Solved Droid Maxx won't power up after battery change

[Darell Ruehle]

My wife loved her Maxx, she's on the phone constantly with her job and she started out getting better than 12 hours of talk time. She used a charger for a samsung tablet and was really happy with how fast it charged. I told her not to do that and she had only done it a couple of times and yet she hurt her battery and she was barely getting home by 5 and needing to plug it in.

Bought a new battery, found a link on YouTube and replaced it. Everything seemed great, but her volume buttons weren't working. I took it apart again that night put it back together, not finding anything. Still the volume buttons didn't work. I believe there is a little plastic piece in front of the switch that can easily be broken, I found 2 of them, but I can't confirm it.

Took it apart again and when I put it back together it wouldn't power up. Or did it... It vibrated, but the screen didn't light up. So now I think that something is wrong with the screen or the cable to the screen but I'm afraid to take it apart because it's on. I plugged it into the computer (hoping that it was up and I could save some data), but that just made it vibrate on a regular basis, every 20-30 seconds.

Took it apart again, very carefully as there was some power to it... (this was the next day) popped the battery plug off to shut it down. I pulled off the LCD cable and reseated it and put it back together. I powered it up with the back cover on but not snapped in. It started to power up!!! I was elated!! I snapped the cover back on and walked back to my desk, when I got there, the screen was black. It wouldn't try and power up again. I plugged it into the computer and the Purple M comes up and goes out and the green LED in the corner flashes, but nothing else. I thought maybe the battery was dead?? So I plugged it into the charger. Purple M and no green LED. Still won't power up. Unplugged and tried again, this time when I plugged it back into the charger the gren light came on for quite a while then went out and we're back to the purple flashing M.

If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate it. I forgot to backup her pictures before I started so I would really like to get those back somehow.

Thanks!

 

[Darell Ruehle]

Fixed! Note: Read this before replacing a Droid Maxx Battery. This probably applies to most Moto phones, maybe others, I don't know but here's a good tip.

When replacing a battery, you get to the step where all of the Motherboard screws are removed and you are about to gently pry off the motherboard from the Right side while it's open and the screen is face down.
1). Notice a metal piece on the left side, this piece is a curved "c" shape. It's C shaped because there are little tabs on the motherboard that hit the top of the C and hold the motherboard tight to the frame below. (for ground connections) Be very careful with these tabs, they break off easy.
2). If you know they are there and gently open from the left pretending the C shaped frame is a hinge you should be OK. (I broke one off near the bottom the 3rd time I took it apart (trying to solve the volume issue) and that's when I stopped powering up.)
3). Also there appears to be little plastic pieces that are over volume switches, they are very tiny and delicate so be careful of these as well.

I took this phone apart twice after making the initial post, the last time I was examining the bottom (screen facing) of the motherboard and noticed many little metal tabs that kind of look like this if you put one edge flat on the board "<". these are there to make ground connections to different parts of the Motherboard.

I remembered the little plastic tab the broke off the motherboard (it looks just like they bent a piece of the mother board up a bit when it was manufactured) and the lights went on, I wasn't getting a good ground connection to the lower part of the board. So I screwed everything back together ( I left the rear cover off) and I rolled up some paper and jammed it into the C rail near the lower part where the tab broke. I secured it with some tape. However, it still didn't power up. So I plugged it into my computer to see if the Purple M still came up, it did, the vibrator Buzzed and it booted. I'm transferring my wife's pictures to my computer now.

I hope this helps someone! DrDarell

 

[FoxKat]

With all that work disassembling and reassembling you didn't happen to capture any shots regarding the tab and contact concerns you mention, did you?

 

[Darell Ruehle]

With all that work disassembling and reassembling you didn't happen to capture any shots regarding the tab and contact concerns you mention, did you?

No, I didn't even think about it... I wish I would have. I still can't figure out the stupid volume switches... I found two tiny plastic pieces that I thought were part of the switches, but the more I look at them I just can't figure out how that would have worked.
I did two more things after the post as it powered down on me again when I put the back cover on. I put a piece of tape over the motherboard, on the back side of where the battery plugs in. When I put the cover on the motherboard shorted out against the battery. I also noticed that the second tab broke off the motherboard, so I took a piece of light weight cardboard. It was about an inch wide and and a little shorter than the battery, I folded the edge and tucked into the C frame and laid it on top of the motherboard. Then I put the battery on top of that and snapped on the cover to hold everything tight. It works like a champ... Except for the damn volume switches. If I have the need to go in there again I'll take some pics.

 

[FoxKat]

Well I'm sorry you had the difficulties you did. I would suggest if you haven't that you watch one or another of the Droid Maxx Teardown videos. It is possible that they may lend some clues to what those plastic things are that are impacting the volume switches.

Here is one;

 

[Darell Ruehle]

The one you posted is the one I used... But thanks for the offer!