Trying to salvage my razr after a swim.

[razr_jmay]

Also FoxKat,

I was doing some research on this forum, and came across this thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-razr-support/207260-battery-dead-white-light-my-friend.html

Where you said:

I am also pleased that you were able to recover - especially after all the apparent lack of success you were having. Using the car charger (the truck one), was the saving grace, and yes, the white light is actually a good sign.

The OP in that thread was actually saying his phone had a solid white led notification before it booted up.

So I'm not sure if you misunderstood the OP, or that your knowledge has changed and grown since then.

(Not trying to call you out, just asking for clarification as it is relevant to my issue)

Thanks.

 

[FoxKat]

Perhaps a slight clarification...NO light at all is a REAL BAD sign in my opinion, whereas at least SOME light is an indication that things are trying to wake up. Solid White light is better than No light, but the worst of the SOME light possibilities. A flash of White is the best sign, generally speaking. In other words, a brief flash of White light is how a NORMALLY FUNCTIONING phone operates, but that's not to say that if you get that flash, YOUR phone is functioning normally.

At the end of the day, there should really be a line drawn between a phone that will boot into Charge Only mode when powered off and a charger is plugged in, versus one that doesn't boot into ANY mode when the power is off and it's plugged in. Any response other than the normal flash of white light, followed by the red M logo, then followed by the animated battery is like the difference between being on the train or being on the platform staring at the train's doors closed.

 

[razr_jmay]

Perhaps a slight clarification...NO light at all is a REAL BAD sign in my opinion, whereas at least SOME light is an indication that things are trying to wake up. Solid White light is better than No light, but the worst of the SOME light possibilities. A flash of White is the best sign, generally speaking. In other words, a brief flash of White light is how a NORMALLY FUNCTIONING phone operates, but that's not to say that if you get that flash, YOUR phone is functioning normally.

At the end of the day, there should really be a line drawn between a phone that will boot into Charge Only mode when powered off and a charger is plugged in, versus one that doesn't boot into ANY mode when the power is off and it's plugged in. Any response other than the normal flash of white light, followed by the red M logo, then followed by the animated battery is like the difference between being on the train or being on the platform staring at the train's doors closed.

Gotcha!

Thanks for all the input FoxKat, I really do appreciate it.

 

[FoxKat]

Gotcha!

Thanks for all the input FoxKat, I really do appreciate it.

Hey, all my rant is worth it if I can actually help you get the phone back on its feet again! Call on us anytime! :biggrin:

 

[razr_jmay]

Hey, all my rant is worth it if I can actually help you get the phone back on its feet again! Call on us anytime! :biggrin:

Awesome, thanks.

 

[jaybogg]

Also FoxKat,

I was doing some research on this forum, and came across this thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-razr-support/207260-battery-dead-white-light-my-friend.html

Where you said:



The OP in that thread was actually saying his phone had a solid white led notification before it booted up.

So I'm not sure if you misunderstood the OP, or that your knowledge has changed and grown since then.

(Not trying to call you out, just asking for clarification as it is relevant to my issue)

Thanks.

I was the OP of the mentioned thread. I tried several different chargers. Some gave no light. Some gave the white light for a short time (a minute or so). I noticed the more I plugged and unplugged, the light stayed on for shorter periods, but no charge. When I put it on a third party car charger in my truck, got the white light continuously, battery charged, I was happy. I worked as a tech and then as an engineer my whole life, hardware being my strong suite, soft/firmware, not so much.

FoxKat has obviously extensively researched and has a good understanding of these phones/batteries. My knowledge is more general in nature and it may very well be my results were a fluke, I only reported what I experienced.

On another note, in the late 90's, I bent over a toilet and my phone came out of my shirt pocket. My hand reached and grabbed it before my brain had time to think. Luckily, it was an "empty" bowl but still lost the phone to water damage. When I worked calibration in the military, it was unbelievable some of the water soaked items we would have turned in and how many of them would work again as long a the customers didn't try to power them on before turning them in for repair/re-calibration.

Hope you have good results, from what I have read, I think you still stand a chance. The moisture you saw on the lenses and such is a bummer. Please post the final disposition, for the record.

If nothing else has worked, why not give the USB another try. If the white light comes on for a while (30-60 min) and then goes out, it might replicate my results. Just don't get in a hurry. Unplugging my phone very early in the recharge cycle is what got me in trouble to begin with.

 

[razr_jmay]

I was the OP of the mentioned thread. I tried several different chargers. Some gave no light. Some gave the white light for a short time (a minute or so). I noticed the more I plugged and unplugged, the light stayed on for shorter periods, but no charge. When I put it on a third party car charger in my truck, got the white light continuously, battery charged, I was happy. I worked as a tech and then as an engineer my whole life, hardware being my strong suite, soft/firmware, not so much.

FoxKat has obviously extensively researched and has a good understanding of these phones/batteries. My knowledge is more general in nature and it may very well be my results were a fluke, I only reported what I experienced.

On another note, in the late 90's, I bent over a toilet and my phone came out of my shirt pocket. My hand reached and grabbed it before my brain had time to think. Luckily, it was an "empty" bowl but still lost the phone to water damage. When I worked calibration in the military, it was unbelievable some of the water soaked items we would have turned in and how many of them would work again as long a the customers didn't try to power them on before turning them in for repair/re-calibration.

Hope you have good results, from what I have read, I think you still stand a chance. The moisture you saw on the lenses and such is a bummer. Please post the final disposition, for the record.

If nothing else has worked, why not give the USB another try. If the white light comes on for a while (30-60 min) and then goes out, it might replicate my results. Just don't get in a hurry. Unplugging my phone very early in the recharge cycle is what got me in trouble to begin with.

I've yet to get the white light to come on for an extended period of time and then turn off.

It either flashes, or stays on. Currently it's on a charger at my house, has been since last night. I did try to put it on a car charger yesterday afternoon, I reacted the same as if I put it on the a wall charger, just a flash.

I've considered opening the back up to take a look inside, the warranty is already voided with the water damage.

 

[94lt1]

Every night when I power off my maxx's and plug em in, I get a quick flash of white light, and that's it.

So IMHO a quick flash of white is a good thing.


You said it was getting warm the other day..... try holding the power button and the volume down button down at the same time. See what happens... other than that...

It may be time to consider giving moto a call, unless you have insurance

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[jaybogg]

You say it either flashes, or stays on. How long does it stay on? Hours? Based on my results, I would try the charger that keeps the light on. When I had my problem, I looked at the milliamp/amp output rating on all my chargers and they varied quite a bit. The generic car charger had the highest rating and is what pushed my battery back into operation IMO.

If you decide to perform surgery, I would read some of the threads about battery mods and even youtube it. I have read that the adhesive is very good and care has to be taken when getting it to release. I think I read that the battery is not only glued to the cover but also to the circuit board on the opposite side.

 

[razr_jmay]

Every night when I power off my maxx's and plug em in, I get a quick flash of white light, and that's it.

So IMHO a quick flash of white is a good thing.


You said it was getting warm the other day..... try holding the power button and the volume down button down at the same time. See what happens... other than that...

It may be time to consider giving moto a call, unless you have insurance

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

Yeah it did feel like it was trying to get a TAD warm, but any combination of the volume buttons + power yielded nothing

You say it either flashes, or stays on. How long does it stay on? Hours? Based on my results, I would try the charger that keeps the light on. When I had my problem, I looked at the milliamp/amp output rating on all my chargers and they varied quite a bit. The generic car charger had the highest rating and is what pushed my battery back into operation IMO.

If you decide to perform surgery, I would read some of the threads about battery mods and even youtube it. I have read that the adhesive is very good and care has to be taken when getting it to release. I think I read that the battery is not only glued to the cover but also to the circuit board on the opposite side.

Yes, I either get a flash, or it stays on, and that depends on how it's plugged in, if it's plugged in via USB into a PC, the light stays on, if it's plugged into a wall charger, or into a car charger, the light flashes. If it's plugged into PC the light will stay on, and I have not seen it turn off while plugged in.

 

[jaybogg]

During my trials and tribulations, I never got a warm battery. It always warms up now that it is working again. Might be that the battery is in fact charged and the phone is fried. Let's hope not. Never thought about sending it to moto as 94lt1 suggested. That might be the best option. Being a hardware guy, yeah, my knee jerk reaction is to tear things apart.

 

[94lt1]

Lol, its a guy thing.

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[jaybogg]

FoxKat, where are you....(to the tune of car 54...)

I don't want to give any misinformation here, but when I was researching my problem, I saw schematics for building a "factory cable". If I remember right, this allows you to power up the phone with a dead battery. The reason I mention this is this would allow you to partition the problem between the battery and the phone itself. If the phone will not power up with this cable, the motherboard/phone itself would be suspect. If the phone worked with this cable, it would point to the battery or related charging circuit.

 

[94lt1]

You can build one, or you can readily buy one. As fine as the wires are, the soldering on this isn't for the feint of heart

But it can charge the battery, but that won't matter if the device is fried...

DROID RAZR MAXXIMIZED!!!! PREPARE TO BE VANQUISHED!!!

 

[razr_jmay]

During my trials and tribulations, I never got a warm battery. It always warms up now that it is working again. Might be that the battery is in fact charged and the phone is fried. Let's hope not. Never thought about sending it to moto as 94lt1 suggested. That might be the best option. Being a hardware guy, yeah, my knee jerk reaction is to tear things apart.

Yeah, I could send it to Motorola, but it surely has water damage, so would that accomplish anything?