Is it dead Jim?

[Daniel Meek]

Well... it seems that my indestructible wonder (Lumia 920) has met it's match rather unexpectedly.

This evening I was driving home listening to a podcast on my phone, walked in the door, unplugged my headphones (did not look at the phone while doing so), and when I went to look at my phone 10 minutes later it was unresponsive. No drops, no bumps... it was working fine, unplugged the headphones, and a few minutes later... nothing. Could not turn it on, or otherwise get any signs of life.
My first thought was that I used the GPS a lot today, so maybe I simply did not hear it's cries for help as the power ran out. So I put it on the wireless charger and the light on the charger flicked on like normal. I took this as a good sign, and let it sit there while I went to go eat dinner. 30 minutes later I went to check my phone and the whole device was uncomfortably warm to the touch... not a good sign.

I have tried to turn it on via the power button. I tried resetting it by holding the power button. I tried holding down volume+power to force a reset. I even tried a hard reset on the device. No sounds, no video, no vibration, no nothing. Sad day.

So... anyone have any thoughts? I don't have a warranty on it any longer, so I am going to go buy/borrow some smaller wrenches to get inside and see what is up tomorrow.

Thanks for your thoughts, ideas, or suggestions!

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

If its running hot while charging its most probably that the battery is gone to the digital heaven.

 

[Daniel Meek]

... if it is just a battery then that shouldn't be too bad. They seem to go for $20 new on eBay, and I am sure I could replace it simply enough.

I never had any battery problems with the phone before this. In fact, with each update I found that I had fewer and fewer days where the battery would run out on me after a full day of use. Can anyone confirm that this would be the sign of a battery isolated issue?

 

[wapoz]

Just curious, I saw you mentioned you did a soft reset (power+down button), but vave you tried doing a soft reset while plugged into USB? I had the exact same issue as yours, but doing a soft reset while plugged into a usb wall charger did the trick. I had to hold the buttons down for almost a minute but it eventually returned it back to life.

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

Its the first thing to check when its running hot.
Had a lot of experience with cells when i was younger ( rc racing, flying etc. ) and come to learn that cells are not always trustworthy.
Once ran hot, replace it, its for me not the first time that i blew one up on while charging.

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

Just curious, I saw you mentioned you did a soft reset (power+down button), but vave you tried doing a soft reset while plugged into USB? I had the exact same issue as yours, but doing a soft reset while plugged into a usb wall charger did the trick. I had to hold the buttons down for almost a minute but it eventually returned it back to life.

With a hot cell?

 

[Daniel Meek]

Just curious, I saw you mentioned you did a soft reset (power+down button), but vave you tried doing a soft reset while plugged into USB? I had the exact same issue as yours, but doing a soft reset while plugged into a usb wall charger did the trick. I had to hold the buttons down for almost a minute but it eventually returned it back to life.

Just tried that, but no change. Going to try and leave it plugged in for a bit and try again.

 

[Daniel Meek]

so, when plugged in to attempt to charge it, the phone stays cold/room temp

When using wireless charging it gets plenty warm

Any thoughts?

 

[Daniel Meek]

Update:
So it turns out the cable to my wired charger is broken, which is why it was only getting warm with the wireless charger. As I had never used the wired charger I had no idea it was broken until I plugged the phone into my computer at work and it got much hotter much faster than with the wireless charger.

At work I have much smaller tools so I took the phone apart and put it back together again. Nothing appeared damaged inside, but when I put it back together things started happening again. Now when I plug the phone into the computer (or place it on the charger), the phone attempts to boot. The Nokia screen comes on, followed by a low battery symbol, followed by a low battery symbol with a plug on top of it. Then the phone turns off, waits a few seconds, and attempts to boot again. I am assuming that this means the phone is no longer charging, but at least it is attempting to come on now! So I'll take that as progress!
I attempted a full reset of the phone, but while it starts the process, it turns off long before it gets anywhere. I am pretty confident that the battery is the issue here.

So as a temp measure I went out and bought a Lumia 520. Being use to the 920 it is a huge step down, but for $60 I really cannot complain. The guys at the MS store were great about the whole thing, and it was a much better experience than when I visited the store when they first opened. They made sure I was all set up and ready to go before I left.

What's Next:
So I am fairly convinced that SSgt is right and that my battery died on me. Lumia 920 batteries are only $20 online, so I am going to order one and give it a shot. If that works then I think I am going to get an aftermarket housing as well... maybe cyan or grey.
If it does not work then I'll save up for the 1520, and attempt to stick the wireless charging from the 920 inside... that would be nice, I just would rather not spend that kind of money on a phone right now.

Wish me luck, and thanks for the help!

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

Thx for the update

Remember
Rule number one....The sergeant is alway's right.
Rule number two, when he's not right....than you didn't read rule number one.

I hope it works for you, cause a 1520 cost serious money.
About the 520,for simple basic things you can't go wrong, got the same phone.

 

[Daniel Meek]

Ya, all in all the 520 is not bad... It is just no 920 either. Really miss glance, call quality is mediocre, and the screen is just so tiny which makes typing very difficult for my knobby fingers. But for $60 it is really not bad. It is plenty fast for most things, the screen is very decent for a low end device, and it simply works without issue. The main reason I will need a larger device is because I use my phone as my work laptop... And being too small for me to type quickly is getting old quick. But again; it was only $60, and more than good enough to get me through for a while.

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

Oh is the 920 that mutch bigger?
Thought they where about the same size, i dont see much wp phones around here.
In fact i am the only one and that makes it unique.
It was more a tryout for me, and a succesful one.
Its true the keyboard of the l520 is a kind of small.

 

[Daniel Meek]

Update!
Well, it looks like the issue is certainly not the battery itself. I received the new battery in the mail last night. Installing it was super easy, and then I put it back together, turned it on, and it powered right up!

When it powered up it went through a complete reset process. My assumption is because I had previously started the reset process, but it failed part way though because it did not have enough power to complete. At any rate, it did a complete reset and restore without issue. I was then able to link all of my accounts, tested to make sure it was making and receiving calls, and got everything put back the way I like it. Then I put it on the charger to give the new battery a full charge and.... nothing. It does not want to charge via USB or the wireless charging pad. Everything else worked fine on it, but once the battery ran out of juice then it was simply done.

I am going to play with it again today to see what I can see, but something tells me that something is wrong with the charging circuitry rather than the battery itself, and I am not sure how fixable that is.

As always, any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Daniel Meek]

Oh is the 920 that mutch bigger?
Thought they where about the same size, i dont see much wp phones around here.
In fact i am the only one and that makes it unique.
It was more a tryout for me, and a succesful one.
Its true the keyboard of the l520 is a kind of small.

The 920 is not a *lot* bigger then the 520, but it is bigger. The issue is more along the lines that I have rather fat fingers, and the 920 is already on the small side for me, so moving down in size even a little bit starts to become problematic.
Its too bad nobody else in your area is using WP devices. When I move to my 920 a little over a year ago I only knew one person with a WP7 device, and a year later I now see them on a regular basis. I don't see them being used by the college students that volunteer at my organization, but a few of my bosses have them (1020 and 8x), and I now regularly see 520, 920, and 925 in the wild. Hardly a majority, but they are certainly making progress.

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

So it wont charge with anny of your chargers, not even via pc/ laptop usb cable?
Hm strange, what is between the battery and the connector on your phone...
Is there somekind of a controler who regulates the charging?
I do know that if the software reads it wrong and thinks the battery is ful or halfway
that the os gives the wrong vallues, and acts on it.
Example give you a warning when its empty.....while its not.
On android where some tools ( apps ) for that, dont know if wp8 has suchs a app.
Its recalibrate the readings on your phone.

 

[Daniel Meek]

every device has to have some form of voltage regulator between power sources and the batteries, and LiOn batteries tend to have particularly sophisticated ones which is why they can charge while being in use. Problem is that I don't think there is a simple or cheap way to replace this. The effort/time/parts involved are essentially going to be getting another phone anyways, so unless someone has a bright idea I am going to give up for now.

Time to start saving my pennies for a 1520. I wanted one anyways... but there are a few other necessities that need to be taken care of before I can throw money at a phone, so it may be a while.

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

Did you overchecked the instalation of the powerpack eh battery?