Switching to ART and got the Red Light of Death - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi there,
Yesterday I decided to dive into ART just to see what the differences may be. I ran into some trouble. I got it fixed but thought I would share my experience in case it may help someone else.
What I'm running:
Nexus 4 (mako) with Faster binned chip
Purity Rom 11/27
Franco Kernel 195
SuperSU 1.65
CWM Recovery
When I decided to switch to ART I had about 70% battery remaining. I did the switch and the phone rebooted to change over the lib. The phone booted as it would normally and was optimizing applications. I noticed that the phone had got really hot when I picked it up to check it. The screen was off at that point and I could not get it to turn on.
I connected it to a USB charger and I got a flashing red light. Crap. I followed the guides out there which advised holding Vol Up and Power for 60 seconds, releasing, and connecting power. I let it charge for over an hour as prescribed. This did not resolve my issue. I tried a few different chargers of varying output and found that the lower powered chargers gave me a blinking red light (trouble indicator, I believe) and my new iPad charger would give a solid red light (charging from a very low battery indicator). It still made no difference in booting however.
If I held down the Vol Up and Power and connected a lower powered USB charger I could get to fast boot which led me to believe that the system board was not fried. When I disconnected the power while in fastboot the phone would switch off. Seems that somehow a fuse (electronic I'd guess, I'm not an electrical engineer) was keeping the battery from powering the system board.
To resolve the issue I had to open the phone, disconnect the battery ribbon, wait 10 seconds and then reconnect it. Fired right up after that.
To open the phone you'll need a t-5 torx screwdriver, a non-marring pry tool and a small phillips head screwdriver.

Hi,
Thank you for your solution. I have the same problem and I couldn't fix it through flashing a factory image. I am confused though. Do you know why the problem is fixed by reconnecting the battery cable? I'll try whenever I get the tools to open the phone and I'll post back if it worked or not!

tommyboy76, got same problem, but fixed it by waiting about 2 hrs with "dead" phone, I didn't connected charger until it chilled down. Then after I connected charger and everything seems OK. It charged and turned it on as always.

I think it is an overload protection built in.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Related

dead

It appears dead. It's late at night so i've yet to try googling about recovery through a pc of some such, truth be told while i can flash a rom with instructions, i'm no guru or anything. It was running CM 10.2? the latest stable release for N10, think that's the one.
I was just browsing a forum, and after posting, the disply started to stutter as i scrolled up, when i stopped scrolling, the stuttering decreased, and then as i scrolled and scrolled fasster, the stuttering increased until display turned black (stoned curiosity...) and now i can't get anything out of my N10. Holding power, trying to reboot into recovery. Nothing. No lights, sounds, vibrations. None of the normal stuff.
anyone got any ideas for me to awke up to? I think that if i can't get any life out of it, then would it be a case of trying to sideload or such with ADB? as i say, i'm a complete rookie, just a couple of flashes under my belt.
Second question, i probably have the answer to, but am i right in thinking custom roms void the warranty?
edit: Plugged it into the wall a few minutes ago. It had had about 40% remaining, but when i plugged it in, i got the battery simbol on the screen (big white battery charging in center) and any time i press or hold the power button, or with volume buttons, i get nothing but the icon. I'll keep it plugged in for now and see what happens. But by the look of i assume if it can do that when plugged into the wall i sohuld hpoefully be able to connect via my computer in some manner
If by stuttering you mean blinking, this has happened to me when my N10 was on charger with a dead battery and it drew more power than what the charger could provide. When you scroll, the CPU frequency gets bumped up and the tablet consumes more power. After a while it just turned off for me (when I changed to an other app I think), when there just wasn't enough power.
So I would suggest leaving it on charge for a few hours, then try holding all buttons and see if you can get into bootloader. I've had the battery levels not display correctly on some custom ROMs, (for example I would do a reboot at 60% battery and after it reboots it only said 13%) so just charging it a bit might solve the problem.
bee55 said:
If by stuttering you mean blinking, this has happened to me when my N10 was on charger with a dead battery and it drew more power than what the charger could provide. When you scroll, the CPU frequency gets bumped up and the tablet consumes more power. After a while it just turned off for me (when I changed to an other app I think), when there just wasn't enough power.
So I would suggest leaving it on charge for a few hours, then try holding all buttons and see if you can get into bootloader. I've had the battery levels not display correctly on some custom ROMs, (for example I would do a reboot at 60% battery and after it reboots it only said 13%) so just charging it a bit might solve the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. As of 5 minutes ago it got back to life. All battery apps showed 40 odd. Strange.
i think your battery has gone/ on its way out, exact same happened to mine, you need a pogo charger and the original wall adapter to provide enough power to switch it on. Only thing which worked for me, hope it works for you.
hellomynameistj said:
i think your battery has gone/ on its way out, exact same happened to mine, you need a pogo charger and the original wall adapter to provide enough power to switch it on. Only thing which worked for me, hope it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be the battery, might be glitchy software. Plugged it in via USB and it worked sometime later. Will be keeping an eye on it.
It will probably be fine. I thought I had a bricked N10 but turns out the battery was dead. It is fine now. THought I had a bricked N7 also, turned out the battery plug got loose, (screen would flash every 2 seconds with static on the screen) popped it open and oushed the plug in and that is fine now too.
If it continues to die around the 40-50% mark, you'll need to send it in for repairs. Make sure they don't just try replacing the USB port on it, the battery itself is the culprit.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=44068051#post44068051

[Q] n4 is completely unresponsive (dead)

So this is what happened:
the phone discharged fully and i connected it to charge. then i got a flashing red led. seeing this as a bad omen i tried to turn my device on - no luck - it wasn't responding.
i unplugged the charger and plugged it back in and again the same result, then again..... and i got a solid red light. so after a few times of messing about with it , trying out a few sources of power and such i got it charging (the battery logo appeared). The charging lasted for ~30 sec and it went black.
So after that the n4 is completely unresponsive. No flashing leds no backlight on screen, NOTHING.i tried out a few chargers and cables and beside those i used a genuine n4 charger (it's 100% working - i tried to charge another device). i left it there for the whole day to charge thinking that maaaaaby the battery ran to a complete 0 and i just need to give it time, as you probably guessed it, that did nothing.
In fact, i think the phone is not charging at all. The reason i think so is because the wall charger is emitting a faint high-pitch squeal regardless of the fact that the phone is connected (it should be squealing only when it's plugged into socket and the phone is not plugged in it)
so TL DR:
n4 is completely dead, no signs of life. The things that were tried:
a handful of chargers and cables that are 100% working on other devices
trying to boot with a combination of volume buttons pressed
holding the power button for 60 sec. while plugged in
prolonged charging (~7 hours)
verbal threatening to sell the damned thing if it's a serious problem
so that's that. i should get my tools back from a friend on monday. i'll try to take it apart, maby there's a loose connector here or there or something. Any ideas what i could try before that?
Some searching around the forums wouldn't hurt. Try this for example.
kalopop said:
Some searching around the forums wouldn't hurt. Try this for example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the link, that seems to be worth a shot.... i'll be able to take the phone apart on monday, that's the earliest i will be able to try it. i was wondering if there is anything i can do until then to remedy the situation. I mean i'm really getting a kick out of my old sony erricson k300 but i kinda prefer the nexus and would prefer to fix it asap.
ok i fixed it
i used a 3v source and held the contacts manually for 5 min. that returned it to the red blinking led state and after leaving it to charge for 5 min it returned to the battery icon on screen. thanks for the info again.

[Q] Nexus 7 dead?

I was on my computer when i remembered i has something written in my tablet's notes that was important. I took it out of my bag and noticed it wouldn't turn on, it was out of battery (hadn't touched it for about a week). I just plugged it in the proper asus charger and put it down and went straight back on my computer.
I decide to check on it after 2 hours thinking it would be near or fully charged. I pick it up and noticed it was on a blank back lit screen. I unplugged it and then the screen turned straight off. Wondering if it didn't charge at all i re-plugged it in. There was no google logo (rooted), instead it turn on with a lit black screen and off and repeating a few times and then small thin artifact pixels run across the screen (red, blue and yellowy colours) and then stay at a black lit screen like when i first picked it up. I had just noticed a small buzzing sound while this was happening and still does so when stuck at the screen. I'm pretty sure it was buzzing when i had found it.
I redid what i had done (unplug, replug) and watch to see if it did the same thing. It did. I tried to power it off while it was at the black screen and it did, but then it would turn back on and etc. Same if i tried to enter boot loader or any key combinations.
I've tried disconnecting the battery and reconnecting and same effect (tried it without battery attached also)
I have a feeling it is dead now and i have no other ideas (checked many forums but got nothing).
Any help would be appreciated.
yvgamer94 said:
I have a feeling it is dead now and i have no other ideas (checked many forums but got nothing).
Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's surely hardware failure, have take some humidity or something like that?
Try press power for 60 seconds, if you wont see any Google logo there's some hardware failure you need to RMA ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_merchandise_authorization )
found the fix
I found away to fix my nexus 7. You could be right how it might have a minor hardware fault, live in australia in the high hot tropics (high humidity). I decide just to plug it into my computer usb charger instead of the proper charger since it had a lower max amp output. Against my ear, a much fainter buzzing is still heard but this time, there was nothing. No power, no back lit black screen, just a very faint buzzing. Decided to let it sit just to see what happens. After an hour or so, i decided to press the power button and noticed there was a battery charging signal. To my delight, I'm sure it was in working order now so i powered it on and oh how relieved i was.
I determined that my device might have had a small hardware fault that made it draw to much power from the 2 amp original charger and thus why the tablet could not boot up properly (from battery depletion). Either that or my charger could be bugged to. But the thing is, since it charged to slow from the usb, i plugged in the proper charger and it worked fine. Just have to try not deplete my battery i guess.
Thanks.

Flashing red light wont turn on!

Recently my n4 has been giving me a flashing red light whenever i turn it on. No matter what combination of buttons i press, it doesn't do anything. Please help! Using a 1 amp charger.
neostyles said:
Recently my n4 has been giving me a flashing red light whenever i turn it on. No matter what combination of buttons i press, it doesn't do anything. Please help! Using a 1 amp charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There have been many cases like these. I think you will get enough hits if you use the search button. I had it myself recently, though the solution seems not to be very solid.
The best way to get it to work is to try different cables/chargers (via PC/Wall Chargers etc) and let it charge for a half hour, and try to start it. If it doesn't start, try another combination. Rinse, repeat.
A stronger charger seems to work better most of the time (2A for example).
In the end I got it to work with the 2A charger of a colleague that he always carries with him. I am assuming that there is nothing wrong with your battery besides it being completely drained.
Im not really sure though. Is that what the flashing red light means?
Open the phone up, pop off the battery connection, put it back, then try to reboot (you can reboot with the cover off). I got the red light after my N4 crashed doing an Antutu test after OC'ing it to 1.9GHz (yeah...don't do that), and after "resetting" the battery, it booted up just fine.
I had ever occur this issue and tried any fix from internet, finally completely battery died, so just buy a new one of battery .
Your battery is discharged to a critical level (1-2%) and the phone performed a shutdown to save itself.
Connect your phone to the charger and press POWER + VOLUME DOWN, to enter recovery. Then reboot from recovery
I had the RED LIGHT flashing and this is how i fixed my problem. No need to buy a new battery
Ur phone can't boot up cuz there is not enough energy from ur battery, so just charge ur phone for a while then u can boot up ur phone again red light issue usually for low battery and the phone can't booting up
i doubt it if mine is power issue. I've charged for long periods several times, i've tried several things i could find on the internet, i used a working battery, still no show. light blinks for a while and goes off when plugged to electricity. I'm thinking this could be a different problem entirely

[Q] Red Light - Charging without back?

So, I plugged my Nexus 4 into a generic car charger and it went black instantly. The battery was at about 92%. With the hope that a proper AC or computer USB charge connection would bring up the white battery icon and fix things, I stopped by an out of town T-mobile. The manager tried the button battery-reset (up volume + power for 60sec) and I googled alternatives and tried the - enter recovery by pressing those buttons for 15sec off the charger and connecting while still holding down the buttons - trick. Neither worked.
The manger seemed familiar with that and the other button pressing tricks, and said that really, my only real hope would be to reset/replace the battery, but that would void my warranty. However, although the T-mobile site claims my Google bought phone is under warranty (and I've been paying for it each month), technically, it isn't. Under them or Google (any more). So, I purchased the tools to open the phone, as well as a replacement battery. In the interim, I tried to use all the button combos and various charging connections to get it to come back to life. I *did* manage to get it charging the old battery. I know because the blinking red light turned constant for an hour or two, and the battery got warm. I can only guess that the battery was too damaged to keep the charge however, because I could never get it to turn on during or after. My best guess is that the software battery reset allowed the phone to send a charge to the battery - at least once.
After getting my tools and replacement battery, I managed to get the phone open (with great effort - I think there must be a difference between batches there). I removed the old battery connection and looked to see if I could get the charge icon with it unattached and on the charger. I couldn't. Reconnecting the old battery didn't seem to make any difference.
I was about to go through the process of prying up the old battery when I realized that you can actually connect the new battery to the board connector without getting the old one out. So I did that. Leaving it charging like that for awhile didn't do anything, so I decided to do another software battery reset and I'm letting it sit on the charger overnight. All of this has been without reattaching the back.
So my major question is - does anyone know for sure if the phone actually charges the battery with the back off? I know there are important circuits there - which seem to shut down the phone after the battery or google image when not detected (at least that's my deducement after reading posts). But are those connections also used in charging? The Qi goes though the back to the charger function, so perhaps that connection has to be there? I would like to try and find out though beforehand. It took 2 hours and two mangled guitar picks to get it open the first time, and the second may be just as trying. (And believe me, towards the end, I was not concerned with being gentle.)
I am also curious about the four prong battery connection. I've seen the post about charging the battery using external sources by connecting to the two outer pins. Does that mean the two inner pins constitute a second circuit between the charged battery and the phone? And if I find another 3.8v battery fully charged, I could perhaps connect that to the phone instead by wires and get it booted into recovery? As to why I'd want to do that, I don't recall the last dated CM version I had installed, so finding that in their folder plus pulling off everything from /data... assuming I replaced this with another Nexus 4, I might be able to save myself a lot of setup hassle.
In terms of the red light... it actually seems to be an error code. When triggered, it blinks 7 times, and on the eighth stays lit for a bit before repeating.
cetkat said:
So, I plugged my Nexus 4 into a generic car charger and it went black instantly. The battery was at about 92%. With the hope that a proper AC or computer USB charge connection would bring up the white battery icon and fix things, I stopped by an out of town T-mobile. The manager tried the button battery-reset (up volume + power for 60sec) and I googled alternatives and tried the - enter recovery by pressing those buttons for 15sec off the charger and connecting while still holding down the buttons - trick. Neither worked.
The manger seemed familiar with that and the other button pressing tricks, and said that really, my only real hope would be to reset/replace the battery, but that would void my warranty. However, although the T-mobile site claims my Google bought phone is under warranty (and I've been paying for it each month), technically, it isn't. Under them or Google (any more). So, I purchased the tools to open the phone, as well as a replacement battery. In the interim, I tried to use all the button combos and various charging connections to get it to come back to life. I *did* manage to get it charging the old battery. I know because the blinking red light turned constant for an hour or two, and the battery got warm. I can only guess that the battery was too damaged to keep the charge however, because I could never get it to turn on during or after. My best guess is that the software battery reset allowed the phone to send a charge to the battery - at least once.
After getting my tools and replacement battery, I managed to get the phone open (with great effort - I think there must be a difference between batches there). I removed the old battery connection and looked to see if I could get the charge icon with it unattached and on the charger. I couldn't. Reconnecting the old battery didn't seem to make any difference.
I was about to go through the process of prying up the old battery when I realized that you can actually connect the new battery to the board connector without getting the old one out. So I did that. Leaving it charging like that for awhile didn't do anything, so I decided to do another software battery reset and I'm letting it sit on the charger overnight. All of this has been without reattaching the back.
So my major question is - does anyone know for sure if the phone actually charges the battery with the back off? I know there are important circuits there - which seem to shut down the phone after the battery or google image when not detected (at least that's my deducement after reading posts). But are those connections also used in charging? The Qi goes though the back to the charger function, so perhaps that connection has to be there? I would like to try and find out though beforehand. It took 2 hours and two mangled guitar picks to get it open the first time, and the second may be just as trying. (And believe me, towards the end, I was not concerned with being gentle.)
I am also curious about the four prong battery connection. I've seen the post about charging the battery using external sources by connecting to the two outer pins. Does that mean the two inner pins constitute a second circuit between the charged battery and the phone? And if I find another 3.8v battery fully charged, I could perhaps connect that to the phone instead by wires and get it booted into recovery? As to why I'd want to do that, I don't recall the last dated CM version I had installed, so finding that in their folder plus pulling off everything from /data... assuming I replaced this with another Nexus 4, I might be able to save myself a lot of setup hassle.
In terms of the red light... it actually seems to be an error code. When triggered, it blinks 7 times, and on the eighth stays lit for a bit before repeating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I RAN INTO A SIMILAR PROBLEM
I found that holding the power button for a while allowed my nexus 4 running stock Lollipop 5.1 to boot back up.
Have considered that you may have a faulty USB port ?
Just pop the old battery out install the new one plug in the charger and it will charge. You can boot up without the back on. The back contains the antennia.... and the NFC circuit board.
Good luck
Blacksmith5 said:
I RAN INTO A SIMILAR PROBLEM
I found that holding the power button for a while allowed my nexus 4 running stock Lollipop 5.1 to boot back up.
Have considered that you may have a faulty USB port ?
Just pop the old battery out install the new one plug in the charger and it will charge. You can boot up without the back on. The back contains the antennia.... and the NFC circuit board.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, still no luck. I ended up putting the new battery in and closing it up to try the Qi charger, but all I can get is either 7 or 10 red blinks followed by a short solid light. No white battery charging symbol or anything else.
When you say a faulty USB port, what are you referring to? The cable works (though I've also tried my Nexus 7 one too) and even though it won't boot, my computer does recognize that something is there when I plug my phone into it (it just can't figure out what's plugged in - which is normal). I want to say that it's trying and failing to charge the new battery. At this point, I think the charger messed up more than just the battery.

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