Help Bricked non-rooted Bionic

[Rhumbline]

I grabbed my stock, non-rooted Bionic this morning and noticed a black screen. Tried hitting the start button, holding the start button, plugging in the power cord and even removing the battery for a minute or so and reinstalling, all to no avail. The only sign of life is a tiny light that's on in the top right corner.

Any thoughts, ideas, things to test and advice as to what to do now (go to Verizon store?)?

Thanks

 

[dautley]

I guess you had it on the wall charger all night? What color is the light?
As its completely stock I'd go to the store and let them look at/replace it especially if its under warranty.

If you hold down both volume buttons and press the power button does a menu screen come up? If so make sure normal power up is highlighted and press the volume up button.

 

[Rhumbline]

Yeah, still under 1-year warranty. Talked to Motorola first, tried the 3-button factory reset to no avail. Then talked to Verizon and they are sending me a new(rebuilt?) phone by FedEx overnight.

Is there any history of these things just suddenly giving up the ghost like that, even totally stock and non-abused (never dropped or dunked)? Thought I was being anal-retentive and playing it ultra-safe/conservative -- guess no good deed goes unpunished as they say.

 

[dautley]

It's unusual but as it's a electronic item it happens, they will probably send a phone with no charger, battery, battery cover, sim card, or sd card. If so, be sure to get your old ones from the other phone before you ship it back.

 

[Rhumbline]

Strange, after talking to both Motorola and Verizon, trying the various tricks to bring back to life, to no avail, and now having a new phone being shipped to me, my Bionic suddenly decided to spring to life and hour or so later (just sitting on my desk).

Is it possible for the battery to be so drained that even with the USB cord plugged in, there still wasn't enough juice to fire it up? I thought the USB cord itself would supply more than sufficient power alone to both run the Bionic AND charge its battery too.

Very strange. Well, now I have a new Bionic on the way, wonder if best to either:

A. Simply keep my current one now that it has resurrected without having to upload and update current data/apps, or
B. Keep the new(rebuilt/refurbished?) one, but having to upload and update everything.

Thoughts? PS My current one is essentially in perfect physical shape.

 

[OutOfPhase]

I would keep the refurbished phone. It will look brand new and your old one is working again but for how long?

there are ways to transfer your apps/data and settings but you should ask how to do it in the root section of the bionics forum.

 

[smyther]

That has happened to me. I have the desk charger and the plug sucks IMO sometimes in the am my phone is off and I thinking it charged all night have a fit when I find that the plug is just out enough not to charge. place back in the dock it will take about 15 minutes to store enough power to turn on

 

[Thom]

Strange, after talking to both Motorola and Verizon, trying the various tricks to bring back to life, to no avail, and now having a new phone being shipped to me, my Bionic suddenly decided to spring to life and hour or so later (just sitting on my desk).

Is it possible for the battery to be so drained that even with the USB cord plugged in, there still wasn't enough juice to fire it up? I thought the USB cord itself would supply more than sufficient power alone to both run the Bionic AND charge its battery too.

Very strange. Well, now I have a new Bionic on the way, wonder if best to either:

A. Simply keep my current one now that it has resurrected without having to upload and update current data/apps, or
B. Keep the new(rebuilt/refurbished?) one, but having to upload and update everything.

Thoughts? PS My current one is essentially in perfect physical shape.

Was it plugged into the wall charger or a USB port on your computer.

The USB port provides a "trickle charge". It is possible to use power faster than it was being replenished. A prime example would be mobile hotspot.

... Thom

 

[johnlgalt]

Strange, after talking to both Motorola and Verizon, trying the various tricks to bring back to life, to no avail, and now having a new phone being shipped to me, my Bionic suddenly decided to spring to life and hour or so later (just sitting on my desk).

Is it possible for the battery to be so drained that even with the USB cord plugged in, there still wasn't enough juice to fire it up? I thought the USB cord itself would supply more than sufficient power alone to both run the Bionic AND charge its battery too.

Very strange. Well, now I have a new Bionic on the way, wonder if best to either:

A. Simply keep my current one now that it has resurrected without having to upload and update current data/apps, or
B. Keep the new(rebuilt/refurbished?) one, but having to upload and update everything.

Thoughts? PS My current one is essentially in perfect physical shape.

Yes, it is possible. If your battery dies and the phone powers of, it will usually power up upon connecting a charger. But, if it is still sitting there, the battery is still actually feeding current for some components and will get fully discharged. At this point, when you plug it up to a charger, it may take up to an hour later before the phone starts to boot.

The indication of this is the notification LED (the one int he top right that you saw) - it will be glowing white.

As for which phone to keep - keep your original one. The refurb is supposed to be reconditioned so that all components are in working order, but IMO that's a crapshoot. If the techs are not careful, you may get a phone with a bad component that missed QC.

As an example, let's say that a phone was returned for a bad screen. Unless the tech goes through and checks every single component on the phone, he might miss that the screen actually went bad b/c of a CPU overheat problem b/c the original owner OCd the phone - and just put a new screen on, verify that the screen works, and slap a refurb sticker on it and send it off - and then you might have a phone with a bad CPU waiting to fail, and never know it.

Yes, the techs should be better than that, but let's face it - people are lazy.

IMO your phone only was not working b/c the battery was dead. If you haven't messed it up in any other way, I'd keep the original phone over the refurb. Better to go with the devil you know...etc.

That has happened to me. I have the desk charger and the plug sucks IMO sometimes in the am my phone is off and I thinking it charged all night have a fit when I find that the plug is just out enough not to charge. place back in the dock it will take about 15 minutes to store enough power to turn on

Yeah, that's actually the reason I stopped leaving my phone on the dock and started connecting the cable directly to the phone at night when I want to charge....