Help Horrible battery life

[dierna]

I have a Galaxy S4 from Telus (Canadian carrier). For the past few months, my battery life has been absolutely terrible. I'm not rooted, running Android 4.4.2

What I've tried: Factory reset, keeping bluetooth and GPS off, wifi off unless I'm home. I ran the phone without any apps installed for two days to see if there was a rogue app causing my battery drain.

I was home today, had a signal, was on wifi, and hardly used my phone. This is a screenshot from GSAM Battery monitor:

As you can see, the system is using my battery, not the apps. I've never had this problem before. My phone is warm or hot most of the time, even sitting in my pocket or on the table. I have checked both of my batteries, and neither of them seems to be bad (they're both flat, no bulging). Both batteries give me the same drain problem, so I don't think it is the battery.

I'll post the data from GSAM in a moment.

 

[dierna]

GSam Labs - Battery Monitor - Export Data

Android System 11% of my drain today.

Feb 18, 2015 5:52:09 PM

Usage Details

CPU Usage:30m 58s
Bytes Sent:151.02 KB
Bytes Received:838.13 KB
App UID:1000

Wakelock Detail

Included Packages

Security policy updates
SilentLogging
FWUpgrade
SecurityManagerService
Assistant menu
com.sec.android.app.wfdbroker
com.sec.bcservice
TcpdumpService
PopupuiReceiver
BluetoothTest
Factory Mode
Samsung keyboard
DeviceTest
Input Devices
Application installer
ANT HAL Service
Enterprise SysScope Service
Camera Test
PickupTutorial
Samsung text-to-speech engine
Context Service
KNOX
com.sec.knox.eventsmanager
Wi-Fi Direct share
MDMApp
SysScope
Easy settings
SetDefaultLauncher
Android System
Settings
Beaming Service
LocationServices
Service mode
Filter Installer
OM Customize
DigitalPenSDK
MTP application
Samsung SetupWizard
Enterprise Sim Pin Service
Mobile tracker
Security Storage
Perso
DeviceKeystring
HwModuleTest
GestureService
Key Chain
TetheringAutomation
NFC Test
RilNotifier
Colour adjustment
ChatON Voice & Video Chat
Remote Controls
Help
Screen Mirroring
Software update
WlanTest
Content Adaptive Backlight Settings
Fused Location
Settings Storage
Wi-Fi Direct
DSMLawmo
USB settings
Knox Notification Manager
Enterprise VPN Services
USBSettings
wssyncmlnps

Included Processes

servicemanager
qseecomd
sh
edmaudit
npsmobex
ddexe
connfwexe
ss_conn_daemon
surfaceflinger
sensorhubservic
drsd
qrngd
Binder_2
imsqmidaemon
cnd
mm-pp-daemon
time_daemon
qcks
secure_storage_
system_server
mcDriverDaemon
efsks
ks
oviders.context
x.eventsmanager
.knox.seandroid
roid.app.parser
roid.service.sm
com.wssyncmldm
top
popupuireceiver
.SecSetupWizard
.android.app.mt
ndroid.settings
ec.android.Kies
.sec.pcw.device
com.policydm
.containeragent
com.sec.factory
FileShareServer
.sec.dsm.system
chatonforcanada

 

[dierna]

GSam Labs - Battery Monitor - Export Data

Kernel (Android OS) 49% of my drain today.

Feb 18, 2015 5:52:27 PM

Usage Details

CPU Usage:2h 17m 28s
Bytes Sent:251.97 KB
Bytes Received:1.29 MB
App UID:0

Wakelock Detail

Included Packages

Included Processes

init
kthreadd
ksoftirqd/0
irq/203-msmdata
sync_supers
bdi-default
kblockd
msm_slim_ctrl_r
khubd
irq/343-max7769
kswapd0
fsnotify_mark
ecryptfs-kthrea
irq/330-wcd9xxx
file-storage
irq/36-synaptic
krtccd
mmcqd/0
irq/651-SSP_Int
ssp_sensorhub_t
mmcqd/2
irq/662-cypress
ueventd
jbd2/mmcblk0p16
jbd2/mmcblk0p29
jbd2/mmcblk0p18
jbd2/mmcblk0p10
jbd2/mmcblk0p26
healthd
vold
netd
debuggerd
zygote
pkgld
loop31
loop32
flush-179:0
loop33
loop0
loop1
loop3
loop34
wl_event_handle
dhd_watchdog_th
dhd_dpc
dhd_rxf
dhd_sysioc
loop35
loop2
kauditd
thermal-engine
mpdecision
loop36
loop37
loop38
kworker/0:2
loop20
loop30
loop40
loop39
kworker/0:1
kworker/u:24
kworker/u:34
kworker/u:38
kworker/1:2
ksoftirqd/1
kworker/1:3
loop4
kworker/0:0
kworker/u:1
loop5
kworker/1:0
loop6
loop7
loop26
loop8
loop11
loop12
loop9
loop13
loop14
loop15
loop16
loop17
loop18
loop19
loop21
loop22
loop23
loop24
loop25
loop27
loop28
loop29
kworker/2:1
kworker/u:0
kworker/2:0
kworker/0:3
kworker/1:1
kworker/3:2
kworker/2:2
kworker/3:0
kworker/3:1
kworker/u:2
kworker/u:3
kworker/u:4
kworker/u:5
kworker/u:7
kworker/u:8
kworker/u:9
kworker/u:10
kworker/u:12
kworker/u:13
kworker/u:14
kworker/u:15
kworker/u:16
kworker/u:17
kworker/u:18
kworker/u:19
kworker/u:20
kworker/u:21
kworker/u:22
kworker/u:23
kworker/u:25
kworker/u:26
kworker/u:27
kworker/u:28
kworker/u:29
kworker/u:30
kworker/u:31
kworker/u:32
kworker/u:33
kworker/u:35
kworker/u:36
kworker/u:37
kworker/u:40
flush-179:32
kworker/u:6
kworker/u:11
kworker/u:39
kworker/u:41
loop10
kworker/u:42

 

[speedlever]

What happens when you start it in safe mode?

 

[dierna]

I ran my phone in safe mode today. It was a big improvement. The Android system only made up 17% of the battery usage. This was over a period of about 10 hours, and I still have 60% remaining.

I want to fix this issue. Does anyone have any ideas? Telus won't help me,because I'm not under warranty any longer. I can't figure out what is causing the rapid battery drain.

 

[ironass]

I ran my phone in safe mode today. It was a big improvement. The Android system only made up 17% of the battery usage. This was over a period of about 10 hours, and I still have 60% remaining.

I want to fix this issue. Does anyone have any ideas? Telus won't help me,because I'm not under warranty any longer. I can't figure out what is causing the rapid battery drain.

The fact that it runs fine in Safe Mode tells me that the problem is with the user apps and settings and you should do a full wipe and Factory Data Reset as per post #2 of S4 Lollipop Update Problems - Dummies Guide... ignore the Lollipop... it applies to KitKat as well.

 

[dierna]

Ironass, I've already done a factory reset, and ran the phone for a few days without reinstalling my apps. It didn't solve the battery drain issue.

I also wiped the system cache a week ago, which didn't help either.

 

[ironass]

Ironass, I've already done a factory reset, and ran the phone for a few days without reinstalling my apps. It didn't solve the battery drain issue.

I also wiped the system cache a week ago, which didn't help either.

Have you tried reinstalling the stock Samsung firmware?

 

[speedlever]

Ironass, I've already done a factory reset, and ran the phone for a few days without reinstalling my apps. It didn't solve the battery drain issue.

I also wiped the system cache a week ago, which didn't help either.

This is why I was curious why safe mode worked after the FDR did not change your issue. That is a head scratcher for sure.

 

[dierna]

I haven't tried reinstalling the stock firmware yet. I'm tempted to root and put cyanogenmod on it, but I'd rather not mess with it (I rooted my S2x, so I'm not new to rooting).

 

[marflo]

It is a pda board. Same happened with my s4 mini then stopped charging. But it was under warranty so it was fixed for free. After 8 month again started to get hot suddenly so i married it. What can we, all we bought is crap chinese made.

 

[fontburn]

I haven't tried reinstalling the stock firmware yet. I'm tempted to root and put cyanogenmod on it, but I'd rather not mess with it (I rooted my S2x, so I'm not new to rooting).

Welcome to my world - I've had this issue since I upgraded to KitKat. Nothing I've found or tried seems to fix it. Only have a few months to wait for upgrade so not too bothered as I'm a light user anyway.

 

[marflo]

One friend said all we can aford is good chinese crap. So there is no diference what we buy, as long is made by them sooner or later will cuase problems. I had sersl Nokia made in finland not a singke problem

 

[fontburn]

@dierna
Just to update you on what I've found so far.

I removed my Exchange, Outlook and SkyGo account from the Account section. Also I went into each account in this section and made sure accounts I didnt want syncing were correct. It appears samsung account was set to not sync but was syncing as the time for it kept updating itself every so often.
I have disable Wifi, Location and Bluetooth. On top of this I set the Data to only use GPRS

Last nigh was the first time I didnt need to plug my phone in. It was 47% at 11pm and at 7am it was 43% and the battery graph was nice and flat.

I'm going to enable one thing at a time to see what might set the drain away. If I find any more I'lll try and report back.