Database Users

Phone struggling to charge.

Hello everybody. Recently, I had my phone go under a repair which involved opening up the entire phone just to replaces the mini usb port, which was detached from the phone and was trapped inside, losing its ability to charge.
Now, another problem has arisen. The phone has problems charging with wires compatible with its port. When I connect to it to charge via usb, it was plug-n-go, all good. For some unknown reason, it suddenly came under the issue that I need to shift the usb up,down, left, right, and slightly bend it the inside. Now, the original charger doesn't work because it broke, leaving the usb charger as the only option. I can't understand why my HTC Wizard is having this problem,and it's very frustrating. I paid sixty dollars for the repair on the USB, and it seems it hasn't done anything except reattatch it. Any suggestions?

Hey Infinity M,
By your description, it looks like the soldering is a bit loose, thus you have to shift the USB.
Have you tried with different chargers and cables?
If you wish (at your own risk), get a thin screwdriver or something like one, then apply a small force to all directions at the border of the Wizard's USB. Watch if it moves with any pressure, as that will indicate a loose solder.
Good luck, man!

nandobang said:
Hey Infinity M,
By your description, it looks like the soldering is a bit loose, thus you have to shift the USB.
Have you tried with different chargers and cables?
If you wish (at your own risk), get a thin screwdriver or something like one, then apply a small force to all directions at the border of the Wizard's USB. Watch if it moves with any pressure, as that will indicate a loose solder.
Good luck, man!
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Click to collapse
Thank you for your sufficient reply. I have not tried a different cable, and I have checked the Wizard's USB. I'll have to try another cable to check if it works. Do you know where I can buy a charger for a cheap price. Thanks!
Edit: Heh, I realized you're the same person making that HTC Obsidian Case, I'd love to pay you for it lol.

Infinity M said:
Thank you for your sufficient reply.
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Click to collapse
You're welcome
Infinity M said:
Do you know where I can buy a charger for a cheap price.
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Click to collapse
That's a hard one. I would send you straight away to eBay, lol, but I guess you can take a look at some local stores near you. It doesn't need necessarily to be a Wizard's charger. In fact, any charger for a HTC device that uses the same battery will do (the Tytn's I guess). Or you can check the charger label and see if it meets these requirements:
INPUT: 100-240V~0.2A
OUTPUT: 5V, 1A (this one being the most important of all)
Infinity M said:
Heh, I realized you're the same person making that HTC Obsidian Case, I'd love to pay you for it lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, I'm almost conving myself to make more than one, lol!
Again, good luck man!

WTF wall charger?

Got myself a new Transformer. Unboxed. Looks gorgeous, but wait... the two bits that make up the wall charger don't seem to, you know, slot in? It's very loose, and when plugged in doesn't do squat all. No charge. Am I being an idiot and not fitting one piece to the other right, or do I go back to the shop to get a replacement? :/

It snaps together, and when I got mine it was a pretty snug fit. So you may have to apply a little force, but it does snap together.

Right, the problem is that however much force I apply, the thing doesn't want to snap in. I've been googling like mad to see if anyone else has this problem and did find this one chap with the same trouble; he ended up having to ask the shop to swap it.

When I got mine it was already together

I had to press with what I would deem as an 'unreasonable' amount of force to get them to snap together. Just FYI.

Lucky you. Sigh.
I've even tried to charge with my Samsung Tab's wall adapter. No goddamn luck. Fail, ASUS, fail.

grainysand said:
Right, the problem is that however much force I apply, the thing doesn't want to snap in. I've been googling like mad to see if anyone else has this problem and did find this one chap with the same trouble; he ended up having to ask the shop to swap it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you take a pic?

I was going to upload the pics, but I followed advice given in another thread and--using enough force I thought I was about to break them--bent the prongs outward. Voila: it now snaps in and charges. Still a bit of a fail on ASUS for not shipping the two pieces already joined, or better yet make the wall adapter a one-piece affair. Ah well!

This happens to everyone. You really need to FORCE it. There's no particular technique that worked for me, just slide and apply a lot of pressure...you only need to do it once, thankfully.

yeah the amount of force required to put that thing together is insane. after about 5 minutes i grabbed something heavy and just started pounding the thing to death with it until it clicked in lol

That is the one area of the transformer that has disappointed me so far, the charging systems. I didn't understand why the unit wasn't assembled in the box... why I can't charge via usb...and why the cable is so short.
Other than those gripes, I love this thing!!

akashhhhh said:
This happens to everyone. You really need to FORCE it. There's no particular technique that worked for me, just slide and apply a lot of pressure...you only need to do it once, thankfully.
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*giggles childishly*

nebrando said:
...and why the cable is so short.
Other than those gripes, I love this thing!!
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Seriously the cable length is ridiculous
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Heh, I wedged a coin between the prongs to bend them a bit. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, though.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab's cable is also stupidly short. A trend, I guess?

Mine took some force but it wasnt like i had to stand on a table to make it work.
grainysand said:
Still a bit of a fail on ASUS for not shipping the two pieces already joined, or better yet make the wall adapter a one-piece affair. Ah well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could see pre-joined but not a one piece affair. I like that its modular because that means you could get plug adapters that could make it fit any country you move to. This is how it should be with mobile devices.

grainysand said:
Heh, I wedged a coin between the prongs to bend them a bit. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, though.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab's cable is also stupidly short. A trend, I guess?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently so is the Iconia's cable. Very strange, as if they expect us to build a little charging stand next to an outlet just for these Android tablets. Somewhat easily solved with a USB 3.0 extension cable, but it's an ugly solution (at least for me, my extension is blue).

not assembled because it's modular and different countries have different adapters. They are wrapped separately and the only variable in the box.
Also, the oem ipad adapter should provide plenty of oomph to charge and comes with a long cord from outlet to charging unit. Again, not as nice and neat as a normal two piece charger and cable, but neither as the add one. Plus, the apple one is modular too and can take a regular one piece like the one on the asus if you don't need the extension cable or if someone comes out with a longer stock cable.

Weird, mine came already assembled from Best Buy.
I do remember my GTablet came with the adapter apart, but that was easy to put together.

Hell I didn't even know it was in 2 peices, got mine yesterday from Newegg and it was already together. Yes the cable length is a joke but I heard about that earlier this week and ordered a 6 ft USB3 cable extension from monoprice for like $4 and it got here today and using it now to charge mine and it's working fine, highly recommended!

Yeah mine was pre-assembled, got mine Monday of this week (and it was brand new stock). Maybe they're doing that on the newer units. I have no idea how I'd ever get it apart if I needed to, I tried and the two pieces are very tightly attached.
The cable... yes the cable is crazy-short. So if you want to use a USB extension, it has to be a USB 3.0 one?

[Q] bent/deformed Micro-USB Connector

Hi and thanks upfront for any assistance.
My N7 started turning itself off and I could not figure it out, it was on a charger. It took awhile for me to figure out sometimes the connector wasn't really staying connected, even though pushed all the way in. It keeps getting worse, it is inconsistent, not behaving the same depending on which cable I have inserted. I have many different cables, some real cheapies, some not, but I've found some are cheapier than other cheapies-some have very snug fit some quite loose, both with N7 and Galaxy-Nexus. I think the connector is deformed, see pix. There is a clear split, but looking at some pix online, I can see there is a line there, so maybe there isn't split metal, just deformed?? Anybody know what I have here? Can I replace that piece relatively easily myself? If I need to send it in, how likely would the warranty cover it since I probably did whatever got done in numerous accidental nexus-flinging incidences? If no warranty, I would imagine I'll turn it into [more] of a toy and get a new one as I can't imagine the cost making it worthwhile.
Again thanks for any ideas.

When this happened to me on a phone Verizon replaced the phone for me.
To avoid this people should be careful to not wiggle the USB connector in or out and don't yank the cord out, etc. Be nice to it cause they will loosen up.
Good luck with yours.
Sent from my N7 using XDA Premium
Dirty AOKP 3.2 & m-kernel+ a33

broken port tab

so I broke the tab in the usb port in my nexus 4. I bought an induction charger but it doesn't seem to be charging the thing very well. It will sometimes turn on and I can see the battery is at 0% and it shuts down. do you think there is a chance there is a short in the port itself making it so that the battery drains itself? I left it charging overnight with no luck. What to do next? remove the port entirely while I wait for the new usb daughter board to come in the mail?

mikkowus said:
so I broke the tab in the usb port in my nexus 4. I bought an induction charger but it doesn't seem to be charging the thing very well. It will sometimes turn on and I can see the battery is at 0% and it shuts down. do you think there is a chance there is a short in the port itself making it so that the battery drains itself? I left it charging overnight with no luck. What to do next? remove the port entirely while I wait for the new usb daughter board to come in the mail?
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Click to collapse
I think it's more likely that the broken USB tab is causing either a short or has broken a connection the phone expects, which fools the circuitry into thinking the phone is plugged in to USB, which won't allow it to charge via Qi. You could try charging it with the daughterboard removed, but I'd be surprised if it works. Hopefully you have a back-up phone while you wait for the part, even if it's a RAZR V3 or Nokia 3310. SIM won't match, obviously, but you can probably pick up an adapter locally.

Planterz said:
I think it's more likely that the broken USB tab is causing either a short or has broken a connection the phone expects, which fools the circuitry into thinking the phone is plugged in to USB, which won't allow it to charge via Qi. You could try charging it with the daughterboard removed, but I'd be surprised if it works. Hopefully you have a back-up phone while you wait for the part, even if it's a RAZR V3 or Nokia 3310. SIM won't match, obviously, but you can probably pick up an adapter locally.
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That makes sense. I do have an old samsung tmobile phone that lasts about 4 hours on its battery. I guess I might be using that for a few days. I'ts at home though and I'm at work. It would be nice if this thing would just work. I need to find a t5 torx wrench and scew it up more......

mikkowus said:
That makes sense. I do have an old samsung tmobile phone that lasts about 4 hours on its battery. I guess I might be using that for a few days. I'ts at home though and I'm at work. It would be nice if this thing would just work. I need to find a t5 torx wrench and scew it up more......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some advice for someone who hasn't taken this phone apart yet:
First, go to ifixit and familiarize yourself with the teardown guide. There are also some youtube videos that are helpful (if you can't find them immediately, look for screen replacement guides.
Second, you'll need something thin and flat, and hopefully not with sharp edges. They make tools for this, but I doubt you'll be willing to order them and wait. Myself, I used the nail file from a keychain Swiss Army Knife. It's possible, even likely you'll cosmetically damage the plastic up a bit. If you have a hair drier (or even a heat gun), this can aid in softening up the adhesive. In any case, go slowly.
Do the disassembly over a fluffy towel. There are many tiny screws, and a fluffy towel will trap them rather than having them bounce away and disappear.
As I write this, another thought occurs to me. If you can, wait a few more days, but order yourself a new battery off eBay. Many sellers include the needed disassembly tools (including a T5 TORX, small Philips, and the plastic separating tools). Your Nexus 4 is probably 1.5-2.5 years old by now, which means your battery has had well over 500 cycles. At this point, you've lost upwards of 20% your battery's original capacity. Or don't wait, but order a new battery anyway and reopen the phone when you get it. The degradation of a battery is slow and one really doesn't notice it until that day you think to yourself "it seems like it used to last longer". Indeed, you may open up your phone to discover a puffed-out battery in desperate need of replacement anyway.

Planterz said:
Some advice for someone who hasn't taken this phone apart yet:
First, go to ifixit and familiarize yourself with the teardown guide. There are also some youtube videos that are helpful (if you can't find them immediately, look for screen replacement guides.
Second, you'll need something thin and flat, and hopefully not with sharp edges. They make tools for this, but I doubt you'll be willing to order them and wait. Myself, I used the nail file from a keychain Swiss Army Knife. It's possible, even likely you'll cosmetically damage the plastic up a bit. If you have a hair drier (or even a heat gun), this can aid in softening up the adhesive. In any case, go slowly.
Do the disassembly over a fluffy towel. There are many tiny screws, and a fluffy towel will trap them rather than having them bounce away and disappear.
As I write this, another thought occurs to me. If you can, wait a few more days, but order yourself a new battery off eBay. Many sellers include the needed disassembly tools (including a T5 TORX, small Philips, and the plastic separating tools). Your Nexus 4 is probably 1.5-2.5 years old by now, which means your battery has had well over 500 cycles. At this point, you've lost upwards of 20% your battery's original capacity. Or don't wait, but order a new battery anyway and reopen the phone when you get it. The degradation of a battery is slow and one really doesn't notice it until that day you think to yourself "it seems like it used to last longer". Indeed, you may open up your phone to discover a puffed-out battery in desperate need of replacement anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. I did end up ordering a new battery because of just that thought. It will be coming Friday though so I might not want to wait. I'll probably end up opening it up twice.. I also happened to open the phone about a 3 weeks after I bought it as somehow the screen cracked. I also have a heatgun. The phone is pretty old. I got it on release.

Repair Broken USB port

I just bought one of these from Kijiji. Tested everything out, handed her the money, only to find out it is a pain in the ass to charge. The port feels loose and the corn has to be in perfectly to get it to charge. I'm mid contract and totaled my other phone, BlackBerry Priv, so I thought I'd try and save some money. I thought wrong.
Is there anyway to repair the port? The rest of the phone looks almost new and I'm impressed how much faster this phone seems than my Priv with the same apps on it.

rkonert said:
I just bought one of these from Kijiji. Tested everything out, handed her the money, only to find out it is a pain in the ass to charge. The port feels loose and the corn has to be in perfectly to get it to charge. I'm mid contract and totaled my other phone, BlackBerry Priv, so I thought I'd try and save some money. I thought wrong.
Is there anyway to repair the port? The rest of the phone looks almost new and I'm impressed how much faster this phone seems than my Priv with the same apps on it.
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When you say you were wrong, what do you mean?. Did you try soldering the port?

andrescm said:
When you say you were wrong, what do you mean?. Did you try soldering the port?
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Click to collapse
Not yet, that's going to be my last option. I can't do it myself, but have a friend that says they can. The really strange part is the cord it came with seems to work ok, but every other cord won't. It isn't the original one either. It's a 10' generic cord, but it seems to work. It's just a pain to keep carrying my cord around everywhere so I can charge my phone.

rkonert said:
Not yet, that's going to be my last option. I can't do it myself, but have a friend that says they can. The really strange part is the cord it came with seems to work ok, but every other cord won't. It isn't the original one either. It's a 10' generic cord, but it seems to work. It's just a pain to keep carrying my cord around everywhere so I can charge my phone.
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If you have a cable that works good, then it's a good sign!. Do you feel it a bit "harder" to put in place?. It might be that the two small "legs" below the connector protrude a bit more so they push more against the female connector inside the phone, or maybe the golden pins inside are of better quality. You could try bending them carefully with a needle, always on the cable. Don't touch the phone!

andrescm said:
If you have a cable that works good, then it's a good sign!. Do you feel it a bit "harder" to put in place?. It might be that the two small "legs" below the connector protrude a bit more so they push more against the female connector inside the phone, or maybe the golden pins inside are of better quality. You could try bending them carefully with a needle, always on the cable. Don't touch the phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The working cable definitely feels tighter than the others. I've had a look at the pins on the phone and the other cables with a hand lens. The phone definitely has some damage to it, but the pins look to be intact. My cables, for the most part, are almost new and in good shape, but the 'legs' don't seem to stick out as far. I guess for now, I'm going to stick to using the one cable, I may try to buy the same name brand as a second and see if that works.
Thanks for the help.

You are welcome!. Good luck!