’s compatible, to avoid potentially over-charging the unit. Perhaps my device is not properly responding to this test? Perhaps that’s why it’s not providing enough juice?
Or maybe someone else has some better insight and can educate me. I’m certainly open to learning. Any ideas?

WraithTDK said:
The only thing I can think of is this: as I understand it, USB AC adapters capable of “fast charge” (2ma) first test the device to see if it’s compatible, to avoid potentially over-charging the unit. Perhaps my device is not properly responding to this test? Perhaps that’s why it’s not providing enough juice?
Or maybe someone else has some better insight and can educate me. I’m certainly open to learning. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[apologies in advance for a long-winded reply; hopefully some of it will be useful to you]
The OEM charger should be capable of 2 A (not 2mA).
Dumb chargers don't "talk" to the tablet. (Well, except for Apple USB dumb chargers - Apple violates the USB spec with their proprietary hardware, and that raises the meaning of "dumb" to a whole new level).
The tablet tries to draw what it wants, and if the wall charger is capable of supplying that current, everything will be fine - meaning, that the output voltage of the charger will be stable (near to 5V). If the tablet tries to draw more current from a charger than the charger is designed for, what usually happens is that the output voltage of the charger will start to droop down. (Sometimes, even worse things can happen, such as the voltage coming from the charger will start to oscillate.) This will have the effect that the voltage drops down to the point where it is barely larger than the voltage from the battery, and so the current flowing out of the charger gets limited that way.
But you shouldn't have this problem as you have at least two OEM chargers, and more than one cable, suggesting that your difficulty is with the tablet somehow.
I note (from your post) that you can observe the actual charging current; this suggests that you have a custom kernel on your tablet, as the stock kernel doesn't have the BQ27541 patches which allow current monitoring (only battery voltage and percent charge).
Here's the reason why I mention this. (Oh boy, get yourself a beverage, this is a long story).
I was going to be making some long drives (>13 hr) and I wanted my N7 in the vehicle, WiFi tethered and active (Google Nav and so forth) As you have observed, when you have the tablet running and are poking away at the screen, it can draw anywhere from 300 mA to more than 1000 mA, depending on how many cores are alive, which CPU frequency is in use, the screen brightness, streaming activity, etc.
And unfortunately...I was in a hurry: I couldn't wait for a car charger to be delivered following an online purchase. And all the local electronics stores seem to only sell high-capacity car chargers that are "Apple Compatible", which is marketing speak for "violates the USB spec". The N7 expects compliant behavior from chargers.
So, I bought two of those "Apple Compatible" car chargers from different manufacturers, and also bought a micro-USB cable that I could hack. I opened up the cable, clipped the D+/D- wires, connecting them together on the "Nexus 7" end of the cable, and left them open on the charger side (open but insulated of course). This has the effect of preventing the N7 from thinking there is a data connection present - the Apple chargers twiddle those D+/D- lines a little bit, and that prevents the (USB spec-compliant) N7 from thinking there is a dumb charger on the other end of the cable.
I wanted to be sure that what I had was actually working correctly, and if either of those two car chargers really would provide enough current, so I installed a dev kernel that has the BQ27451 battery current monitor patches in it. I think several of the dev kernels have this; I used M-kernel.
OK, so far so good.
The next step was to crank both the min and max CPU clock limits way down (300 Mhz iirc), turn on the "performance" governor and turn the screen brightness all the way down. I may have even used Trickster Mod to set Max_Cores to only 1. This was done so that the tablet would draw a smallish and constant current. That way, when I plugged in the car charger, I would actually know what the total charger current was - the sum of the (absolute) values between the unplugged state (discharging) and plugged in (charging)** If you leave the CPU frequency controls in their normal state, the amount of current the tablet draws can jump all over the place depending on tablet activity, and then it would be hard to know the total current the charger is actually producing. (It is the SUM of the battery current displayed plus whatever the tablet is drawing).
When I did the above, my N7 (grouper, WiFi off) was drawing just under 300 mA of current from the battery in the unplugged condition.
Still with me? (it gets better, trust me).
So, what I observed was that, yes, one of the two chargers was better than the other; I could get get the monitored battery charging current up to 1400 mA with one, and maybe 1100 mA with the other. (That's total current from each charger of about 1.7A or 1.4A respectively after adding in the 300 mA the tablet is drawing)
Finally though, an explanation of why this is relevant to you:
When the tablet was plugged in to either charger, the current would not immediately jump up to the maximum value; instead, it would sometimes takes minutes or more for the current to jump up to that maximum value!
It would, however immediately jump up to about 800 mA total current right after plugging the charger. That's better than a 500 mA computer USB connection, but if the tablet is active, it's no guarantee that the tablet will gain any charge - as in your situation.
So why the delay? To be honest, I don't really know. In my panic to get ready for my travel, I only spent a little bit of time fooling with it - for a while I had a hypothesis that the kernel was doing *something* that made the current pop up to its full 1.7A value only after the tablet had left a deep sleep state. The good thing was that once the current stepped up to the full value, it would stay there despite the level of activity on the tablet.
[size=+1]The point is that the maximum charging current condition seems to be dependent on some condition(s) happening which is under control of the kernel - it is not just an "analog" behavior that happens as soon as you plug the charger in.[/size].
So I suppose it is possible that you simply have a configuration where the operating trajectory that your tablet passes through does not trigger the right conditions in the kernel to command the SMB chip (USB interface controller) to max the current out close to the 2A limit.
You might want to try an experiment where you:
- Observe the charging rate with the tablet completely turned off. Should be about 100% in 150 minutes (2.5 hrs) or about 6-7% every ten minutes. Note that because the battery is 4.235 A-h capacity, that works out to a charging current of at least (4.235 A-hr / 2.5 hr) = 1.7 A. (It is probably greater than that due to charging losses).
If your tablet charges at about this rate when it is off, then nothing is wrong with your charger, cable, battery, or SMB chip, and it points a finger at your kernel's code - and possibly other things like applications holding wakelocks which prevent the tablet from entering deep sleep.
I won't go so far as to claim that it is "coming out of deep sleep" that triggered the M-kernel to twiddle the SMB chip so it would draw 2A; in all my experimentation, I couldn't faithfully reproduce the behavior. The good news was that that it would eventually (within a few minutes, possibly due to the tablet sleeping) ramp completely up and then stay there.
Anyway, I hope this gives you some food for thought and maybe some experiments you can run to narrow down the problem.
- What kernel are you using?
- Does your tablet ever enter deep sleep? (I don't mean simply that the screen is off - it is a state where the hardware is placed in a low-power state where even the memory bus is no longer operating. A wakelock might prevent this from happening, but in any event you should be able to observe this in the kernel log - the clock values get wonky and you might see a message about "G" state)
- Does your tablet charge even a little bit when the screen is off?
** I sort of recall that that "Current Widget" app always displays a positive value for current, but changes the display color red/green depending on whether the tablet is discharging (red) or charging (green). Something to watch out for.
.

Kernel: It's rooted, but otherwise completely stock. Battery Monitor Widget doesn't seem to have an issue display the charging rate (and yes, I meant 2A, not 2ma).
Sleep mode: It should; I have one of those cases whose covers are supposed to put it in sleep mode. It DOES charge; but it does it at a snail's pace; a battery info app has it at 30% over the span of 24 hours with it never being touched during that time.
I turned it completely off 3 hours ago at 37% and I just turned it on to 76%
Unfortunately, Current Widget is not compatible with the N7.

WraithTDK said:
Kernel: It's rooted, but otherwise completely stock. Battery Monitor Widget doesn't seem to have an issue display the charging rate (and yes, I meant 2A, not 2ma).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It actually displays instantaneous current? Maybe I should restore a 4.4.2 ROM and see if the newer stock kernel has those BQ27541 patches.
WraithTDK said:
Sleep mode: It should; I have one of those cases whose covers are supposed to put it in sleep mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, "screen off" is not equal to "deep sleep". The tegra3 has multiple low-power modes, but the one I am thinking of is really low power - kind of like a "suspend" state for PCs. If there is an application holding a wakelock, the tablet will never enter deep sleep. (As I mentioned, the "deep sleep" mode is very near to the tablet being completely off - the lpRAM is still drawing a little bit of current (it is in self-refresh mode) ). When my N7 sleeps, it charges nearly at the same rate as when it is turned off. (But, see below; in light of that I don't think this is your problem)
WraithTDK said:
It DOES charge; but it does it at a snail's pace; a battery info app has it at 30% over the span of 24 hours with it never being touched during that time.
I turned it completely off 3 hours ago at 37% and I just turned it on to 76%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
39% in 3 hrs? Hmmm. If things were linear, that would be: 0.39*4.235 / 3 = 551 mA.
You are right, that isn't very good at all. Your tablet will discharge if you are using it even though it is plugged in.
Well - that "tablet off" charging test is pretty diagnostic - the kernel and OS are not even running, so they can't be altering anything. So maybe they can't be blamed for anything either.
But, that Summit Microsystems SMB347 chip is sitting there acting as the battery charger, even when the tablet is "off". Maybe it has something stateful in it (like a few non-volatile memory registers) that could have been altered by past activity on the tablet. Summit doesn't allow datasheet downloads without a NDA, so I don't know.
When the N7 is fully turned off, there is still something tiny running - otherwise, how would that "charging animation" get painted on the screen when you plug the tablet in when it is off? I don't know if that is something in the tegra3 miniloader or just a low-power personality of the bootloader; hard to know really. I guess I am speculating whether something in the bootloader could have "programmed" the SMB chip, but the only thing I remember seeing here (on XDA) is a toggle via a fastboot OEM command that causes the tablet to boot up as soon as power is applied - the guys who do car installs use that.
Well, I'm sort of out of ideas. It sounds like you have tried the obvious stuff already. Do you have any reason to believe the USB port has an intermittent connetion? Or maybe that the battery itself has an intermittent or resistive connection at its power connector?
cheers

Had a very similar problem on my s3 and the problem was the microusb port on the phone
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

WraithTDK said:
Lately – I’m not sure when this stated, my Nexus 7 (running 4.4.2) has been charging absurdly slow. I’m talking 20%-30% in a span of 24 hours. It’s like it’s hooked up to a trickle-charge. I’ve tried 2 different OEM cables and 2 different OEM chargers (I had the one that came with it, and I ordered an official Asus OEM replacement charger with cable as well, to have as a spare).
I downloaded Battery Monitor Widget and while it sees it as plugged in via AC, the charge rate is -9ma (in other words, while plugged in, running nothing but the battery monitor, instead of actually charging, it simply reduced the discharge rate from negative 718ma to negative 9ma).
The only thing I can think of is this: as I understand it, USB AC adapters capable of “fast charge” (2ma) first test the device to see if it’s compatible, to avoid potentially over-charging the unit. Perhaps my device is not properly responding to this test? Perhaps that’s why it’s not providing enough juice?
Or maybe someone else has some better insight and can educate me. I’m certainly open to learning. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might have an issue with your USB on your device. Mine was starting to charge slow but not quite to the degree as yours. I also found that my device would no longer communicate to any computer. If you have tried different cables & charger then you may have to RMA your device.

Asus Nexus 7 draining while plugged in to charge
My Nexus 7 was totally dead. Hit the power button and five blinks of a white LED. Plugged it in it went to 68% then next day it was 28% - 19% and on down. Before it got to zero I turned it off and took off the back. I noticed with the aid of a magnifying glass, that the soldered connections of the mini USB charging port were very possibly fractured. Having had experience at soldering, I added solder and reflowed the connections (about 4 or 5). I then plugged it in. For the first time since the beginning of this mystery I saw the battery icon actually indicating that it was charging. It was 100% within three hours. Haven't had a problem since.
I have been searching all over and found many ideas from - try another charger to - install another charging board. When you think about it, that connecter sees a lot of push and pull. If it is not soldered well and sturdy it's no wonder that it will fracture. I don't think there was enough solder on there to begin with.
If you do not know someone who can solder on a very small scale and want to brave this yourself, make sure you have a very small tip on the iron, not more than 700 degrees and some extra flux. You will most likely bridge a few connectors but keep brushing the tip of the iron away from the connections with flux added. You will get it eventually. Just don't burn the board. And clean it all with a brush and alcohol. Good luck.

Guide to fix the issue of phone not charging

If your battery isn't charging properly, don't immediately assume your phone charger or your battery is broken.
Based on personal experience, the problem and solution may be much simpler than you think.
If your phone or tablet isn't charging properly or at all, take a look at these 12 ways to fix a phone that won't charge.
Why a phone doesn't charge
The problem occurs in various degrees. Either your phone won't charge at all when it is plugged in, or it will only charge very slowly (sometimes barely faster than it is discharging). It’s a very common complaint, so here are a few solutions.
1. Do-It-Yourself USB port fix
The quickest, easiest, and often most successful solution, is to do a little DIY repair on your actual hardware. The problem is often that the metallic surfaces inside the USB port and the micro USB charger are not making good contact, either through a manufacturing defect or because of the continual plugging and unplugging of the charging cable.
All you need to do is shut down your device, remove the battery if possible and use something small, such as a toothpick, to 'lever up' the little tab inside the USB port on your Smartphone or tablet. Do so very carefully and gently, then reinsert your battery and plug it in again. Nine times out of 10 this is all that is required.
2. Remove lint, candy and dust
Do you keep your phone in the pocket of your jeans? If so, lint could be the culprit: we've lost track of the number of times the reason for unreliable USB charging turned out to be lint from the pocket of our Levis.
We've seen phones with charging ports choked with chocolate after they were chucked in a handbag alongside a packet of sweets. A can of compressed air can blow out the offending irritants and get your USB connection back to normal.
3. Switch cables
The flimsiest part of a charger is the cable, not the adapter that plugs into the wall socket. Apple users are particularly vulnerable here because Apple's proprietary (and expensive) Lightning cables appear to have a life expectancy of around 15 minutes. But all cables have a tough life, and endless flexing and curling can take its toll. Substituting a random USB cable for the one that came with your phone is another shortcut to an unenjoyable charging experience.
The easiest way to diagnose a faulty cable is to try a different one and see if that works properly with your device. If it does, you know the original cable was at fault. If it doesn't, that's another potential villain we've ruled out.
4. Diagnose a dodgy adapter
If the cable doesn't seem to be the problem, check the wall plug adapter – especially if it's one where the charging cable can be removed. We've encountered issues in multiple chargers where the USB port becomes a little loose after endlessly plugging in and unplugging the cable.
Also check whether the same charger/cable combination works on a different device because this will help you eliminate the possibility that it is your device at fault, rather than the cable or charger. You should also make sure there isn't a problem with your wall socket.
5. Remember – safety first
Don't charge your phone near water or in excessively hot or humid conditions. Also, if you're replacing a charger or cable, be wary: the internet is stuffed with reports of cheap third-party chargers that went bang in the middle of the night or turned smart phones into toast. As with any electrical equipment, make sure that anything you buy complies with all the relevant safety standards.
To give you an idea of how much energy is stored in your battery, check this video out (but don't try it at home).
A previous version of this article warned users of charging devices overnight, but I want to clarify that this is not because you can overcharge your device. Modern smartphones have measures in place to prevent damage when batteries continue to be charged at 100 percent capacity.
That said, charging a battery does generate heat and, if a smartphone is in a tight space – like under a pillow or inside a case – there is a chance it could become too hot. Essentially, if you're going to charge your phone overnight, just make sure it's out in a safe place.
6. Replace the battery
Batteries don't last forever, and after a couple of years they start to struggle to hold a charge. The more often you discharge and recharge them, the sooner they'll need replacing. If your battery's busted after just six months, it's probably faulty and you should make a warranty claim for a free replacement, but if the battery's older than two years, it's probably approaching the end of its lifespan.
Some defective batteries are easy to spot because they start to bulge or leak fluid. If nothing like that is obvious from the outside, remove your device's cover and inspect the battery (if you can; some devices have sealed battery compartments).
If the cover doesn't come off, you could try laying the device on its back and spinning it. A bulging battery will deform the case – you might not be able to see this bulge, but it might be enough to allow your phone to spin. If you suspect your battery might be swollen or leaking, get your phone to a repair shop and buy a reputable replacement.
7. Charge from the right source
Charging from a wall socket will always be faster than charging via PC or laptop, because computers' USB ports don't deliver very much power. A wall socket can deliver twice as much power as a USB port, and fast chargers it can deliver as much as five times the power – which means much, much faster charging. So if your phone is charging slowly and you're connected to a laptop: there's your problem.
If your wall charger doesn't appear to be delivering the goods, check that it's appropriate for your device. A charger from another phone might not deliver the right amount of juice — for example, a charger for a Bluetooth headset won't put out as much power as one designed specifically for smart phones. In the case of recent high-end phones, you might have a phone that supports fast charging but a charger that doesn't deliver it. Read the fine-print.
8. Update or roll back
Software updates and new Android versions can wreak havoc with your battery life, especially when upgrading an old device to current software. Newer devices are often optimized to take advantage of the latest software, whereas a two-year-old device can struggle when it gets updated.
If this happens to you and you can't troubleshoot the problem, consider rolling the device back to an earlier Android version; though be warned that this carries security risks. The latest software versions are always recommended to keep your device protected, and while the risk of keeping your smartphone on an older version is often negligible, it’s worth noting.
Similarly, sometimes device battery life can be significantly improved by an update, so if you think you might be way behind on your Android software version, head to Settings > About phone to check for an update.
9. Switch it off
Using battery-intensive apps/features while you are charging your device will affect how quickly it gains battery life. If you are charging while Skyping somebody at 100 percent brightness, the device will naturally take longer to charge than it would with its screen, Wi-Fi and 4G turned off.
Switch the device to airplane mode, or off completely, when you are charging if you want to see the fastest energy injection. Think of it making your device take a power nap.
10. Calibrate your battery
Sometimes the battery level your device 'thinks' it's at is wrong. The effect of this is that your phone may function differently, including limiting performance before it needs to or taking an hour to chew through the last two percent of battery.
We’ve already written an extensive guide on how to calibrate your Smartphone battery, so I won’t retype it all here, but this is a thing to try before completely ditching your defunct power pack.
11. Check your battery pack's voltage and amperage
This tip was pointed out in the comments below by Patrick and it can help you quickly identify a defective cable. Download the free Amperage app from the link below and open it. Now, connect your charger and the interface should go green and the text at the top should say "measuring". If you don't see this, or nothing happens, it means there is no current going to your device.
If it identifies a current, the app will now show the charging statistics for that charger, including the minimum and maximum load levels (in milliamps), voltage and maximum current. This is also a great way to find out which of your chargers is performing best.
Try connecting the different charge packs you own, including portable battery packs, to see which has the highest maximum charge value, or the highest average (the app makes it fairly easy to get an idea of this). It's not an exact measurement but it's an indication if nothing else and the app is completely free.
12. What about water damage?
A number of people in the comments asked about battery problems caused by water damage. If your phone fails to charge after falling in water you don't have many options: your best bet is to try and replace the battery – if that's even possible.
You should, however, try to prevent this from ever happening. Read our article explaining what to do when you drop your phone in water to find out the first steps you should take when trying to rescue it.
If all else fails, double-check that you have the power point switched on. That is the first thing they will ask you if you call your manufacturer for help, which might need to be your next step if none of these solutions has worked for you.
This guide is not specific for Honor 5X. This is for all mobiles.