Phone or Battery?

[G2gGolfing69]

Hey, I have searched, but I didn't find anything so I figured I would post and ask. I have had my Storm 9530 for a year and 11 days (I know because I took it to Verizon and asked and he said it is out of warranty), running V5.0.0.328. About a week ago I was getting about 3 days out of my battery, then all of a sudden (no charging habits changed) it won't even last a full day. I will be talking on it and it will randomly drop the call and it will be in "battery too low for service" mode. I have dropped several important work phone calls due to this. Occasionally, if I pull the battery after one of these drops and wait a second and I put it back in, my battery life returns to about half. If I put it on my charger, it will be fully charged in about 10 minutes. I guess my question is, is this the battery and possibly a cell died in it and I should just replace the battery or is it the phone and should I upgrade to the storm 2 or the droid x? I am getting a little tired of having to pull the battery more than daily to reset the phone for it running slower and having low battery.
Thanks,
Garrett

[mechanic_joe]

In my opinion, #1 would be to upgrade to .419 (the most solid Storm OS to date). If your phone still acts the same, there is a hardware fault.

[PaintDrinkingPete]

It sounds like could a battery issue to me, but just to make sure I'm reading you right, when the dropped call thing happens...

1. You're on a call
-Just for a frame of reference, what is the battery level before a call starts in your scenario above? 100%, 80%, 50%?
2. The call drops, phone says, "battery too low for service"
- What does the battery meter read at this time (before you pull it)? Does the meter indicate battery drained, or not? Also, is the unit "hot" to the touch, or does the device feel warmer than normal?
3. You do a battery pull, and the battery meter will read about ~50%
-Is this about where you'd expect it to be, given the charge level before the call started?
4. It charges really quickly when you plug it in

Some additional questions:
- have you installed any new apps recently?
- what apps do you usually have running?
- I'm assuming you've been running OS .328 for quite some time, yes? (at least since well before this behavior started?)
- How reproducible is this behavior? Does it happen every time you make a call, or just every now and then?
- Finally, does the battery behave otherwise normally when you're not on a call (but still doing email, SMS, web, etc)?

[suyatmo]

lets recheck. click to option -> mobile network -> disable data service. So you just use phone and sms feature. Lets see how long the battery will power up the unit. If it still only about a day, 90% is about your battery.
But as my experience, i have 6 email with total about 200 mails a day. Only have yahoo messenger. the battery stand for 10-12 hours.

[lotzakritters]

My Storm is about the same age with the same battery. I just went through two replacement phone with the same problems. I just bought a new battery and all the problems went away. My phone is back to being brand new again.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[G2gGolfing69]

Originally Posted by PaintDrinkingPete

It sounds like could a battery issue to me, but just to make sure I'm reading you right, when the dropped call thing happens...

1. You're on a call
-Just for a frame of reference, what is the battery level before a call starts in your scenario above? 100%, 80%, 50%?
2. The call drops, phone says, "battery too low for service"
- What does the battery meter read at this time (before you pull it)? Does the meter indicate battery drained, or not? Also, is the unit "hot" to the touch, or does the device feel warmer than normal?
3. You do a battery pull, and the battery meter will read about ~50%
-Is this about where you'd expect it to be, given the charge level before the call started?
4. It charges really quickly when you plug it in

Some additional questions:
- have you installed any new apps recently?
- what apps do you usually have running?
- I'm assuming you've been running OS .328 for quite some time, yes? (at least since well before this behavior started?)
- How reproducible is this behavior? Does it happen every time you make a call, or just every now and then?
- Finally, does the battery behave otherwise normally when you're not on a call (but still doing email, SMS, web, etc)?

1. The battery will be about 75 percent or so.
2. The battery is red and empty, no its not hot
3. I would have to say yes, but that only happens some of the time, most of the time it is still dead.
4. I don't think it charges really quickly...I think it just does a partial charge.

I've had .328 since the official release, the only apps on my phone are google maps, facebook, flashlight, pandora, weather. I don't have any of them on the whole day though and I don't even use them that often lately.

I can reproduce it about daily or every other. I have noticed it randomly shut off a couple of times when using google maps. The other day I checked it and the battery was 80 percent full or more and by the time I left my desk at work for lunch and walked to my car, the battery was dead and I couldn't do anything.

[PaintDrinkingPete]

Originally Posted by G2gGolfing69

1. The battery will be about 75 percent or so.
2. The battery is red and empty, no its not hot
3. I would have to say yes, but that only happens some of the time, most of the time it is still dead.
4. I don't think it charges really quickly...I think it just does a partial charge.

I've had .328 since the official release, the only apps on my phone are google maps, facebook, flashlight, pandora, weather. I don't have any of them on the whole day though and I don't even use them that often lately.

I can reproduce it about daily or every other. I have noticed it randomly shut off a couple of times when using google maps. The other day I checked it and the battery was 80 percent full or more and by the time I left my desk at work for lunch and walked to my car, the battery was dead and I couldn't do anything.

Then yes, I'd say there's a good chance it's the battery. Worst case scenario, even if you get a new battery and turns out to be something else (which I'm doubting, given your symptoms), you'll have yourself a spare battery, which can come in very handy at times. I often carry an extra one with me if I'm going to away from a charger for prolonged periods of time.

[G2gGolfing69]

New update, the phone now just died, 10 minutes off of the charger and I went to restart it and it is now lighting up the red light on top and then you see the hour glass. Then it goes black and restarts again. It just keeps recycling, until the battery is dead. About on my last straw with this phone. I ordered a new battery, it will be here on Monday. I am almost to the point of just selling it and getting the Droid X.

[Tarheelfan40]

Originally Posted by G2gGolfing69

New update, the phone now just died, 10 minutes off of the charger and I went to restart it and it is now lighting up the red light on top and then you see the hour glass. Then it goes black and restarts again. It just keeps recycling, until the battery is dead. About on my last straw with this phone. I ordered a new battery, it will be here on Monday. I am almost to the point of just selling it and getting the Droid X.

Dont let this bad experience run you off from BB. Depending on your usage 11 months is a good time frame. I have 3 batteries I interchange throughout the day, but then again I have 7 email accounts (including work) and put 8-10 hours of phone conversation in a day, and by the end of the day they are all drained.

[gregs87]

I think it is your battery. Since 5.0 came out I dont get as much battery life as I used to. I have a USB cord in my office so if I am using it alot I can just attach it. I am on a replacement battery, but I still have my first one that I keep charged and in my briefcase just in case.

[G2gGolfing69]

I don't use my BB while at work, I have a different cell for work. That is just my private, I might send 4 texts while at work and that is it. By the end of the day, if I make 3 calls (around 6pm) my phone will be dead. I don't really have a problem with my BB, but you have to admit, a battery should last a full day, especially when it used to last for 4 with constant data use.

[Zelmo88]

Originally Posted by G2gGolfing69

New update, the phone now just died, 10 minutes off of the charger and I went to restart it and it is now lighting up the red light on top and then you see the hour glass. Then it goes black and restarts again. It just keeps recycling, until the battery is dead. About on my last straw with this phone. I ordered a new battery, it will be here on Monday. I am almost to the point of just selling it and getting the Droid X.

If your phone gets stuck in the rebooting cycle, chances are you have a corrupt OS. The rebooting cycle will kill your battery quickly. You may want to try deleting the OS software on your computer and reinstalling a clean OS (as mentioned, .419 is very stable and battery friendly). If you have problems reloading the OS...or your phone is still stuck in the rebooting cycle, try the following link:

How do I recover a dead blackberry

[Krypto]

Zelmo88 is correct. Nothing described here makes me think its the battery. Its just that the OS or one of the databases became corrupt. I'd either reload the OS or install .419. And to ensure its all set, back up the phone first, do a security wipe (or a handheld wipe using something like BBSAK), then once the reload is complete, do an advanced restore of just the databases you need (e.g. Contacts, calendar, messages, etc.). And be sure to manually redownload each of your applications rather than going from a back up.

99% guaranteed this will fix the phone (unless the battery has now been damaged from these problems).

By the way, why does everyone say they'll just switch to Android... Do you think Android is any better? Trust me, similar problems happen with Android phones as well. And with iPhones. Reloading the OS is typically the resolution there as well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[G2gGolfing69]

I just got my battery in the mail yesterday, I am going to try it out tomorrow and I will see what happens. I will try the OS update regardless, but I was just thinking of switching to the android, because I have been told that it is a nicer touchscreen phone (other than it's large size) than the storm 2, am I mistaken? I don't really need all of the security that BB offers as this is my personal phone and not my work phone. I mostly just use the storm for data, text and emails. I don't think I actually talk on the phone that much LOL.

[PaintDrinkingPete]

Originally Posted by G2gGolfing69

New update, the phone now just died, 10 minutes off of the charger and I went to restart it and it is now lighting up the red light on top and then you see the hour glass. Then it goes black and restarts again. It just keeps recycling, until the battery is dead. About on my last straw with this phone. I ordered a new battery, it will be here on Monday. I am almost to the point of just selling it and getting the Droid X.

Originally Posted by Zelmo88

If your phone gets stuck in the rebooting cycle, chances are you have a corrupt OS. The rebooting cycle will kill your battery quickly. You may want to try deleting the OS software on your computer and reinstalling a clean OS (as mentioned, .419 is very stable and battery friendly). If you have problems reloading the OS...or your phone is still stuck in the rebooting cycle, try the following link:

How do I recover a dead blackberry

Originally Posted by Krypto

Zelmo88 is correct. Nothing described here makes me think its the battery. Its just that the OS or one of the databases became corrupt. I'd either reload the OS or install .419. And to ensure its all set, back up the phone first, do a security wipe (or a handheld wipe using something like BBSAK), then once the reload is complete, do an advanced restore of just the databases you need (e.g. Contacts, calendar, messages, etc.). And be sure to manually redownload each of your applications rather than going from a back up.

99% guaranteed this will fix the phone (unless the battery has now been damaged from these problems).

By the way, why does everyone say they'll just switch to Android... Do you think Android is any better? Trust me, similar problems happen with Android phones as well. And with iPhones. Reloading the OS is typically the resolution there as well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Well, the first question would be if the phone boots up OK when it's plugged in...?

I'm still not convinced that it's not a bad battery (which you'll now be able to test for sure). I currently manage about 85 Blackberries as a BES admin for the office I work in. I've seen units exhibit some of the symptoms you describe, and it almost ends up being the battery. If your battery holds "just enough" of a change to power up the phone, but not enough to fully complete the boot up cycle, then the behavior you described could definitely be battery related, especially if it boots fine while plugged in. It's also highly possible that your OS is corrupted, and that the corruption is a direct result of the faulty power supplied by the defective battery, in which case you would still want to do a fresh OS install. (Then, of course, there is the chicken vs. the egg side of the argument, that a faulty OS could cause irreversable damage to the battery due to improper discharging and higher than normal operating temps, but either way a replacement battery would be needed).

Granted, I nor anyone else here can be 100% certain about anything -- I'm interested to see how things go with the new replacement battery.

Side note: I agree 100% with Krypto's statement about Android and other platforms regarding battery and OS issues. Take it from someone who knows from experience, Android phones are definitely NOT without their battery issues as well; in fact I'd say that platform is more notorious for poor power management than BlackBerry ever could be.