Lumia 950 random reboots - Unorthodox Solution

[Luis Aramini]

I bought a Lumia 950 around January 2017, and everything worked perfectly (hardware wise) until May. My device began to randomly reboot/restart, and I could not place my finger on a cause or an app that could be responsible for the crash. I performed several hard resets but nothing was solved. So I began searching online in different forum threads. I came upon a mention about something related to faulty batteries, and one user proposed a solution that worked flawlessly for me. This involves placing paper sheets the size of the battery underneath it, and another one wrapped over the top side (opposite to contacts) before finally closing the back cover.

Getting into details, you will need 3 sheets of paper (any paper suitable for printing will do) cut to a size slightly smaller than that of the battery (marker 2). Also, you will have to fold another small piece of paper in two, which will wrap over the top side (marker 1).


Then, place the first three pieces where the battery will be located, making sure the contacts are not obstructed.


Now, grab the folded paper and place it over the top of the battery.


Finally, put the battery with the paper on its top side, into the phone, over the previously placed paper sheets, and close the back cover.


After doing this, my restart problems vanished, leading me to believe there is some dimensional issues between battery and the phone that might be allowing unwanted movement and the "battery pull" effect causing the reboots.

I hope this helps.

 

[libra89]

Excellent guide! Thanks for sharing this, I do believe that this will helpful to some people who have been experiencing random restarts.

It's kind of trippy how the battery can make such a difference sometimes.

 

[nate0]

Overtime if you are pulling the battery out enough it loses its ability to stay seated inside the pins. Good solution.

 

[Timbre70]

Whenever I shake my 650, I can feel the battery rattling inside.

 

[nate0]

Just placing it in a new spot against the pins also gives it new part of the contacts to use that are not worn or may have debri/build up on them. Either why fix it if it aint broken, right?

 

[Ghouston]

Great information! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Drael646464]

Yeah those problems are related to the quality of the battery and pin contact, partly due to build up on the contacts themselves, and partly loss of tension on the pins. Happens on all phones with removeable batteries.

Might also be worth giving your battery contacts a wipe with some isopropyl alcohol soaked earbuds as well.

 

[LuxuryTouringZone]

Ha! BlackBerry Q10 and Z10 users won't be surprised about this method, as these devices are also known to be insanely bad for random reboots! The amount of threads made in the past on Windows Central's sister site, Crackberry, speaks volumes about it.

 

[Drael646464]

Ha! BlackBerry Q10 and Z10 users won't be surprised about this method, as these devices are also known to be insanely bad for random reboots! The amount of threads made in the past on Windows Central's sister site, Crackberry, speaks volumes about it.

That's because blackberries historically have also had removeable batteries. The problem is even worse for bb, because they do a boot up security check on the battery (rolls eyes). My old curve, I had to drop, on its side, from a one meter height, with specific timing, repeatedly, to get to boot.

 

[Drael646464]

Ha! BlackBerry Q10 and Z10 users won't be surprised about this method, as these devices are also known to be insanely bad for random reboots! The amount of threads made in the past on Windows Central's sister site, Crackberry, speaks volumes about it.

That's because blackberries historically have also had removeable batteries. The problem is even worse for bb, because they do a boot up security check on the battery (rolls eyes). My old curve, I had to drop, on its side, from a one meter height, with specific timing, repeatedly, to get to boot.

 

[LuxuryTouringZone]

That's because blackberries historically have also had removeable batteries. The problem is even worse for bb, because they do a boot up security check on the battery (rolls eyes). My old curve, I had to drop, on its side, from a one meter height, with specific timing, repeatedly, to get to boot.

A battery security check on BlackBerry 10? Never heard of that.... Not sure about 7, but 10 sounds odd.

 

[Drael646464]

A battery security check on BlackBerry 10? Never heard of that.... Not sure about 7, but 10 sounds odd.

This is in the original bbOS, rather than bb10. They had a "battery security check" to make sure the battery was a legitimate blackberry battery (rolls eyes). With lagging pin connections on the removeable battery, this was a pain in the backside.

I literally would do one meter carpet drops, at a particular angle, with particular timing to get it to boot, and worst of all, this was a commonly recommended solution to which there was no real alternative.

The blackberry phone I used most recently didn't have a removeable battery, and it was bb10, so no worries there.

 

[Choco_Lab]

Wow, thanks for posting this. My 950's reboots and shutdowns have gotten so bad, the phone is practically unusable anymore. I noticed the other day when I removed and replaced the battery, my phone had 40+ percent juice, so it probably a contact issue.

Just put the paper in, so I'll see how it does.

Question: Does a replacement battery seem to resolve this? Asked in a different way, does the contact problem seem to be on the phone end or the battery end? Pretty disappointing if it's on the phone end.

 

[aimulaidni]

Wow, thanks for posting this. My 950's reboots and shutdowns have gotten so bad, the phone is practically unusable anymore. I noticed the other day when I removed and replaced the battery, my phone had 40+ percent juice, so it probably a contact issue.

Just put the paper in, so I'll see how it does.

Question: Does a replacement battery seem to resolve this? Asked in a different way, does the contact problem seem to be on the phone end or the battery end? Pretty disappointing if it's on the phone end.

This might be more of a battery related problem than a contact pin issue. This is a common issue on the 950XLs and the only way out was a new battery. Someone suggested the same fix laid out here for the XL batteries as well but that didn't seem to last for a long time. I might be completely wrong here but I would suggest trying a new battery to see if it gets rid the problem.

 

[Choco_Lab]

This might be more of a battery related problem than a contact pin issue. This is a common issue on the 950XLs and the only way out was a new battery. Someone suggested the same fix laid out here for the XL batteries as well but that didn't seem to last for a long time. I might be completely wrong here but I would suggest trying a new battery to see if it gets rid the problem.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try a new one.

If you happen to know... do ebay type aftermarket batteries seem to be okay or is this a case where you should go OE only? I'll search on that myself, but I thought I'd ask while I was here.

 

[aimulaidni]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try a new one.

If you happen to know... do ebay type aftermarket batteries seem to be okay or is this a case where you should go OE only? I'll search on that myself, but I thought I'd ask while I was here.

Some of the people who answered my post for the same issue on the XL said they used non OEM batteries and it was a hit or a miss. The thing is its difficult to get OEM batteries as Microsoft doesn't sell them. It would be better to get OEM ones or atleast ones that look visually similar to the one you get with your 950. I think you should be able to find these on ebay but keep in mind that they don't show the Microsoft logo on the batteries coz they are not allowed to show them in their pics (copyright issues). But the actual batteries do have the logo on them.

 

[Drael646464]

Wow, thanks for posting this. My 950's reboots and shutdowns have gotten so bad, the phone is practically unusable anymore. I noticed the other day when I removed and replaced the battery, my phone had 40+ percent juice, so it probably a contact issue.

Just put the paper in, so I'll see how it does.

Question: Does a replacement battery seem to resolve this? Asked in a different way, does the contact problem seem to be on the phone end or the battery end? Pretty disappointing if it's on the phone end.

Based on my experience with blackberries, and ecigs, I'd guess its kind of both. There's some kind of build up that builds up on the contact points on both the pins, and especially the battery. The spring in the pins can also become less ..springy?

The paper trick can help. As can cleaning the contact pads with earbuds and isopropyl, and the ends on the pins with something like steel wool.

A new battery can also help. Based on my past experiences.

With an e-cig, you have to regularly clean the contact points, or it stops working. Some designs are better for this that others though (although removable batteries on phones, all work the same, there's no "screw in" version like with e-cigs)

I think it's basically all these things work together to product the problem, so they can also all help. A lot of people have however reported that just a new battery does the trick with the lumias.

Batteries also get old and don't hold charge as well, so there's that benefit with that solution. If it doesn't completely resolve your issue, you could do the paper as well, and steel wool the pin ends.

 

[Choco_Lab]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. The paper solution has worked perfectly since I tried it -- zero shutdowns or weird battery readings since, so that was definitely the problem. Going to the bay to try a new battery right now.

Thanks again for making my phone usable again. I was on the verge of taking a sledgehammer to it!

 

[RugheCotone]

Registered here just to make this reply: before y'all go out and buy knockoff batteries, I recently came across this thread which details how to purchase OEM batteries from the official part supplier. For US residents and by phone order only.

Thanks for the paper trick, though - I will have to try that.

 

[libra89]

Registered here just to make this reply: before y'all go out and buy knockoff batteries, I recently came across this thread which details how to purchase OEM batteries from the official part supplier. For US residents and by phone order only.

Thanks for the paper trick, though - I will have to try that.

Wow thank you for sharing this awesome information! It will be very helpful to many.