Thursday, July 17, 2008

Oh No, Battery won't charge!

I just had a bad scare with my iphone. I charged it this morning and was using it for about 15 minutes when it shut down on me. I rebooted it and it came up and said battery was less than 10% charged and it would shut down. The battery had a small thin red line. I didn't have my charger so I used my friends charger later that day and it wouldn't charge at all. It would work plugged in, but the battery stayed empty.

I tried charging it again with my cradle when I got home. Nope. Not going to charge. My husband suggested it wasn't the battery but the battery indicator, but I figured it didn't matter because either way it shut down.

I tried using the apple support web page, but it was pretty frustrating. it took me to a web page where I had to pick my problem from a list to continue and "battery won't charge" wasn't on the list. So I picked "adaptor broken". The next dropdown box wanted to know what part i wanted to replace and again no good choices. Every part but the iphone itself was listed.

So i called the main apple support line and waited on hold for about 20 minutes until I got a human. She said it would take a day to send me a box and then about three more days to get me a new iphone. I was bummed because after all it took to get one and get it activated, and synced, i would have to go phoneless for 1/2 a week and then start all over again with a new iphone.

I asked if I could give a credit card and they could ship my new iphone to me rather than wait until i got the mailing box and then sent it back, but she said no. Nicely she even asked her manager but still no. But good news! While talking to her manager she talked to a tech guy and he said to try hard booting it and that if it was the battery indicator, it might clear up the problem.

Here's how you hardboot the iphone: Press and hold the menu button and power button simultaneously until the silver apple appears.

This worked. When it rebooted the battery showed a 3/4 charge and synching in the cradle has caused it to continue recharging.

I am a bit too happy. Can't get attached to a device here :)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you didn't end up having to replace it! Some maintenance people can be so frustrating to talk to. Good thing you spotted the problem early on-- I'm sure you're not the only person who's had that problem recently. Not only do the maintenance people you talked to now have the ability to fix the problem for other users... but this blog will also be really helpful for any one else who has No Idea What's Going On.

Alicia The Gadget Girl said...

thanks, I hope it was just a fluke and it won't happen again to me or to others. Thanks for the comments! Feel free to ask me to discuss any aspect of the iphone you are interested in.

Anonymous said...

Hi..yes i seem to have a problem similar to that... i left my iPhone charging overnight...it was about 75% when i went to sleep and i had left it in the dock connected to my macbook....when i woke up i discovered the battery had been completely drained ..i plugged it into a wall adapter and i left it all day..the phone charged incedibly slowly..taking about 2 days to reach 50%..eventually it reached 100% and i used it for a day...that night once again i plugged it into the usb on the computer at about 60%...i went to sleep and when i got up again the battery was drained once more...
i suspected it to be my usb cable with the computer but now it won't charge with the wall adapter or a sony dock...
i have tried many things but none have worked..when it's plugged in i get the battery indicator with a thin red line at the left and a lightning bolt...when i unplug it that red line flashs and the phone shuts down..when i turn it on the red flashing line just shows up again and nothing happen's when i try to reset it...

does anyone out there have any troubleshooting tips????

Regina Walker said...

Thanks! I was having the same problem and it is now fixed without all the waiting you had to do because you were so nice to post this blog! Much appreciated!!

Regina Walker said...

Thanks, for posting this blog. I was having the same trouble and now it is fixed! :-)

Leslie Faith said...

Just read your blog and saved a ton if time and headaches. Thanks for posting! I had EXACT same problem that is now fixed!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much! I was freaking out mine just did it and thanks to your post it worked! Thanks

Anonymous said...

my phone did this too! im glad you figured it out the support team is hard to get ahold of thank you sooo much!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much. I was having the same problem and your fix worked

Unknown said...

thanks! I googled iphone battery won't hold charge & you solved my problem!

Anonymous said...

It works !!!!!!!!