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Thread: Galaxy S2 blashing battery symbol

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    Default Galaxy S2 flashing battery symbol

    I got my hands on a used S2 for the purpose of updating and checking why the battery drains so fast.
    Was told I can delete all from the phone as the owner made backups.
    Problem shows up like this:
    Charge the phone and disconnect charger.
    Screen shows the battery symbol in green floowed by a grey battery symbol with a circle in it.
    Turning the phone on only works with the charger attached, or I am just too blonde to press the button correctly...
    Once on the battery drains quite fast and the battery symbol in the status bar is constantly flashing.
    If I connect to the PC the symbol shows charging and is solid.
    Disconnect and the charging symbol stays active for sometimes 8-10 minutes, then flashes again.

    Tried the suggested battery removal to "reset" the thing but to no avail.
    Other videos on the net showed that it is necessary to remove the whole board with the USB port.
    On some websites users say the phone was fine after getting a new and genuine battery.

    Before I start to take it apart and waste money on it, is there anyone with a S2 who managed to solve this problem successfully?
    Edit:
    Just noticed the phone is getting quite warm in the top left side, from the volume buttons to about half way over to the other side.
    Last edited by Downunder35m; 01-08-14 at 12:23 AM.
    Tomtom GO730 ,Navcore 9.004 ,Bootloader 5.5256 ,Map :Australia 845.2661
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    Password for all my files: downunder



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    Default

    With nothing to loose and no mood to wait two or three weeks for a replacement USB board I decided to go the firmware way.
    And after some flashing it now works as it should.
    Here is what I did to get rid of the flashing battery symbol and to get better performance:
    Wipe all, user data, dalvik, cache, battery stats - I installed Philz Touch recovery for that.
    To my surprise Kies refuses to update the phone, similar to mine I get the not supported message even when trying it over the model and serial number.
    Since I am not alone with that problem I assume Samsung is deliberatly blocking the process.
    Anyway...
    Phone was running on 4.0.3 and I did not want anything with Knox so the first flash I tried was the original 4.0.3 AU firmware with the Vodaphone branding.
    For the above reasons Odin was used from now on for the firmware needs.
    Surprise, surprise! After the first start the battery symbol was no longer flashing!
    Let is run out of juice and recharged, still no flashing.
    But after playing around with it and performing all the updates for the Vodaphone and Samsung programs on it the flshing was back
    Flashed the firmware again and did not update anything but manually installed a few programs games to drain the battery faster.
    No blinking battery symbol but once all was updated it was back.
    This made me think it could be related to the branded software.
    As it was also locked to Vodaphone I decided to install a custom kernel to get full root access and to remove both lock and branding.
    The firmware used for this was the current CyanogenMod based on Android 4.4.
    To be able to install it I had to change the recovery to the current Clockwork Mod recovery to get full support for 4.4.
    Have been testing the phone now for over a day with all sorts of programs from WiFi hacking over GPS to games.
    It is just amasing!
    Not only is the battery fine now but there is no blinking and the lifetime is about 2 hours longer while playing games had no time to check the standby times though...
    Overall performance with the CM11 is in a different league to the original.
    Response is basically instantly and programs like Tomtom or big games load almost twice as fast now.
    It is even faster than my S4 running on the stock firmware and that is impressive for such an old phone.
    With no branding and useless software cluttering the phone the menus are clean and simple.
    But best of all I don't have to waste hours for updates to programs I don't use anyway.
    Showed it to my friend and asked if he is happy with it now and once he got used to the new look I got a slab of beer for my work and everyone is happy.

    The conclusion for me is that not always is the USB board at fault when it comes to the flashing battery icon and poor battery life.
    Since the full data wipe only helped until the stock firmware updated all programs I have to assume that there are cases where electronics are not the cause the problem.
    Apart from the missing hardware features an old S2 is able to play along with the modern models if you install a proper firmware on it.
    But if your USB connector has connection problems so you have to wiggle it to get contact for charging or the USB tranfer constantly fails it is best to replace the 5$ board.
    One other thought that pooped into mind together with this repair was the time the phone is without juice.
    Several tutorials tell you to fully charge the phone and then to remove the battery for a few minutes.
    This is claimed to "reset" the internal battery meter so after the next full charge the phone is aware of the power loss in the old battery.
    Considering that the procedure of replacing the board tke some time I suggest to try the battery reset first and use the time to clean the connector with a soft brush and some air.
    I hope someone will find this helpful and reports back if it was a success or still a failure for the phone.
    Tomtom GO730 ,Navcore 9.004 ,Bootloader 5.5256 ,Map :Australia 845.2661
    ttmaps and Tomplayer on 16GB SDHC class6
    Password for all my files: downunder

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