[dredheadV2]

"Battery drained, shutting down handheld" is what the poor sucker is telling me, despite being gifted with a freshly charged battery from my loaner 8700.

When plugged into the charger, I can use all the apps (except the phone) and the charge indicator shows the lighting bolt next to the empty battery. But the battery, she never charges (and it's charged anyway, as I verify by returning it to the 8700). When I power it down with the charger plugged in, I get a weird, slow amber pulse (approx 4-second cycle) instead of the low-battery flash.

I've had it as apart as I can, down to the board and removed the LCD, and as far as I can tell all that's wrong with it is the miniUSB jack came loose, and the little piece of amber-colored tape that was on top of the jack is gone. No idea what that piece of tape did, but it's not there. I can't see any cracked anything, other than the case and crystal which were somewhat abused-looking (I've dropped it a few times, and sat on it when I was changing the oil on the bike) - to my eyes the circuit board looks intact. I have a somewhat functional 8320 to compare it to, and they look identical.

So, is there anything that can go wrong with the physical power system - battery connections, charging connections, maybe a ground or common that's outta whack - which causes these symptoms?

I have the 8320 to cannibalize parts from, and already pulled the case off that phone and wrapped it around the guts of the 8310, hoping the cracked up case messed up a circuit somehow.

Any advice appreciated. If I could afford a new phone, I would, but that's not happening right now.

Thanks
D*

[AZBBFAN]

could be your mini USB gone bad, it happens after time. charging cradles will prevent this. I highly recommend them

[dredheadV2]

could be your mini USB gone bad, it happens after time. charging cradles will prevent this. I highly recommend them

I won't deny that'd be a good thing, but I'm trying to understand how the damaged mini USB socket would cause the BB to look at a fully charged battery and think it's depleted. The only damage I can see is the metal shell which surrounds the socket and which is affixed to the board at 4 solder joints has come loose (but I think I was able to re-solder those joints last night) and that piece of tape is gone.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kpringle]

help. i'm new to blackberry and i am having the same problems as most of you with the battery. new battery out of the box was on charger all night. i keep getting the lightning bolt battery symbol and as long as my phone is on the "charger" it will work, but if i unplug it i get the "message battery drained. shutting down hand held" or something to that effect. what do i do? help!!!