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Help Galaxy S3 not properly charging

Brian_562

Newbie
Hello forum, i currently own a Galaxy S3 that lately i have been having a charging problem with. Lately, i would leave it charging for a couple hours and it only charges to about 35%-40%
I am using a generic charger since my original broke.
I have tried using my mother's original S4 Active charger that seems to work better but still takes a while
I have recently replaced the battery as well so it can't be the battery.
I dont know any other options other than factory resetting the phone which i have not yet done
Is there anyway to figure out the exact problem?
What do you guys think? I would appreciate the help ASAP
Another thing is that sometimes when i leave the phone "charging" it will actually drain the battery rather than charge it. I would have to restart the phone a couple times until it actually starts charging
 
What you're doing wrong is chargint it while it's on. You know the thing you're plugging into it? It's not "an external power supply", it;s "a battery charger". It can't run the phone and charge the battery. You might get away with it with a high current charger, a cable in good condition and a clean charging port, but the phone's not designed for that. Plug the charger in with the phone turned off and it should charge in a few hours. (If you can't have your phone turned off, invest in a spare battery and an external charger. Use the battery that's in the phone while you charge the other one.)
 
I respectfully disagree. I charge my phone while powered up. Wifi on, data on, bluetooth on, etc. Now granted I'm not using it while it's charging as I am sleeping but from approximately 20% to full it takes about 5 hours.
I'm open for more suggestions for the op but help me understand the need to always turn off the phone to charge it? :)
 
I think you should take your phone in and have it looked at. You might have a bad charging port. This happened to a friend of mine just recently. He had to have his phone replaced. I would also suggest getting a oem charger. The phones work much better with the oem charger.
 
Mike I agree ive never had a problem with having phone on while charging.

Brian as far as your question sounds like software issue to me. If your rooted try clearing battery stats in recovery. If not rooted if the stock recovery has the option try deleting cache. Also just for the hell of it you can try doing whats known as battery calibration which consists of
Letting battery go dead so phone shuts off and wont boot recharge while off till 100% Then repeat
But unfortunatly factory reset might be answer if so back up what ya can to sdcard or pc pics contacts and your other stuff ya want saved
 
Mike I agree ive never had a problem with having phone on while charging.

Brian as far as your question sounds like software issue to me. If your rooted try clearing battery stats in recovery. If not rooted if the stock recovery has the option try deleting cache. Also just for the hell of it you can try doing whats known as battery calibration which consists of
Letting battery go dead so phone shuts off and wont boot recharge while off till 100% Then repeat
But unfortunatly factory reset might be answer if so back up what ya can to sdcard or pc pics contacts and your other stuff ya want saved

I have not attempted to root it since last time i did with another phone, i didnt do it properly. I was going to try and factory reset it today but before i tried that, i connected it to my laptop to back up all my files and my computer wont detect my phone. I tried updating drivers, deleting Kies and re-installing and it still wont, i get a message on my laptop, "USB device not recognized
Just to be sure, in order to delete the cache is to put the phone in recovery mode correct?
 
What you're doing wrong is chargint it while it's on. You know the thing you're plugging into it? It's not "an external power supply", it;s "a battery charger". It can't run the phone and charge the battery.

This is not a correct statement. It can run the phone and charge the battery at the same time.

Mine charges all the time while it's on. Especially when I have it in my iBolt dock and running the GPS.

For anyone that wants a good charger, this is what I have:

Amazon.com: Fonus Rapid 2.1 Amp Home Travel Wall Charger Adapter 6 ft. Micro USB Cable with Touch activated LED light for Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, S2, S4 Mini - Samsung Galaxy Note 3, 2, 1 - LG G2, Google Nexus 5, 4 - LG G Flex - HTC ONE Max: Cell Phon

Verizon sells the same exact charger with their name on it for twice the price. :rolleyes:
 
You should not have to be in recovery mode for Kies to see your phone.

If it's not charging, and the computer can't see it, then I'm starting to think it's the port.

I'm afraid that my phone may be headed that way as well. The wife's phone charges very fast - mine takes about 3 times as long as hers.
 
You should not have to be in recovery mode for Kies to see your phone.

If it's not charging, and the computer can't see it, then I'm starting to think it's the port.

I'm afraid that my phone may be headed that way as well. The wife's phone charges very fast - mine takes about 3 times as long as hers.

If thats the case, would i have to get it replaced? And if so, should i even bother getting it replaced or should i wait for the S5? Because i have a full upgrade available so im just waiting for another phone coming soon
Any recommendations?
 
I am thinking that maybe you need a Galaxy S3-specific charger and cable.

Many of the Galaxy series devices look for a specific voltage on the data lines of the USB cord to determine how fast they can charge. If they think that they are plugged into a computer, for instance, then they will only charge at .5 amp, which will take a very long time.

A generic USB charger may convince the device to draw 1 amp; whereas a Samsung charger will be able to charge twice that.
 
As I have said in a few other threads, this seems to be an issue with the 4.3 firmware. My brother and I both have S3s, I am on ATT he is on Verizon, both have this issue.

What happens is the phone will seem to charge very slowly, the battery meter will go to 100% but as soon as you unplug it, it will dip to roughly the percentage that you plugged it in at, so the phone thinks it is charging, but really isn't.

What I have been doing as a workaround is whenever I wake up or remember I will unplug and plug the charger back into my phone, that seems to work.

There are tons of threads on this but people keep suggesting it is the battery or that it's the charger, when it seems to be the firmware, and it is happening to a lot of people. I am hoping kitkat fixes this, but who knows when that is coming out.
 
As I have said in a few other threads, this seems to be an issue with the 4.3 firmware. My brother and I both have S3s, I am on ATT he is on Verizon, both have this issue.

What happens is the phone will seem to charge very slowly, the battery meter will go to 100% but as soon as you unplug it, it will dip to roughly the percentage that you plugged it in at, so the phone thinks it is charging, but really isn't.

What I have been doing as a workaround is whenever I wake up or remember I will unplug and plug the charger back into my phone, that seems to work.

There are tons of threads on this but people keep suggesting it is the battery or that it's the charger, when it seems to be the firmware, and it is happening to a lot of people. I am hoping kitkat fixes this, but who knows when that is coming out.

A better workaround might be external charging.

I know I had a wall charger when I had my s3 and you can just charge it up that way, swap batteries when you wake up, and put the low one on the charger as you go about your day

Check out the anker brand. I think I got 2 batteries and a wall charger for pretty cheap
 
A better workaround might be external charging.

I know I had a wall charger when I had my s3 and you can just charge it up that way, swap batteries when you wake up, and put the low one on the charger as you go about your day

Check out the anker brand. I think I got 2 batteries and a wall charger for pretty cheap

Yea, that sounds like a better option. I will check that out. Thanks!
 
I know what he meant. I was just implying that you don't need an OE charger in order to charge the phone correctly.

No, you don't. But the third-party device must sufficiently emulate the OE charger if you want a fast charge.
 
Actually the OE charger is slow because it's only 1 amp. I bought the 2 amp rapid charger that I posted in the link above. Charges the phone in 1/2 time as the OE charger.
 
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