Is there any hope for my razr?

[Lyubov]

Ok so I have had my razr for over a year and now it wont turn on however the white light comes on while its on charge. is there any hope left that it would come on? or should i just call it quits? This is the first time I've plugged it in this week.
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[FoxKat]

This is a common problem related to the battery and the charging & metering circuitry becoming, we'll say "out of sync". The meter believed that the battery had more juice left in it than it actually did, and by running it into a "deep discharge" - leaving it to drain the battery slowly over a week's time with no charge, the battery is now so low that it can't catch up to the requirements of the phone in order to boot into "charge only" mode. In the future to protect yourself from the same problem again, first make sure the battery has at least 40-50% charge level, then if it's going to be "out of service" or not used for an extended period of time, power it down completely by pressing and holding the power button, and then selecting "Power off" from the menu and following the prompts. In that state, it can remain off charge for several months or more without risk of deep discharge.

There are several tricks and techniques to essentially "boost charge" the battery enough so that it won't be sucking all the charger power when plugged in and it will allow the phone's charging circuitry to boot the phone.

Some methods work better than others, and some will work one time and not another;

• Use a car cigarette (accessory) adapter as they put a bit more current out than the stock wall adapter does. The phone may still respond initially with the "white light of death" (as it's commonly referred to), but it may eventually go out, followed by the normal Red Motorola logo and then the charging indicator - a large animated battery.
• Plug into the wall adapter and leave it alone for an extended period of time, it may take one or more days to eventually get up enough juice to boot into charge only mode. It may never, but it's worth a try.
• Purchase a Factory Programming Cable (or fashion one yourself), and use it to boost the battery for about 15-30 minutes, but not more than 1 hour, then go back to the standard wall adapter and see if it takes hold.
• Open the case, cut a USB cable and expose the plus and minus wires on the end, plug that cable into the wall adapter, and attach the bare ends of the wires directly to the battery terminals inside the phone - paying extra-careful attention to making sure the positive wire is connected to the positive terminal and vice versa. Again, only do this for 30-60 minutes, then revert to the normal charging method.
• Try using a iPad charger in place of the standard wall adapter, since they put out more than twice the current of the stock adapter and it may be able to boost the battery back to life.

I am sure others will chime in here and make some additional creative suggestions, but be careful. You can destroy the battery by over-charging or charging at too high a current. Also, opening the case will void any warranty you may have remaining, but if the phone's over a year old, you don't have a factory warranty anymore anyway. If you purchased an extended warranty, USE IT!!!

Good luck! :biggrin:

P.S. I am moving this thread to the Smartphone Battery Discussion Forum. You'll get lots of help from my disciples there too. There will still be an active link here as well.

 

[Lyubov]

I just tried my Razr Maxx USB charging chord with a Galaxy tab 2 wall charger and had my phone in the wall for almost 10 hours? (9PM to 6:32AM(now) and its still in)
the next thing it to try "Purchase a Factory Programming Cable "

 

[bsuff1441]

If you want to save time and money for trying the "Purchase a Factory Programming Cable " got to your local verizon/att store and tell them your problem, and ask them if you can use one of the "Purchase a Factory Programming Cables" on the floor. I did this, and the rep at the store let me leave my phone there over night. Now, my phone didnt work because of a much more damaging problem, but by doing this it will save you time.

 

[Lyubov]

If you want to save time and money for trying the "Purchase a Factory Programming Cable " got to your local verizon/att store and tell them your problem, and ask them if you can use one of the "Purchase a Factory Programming Cables" on the floor. I did this, and the rep at the store let me leave my phone there over night. Now, my phone didn't work because of a much more damaging problem, but by doing this it will save you time.

I dont think they have any around in Verizon stores here. for some reason when i brought my phone in they just tried to sell another one. yet when i asked today about the cable they no one had any clue about it. Can try ATT if they would be nice enough and actually have one. I feel like I'm in a cave.

 

[Lyubov]

could it be that somethings wront with the charging port its self?

 

[FoxKat]

No, the port is fine if the White Light displays when you plug it in. It's definitely the battery in a state of deep discharge. The battery is meant to run from "100%" at about 4.2 Volts, and to "0%" at about 3 Volts. If it goes much below 3 Volts, the phone's Charging System (which resides in the phone and between the charging port and the battery & mother board), decides that it can't put out enough current to the battery to overcome the heavy draw the battery will be pulling, while also putting out enough to satisfy the phone's initial demands to boot up. So essentially the Charging System "gives up" and this is why you get the "White Light of Death" - essentially the charging system telling you it's unable to perform the bootup. Until the battery is close to or above 3 Volts, the phone will not boot if connected with the Standard USB/Charging cable and a Standard Wall Adapter. This is why sometimes using a higher current wall adapter can overcome this.

This is also why using the Factory Programming Cable can reverse this in most cases, since it bypasses the Charging System and direct connects power to both the motherboard and to the battery.

 

[Lyubov]

Looks like the white light is on again with the "factory" as well as the rexgular chord. However looks like the charging port came apart..