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Thunderbolt: Mobile data/battery level shutdown issue

For a few weeks I've been having random instances where my tbolt suddenly shuts down. When I try to power it back up, one of 2 things happens:

After the HTC logo and the Thunderbolt splash, the phone would shut down again. Repeated power-ons would go through both splash screens and power down again.
Sometimes it would actually boot through to the home screen, but with the red battery indicator and a connect charger message. If i didn't connect the charger within a few seconds, the phone will power down again.

This problem would happen even if I had just disconnected the charger and the battery was nearly full. If I reconnect the charger after it powers down, it powers up normally and shows plenty of charge on the battery. Below is a screen capture of the battery screen use, you can see the tiny red dots in the gaps where I tried to reboot the phone without the charger connected and it thought the battery was dead. Once the charger is reconnected, the phone would boot fine and the battery level would be back up where it was pre-crash:

battery level.jpg

I did all kinds of tests, starting by uninstalling most of the apps on the phone, which made no difference. Eventually I started to realize a pattern that it would happen more often when I left my home. To maximize battery life, I'm in the habit of turning off unused radios (bluetooth/mobile data/GPS) when I'm home and only use wi-fi, and shut off wifi and enable mobile data when I leave. I am now able to easily replicate the problem by two simple steps:

1) enable mobile data

2) disconnect the charger

That combination will always result in the problem, typically in 1-20 minutes or so. It also doesn't matter if i'm actually doing anything. Leaving the phone sitting on my desk I can watch it shut off, so I have ruled out the "loose-fitting/bulging battery" issue found elsewhere on this forum as a contributing factor.

Without mobile data enabled, I can run on wifi for hours until the battery actually does run down naturally. In the picture below, I used wifi for over an hour, then switched to mobile data, and it shut off right away. Again (if you look close) you can see the tiny red dot indicating the phone thought the battery was near zero when it came back on:

wifi battery use.jpg

Here's my software info:

Comments

CRae1030

Mine is doing something similar to this... This is the 2nd phone that has had this issue and not sure how to fix this. I've even tried a master reset and a new battery.

Verizon_Support

Hi BJ-Tbolt-user,

This is certainly a strange behavior! Did this issue start after the installation of a 3rd party application? It sounds like a 3rd party application conflict. I recommend removing the latest installed applications and test. Also, remove any battery management applications and/or antivirus applications from the phone as this type of applications are known to cause similar issues/conflicts. Keep us posted!

AntonioC_VZWSupport

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VZWSupport

BJ-Tbolt-user

I backed up all my data, performed a factory reset on the phone, did not install any apps, and I'm still experiencing the problem. In fact, it has gotten worse that it is now happening regardless of the wireless network state (wifi/mobile data/no radios active, including "airplane mode".)

It definitely seems that the phone is no longer able to accurately determine the charge level of the battery (i.e. it thinks it's at 0% and shuts off - it never even goes into "battery saving" mode, since it never reaches the 15% threshold triggering those notifications...it skips from 80% or whatever charge it currently has right to 0%.

Bamacritter

My TB is doing the SAME thing! I figured I had killed the cells in my battery by charging it in the car, etc. It seems to happen when I am using an app and maybe taking a picture - it just shuts instantly down. Takes forever to restart, too. I also go from 3G to 4GLTE all the time - while sitting in the same spot. Is it the phone or is it VzW? I am trying to hang on to this phone until my upgrade date in March...but that's a long time to deal with an unreliable phone.

paulhonch

Thunderbolt owner as well. Under a "full charge" it only last for an hour and a half to two hours before it says low battery. Then I restart the phone only to have a full battery for another hour our so, then the same process over and over. Also phone will all of a sudden restart or shutdown on it's own without warning. Tried calling Verizon for help... Was pretty much told "tough luck"...

camaro01octane

i also had this problem also with a crazy battery life, also my phone would freeze up alot. So therefor i would restart my phone, after powering it off and back on my battery would be complety drained and showing red. Before i restarted my phone soemtimes it would be fully charged.

BJ-Tbolt-user

Update:

I purchased the extended battery for my phone, and have been using it for over a week now without any issues. I have slowly started adding my apps back on, but it seems that the T-bolt is terrible at providing accurate information about a battery that is past it's usable lifetime (about 17 months in my case) Of course, changing the battery usage graph widget in the phone to reset the graph every time you plug/unplug the charger doesn't help the situation much. (that was changed in the last software update)

The Verizon CSR on the phone was not very helpful, as she told me that the problem sounded like a hardware/software problem if a factory reset did not fix the issue, and that it would probably be a waste of time to buy the battery given the symptoms I described, but told me that I could return it after 14 days if the battery didn't fix the issue. I don't know if she was trying to steer me to getting a new phone, but I insisted on going ahead ordering the battery.

The battery has disappeared from the verizon online store, but you can still order it by calling customer service, it's part number HTC6400BATX, and comes with a replacment back cover to fit the larger battery---note that if you have a case, it will no longer fit with the larger battery, and depending on the model, if you have a car/windshield mount it may not be able to hold the phone either.

But now, I don't know how I lived with this phone without the extended battery. I was hit by hurricane Sandy, and my t-bolt lasted for 2 days on a single charge, with fairly frequent 4G use during the day.

Bamacritter

I did a factory reset and it actually made the TB problems worse. VZW is sending me a Rezound for my troubles. My TB was still under warranty and I have the Equipment Protection Plan. If you do, I wouldn't mess around with the TB anymore....they are an archaic device now she HTC has no plans to put anymore work into them.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

jsemtp

Why are there so many postings of the same problem on here and other forums, but Support people are always "unaware" of any problems. Why is this something that we as a "community" are supposed to figure out on our own on here.

So my problem is, when I unplug phone from charger, where it will be showing 100% battery full, phone goes off, and then goes into a cycle of trying to restart, HTC screen comes on, short vibration, screen goes blank, and then cycle repeats. If left unchecked, battery heats up and phone gets hot. I have to do a battery pull, and then reinsert when it has cooled down, and even then it could take 5-10 cycles of doing this to get it to finally start. No, it's not any apps having been added, no, it has not been in the water and so on, all the normal "support BS answers" they give.

klmurray

I am having the same problem with the battery. Of course customer service can't help me. I am going to try a new battery with removing some apps.

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