This is simple, really. In my case, my Galaxy Player, a 5.0 or YP-G70, battery totally drained, and refused to charge after that. (Keywords: Battery wouldn't charge, battery won't charge.) I knew it was probably not the cable, which is not very old (I had replaced the Samsung-supplied cable, which became loose fitting whenever plugged-in to the Galaxy Player, not long ago) .
I checked on the Samsung website itself, which specified that only about .5 amps of power are drawn from a computer USB port--not even enough to keep-up with the GP being on, though not in use, in many cases (i.e. programs are still running in the background): I don't know if that's true if one has disable bluetooth, GPS, Vibration, and other such items, or when the display brightness is kept low, as it certainly seemed to always charge when those things were true, but WiFi was kept on, and even with me playing music, while plugged-in to a USB port.
Anyway, they state that the wall-adapter draws about 2 amps from a normal outlet (this is for America, the USA), and that a GP that refuses to charge should be plugged-in for at least an hour into the wall-adapter itself. This I did, and after something more than an hour I noticed it had charged more than the few rare instances it had actually gained (but then lost) in charge terms over the entire two days prior, in which I had kept it plugged-in (wherever I went) to powered USB ports.
Now it seems to charge just fine again, no matter the source, and something I learned from this: Li-ion batteries actually do better if frequently charged, even when the battery is not largely or totally drained; which, I discovered, can actually cause problems (or as other sources indicate, actually damage the battery!). Note this even for tools like the batteries used with cordless power drills: think about that the next time you have your DeWalt Drill or other cordless tool powered by a battery pack! (No wonder my last outfit had so many problems with their batteries!)
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6 comments:
So basically you just keep it charged? Even though it has no indication of being charged?
My galaxy player is not charging at all. And i hope this helps.
Hi Loisse, To explicate again, my battery died totally and wouldn't charge: a Li-Ion battery that loses charge seems to resist incoming energy more (not a bad thing for other reasons), so merely plugging the GP into a computing device USB port, rather than into the 2Amp wall adapter, wouldn't work.
Because it had fully died, it took well over an hour to even notice *some* charging again, but after that, it continued to re-fill.
I can't tell what is the cause of yours not charging, but perhaps this could help. For you, it could be damage, a truly dead battery, or other: I have used my GP rather consistently since it became available--daily and constantly, so if you know of no damage, no water, no moist atmosphere to have shorted it (and frankly, I've taken mine into steam rooms and worse, at one point nightly for about a month), perhaps this could help.
Best of luck to you, and please visit me back, and often: I'm preparing to become a much more serious blogger, offering tidbits that could prove useful to many people online. This blog usually serves-up fixes to rare issues and such, and I hope to keep doing that, but it's also intended for offering intel to the uninitiated, in ways that could re-define the tech, social, and business landscapes in general. Cheers!
I have one more perspective to add to the no-charge scenario...I've had my SGP 5.0 since January 1, 2012(so 13 months) and I am just now having this problem. I plug in to the wall socket and nothing. I tried 3 other wall based usb charging cords and no indication of charge. I power it off completely and then try to connect it to my laptop via charger cable.
Strangely (and I've heard of this elsewhere) the act of hooking it up to the laptop forcibly boots up the SGP. I expected to see the battery refilling icon with no actual boot up until I push the button myself. But no, it completely goes through its whole initialization process simply by being plugged in. So I guess that means the USB port is recognizing input....except once I get to my main screen....the battery is still low and is *still* not receiving any charge (no special icon, no audible chime).
Now here's the strangest thing of all: I had left the Player plugged in while wondering what to do with it. After about 2 minutes or so, magically, I hear the chime. We're in business and the player is receiving a charge. I had done nothing-my PC's status had not changed-it was seemingly a miracle.
However, I'm not out of the woods. The Windows 7 PC no longer mounts the SD card(s) of my Player. The Player, while it may recognize that it's charging, does not give me the "you are now connected" screen which enables me to 'dusmount' the connection to the PC. That screen never comes up, and the 2 devices don't see eachother. I left the player plugged in for about 3 hours or so and it slowly got it's power percentage back up. During this time, I noticed every once in awhile that my PC would make the "USB connection found" chime just out of nowhere. I happened to be looking at my desktop at one point and there was a small notification window near the taskbar that said something like "windows was unable to recognize the device." That must be the Player it's talking about.
I had tried unplugging the Player and plugging it back in to see if it would pick up the charge again...it didn't. So I recreated what I had done before by turning off the unit, plugging it into the PC, having it *auto* boot up (that's not supposed to happen!) and then waiting a random stretch of time for the charge to 'kick in.'
So if I leave it plugged into a wall charger...maybe if I just leave it and wait it'll eventually start charging??
So while I am glad that my little Player isn't completely unusable, it's still broken and apparently unchargable (without my laptop) and inaccessible via Windows. :(
Anyway, that's where I stand now. It seems that this is a manufacturing flaw that more than a few people are running into.
One last tidbit. The day this happened, I was out shoveling snow during a snow storm. I had my player in my chest pocket for some tunes and noticed afterwards that it had been pretty bombarded by frost. Perhaps some water had gotten into the USB port? That's the only thing I can think of.
Thanks so much for your findings!
Hey Prof. Nickington,
Read all of this before unplugging your device. <--Read this again.
I'll leave some theory aside for now, and just write practical stuff: since the wall cables did not work, but the one to the laptop is, there may be something wrong with the wall cables, either wear or else they're not the right kind. Make sure they're 2A (not .2A) or greater, and check the voltage per unit as well (5V or more needed). The device came with its own converter-charger (USB from an outlet) and cable, but these can short, go bad, etc.: if you're near one, Microcenter often has 8 or so $ microUSB and 2-3Amp USB charger-converts (i.e. plug into a wall outlet), and similarly priced microUSB cables (in the same kind of security boxes below, often in the same box as the wall conveter). You just have to look not at what they display on the racks, which might be $20+, but at the individual units in their security boxes stored either on the bottom shelf or top rack (above your head)-take the relevant one to the counter with you.
When you say it boots up automatically by plugging the SGP in (which thing I hate too) to the laptop, it sounds like you have a bad connection (err...a short), whether the cable or the device. When mine does this, I know it's time to get a new cable (or be worried about the unit). A *bad* cable can still get a device running and charging, but so can the *bad* connection pins in the device: you may have an issue with the physical pins. I can't be sure, of course, and it could be something else inside, but either something could be shorted, corroded, broken (disconnected), crossed...or maybe the pins are just bent away from the connection point. There are all sorts of things that could be...
But since we don't know, ignore that for now: You might get an issue of the SGP charging just enough to stay on while it is connected to the laptop, but because it just may not get you over the "hump" necessary without the extra few Amps from an outlet, could turn off after disconnecting it: that as the original problem I had, which led to this post. On the other hand, leaving it plugged-in *might* very slowly get you there: if you turn the device off (a risk you'll have to choose to take or no). If the SGP forces itself back on after you turn it off, you know there's a problem in the cable or pins: probably the cable, though: make sure you're not using cell-phone "micro'USB'" chargers, such as for the Galaxy Note or Galaxy S (which cross some pins) or ZTE chargers (which cross some pins).
Among the first things I would risk (myself) is replacement of the cable with another standard cable (i.e. because there are cables with the same shape as microUSB which can plug into microUSB, that aren't--as aforementioned). Before, however, I would go into the settings and check USB and debugger settings: you need this post. It's about Kies, but Kies gets blocked simply for the device being in the wrong mode. The difference is, for the step to put it into Kies mode, put your device into mass storage mode.
Let me know how things go.
a.g.
I got my galaxy player checked out and they said the usb port was burnt out. I tried to get it fixed but they don't have the part to replace it. Are there any other ways to charge my galaxy player? Thanks
Hi Loisse. I believe there is a way, but there is no guarantee. The USB port can be bypassed (for charging purposes) by converting the device to charge wirelessly. The trick is getting the parts. For the Galaxy phones accessories like this are already made, so it may be possible to use one of those kits. Google "wireless charging kit Samsung Galaxy". But in case those are device-specific (i.e. I've seen them for the Galaxy phones but not actually for the player), you could try something like this, http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57566806-285/this-easy-hack-adds-wireless-charging-to-samsung-galaxy-s3/
Good luck. : )
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