Battery Issue or Power Management IC? - bcoyle - 03-18-2023
Hi all.
For over two years, I've had a great time using my PinePhone as a daily driver under postmarketOS edge. Up to this point, I've been able to overcome just about any issue. However, I've suddenly run into a hardware problem, which I can't seem to troubleshoot...
Here are the symptoms:
- The phone will start to boot, (green LED lights), but about 1 second into the ToW boot loader the LED just goes dark.
- Plugging in a USB-C cable from my labtop results in a boot loop; the phone will boot until the OS splash screen flickers for a brief moment before repeating.
- Plugging in a slow USB-1.2 charger allows the phone to boot normally. However, I noticed that my battery status indicated a 100% charge state. (I have always set the OS to undercharge to no more than 90%...)
- The phone also boots normally on a slow USB-1.2 charger with the battery removed. The battery status indicated a 0% charge state, in this case.
- In either case #3 or #4, all radios are disabled within the OS.
Given the above, I just assumed that I somehow had drained battery too far...
Except the following seems to conflict with this:
- I booted from a SDcard Jumpdrive using a USB-1.2 power source. It boots fine to the Jumpdrive splash.
- I then let it sit for hours attempting to slowly bring the phone battery back to life.
- This Jumpdrive charge method did not seem to work. Pulling the charging cable immediately kills the phone, and attempting to boot from the battery has the same symptoms as above.
- Measuring the voltage across the battery terminals shows 4.2V, though... This indicates a fully charged lithium-ion battery under no-load, correct?
So, at this point, I am at a total loss...
It would appear that I've a fully charged battery. However, the symptoms are the same as a drained battery.
I could really appreciate any suggestions that could help.
RE: Battery Issue or Power Management IC? - fxc - 03-18-2023
(03-18-2023, 06:22 PM)bcoyle Wrote: Hi all.
For over two years, I've had a great time using my PinePhone as a daily driver under postmarketOS edge. Up to this point, I've been able to overcome just about any issue. However, I've suddenly run into a hardware problem, which I can't seem to troubleshoot...
Here are the symptoms:
- The phone will start to boot, (green LED lights), but about 1 second into the ToW boot loader the LED just goes dark.
- Plugging in a USB-C cable from my labtop results in a boot loop; the phone will boot until the OS splash screen flickers for a brief moment before repeating.
- Plugging in a slow USB-1.2 charger allows the phone to boot normally. However, I noticed that my battery status indicated a 100% charge state. (I have always set the OS to undercharge to no more than 90%...)
- The phone also boots normally on a slow USB-1.2 charger with the battery removed. The battery status indicated a 0% charge state, in this case.
- In either case #3 or #4, all radios are disabled within the OS.
Given the above, I just assumed that I somehow had drained battery too far...
Except the following seems to conflict with this:
- I booted from a SDcard Jumpdrive using a USB-1.2 power source. It boots fine to the Jumpdrive splash.
- I then let it sit for hours attempting to slowly bring the phone battery back to life.
- This Jumpdrive charge method did not seem to work. Pulling the charging cable immediately kills the phone, and attempting to boot from the battery has the same symptoms as above.
- Measuring the voltage across the battery terminals shows 4.2V, though... This indicates a fully charged lithium-ion battery under no-load, correct?
So, at this point, I am at a total loss...
It would appear that I've a fully charged battery. However, the symptoms are the same as a drained battery.
I could really appreciate any suggestions that could help.
The symptoms do indeed describe a drained battery. Your point one from the second list is not a contradiction to that, Jumpdrive is one of the few things actually booting with a drained battery. The battery measuring 4.2V is strange. Maybe it would be a good idea to buy a compatible battery from Amazon and check if it works with it, otherwise you could always send the battery back.
RE: Battery Issue or Power Management IC? - bcoyle - 03-20-2023
(03-18-2023, 07:27 PM)fxc Wrote: (03-18-2023, 06:22 PM)bcoyle Wrote: Hi all.
For over two years, I've had a great time using my PinePhone as a daily driver under postmarketOS edge. Up to this point, I've been able to overcome just about any issue. However, I've suddenly run into a hardware problem, which I can't seem to troubleshoot...
Here are the symptoms:
- The phone will start to boot, (green LED lights), but about 1 second into the ToW boot loader the LED just goes dark.
- Plugging in a USB-C cable from my labtop results in a boot loop; the phone will boot until the OS splash screen flickers for a brief moment before repeating.
- Plugging in a slow USB-1.2 charger allows the phone to boot normally. However, I noticed that my battery status indicated a 100% charge state. (I have always set the OS to undercharge to no more than 90%...)
- The phone also boots normally on a slow USB-1.2 charger with the battery removed. The battery status indicated a 0% charge state, in this case.
- In either case #3 or #4, all radios are disabled within the OS.
Given the above, I just assumed that I somehow had drained battery too far...
Except the following seems to conflict with this:
- I booted from a SDcard Jumpdrive using a USB-1.2 power source. It boots fine to the Jumpdrive splash.
- I then let it sit for hours attempting to slowly bring the phone battery back to life.
- This Jumpdrive charge method did not seem to work. Pulling the charging cable immediately kills the phone, and attempting to boot from the battery has the same symptoms as above.
- Measuring the voltage across the battery terminals shows 4.2V, though... This indicates a fully charged lithium-ion battery under no-load, correct?
So, at this point, I am at a total loss...
It would appear that I've a fully charged battery. However, the symptoms are the same as a drained battery.
I could really appreciate any suggestions that could help.
The symptoms do indeed describe a drained battery. Your point one from the second list is not a contradiction to that, Jumpdrive is one of the few things actually booting with a drained battery. The battery measuring 4.2V is strange. Maybe it would be a good idea to buy a compatible battery from Amazon and check if it works with it, otherwise you could always send the battery back.
OK. Hopefully, others will benefit from this thread. I've got a troubleshooting follow-up:
I was able to borrow my friend's Pinephone. As expected from the 4.2V battery measure, my "suspect" battery works fine in his device. I also swapped his working battery into my phone. The no-boot symptom on battery power still remains...
To summarize:
- No boot occurs off the battery. The green LED briefly lights for a second before going dark.
- Booting occurs normally when powered from a v1.2 USB port, but all wireless radios appear as disabled.
- A boot loop occurs when powered from a USB-C port or power adapter.
- The battery reads fully charged with a DVM and tests out normally in another device.
Clearly this behavior is with the phone hardware, not a drained battery. Has anyone experience anything like this before, or does anyone have a theory to a root-cause? Any suggested fixes or next steps?
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