N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Hi all,
I've recently started having a weird charging problem with my N900: sometimes when I connect it to the charger (PC USB or wall charger - it doesn't matter) the battery starts to charge and I get the 'Charging' message popping up (which rules out any chance that the mini-usb port is damaged or loose), but effectively the battery does not charge - e.g even after "charging" it all night, in the morning it'd stay with a low battery almost exactly as when I left it to charge.

"HealthCheck" and "Battery-Eye" both show 'charging: 5mAh' which may explain this weird issue.
Moreover, a message pops-up after a short while which says something in the likes of "Battery consumption is higher than recharging power".

Now, I have no idea why this happens (but it happens once or twice a month) but I suspect its due to the fact that I'm using the power-kernel with clocked CPU @ 930Mhz + DSP @ 500Mhz.
While I'm having the problem and the device is at idle, the CPU is not stuck at max frequency, rather it doesn't go less than 500Mhz (not as far as I've seen anyhow).

Anyways, I've found a 'solution' to this problem - I refer to it as a 'solution' as its rather troublesome and inconvenient, but it does the job: I remove the battery from the device for at least an hour, this way it resets itself and the backup battery gets drained as well, so I have to re-set my time and date and timezone, etc.
After one hour, I put my battery back and the device returns to charge normally...

To be honest, I'm kinda tried of this happening, so I think I'll reflash to 800Mhz and hope that the problem will not repeat itself anymore.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

i had the same pro... i didnt overclocked the device... :/ .. soo weirdd :P....
but i couldnt solve it so i send the phone to nokia... because i didnt knew ur solution or at least didnt tried it!

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

I have faced this problem too. My assessment so far has been that this happens when you do a quick disconnect and reconnect (e.g. for me, when the charger comes off the wall and I reconnect).

What works for me is to disconnect micro-USB from the phone for like 4-5 minutes, and then connect again. Unsure this is the same problem you guys are facing too, but you may just want to give this a try.

~aiyush

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

USB charges at lower amps and therefore if there is damand by the CPU then you can get this message but it is usualy because of maxing everything out.

If you get it as well with the wall charger, have you tried a different Nokia charger? Just windering if the is failing.

If it is not either of thoughs then may be you device has a problem.

In X Terminal type:
Then plug the charger in, you should have an output something like this:

Code:

---

Start monitoring devicelist:
-------------------------------------------------
18:24:56.502: usb_device_1d6b_2_musb_hdrc property usb_device.vbus = 1 (0x1)
18:24:56.686: bme property maemo.charger.connection_status = 'connected'
18:24:56.693: bme property maemo.charger.type = 'unknown'
18:24:56.701: bme property maemo.rechargeable.positive_rate = true
18:24:57.253: bme property battery.rechargeable.is_discharging = false
18:24:57.277: bme property battery.rechargeable.is_charging = true
18:24:57.374: bme property battery.remaining_time = 7200 (0x1c20)
18:24:57.433: bme property maemo.rechargeable.charging_status = 'on'
18:24:57.528: bme property maemo.charger.type = 'wall charger'

---

Does it say 'wall charger' ^

After charging for a bit a charging status update should appear:

Code:

---

18:25:15.246: bme property battery.voltage.current = 3975 (0xf87)
18:25:15.289: bme property battery.reporting.current = 788 (0x314)

---

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Thanks JonWW, I've seen this post before (by you). I don't think that the problem is with the charger as I'm having the same issue when connected to the usb from pc, and with the wall charger.
Moreover, as I mentioned in my first post - the problem "comes and goes", so most of the time the wall charger works just fine.

I'll try the "lshal -m" command, will keep this thread updated.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

What happens if you turn off the Device and THEN charge it?

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Been there, done that :)
It still won't charge...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

you say its sticking @ 500Mhz, i take it thats on 'ideal' you can remove the avoid freq so it will drop to 125/250

do you have it set to 'stays lit whilst charging'?

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Nope... I like my screen turned off while charging, so the light won't bother my sleep :)

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

take it you don't have anything running on it over night

if the screen is off and there's nothing running the processor should be @ 0Mhz

if there is something running or its connected to gprs/wifi it will be draining the power once its charged
if you plug it in @ 11pm and its full by 1am, even tho its still plugged in, its no longer charging so any connections, running apps or even missed calls/sms will be eating power

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Nope, the phone was not running anything...

Anyhows, now that I've left my battery out of the phone for quite a while (more than 5 hours), it won't even charge anymore :(
I plug the charger or usb, and nothing happens - the status led doesn't even turn on :(

Just to clarify - the above mentioned method for being able to re-charge the phone, which I described on my first post in this thread, worked for me more than once before...
I think my current issue is something entirely different this time (maybe busted usb-port? but why and how? it was perfectly fine a few hours ago!).

I'm thinking of maybe try and use my N85 battery on my N900 to see if it would turn on... I'll have to use wires though, as the N85's battery won't fit inside the N900...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Ok, I replaced my battery with a new one, and now the device is charging at last... Probably my previous battery just couldn't handle all those times I completely depleted it, and died :)

Will check that "lshal -m" command after I'll finish charging the new battery to the full.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Ok, I get a false positive charging rate:
bme property maemo.rechargable.positive_rate = false
This is when its connected to the PC USB, and probably to the wall charger as well (as I left it turned off and being charged for at least 45 minutes, but when I turned it on the battery was still low).

Though I still see I had - for a second - positive_rate = true... I don't get whats wrong here... maybe I should try to uninstall power-kernel, and see if it helps...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Damn this is odd, now it refuses to charge again, and I can't even turn it on :(

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Have you cleaned the battery pins in the phone. Maybe they are dirty and not enough voltage/amps are getting through

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Its as clean as it can be... Anyways after I've left it alone for a while, not connected to anything, I plugged it again to the charger and it tried to start charging (doing its 'soft' booting up) but kept failing and shutting down, in a never ending loop.

I took out the battery from the device, will try to put it on and start recharging again in a while - maybe I'll get lucky...

I think I'll try un-installing the power kernel with the flasher, doing:

As I have the zImage-930mhz-500dsp kernel running... I might screwed it up with some of my messing around commands... :)

Is even it possible flashing with an empty battery?

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE FLASH WITH A FLAT BATTERY

You will have major problems if you do.
Don't mess around, do a full back up with the Backup app also backup all of MyDocs and save any mods you have done, then flash the ROM and eMMC.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Efekt,

My n900 is idle and sitting in a drawer useless,
I'm offering you a few options :
1. Come over to rechovot, use my battery to flash your phone.
2. Purchase my n900 :)
3. Come over, take the battery, use it for a week for what ever needs you have, return it.
E-mail me if you are interested in any option ;)

eitamaa at the google mail domain dot com

Edit : I'm charging it now for you if you decide you want my assistance.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

I'm experiencing the same problem just yesterday. For the first time it refuse to fully charge (green led et the end), but seem to have enough battery to work....
Have we got a seasonal virus???

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Well, I went to the guy who sold me the new battery, and replaced it with an almost fully charged new battery, and now the device is working AND charging the battery as usual :eek:
BatteryGraph & HeathCheck both says charging at ~650mAh... This behavior is like a riddle to me... I uninstalled the power-kernel, don't wanna mess with it for now, and also bought a separate universal battery charger.

Is it possible that my N900 "killed" two batteries beyond the point of being able to recharge? is there any "point" like that?

You know what - I never even thought of this option... Could that be a virus, that prevents the phone from recharging? I thought the N900's power consumption driver is closed by Nokia...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Hmm, I don't think it's a virus.
My N900 has been a pain in the-charging-*** since day 1.
50% of the times I plug it to AC/Car charger it won't recognize it.
USB works all the time.
It killed 3 chargers.
1. Original 110V from USA
2. Original 220V bought in Israel for Nokia with 1mAH or something like that
3. Some car charger unbranded.

Anyway, I'll be happy to assist in anyway.

Cheers,
Eitam.
PS, saw your PM, just answered.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Hmm, I don't think it's a virus.
My N900 has been a pain in the-charging-*** since day 1.
50% of the times I plug it to AC/Car charger it won't recognize it.
USB works all the time.
It killed 3 chargers.
1. Original 110V from USA
2. Original 220V bought in Israel for Nokia with 1mAH or something like that
3. Some car charger unbranded.

Anyway, I'll be happy to assist in anyway.

Cheers,
Eitam.
PS, saw your PM, just answered.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Thanks Eitam :)

Anyhows, fiddled around some more and tried 'lshal -m' again, and came to realize that the phone is not charging AGAIN! :eek::eek::eek:
Its just "pretending" to charge but it doesn't... I still have a little less than 40% battery left, I'll back up everything and flash the device...

Hope that'll do the job.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

I don't think it's a virus, and I don't think it has anything to do with the power kernel. I don't have any problem charging with my external charger, which I think is a better way to charge anyway.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Looks like you're right - the problem in my device seems to be much more complicated.
I flashed FIASCO and eMMC - practically restarted my device as if it was just bought from the store - and I'm still having the same problem.
The device seems to "charge" the battery, but in fact it doesn't - when connected to the charger, it charges almost enough to keep the device running, so in the long run the battery will run out eventually.
It looks like my N900 'forgot' how to charge batteries.

I have no idea what to do next - I'll probably take it to get fixed somewhere, but what could be the problem?! when connected to the charger/pc usb cable, the connection is recognized, the charging sequence starts but nothing really gets to the battery...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Well at least you have proved that it is now a hardware issue, with the "lshal -m" command you can prove the problem exists to a service centre. Hopefully it will be easy for you to get it fixed.

Good luck

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Thanks JonWW, but I'm afraid there are no Nokia service centers around me which can fix my N900, as its not officially imported to Israel.
I bought mine from the US, and I don't feel like sending it away for so long - so I'll have to try and find a good cell-phones lab which also have spare parts and diagnostic equipment for the N900...

Ah well, this isn't going to be easy - so if anyone who reads this knows of a good service lab like this in Israel, you're more than welcome to tell me about it... :)

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

I have the same problem, every time i charge my phone i noticed in conky that the cpu would stay at 500mhz, but would go up to 700mhz when needed, but never ever go below 500mhz when the charger was connected...
And this off-course doesn't help charging when the cpu drains more power than when it's running at 0mhz - 125mhz

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

just buy an external charger man.
dr frost, the cpu DOES go to 0, obviously inbetween conky updates so you're not going to see it happen. and 125, 250 might be disabled, go read some of the overclocking threads.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

But does your battery charge at all?

Yea, that what I was thinking - now that I have 2 batteries this shouldn't be such a problem - but still its rather inconvenient and I'd rather have my phone fixed...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

yes it does charge when using the old small charger i used for my n95, but last night i think my charger that came with the phone died, after 3 hours of charging it had only gained about 1% charge!!!, i have my own home made battery monitor based on REAL li-ion graphs, allso i have my own 'Electro Ciao' (Vespa Ciao converted to electric), and i have pro chargers and my own homemade chargers, so i have extensive battery knowledge.
when charing through USB it all-so charges but not very fast (500mah cap i guess).

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

and no matter what the CPU does not go under 500mhz, even with re-modified conky to only display cpu with update interval at 0.5 secs

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Are you sure you're using genuine Nokia batteries? Even if they have holograms they might not be genuine...

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

it's a original phone bought from shop less than a month ago, so i damn well hope so :)

The battery is fine, the issue is still that i wastes power keeping the cpu at a minimum off 500mhz when connected to charger.

My solution is when i get an extra battery (hopefully tomorrow) i will charge the battery externally, and just swap battery's when it's almost flat.

and since i changed the possibly defective org. charger to my china bought small nokia charger it charged the phone fine.

Again this is not a battery issue.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Update, checked all kinds of chargers i have and the 500mhz lock is only when connected to usb via computer, even if 'mass storage' or 'pc suite' is not selected.

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Did you try running the 'top' command in the X-Terminal, to see which process is using all that CPU juice while connected to the pc?

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

dr frost, your problem makes no sense
n900 gives a warning if there is not enough power coming through the usb to charge the phone - "not charging. insufficient power"
why don't you look at this?
using conky to determine the idle frequency is stupid for reasons i won't get into
use cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/stats/time_in_state

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

No processes are running when connected to PC, it just sets minimum clock to 500mhz.
it's not a problem now that i know that it is only while connected to PC, which is not a charging method i am using as standard.
it is charging when connected to USB, no errors or anything it just doesn't charge very fast, again referring to USB 2.0/1.0 500mA cap

But i would like to know if anybody out there knows how to edit/change the phones battery reporting system, so a lower battery voltage can be set to the 'Low Battery Warning'
Right now my phone is reporting 17% battery left, but my own battery 'app' says 50%, and it is more accurate because not 1 minute after it says 0% the phone shuts off at the low voltage of 3.3V.

So for everyone out there that's wondering about the 500mhz minimum lock, it's only when connected to PC

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

Hi...
I have the same problem....
I bought the N900 in USA since almost a year ago. However I have the problem since a month ago.
Original wall charger and generic charger is almost never recognized... unless i connect the charger and then turn off the phone and then the led starts to show me that the phone is being charged when phone is off....
It is also charged when I connect the charger when the phone is on, and the I reboot it....
Usb connection is always successful... however when the phone seems to start charging... the real fact is that nothing happens... I mean the led shows that phone is being charged but battery wont charge....
I have flashed maemo and emmc several times... however i cannot get rid of the problem...
Do you solve the problem???
anny suggestion...
is there hardware issue???
i'm from south america... it's almost impossible to find a official nokia support center....

Re: N900 Charging problem - cause: unknown, solution: available!
 

sjgarciav, Yes mate, I feel your pain.
I did solve the problem, I threw the N900 into oblivion and got a Samsung Galaxy S.
Always charges, from ANY charger with micro-usb head.
It'll even charge off my 40$ DVD player with it's usb socket.
It will charge from the car radio USB Socket.

Sorry mate,
That's the only advice I can give you.
BTW, you don't need "Official" Nokia,
Find a good store that fixes phone, get them to offer you a fixing price, maybe they can fix it.