Is there a flaw with the Exynos S4? - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I'm going to come right down to it, this is an issue that has bugged me a long time: is the first batch of Exynos S4s faulty? Because mine probably is. It overheats when doing nothing, gets 2 hours screen on time max, and somehow, always makes batteries swell up (I've gone through about four at this point).
A later batch S4 that my friend has does not have this issue.
I've tried factory reset, battery reset (*#0228#), and flashing firmware from different regions. Nothing. I've never damaged it with water or anything.
The phone is well beyond its warranty at this point, so it's unlikely I could get Samsung to replace it, and in all likelihood I'll trade it in for a Galaxy S8 when Samsung offers such a program, but it perplexes me nonetheless.

Your batteries swelling up may be a result of them being fake, not the phone's fault.
And it may just be your device that is faulty. That one-in-a-million chance.

Sorry to hear about your troubles with the phone. Has the phone always acted this way? Was it ever dropped?

audit13 said:
Sorry to hear about your troubles with the phone. Has the phone always acted this way? Was it ever dropped?
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Dropped? once or twice, which I would say is normal for a device I used for almost two years. I believe it has always tended to heat up during use, I remember noticing it the day I got it, but did not feel it was out of the ordinary, but the issue worsened throughout its life, where by the end of its life, I was only getting an hour screen on time and incredibly poor performance. Factory reset fixed the latter part, and somewhat improved the former, but it never at any point approached what I would classify as acceptable.

Pwnycorn said:
Your batteries swelling up may be a result of them being fake, not the phone's fault.
And it may just be your device that is faulty. That one-in-a-million chance.
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They appear original from the packaging, and I bought one at a store that sells original accessories like the official cases and all, so it should be original, but you never know for sure.

AB__CD said:
They appear original from the packaging, and I bought one at a store that sells original accessories like the official cases and all, so it should be original, but you never know for sure.
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The visuals can be easily copied. That's why it is hard to tell the difference between fake and real ones.
I have limited knowledge about how the phone and a battery works, but I'm pretty certain that the phone itself can't cause the battery to swell. If the battery swells then then the battery itself is faulty.
Like in the Note 7 fiasco, it was the batteries that caused the trouble, not the phone hardware itself.
So, either you're incredibly unlucky and got 4 faulty original batteries in a row or they were simply fake ones.

Pwnycorn said:
The visuals can be easily copied. That's why it is hard to tell the difference between fake and real ones.
I have limited knowledge about how the phone and a battery works, but I'm pretty certain that the phone itself can't cause the battery to swell. If the battery swells then then the battery itself is faulty.
Like in the Note 7 fiasco, it was the batteries that caused the trouble, not the phone hardware itself.
So, either you're incredibly unlucky and got 4 faulty original batteries in a row or they were simply fake ones.
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It should be noted I procured each battery from a different source. The first one is the only one I can completely verify as original, as it's from Samsung, but it is also part of the faulty first batch of batteries that Samsung admitted were prone to swelling.

Related

[Q] Got a used MT4G - led flashes when battery installed (so...)

When I put the battery in it causes the camera LED to flash. Is that abnormal? I just bought the phone used.
Does anyone else's led flash at strange times? Or, is it just my phone is bad?
And, I notice the camera LED also flashes every time I unplug the charger. You guys have this phone ... right? Is this normal for these Glaciers?
None of what you've encountered is currently happening with my mt4g, I would assume that it's not normal for it to be doing that.
Mine doesn't do that at all try wiping the whole phone through recovery maybe its some app doing it
If it's not a app then the unit is most likely defective...If the price you paid for it was low, the experience you're having pretty much explains that. I to would sell a phone doing that with the camera. You could try and do a warranty through HTC, I think 2nd hand devices are accepted by them.
haldi15 said:
Mine doesn't do that at all try wiping the whole phone through recovery maybe its some app doing it
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Click to collapse
OK thanks. And, I've done a reset several times and it still acts same. Must be hardware issue.
Ace42 said:
If it's not a app then the unit is most likely defective...If the price you paid for it was low, the experience you're having pretty much explains that. I to would sell a phone doing that with the camera. You could try and do a warranty through HTC, I think 2nd hand devices are accepted by them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Now I know it's hardware. It wasn't suppose to have problems acording to seller. Not cheap @$185 but not excessive I don't think. It got wet according to seller so can't go to HTC warranty,
Bobrt said:
Thanks. Now I know it's hardware. It wasn't suppose to have problems acording to seller. Not cheap @$185 but not excessive I don't think. It got wet according to seller so can't go to HTC warranty,
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The water must of damaged some circuit or wire, and is causing the led to malfunction. You could try and get a refund and go for a different device in a similar price range.

Random shutdowns and reboots- who has had them?

I have bought two used G3's now and both had to be returned due to the same problem: fairly frequent random shutdowns and reboots.
I have rad that this is quite a common problem and may be due to tbe battery, however no solution seems to be a 100% fix.
I'm now considering whether to bother trying to get a third replacement: perhaps all G3s will suffer from this major problem. Aside frkm this major issue the phone is awesome and perfectly priced.
So, how common actually is this problem? Who else has had it?
Could you all perhaps post the date of manufacturing of your battery, and anything you have found that solves / helps the issue.
tooplanx said:
I have bought two used G3's now and both had to be returned due to the same problem: fairly frequent random shutdowns and reboots.
I have rad that this is quite a common problem and may be due to tbe battery, however no solution seems to be a 100% fix.
I'm now considering whether to bother trying to get a third replacement: perhaps all G3s will suffer from this major problem. Aside frkm this major issue the phone is awesome and perfectly priced.
So, how common actually is this problem? Who else has had it?
Could you all perhaps post the date of manufacturing of your battery, and anything you have found that solves / helps the issue.
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Click to collapse
My old(stock) battery was made in 2014 (i don't remember the date).I couldn't use the device without the charger because it would go on bootloop.
Bought a new battery(made on 2016) and everything got solved.
Sotiris02 said:
My old(stock) battery was made in 2014 (i don't remember the date).I couldn't use the device without the charger because it would go on bootloop.
Bought a new battery(made on 2016) and everything got solved.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, that's useful. I was wondering if it was a problem with early batteries.
No one else?
tooplanx said:
Could you all perhaps post the date of manufacturing of your battery, and anything you have found that solves / helps the issue.
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Click to collapse
I purchased an extra battery and a cradle in Aug2014 and had no issues until this summer when my phone would bootloop ocassionally with one of the batteries, and then eventually it wouldn't boot at all and just bootlooped. So I bought another from LG for $15( http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phone-batteries ) and all is well. The date code on the working old one is 6/9/2014 and the new one is 8/22/2016; the one that died & I replaced was also 6/9/2014. LG batteries die a strange, and sometimes sudden death that can make it look like the phone is messed up. Most phones give you a warning - faster dissipation, faster charge time - but not so much on the G3...just random death at random battery %, bootloop, and all kinds of weirdness.
I bought a new battery (made in 2016, old one was from 2014) and i havent seen any random restarts when the phone is bellow 15%. Also noticed that my battery lasts alot more.
Mine is definitely battery related. I bought 2 spare batteries (LG branded one, but from ebay) and one causes my G3 to reboot often. The other one doesn't at all.
I'm getting this a lot lately, have never replaced the battery since getting the phone roughly two years ago. Good to know that others have replaced the battery and it has resolved the problem.
tooplanx said:
however no solution seems to be a 100% fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OEM batteries last about 1-2 years for us before they start causing reboots. But that was easy to diagnose.
The real reboot/shutdown culprit for us was overheating. The heat dissipation is poor in the G3's design. Using a thermal pad on the SoC was a 100% fix for our 2 G3's. It dropped the SoC temp 10-15 C, and we haven't had a prob since. Easy and cheap.
AlwaysLucky said:
The OEM batteries last about 1-2 years for us before they start causing reboots. But that was easy to diagnose.
The real reboot/shutdown culprit for us was overheating. The heat dissipation is poor in the G3's design. Using a thermal pad on the SoC was a 100% fix for our 2 G3's. It dropped the SoC temp 10-15 C, and we haven't had a prob since. Easy and cheap.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for this. Have you got any links or info for how to do this thermal pad fix?
tooplanx said:
Thanks for this. Have you got any links or info for how to do this thermal pad fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is actually a thread on using thermal paste for this, but I strongly recommend using a pad, due to the expansion of paste after it heats. I'll give you a quick guide here and for others in this thread.
To start you will need a kit like this if you don't have one already. They are handy to have anyways because a kit like that can open most modern small gadgets.
Then you'll need the thermal pad. For a perfect fit, I would use a 15x15x0.5mm non-metallic pad like this. You don't have to get that one, it's just an example. You could also get a larger one with the same 0.5mm thickness, and just cut it down to 15x15mm.
Use this video to disassemble the G3. It's the best one I have found so far. Of course, you don't have to disassemble it all the way like in the video. Just enough to expose the SoC chip (the biggest and most obvious chip on the board, you can't miss it).
Things I recommend when applying the pad, but not required:
- Perform the install in a clean, static-free environment.
- Be delicate when removing the ribbon cables. The tool kit mentioned above makes this 100% easier.
- Before applying, clean both the surface of the SoC and the surface of the metal phone frame indent where the other side of the pad will make contact with alcohol or something similar.
- When reassembling, tighten all screws as much as you can without stripping them. This ensures the gps/wifi/radio contacts are good.
My GF and I have been using this thermal pad mod for over 2 years now on our LS990s with no problems. I used 6wmk pads on both. Others have reported wifi/gps reception problems, but I found this resulted from using too thick of a thermal pad (1mm thick or more), or using paste.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Had them when I got my (used) LGG3 in 8/15..
Replaced the SD card and retflashed to stock.
No problems since.
Most stable phone I've ever owned by far (JB'd iPhone 5 rebooted waayy too many times f.e.)
Either a dying battery or the infamous connectors issue with LG manufactured phones.
If the latter, please refer to @AlwaysLucky guide or something similar.
Do NOT PUT YOUR MOTHERBOARD IN THE OVEN.
Solution on Overheat and Reboots
Hey everyone!!!
My Device (An T-Mobile D851) has Rebooting issues and Screen Dying before (Even with a pair on new batterys)... So, I made an Guide to resolve this problem, related on overheat in the SoC.
Here´s the link:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/general/guide-fix-display-flickering-overheat-t3563068
I bought a new battery which claimed to be new and genuine, but when I tried it in my phone I straight away got the instant shut downs. At first I thought that It must be the phone and not the battery, but today I tested it by having my old battery in which was currently causing no shutdowns, then i put the 'new' battery in and I got the shut downs again, then I put my old battery in and the shut downs stopped.
The issue seems to relate to how long the battery has been without mains charge, rather than the level of the battery.
e.g. If the battery has been off charge for 11+ hours but is on 70% I might still get the shutdowns, or if it's been off charge for -5 hours but is 20% battery I won't get them.
My big problem right now is finding a place in the UK to buy a genuine new LG battery, or possibly an Anker one.
Any ideas anyone? LG UK doesn't seem to stock them like they do in the US. Amazon sellers are a lottery, and eBay is like the wild west!
tooplanx said:
Any ideas anyone? LG UK doesn't seem to stock them like they do in the US. Amazon sellers are a lottery, and eBay is like the wild west!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Polarcell battery from eBay run really great and it is around 20€, I have one since september and I am very happy.
i have same issue with my lg g3. i have bought new battery too but nothing worked, even i did flash it but still having same issue. help plz
zeeshan32 said:
i have same issue with my lg g3. i have bought new battery too but nothing worked, even i did flash it but still having same issue. help plz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, it's a mystery to me. This is why I'm rather dubious of claims that this is solely a battery problem.
I bought another brand new battery and I still get the problem.
I have tried multiple things:
- Safe mode
- Deactivating battery optimization
- turning off background sync and backup
- turning off wifi and data
- rooting
- uninstalling apps
This seems to be related to how long the phone has been off charge for, but it definitely ISN'T a battery problem: I've tried 3 different phones and 6 different batteries and they have all had the same problem.
The only thing I can think it must be is either a problem with the charger giving incorrect voltage /current or some kind of circuitry or module that degrades/ corrupts between charges.
I don't have an original LG G3 charger of 1.8A, so I'm using a 2.0A one. Perhaps that's the problem.
Having never had a phone that has once rebooted previous to the several G3s I've now had I'm at the point where I'll get rid of this manufactured broken phone and never buy LG again.
Anyone have any good suggestions for a similar spec / priced phone (used). I've already tried a Xperia Z2 but the camera was absolutely dreadful!
I had this problem recently in which I had to change the battery and all is well but sadly, my phone's bezel got cracked spontaneously, but this time. It is at the IR sensor, so LG DO have quality control issues, but first things first - buy an OEM battery - they can be had for £5 at least on eBay.
Speaking of chargers, I had an LG charger that came with the LG G3 I bought, but that died. Fu©king Korean piece of $hit.

Nexus 4 Randomly Powering Off

Had my Nexus 4 for some time now and the issues started once Android 5.x.x was released but has increased more recently.
I ended up trying around eight different ROMs posted on here hoping it might be OS level but it still does it.
Currently using this MIUI build whilst sacrificing the ability to use certain apps like banking.
It's getting to the point where it decides to power down and might not even turn back on till the next day. Which is exactly what happened yesterday.
When I attempt to power it on it gets as far going through all the boot animations; then I'll hear some sort of notification sound and it just powers down. This is the case for all ROMs.
As far as the battery being messed it was replaced with a new one a few months ago with me thinking it may be a solution for it. It's never been dropped or damaged so I don't suspect any internal damage. There's also no overheating ever if it helps. Just wanted to gather some opinions/advice on it before I pull the plug on the device and buy something else.
I am not sure if my situation is similar to yours but I'll share it anyway.
My battery was also a newly replaced recently but with an OEM battery, not the original from LG.
So it turns out that so-called 'new' battery depleted rather quickly and the power off randomly happens to me as well.
Until one morning, I realize the back cover was having this huge hump like its about to break apart.
Then I took apart the back cover and to my surprise, the battery was bulking inside (sign of a faulty battery)
Although it still can hold the charge, but it was making my phone looked like it was about to explode.
So my mistake at the time was thinking that the battery is fine when its actually not.
Because it was from OEM, so there is a chance or possibility that battery might go bad beyond our expectation.
Thanks for the reply!
Yeah I did replace it with a non LG battery but that was out of non being in stock at the time.
What I have now is a Kamal Star replacement from Amazon
The bulking you mention I don't seem to have with this current battery but when I was replacing the previous one I did notice it was bubbling if that's the best way for describing it; just a few small bump/bubbles over it randomly spaced. I really hope it wasn't somehow the cause the of the current fault.

Inaccurate battery percentage...

I have a 910T3 that I slow charge (AC) most of the time. When I see the green light go on, I unplug and see 100%, but after I reboot into TWRP recovery it is usually like 93%. Which one is accurate? I'd prefer the green light to go on when it's really 100%. Thank you.
Also, the stock battery is about 20 months old, and I can use it to about 0%-1% before it shuts off.
You could try reinitializing your battery. However seeing as your battery is that old. You would be better off getting a new one.
What is reinitializing the battery? I really wanted to avoid buying a new battery unless I really had to. I've read people's battery dying at like 25% left, that's when I'd buy a new one.
burntrat said:
What is reinitializing the battery? I really wanted to avoid buying a new battery unless I really had to. I've read people's battery dying at like 25% left, that's when I'd buy a new one.
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Click to collapse
Above post is correct as your battery is quite old it is probably time for a new one. My old note 4 was very similar to this before the emmc failed in it it would always show different percentages on battery,the phone died before i got to replace battery though
TheMadScientist said:
Above post is correct as your battery is quite old it is probably time for a new one. My old note 4 was very similar to this before the emmc failed in it it would always show different percentages on battery,the phone died before i got to replace battery though
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Click to collapse
Man I was hoping it wasn't time for a new battery just yet. Also, sorry to hear about your n4. Looks like eventually all of them will die like that soon. I swear this was planned cause the n5 wasn't that great, trying to thin out the n4 herd.
burntrat said:
Man I was hoping it wasn't time for a new battery just yet. Also, sorry to hear about your n4. Looks like eventually all of them will die like that soon. I swear this was planned cause the n5 wasn't that great, trying to thin out the n4 herd.
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Click to collapse
I loved my note 5. Battery killed in it too twice i haad a note 7 edge rom on it
TheMadScientist said:
I loved my note 5. Battery killed in it too twice i haad a note 7 edge rom on it
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Click to collapse
I tried the no5 for a bit, but wasn't really impressed with it. It had it's pros and cons, but I felt the no4 was better overall for my uses. I read others saying pretty much the same thing with sticking with the no4 rather than moving on the no5 cause of no battery or microsd card support etc.
How did you deal with dead batteries out of warranty or did you have both battery issues in the first year?
burntrat said:
I tried the no5 for a bit, but wasn't really impressed with it. It had it's pros and cons, but I felt the no4 was better overall for my uses. I read others saying pretty much the same thing with sticking with the no4 rather than moving on the no5 cause of no battery or microsd card support etc.
How did you deal with dead batteries out of warranty or did you have both battery issues in the first year?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol i bought 3 note 5s and pieced them together with one one good screen and a bad usb port on said screen i swapped the batteries myself I heated the baqck and didnt bust it just scratched it. so i ordered a new back and use small dabs of rubber cement to put it back on.
I do all my own repairs no warranty. i had a verizon tmobile and sprint mother boards luckily I rooted before the usb went out completly and used wifi file transfer and wireless charge for that issue. So much as I now despise Usb ports and no wireless charge on devices.
TheMadScientist said:
Lol i bought 3 note 5s and pieced them together with one one good screen and a bad usb port on said screen i swapped the batteries myself I heated the baqck and didnt bust it just scratched it. so i ordered a new back and use small dabs of rubber cement to put it back on.
I do all my own repairs no warranty. i had a verizon tmobile and sprint mother boards luckily I rooted before the usb went out completly and used wifi file transfer and wireless charge for that issue. So much as I now despise Usb ports and no wireless charge on devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I wish I had the skills and patience to do that. I know I'd make things worse and end up paying more in the long run for parts and fixing it. I think that is a huge reason why many won't move onto these newer phones without replaceable batteries.
I swapped out an older, but less used oem no4 battery and will see if it's any better.
So I'm using the older battery and lights up green at 100% (same level as TWRP rec).
But today, my phone just shut off at around 35-39% while in the middle of streaming a short video clip. Only way to turn it back on was to remove then reinsert the battery. Is this normal of dying batteries around the last 1/3 or could this possibly be an unstable kernel issue.

Will preventative battery replacement avoid bootloop?

Hi all,
I might be crazy but I'm considering buying a secondhand Nexus 6P, basically to use Project Fi. The Pixels are out my budget. I've been reading a lot on the battery and bootloop issues. Replacing the battery myself is something I could do.
The bootloop fix is also something I can do, but it does reduce the cores and thus performance.
One theory floated around here has been that the infamous bootloop that affects the big cores is a result of damage from a failing OEM battery. If this theory has merit, than buying a used 6P which still has good battery quality would be safe if I replace the battery before it ever has a chance to start the failure cycle. I don't know if this is a safe bet, though.
Any thoughts? Thanks!
thebordella said:
Hi all,
I might be crazy but I'm considering buying a secondhand Nexus 6P, basically to use Project Fi. The Pixels are out my budget. I've been reading a lot on the battery and bootloop issues. Replacing the battery myself is something I could do.
The bootloop fix is also something I can do, but it does reduce the cores and thus performance.
One theory floated around here has been that the infamous bootloop that affects the big cores is a result of damage from a failing OEM battery. If this theory has merit, than buying a used 6P which still has good battery quality would be safe if I replace the battery before it ever has a chance to start the failure cycle. I don't know if this is a safe bet, though.
Any thoughts? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. There are really two main issues affecting N6 users. One is a poor quality battery that degrades much quicker than most batteries, and the second is a hardware issue on the motherboard that causes the bootloop. To answer your question, a new battery will help the first issue but will do nothing to prevent the second. It is a hardware failure on the motherboard. The bootloop workaround is not a "fix". It permanently hobbles the device, and most people only use it to recover everything they need off the phone and to just get by until they can afford a replacement. That all being said, there are thousands of users that have not experienced either issue... BUT many people are selling their defective devices second hand to offset the cost of a new device. I guess confidence would be dependent on the reseller and any warranty you would have or could get (eg. SquareTrade).
No, in massive bootloop now. battery replaced last month
aGoGo said:
No, in massive bootloop now. battery replaced last month
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that. Maybe you can access recovery mode and/or try the bootloop workaround to salvage your data.
v12xke said:
No. There are really two main issues affecting N6 users. One is a poor quality battery that degrades much quicker than most batteries, and the second is a hardware issue on the motherboard that causes the bootloop. To answer your question, a new battery will help the first issue but will do nothing to prevent the second. It is a hardware failure on the motherboard. The bootloop workaround is not a "fix". It permanently hobbles the device, and most people only use it to recover everything they need off the phone and to just get by until they can afford a replacement. That all being said, there are thousands of users that have not experienced either issue... BUT many people are selling their defective devices second hand to offset the cost of a new device. I guess confidence would be dependent on the reseller and any warranty you would have or could get (eg. SquareTrade).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't count on Square Trade. After the one year warranty from Huawei ended on my 6P ( the 3rd one I've had ) it got shipped off to ST. They thought they could fix it. I told them the manufacturer couldn't fix it and to knock them selves out. Three days later they sent me a check.

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