This morning I woke up to find my phone (Droid 4) completely off with the green notification LED solidly lit. This is the second time this has happened, so I didn't panic this time, but was annoyed with my room mate for closing my computer and causing it to go to sleep. The first time this happened I was worried that my phone had irretrievably died as the normal methods of turning it on (power button and a hard reset with the volume key) were not working. I did some internet searching and found that many people had this happen to them, though there never seemed to really be a reason for it. After a bit of trial and error, I found that I could do the hard reset while the phone was plugged in to a charging source (i.e. a wall charger or a computer that is ON) and this fixed the problem to the point that I could see my phone was not a brick.
Today, as I said, was the second time this happened. I wanted to post something for anyone else who is experiencing this same issue. First off, the fix...
>> make sure that your phone is plugged into an active charging source
--- I am not sure that the phone will charge on it's own while in this hibernate mode, but it might, either way you will likely have to proceed on to the next step
>> While the phone is still plugged in, perform a hard reset (hold down power button and volume down for ~30 seconds) and watch for the green LED to go off before releasing the buttons
--- the phone should turn on at this point (at least the Motorola splash screen should come up)
--- If you have it plugged into a computer, this may be all that happens before your phone turns off again, I found that it is easier to have the phone plugged into a wall charger to ensure that it is not trying to communicate through the USB cable
>> If the phone has less than 5% battery left (mine was at 0% this morning) then the phone will not stay on, and cannot be used even while plugged in. Once you do the hard reset, let it turn back off and leave it plugged in to power (the green LED should stay off)
>> after a little while (maybe 5 to 10 minutes) the phone should have more that 5% charge and you should be able to use it while it is plugged in and charging.
Now, on reflection, this seems like a horrible idea to allow the phone to discharge though the USB cable. I imagine that it is an issue with the USB data lines allowing current to flow when the computer is off, but this seems like a glaring oversight in power management, The phone should be able to detect whether it is connected to an active device and not allow a continuous (and apparently large) power drain to occur. If I had more time and interest I might try to characterize the power drain while the phone is plugged into a computer which is off, but for now I hope that this post helps someone down the line. I also suppose that at some point the battery would go completely flat and even the green LED would not light. I would think that this same procedure would work in that case as well
not all computers provide power via usb when the machine is off
and not all phones will cahrge if they do
my fascinate charges with my pc off, my wifes droid 2 will not
I agree with what you said. My concern is mainly that the phone discharges when the computer is off, not that it doesn’t charge from a computer that is off. When I left the phone last night it was at 90%, but after my roommate closed the computer and allowed it to go to sleep, the USB power shuts off after a short while and then the phone discharges its battery into the computer. It seems like flow from the phone to the computer should be prevented in order to prevent just this situation.
you sure? does it die faster when connected then disconnected?
Yup, very sure. If I leave it alone with even just 10% it will still be above 5% in the morning. This is twice now that it has gone into a hibernation state when plugged in to my laptop for charging and then the laptop went to sleep. The first time was because the laptop wasn’t plugged in. This time it was because it was closed. The fact that the battery was completely drained overnight both times (usually I can get a couple days on a charge if I am not using it heavily) tells me that it is the USB connection to the computer that is doing it. Leaving it plugged into a USB wall wart does not have the same effect.
Bear in mind that it does charge just fine on the USB computer connection as long as the computer is on.
This reply in that link is what I am suggesting should have been implemented in the Droid 4:
“Just adding my 2 cents. Found this to be odd with my new phone. Previous WM6.1 phone I would sync and charge overnight with my PC and let both 'sleep' when done. WM6 must be closing the port when the USB power drops so not to deplete the battery.
Just one more quirk with the new device.”
There is no reason for current leakage into a sleeping computer because of keeping data lines open. It should be easy enough to shut down the usb port when a voltage drop is detected in on the power pins. In any case, hopefully my posting will at least alleviate some anxiety for someone down the line. The procedure gets the phone back up and running in an expedient manner. Thanks for your research.
I am having a similar problem with my Droid Ultra. I have it plugged into wall socket, and my notification tone does not go off and the power drops in 6 hours from the end of charge.
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