Severe Battery Drain

[frazang]

Hi - I've read this thread and others that seemed relevant several times and can not seem to find anyone with a similar issue as mine...so it's time to just be brave and ask someone. First let me give credit where it is due.

You guys are more knowledgeable, concerned and enthusiastic about getting the color Nookie to be all it can be than anywhere else I've lurked. The patience and friendliness coming from those in the know is really quite impressive. I think the process from post #1 has been explained, retold, delineated and enumerated using every variant of words possible in these 40 pages of discussion - and not one snotty remark, rude comment or superior attitude comes as a reply when a question is asked by another new member for the 37th time. It's refreshing to see people willing to teach those who are interested to learn without putting the noob through a ritual period of condescension. I've spent a lot of time self-educating on forums like this and IMHO this joint is unique because you guys are not only beyond capable with the subject matter, you're not dicks to the people who come here for help. Ok, enough of that - let's get back to me - I've got a problem.

I have a refurb NC that I was gifted a couple months back. Brought it up to 1.4.2, read some books, got bored and decided to get root. I have only utilized the CM7 on microSD card process thus far to leave my NC stock. I'll leave it that way until I can get myself out of a basic jam without any help. Back to the issue: my first effort was a couple weeks back - I used a class 4 16GB SanDisk, followed the directions to the letter, downloaded the 3 key files from the proper places, made the prescribed adjustments to partition size and everything worked just like y'all said it would.

I hit the Market and loaded up, made the recommended changes to the interface/system (no overclocking or even bumping the CPU maximum beyond 800mhz), changed a couple little things like viewing the battery meter as a percentage, moved the soft buttons to the right side - nothing experimental or beyond my comprehension. Did great for a couple of days until I started to notice that the NC wasn't charging properly and couldn't maintain the battery level it was showing for the appropriate amount of time. I always charge via wall plug and the issues are definitely more prevalent and obvious there vs. charging on PC. But once the downward spiral has begun, it doesn't matter wall or PC charging - the time it takes to charge increases drastically every time I plug it in and once off the cord, the power percentage number falls like rocks from the sky. The unit will not go to sleep if plugged in - it may dim the display as expected, but it never shuts the screen down while 'charging'. Also, achieving a 100% charge happened the first two times after switching to CM7. After that I'll charge overnight with 20% battery remaining to start - the next morning we're sitting pretty at 65% - I unplug NC and the remaining power indicator starts plummeting faster than the last time. It seemed to be a degenerative process of epic proportions and I wanted to read Clash of Kings and enjoy it. I pulled the card, went back to stock and did my thing.

In stock mode, everything was fine. Battery charged normally, drained normally and the Nookie gave me no trouble at all like the malaise it was displaying under the microSD CM7 regime. I did some research and found something about installing a power manager being a bad idea - I had the free Juice Defender on there and hoped that was the cause of my woes. I uninstalled that and a bunch of other superfluous ****, but saw no change. I had already ordered another mSD card (SanDisk 16B class 4) so phase 2 plan was for a clean install on a virgin card with minimal apps and tweaks - just basic as can be to try for a different result.

Downloaded the 3 files again straight from the source, did the deal and it went smooth as silk. Installed gmail, maps, youtube, kobo, words w/friends, scramble w/friends, netflix, facebook, flash player, draw something, dropbox & ROM manager. Put 6 books in my library and got back to reading. I got in 2 or 3 charges that took me from 20 to 50% back to 100% in good time with no issues. I noticed the 3rd good charge that my screen didn't go dark that time. The decline from that point forward was faster than w/the other card but pretty much the same symptoms in every way. Last night was the end of the 4th day using the new card - I showed 48-49% when I put it down (I had been using it while plugged in - the meter did not budge from 50% for that hour). After charging for about 6 hrs it registered 65% and the screen never even dimmed. I left it there for another 5-6 hrs and it never went above 65. I took it off the charger a couple hours ago, the screen immediately went to sleep and checking the meter right now it has only dropped to 63 while sleeping. If I use it to do anything, I can watch the battery drain like a countdown - that's with making sure not to multi-task; periodically checking running services to see if any app is open in the background that I was finished with.

OMG this has become a way longer post than I ever intended - but that's the long & short of it. I was wondering after the 1st episode if this was something that is easily cured by wiping the battery stats & cache - I read the post that details all the ClockworkMod Recovery stuff (the one with user-friendly pics & all!), saw how to get to the advanced menu and do the battery reset thing. I got as far as trying to reboot into recovery mode and was unable to do this. I could've tried harder on that effort but was over it at the time. I don't remember exactly what happened but I was golden with the outlined process until I said 'yes, I would like to boot into ClockworkMod Recovery' - Nookie restarted, gave me the finger and went on booting normally to the CM7 card. I recall a message saying it couldn't do something and then quickly moving on and just booting normally. LIke I said, I was over it and went back to stock for a week or so. I have not initiated this process with the new, current CM7 card. ROM Manager is there, but I have not done the flash CWR thing yet.

I was hoping for an economy of words here while providing the info you would need to guide me through this crap - that statement pretty much is in conflict with itself after writing all that is above, but I did my best to be somewhat concise.

I'm a network & system administrator by trade and have a proficiency level that usually sees me through whatever my new project may be. But with this situation I'm not going any further until I get input from y'all. I know nothing of Unix beyond seizing root on OSX to get past an unknown password. I love my little NC way more than any toy I've had for a long time and don't want to breach the learning curve just yet. I've learned a lot just getting to this point and will probably feel confident enough to root the internal NC system soon. Not today though.

So what do y'all think is wrong with the Nookie?

 

[J515OP]

Hi frazang, welcome to the forum and thanks for the kind words. We like to think we have a nice little place here I have moved your post since this deserves its own thread and is not strictly CM7 bootable related.

Sorry you are experiencing battery issues. This is certainly not common but we'll see what we can do. This sounds like a rogue app or one that is constantly doing something in the background such as fetching mail. Since you have already tried keeping track of the apps maybe it will take a different approach to detect it.

Try using one of your cards to make a clean install and then use it for a couple of days without adding any apps. See if you still get the same issue. If not slowly add apps one at a time until you experience the issue. When that occurs remove the last app installed and see if it fixes the issue. This method is fairly tedious if you have a lot of apps but will hopefully solve the issue. If not we can try other things but this is as good a place to start as any.

JP

 

[frazang]

Thanks for the response JP. I'll do a full reformat of the other card and go the slow road you suggested. The second effort was a lazy version of that method, so phase 3will be no different than when I have had to diagnose a difficult Windows box. Load a program, check all the resource monitors for weirdness, marinate, repeat.

I let nc sit until checking for your response just now. Off the charger another five hours, in deep sleep it seemed and my battery dropped from the peak of 65 down to 60 when I picked it up a half hour ago. In 30 min. I've gone from 60 to 47 with only the browser running to type this. Oh and I did download the app when prompted by your bot at log in. I 'll use that next time instead of the browser. That is just an awful lot of juice to lose in thirty minutes it seems to me. Weird.

Another thought I had was if heat could be an issue? It's out of the leather case when I load a new card and usually stays naked until I think it's all good , then it's back in the case for safety. It does feel like the case retains a little heat but nothing happens when it's stock so maybe I answered myself on that one.

Next to lastly, should I move forward on the CWR thing in case the battery cache/stats reset might should be done? Or am I way ahead of myself in the diagnosis?


And finally lastly, are there any specific apps or types of apps that are known to conflict or be problematic in general circumstances? I will only be using a skeleton crew of apps for the slow drag approach. But if there are any that it may be common knowledge to stay away from, well, I missed that newsletter. I've wasted enough time having to sort out this little snag instead of being able to enjoy my new favorite thing in life. I would hate to have any progress hindered because of some stupid little program I fell in love with is a known toxin to everyone but me.

OK so thanks again, let me know any further wisdom you may have on these efforts and ideas, I'll be on the slow boat to China trying to fi nd a bully app and will let you know if things change in either direction. I've been on the browser for about hour and fifteen or twenty minutes and it just hit 35. That's a full 25% loss coming down from 60 when I picked the Nookie up. Wow .

I'm out. Talk to you soon.

 

[J515OP]

I'd start with the apps and then move on to CWR if necessary. You can try a forum search for apps known to have issues. The problem is that things change as updates for apps come and go so it is hard to ever pin it down. You might get an idea of what apps have caused issues though. Heat should not be an issue unless possibly you are in hades with an ambient temp higher than what the rest of us are dealing with

Sounds like the deep sleep is pretty good losing only 1% an hour. Screen brightness is always the biggest factor in battery life followed by the radios (wifi, bluetooth and for devices that have it gps). Try keeping the screen at the lowest brightness you can tolerate. I leave mine as low as it will go 90% of the time and only turn it up in the few situations where the surrounding light is too bright (outside on a nice day) to make it easier to read. Then right back down when I'm out of the brighter light area. Next is bluetooth, make sure this is off if your aren't using it. Wifi will also cause battery drain but not as much as the bluetooth. I generally leave wifi on all the time but you can try turning it off and on depending on your tasks to get more run time (e.g. reading a book you don't need wifi).

Other areas to check are the performance settings to make sure you are not running a CM7 ROM with unusual settings. You said you didn't change the overclock but you might want to verify what the max is set at. I usually set the min to 300 and the max to 1200 with the "conservative" governor. Even with the processor at 1200MHz it shouldn't really drain your battery since the governor will only bump up the processor as necessary for the task. Also what does the battery stat screen say is taking up the most battery?

JP

 

[frazang]

I have the same approach as you on the wifi. Its on all the time unless I'm reading. The battery consumption shows display at 57, browser at 14 and all else less than 10. We have the same strategy on brightness as well. Mine is always very low unless I'm outside,and that's rare. I bought a license for TiBackup today and have thrown that into the fray. Right now i have all my apps frozen except for this forum, kobo, tibackup and gmail. There's only 17 apps installed on this card but I figured I'd try that while formatting the other card to start over.

As to the living in Satan's armpit concern, it is the least of any of my worries. I live in San Diego dude. We don't even need a weatherman here. They hire them just to do the surf reports.

More to come when I've got it to tell. Thanks JP.

Oh, forgot one thing: my performance settings are stock. Conservative governor with min 300 and Max 800.

 

[J515OP]

I live in San Diego dude. We don't even need a weatherman here. They hire them just to do the surf reports.

Well I wouldn't want to be a weatherman there either. Mainly because it would be so hard to play second fiddle to the greatest anchorman of all time, Ron Burgundy, of course

Oh, forgot one thing: my performance settings are stock. Conservative governor with min 300 and Max 800.

Your battery stats don't seem out of line which is what you said before when you couldn't spot a rouge app by system usage. Sounds like you should find out very soon if there is an app not playing nice based on clean slate performance. TB is a good way to go so you don't have to install/uninstall.

 

[frazang]

I was hoping that was the case with TB. Thus far, with all but those few apps frozen, I'm still the same. I've used the nookie off and on all day, plugged in, and it remains at a hearty 14%. It was at around 29-30 when I put it down last night, but I think the cord got bumped before I got up. When I checked it this morning the cord wasn't lit up; the unit was turned off. I fixed that and the number was 13, then 12 when I started use; that was around 11am. On the juice all day for 2% increase. I'd be better off if it was gas powered-even at today's prices. Oops! Back down to 13! Whatever.

Stay classy JP!

 

[J515OP]

Are you using the stock wall charger? If not you need to make sure you have a 2amp usb port to charge at full speed. Most usb ports only put out 0.5-1amp.

If your screen stays on the whole time when charging (as you stated before) and you are only charging using a 0.5A source you would basically be braking even on charging. There should be an option to let the screen go off while charging in the settings. The device won't power off but the screen should go black. To power off while charging you first have to be charging then power down since powering down then connecting to the charger will cause the Nook to boot.

 

[frazang]

It's the stock charger and cord and I only have it plugged into the wall with this issue ongoing. The screen will do the initial dimming right before it's supposed to go black, but that's as far as it gets. The power meter came up to 20% from last night to this morning, but after no use and being plugged in all day, it remained at 20%. I had everything frozen except for Kobo and nothing changed. I decided to pull the card and see if the stock ROM would give me a different battery percentage - you know, maybe a false reading on the card installation - no such luck. Right now, the card is out and running stock and it's fine. The unit works as it should, the screen went to sleep when I put it down. I'm going to get it charged up to 100% and try the card I'm completely wiping/erasing and reinstalling the CM7 from scratch. I think this time I'm going to install CM7 7.0.3 and see if there's any difference. I'll install the 0.3 version alone, check for the usual symptoms and then slow drag with apps from TiBackup.

Also, if I power down while charging (with the more recently affected card installation) it won't stay powered down. I turn it off the way you describe above, but it always restarts. Frustrating.

Is it possible this is a hardware anomaly and I should do a warranty exchange? If so, how would I explain it? I haven't voided the warranty, but trying to do a work around of their system? I'm not thinking they'll be that receptive at the home office

 

[J515OP]

Try 7.2 here CyanogenMod Downloads

 

[MISRy]

... It was at around 29-30 when I put it down last night, but I think the cord got bumped before I got up. When I checked it this morning the cord wasn't lit up; the unit was turned off. I fixed that and the number was 13, then 12 when I started use; that was around 11am. On the juice all day for 2% increase. ...

Have you considered the cord might be your charging problem? It seems the cord is not only custom, (note that the "male" portion is longer than a standard one, [to provide additional charging pins]), but it is worryingly fragile as well. I used to have to position my NC "just so" to get it to charge as well. When I heard about the issue I took it to a B&N. As soon as they saw the issue, (you had to hold it just right to get any light to come on or it would flicker and sometimes the green one came on when it was not even close to a full charge), they replaced the cord without a question.

 

[frazang]

Funny you bring that up - I decided to initiate a little chat with B&N support just to see what they had to say since the issues are now becoming apparent when running the stock ROM. Prior to this card switcheroo-go-round when I had it in stock mode it performed as it should. Not so in the last 24 hours. Anyway, chatted with "Jerico" for about 10 minutes late this afternoon and your experience in the store was exactly what happened with my new buddy Jerico. He asked me to give a once-over of the hardware, accessories & wall outlet; I told him I had never felt comfortable with how the cord plugged into the USB port since I first brought it home (which is the truth). When I insert the cord into the port it's never a smooth process - I have to go at the port at an angle to make sure it gets seated and it never has seemed to push in properly. It's been that way since day 1, which concerned me at first, but I put that aside when it didn't seem to present an immediate problem. The little light has never had a consistent indicator pattern (orange=charging, green=charged) - it sort of drifts back and forth subtly, if at all. Come to think of it, the orange has drifted away completely - haven't seen it for a while now. Evidently, in the B&N tech support little known facts file, these cords/chargers are a common point of failure.

So the new cord/charger is on its way; I'm going to get 7.2 ready on a card in eager anticipation of its arrival; and if that doesn't do the trick then we move on to Plan B - the dance routine. I'll let you know when the saga continues.

thanks

michelle

 

[MISRy]

You *should* he able to charge with a regular cable if you are connected to a properly rated brick. Just leave it overnight.


Sent from the Center of My Mind

 

[Abb0nz]

So what happened???

I feel like someone has torn the last page out of the book I'm reading!!!

 

[Abb0nz]

Try 7.2 here CyanogenMod Downloads

Off topic here (sorry), and I have to admit that I haven't been cruising the Nook forums as often as I used to, but is the CM7.2.0 RC3 worth the upgrade? I currently have V7.1.0 RC1 installed.

Thanks