Urgent help required - battery not charging!

[bilalbilal]

I accidentally threw my Blackberry Storm....
Phone was working the following day, put it on charge at night and in the morning the battery was almost dead.
Came back from out and phone battery was dead. When I turned phone on, the screen wouldn't respond, and after a minute or so I would get the message "Battery drained - handheld shutting off".
Then, several days ago, when I tried charging it again by mains, their was suddenly life. Got to two blocks and stopped charging.
Had to remove charger and re-insert into phone and phone was charging intermittently, on and off again and again. However, the screen WAS responding this time!

I've also tried a different mains charger and the USB cable, same problem...

Any ideas on what the problem could be? Sometimes it doesn't charge at all! I've ordered an external battery charger as a temporary solution but is there any way I can fix it permanently?
Any help GREATLY appreciated!

P.S. I've also ordered a replacement battery port - could this be the problem? Or is it likely to be the battery?

Cannot be charger since I have tried several different ones and the USB cable.

[jeffmeden]

Have you tried charging via USB attached to your PC? It goes slower but I have found it to be more reliable when my phone is being finicky about charging. The no. 1 culprit is a poor internal battery connection to the phone. Try cleaning the contacts with a q-tip and making sure the battery is seated squarely when you put it in.

[bilalbilal]

Originally Posted by jeffmeden

Have you tried charging via USB attached to your PC? It goes slower but I have found it to be more reliable when my phone is being finicky about charging. The no. 1 culprit is a poor internal battery connection to the phone. Try cleaning the contacts with a q-tip and making sure the battery is seated squarely when you put it in.

Yes I have tried USB cable, same problem.
Battery is seated properly.
What do you mean by Q-TIP?

[jeffmeden]

Originally Posted by bilalbilal

Yes I have tried USB cable, same problem.
Battery is seated properly.
What do you mean by Q-TIP?

You're joking, right? A little stick thing with cotton on both ends? Do they not have those on the other side of the pond?

As for the phone, does the USB connection show up on the PC at all? if not, it is almost certainly a failed USB port.

[xxxshockerxxx]

It's most likely the usb port. Those are the most common things to fail for the storm. I've experienced it first hand, I was lucky enough to have rim replaced my entire phone for free though. What I did before I sent it off those was order an external battery charger like you did, and an extra battery off Ebay. Cost me about 10 bucks for both of them and even though my usb port's fixed I never use it to charge my phone. I just pop one battery in my storm, it lasts all day then pop the other one in over night. You could try doing that if you can' get it fixed.

[bilalbilal]

Originally Posted by jeffmeden

You're joking, right? A little stick thing with cotton on both ends? Do they not have those on the other side of the pond?

As for the phone, does the USB connection show up on the PC at all? if not, it is almost certainly a failed USB port.

O, thats what your talking about

As for charging the phone via USB, it seems to act weirdly but in the same way. Red light flashes on and off, and sometimes stays continuously on. After a minute or so the lightning battery icon comes and then phone turns off after a few seconds...Red light then stays continously on again...

I really can't give you one fixed description, it seems to change whenever it feels like. If I remove and reinsert the USB sometimes it begins to charge again or sometimes it just stays dead.

I've already connected and installed the drivers for the storm on my laptop and my PC so when I went to Desktop Manager I received this error....


So I decided to click on update...it downloads all the files and then gives another error as below...


Then when I click on cancel I get another error!


I really don't understand what the problem is. I've ordered an external battery charger (had to order it from Hong Kong since UK was almost three times the price) and it should arrive sometime next week...

Also ordered a replacement port for the phone (from UK so should be here very soon).

Should I order a new battery aswell? This is really taking the mickel.

All my contacts, messages and other multimedia are all stored on the phone as well....

O yes, and I really doubt it is the software since I updated the phone several months back and haven't had any problem of the sort...only once I accidentally dropped the phone I began to have the problem...

ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT THE PROBLEM COULD BE ?!??!!
HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED...FROM ANYONE!

[bilalbilal]

Originally Posted by xxxshockerxxx

It's most likely the usb port. Those are the most common things to fail for the storm. I've experienced it first hand, I was lucky enough to have rim replaced my entire phone for free though. What I did before I sent it off those was order an external battery charger like you did, and an extra battery off Ebay. Cost me about 10 bucks for both of them and even though my usb port's fixed I never use it to charge my phone. I just pop one battery in my storm, it lasts all day then pop the other one in over night. You could try doing that if you can' get it fixed.

Thanks, I just missed your post while typing up the long post above.
And HOW IRONIC....Several minutes after I typed up that post the Blackberry ACTUALLY BOOTS UP!!!
It is currently charging at the moment...finally!
It has done this before though, so I'm not surprised if it stops charging after a while.
I will keep you updated on what happens, and many thanks for your continuous support.
O yes, and besides, now that the phone IS charging and has been for the past 10 minutes, does this rule out the problem of it possibly being a faulty charging port?

EDIT: Phone is still charging but Desktop Manager still gives the same error.
Will let the phone charge overnight and keep you updated on what happens.

EDIT 2: How Ironic. Just as I predicted, phone stops charging. Tried to update the device again and was all going well...
but now I get RELOAD Software 507 error! DAMN! THIS just KEEPS ON GETTING WORSE...
Get error when updating saying Application loader was unable to connect to your device bla bla bla...

EDIT 3: A quick google search has solved the problem....now have the latest OS on my phone at the cost of my personal data!

[bilalbilal]

FINAL UPDATE: I have now found a temporary solution to solve the charging problem. I have to push up the charger where it plugs into the phone on the side (charging tip) and then wrap the wire around the phone to keep it up so that it stays in the same position. The phone is charging like this...

I guess this means it rules out the possibility of being it a faulty charger or battery. I have also tried several other chargers and it now seems to charge if I push the actual charging tip up on the side...the battery charges and keeps its hold so it also isn't the battery...cannot be the battery connectors or the phone wouldn't turn on..cannot be the software since I have just updated it.

Does this mean that the problem is MOST LIKELY the charger port?

I've also plugged in my charger into the new USB port I received today and the charger tip doesn't move around, it is tight and stuck in one place. However, on the USB port that is actually on the phone, the charger tip moves easily hence I assume it is a loose charger port. Can someone confirm with me that the problem IS the charger port?

AND ALSO.... How do I change the charger port?
I've just opened my BB up and seems like I'm going to have to desolder the original one...but do you have to solder the little things at the back aswell?

[Tanaydana]

I think I have the same problem with you. My usb port seems to have a problem. Whenever I connect the wall charger or the usb cable, it doesn't charge up, the lightning bolt during charging doesn't show up. Look at the picture I uploaded, a screenshot on my screen, it shows a little socket on the battery instead of the lightning bolt/blinking thunder icon. By the way, I'm using a Pearl 3G 9105.