New Pro1X (Android) won't charge or turn on

[origamihero 1]

Hi! I got my Pro1X today, but it refuses to charge or turn on. When I plug in an USB cable, the LED lights up for a second, but then nothing happens. No charging/battery display, the screen stays black, can't turn it on, etc.

Is there anything I can do? Thanks!

 

[EDIT]

Things I tried, both with and without a cable connected:

-Holding power button down for 60+ seconds

-Power button + Vol up and down

-While connected to the PC, using Power + Vol down to enable that recovery mode or whatever it's called. Here, the LED lights up for a bit after a while, but nothing else happens.

 

Nothing so far. 😞

Edited June 2, 2023 by origamihero

[Hook 3,031]

It looks like you've run into the dreaded battery protection issue.  Most Pro1xs are fine when delivered. Even sitting for a year in the warehouse, the batteries should have 30-50% charge (Mine, delivered in early April 2023 had 50% charge), but the battery protection apparently has a flaw they are investigating.  If the battery becomes somehow completely deleted, it enters a sleep state and won't charge.  You should contact FxcTec at info@fxtec.com to open a support ticket.

Sorry 😞

[origamihero 1]

Thanks! I wrote them an email through the support form.

Looks like this is happening to quite a few people. And getting ADB to do anything also seems impossible with the battery in its current state, because recovery/fastboot modes won't work.

[Hook 3,031]

Yeah, I think that once the battery goes to sleep, nothing short of taking the phone apart and providing a direct jolt of energy will allow it to charge and supply power.  Something that would be waaay above my pay grade.

Maybe you could tie it to a kite and fly it in a thunder storm... 😄

 

[claude0001 1,343]

5 hours ago, origamihero said:

Looks like this is happening to quite a few people. And getting ADB to do anything also seems impossible with the battery in its current state

What f(x)tec euphemistically refer to as a "sleep state" means nothing else than that the battery erroneously got depleted to literally 0.0 V, so that there is no energy whatsoever left in it. The "battery protection" system should normally prevent this from happening. Not only is so deep discharging bad for a Li-battery's life expectancy, it also turns out that Android actually always needs enough residual charge left to boot its kernel before re-charging from USB can start.   

So, yes, once bitten by the battery depletion bug, there is no other way than to either 1) send the phone back to f(x)tec for charging or 2) open-up the phone and charge the battery yourself with a suitable external PSU. @Hook is right in that the latter is not a trivial operation, but it can be done. I wrote down my experience in another thread, and also others have reportedly been successful in this.

Edited June 2, 2023 by claude0001

[david 929]

@origamihero - Here is my adventure with the pro1 battery.  It wasn't a case of being overly depleted, but I did have to charge the battery outside the phone.

 

[Unknown 0]

I haven't turned it on in a while, but no luck, and when I connect it to the charger, the red light energizes for a moment and then immediately shuts off.

When I looked at the current with the USB ammeter, 5V, 0.14A flowed for a moment, then the energizing lamp shone, and from there it was 0A and could not be charged.

The only thing I can think of is that it did not start up for almost a month, and there is no external damage.

Is there any solution to this problem?

Edited July 19, 2023 by Unknown

[Unknown 0]

I had this same symptom, so the battery needs to be replaced or charged with a stabilized power supply 😞

 

 

[EskeRahn 5,464]

(merged threads)

[jack4uno 1]

Hello.

My F(x)tec Pro 1x is not booting up anymore. It was working fine, and I thought the battery might've run out, but I've tried charging it, holding the power button, plugged into a computer... it just refuses to boot up. 

When I first connect it to a charger, the red light above the display blinks once, but then there is nothing after that. 

The device is new and I am running stock everything. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you very much.

[EskeRahn 5,464]

That is unfortunately a known issue with the Pro1X, that it allows itself to get discharged beyond the point of recharge by plugging in, We have several threads mentioning this. I will try to find and merge. merged

[MonCon 125]

For starters

 

[EskeRahn 5,464]

2 minutes ago, MonCon said:

For starters

...Already merged 😆

[MonCon 125]

8 hours ago, EskeRahn said:

...Already merged 😆

I seem to keep doing this recently, missing the boat after the question has been answered.  Maybe I need to stop multitasking when I should be working. 

[jack4uno 1]

On 7/19/2023 at 12:22 PM, Unknown said:

I had this same symptom, so the battery needs to be replaced or charged with a stabilized power supply 😞

 

 

Is there a guide or instructions on how to fix it?

[david 929]

3 hours ago, jack4uno said:

Is there a guide or instructions on how to fix it?

You need to disassemble it and get enough charge in the battery for it to get to be able to boot to the charging screen (or someone else do that for you).

Here is how I got a charge in my pro1 battery.

There are other methods that have been posted.  For example, you could jump charge it with another battery (9 volt alkaline battery was offered as an example).  But however you charge it, you need to get the Pro1X battery out of the phone.

[david 929]

One thing that people may way to consider to avoid this issue is installing an app that shuts down the phone before it gets to the critical level.  This won't help people who have this happen before installing the app or have the battery run out when the phone is off for a long period of time and the battery drains, but it can help those of us who are able to do this step before it happens.  I believe this requires root (my Pro1X is rooted).

The app I installed is called Advanced Charging Controller App (ACCA).  It isn't on the play store.  Here is its page:  https://f-droid.org/en/packages/mattecarra.accapp/

 

It can automatically shut down your phone when the battery gets to a certain percentage.  I originally got it for other features -- the ability to slow charge the battery when plugged into a fast charger and limit the temperature of the phone when charging.  You can set the current and voltage to lower values.  I don't know which combinations work, but I have it set to a current limit of 1000 mA.  I don't limit the voltage.  You can temporarily disable the functionality in the app if you do need a fast charge at times.  I also have it pause charging for 90 seconds if it gets to 48 degrees Celsius.  

I have it set to shut down the phone if the battery charge gets to 3%.  This is a failsafe.  It is better, for the battery, to not let it get that low.

[MonCon 125]

I've used ACCA in the past, both as a high temp protection and a low level shutdown, and you're right about it needing root, and it may be wise to enable offline charging if you go down this route.
I'm currently running unrooted LineageOS (such a nice OS, thank you Devs) and use Easer https://f-droid.org/en/packages/ryey.easer/ as my safeguard, to generate progressively louder alarms as the battery level decreases. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by MonCon
Added link for Easer

[david 929]

1 minute ago, MonCon said:

I've used ACCA in the past, you're right about it needing root, and it may be wise to enable offline charging if you go down this route. 

I was pondering that too.  I don't know if it would matter.  If someone has a phone plugged in, I am guessing it takes about the same power to get booted enough to start charging when booting fully as it does to get to the charge only boot screen.  But I could be wrong.

I have it turned on with my phone, because the phone can charge a lot faster with it powered off.  I use that if I am in a hurry sometimes and want to get enough charge in the phone.  Doesn't seem to get as hot on fast charging when powered off.

[MonCon 125]

There's a good thread or two on here about ACCA, offline charging and battery health, I'll find it and post a link. 

Here it is: 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by MonCon

[david 929]

I should mention that I find it short sighted that the phone makers require the phones to boot (even to just the battery charging screen) in order to charge the battery.  They should have these set up so that the charging can take place with the phone completely off.  There might be some sort of limitation where it can't fast charge until the cpu is involved, but it should do a low level charge, at a bare minimum, until the battery gets to a state where it can boot to the charging screen.  That type of failsafe seems a lot better than shutting down when they think it is getting into the danger zone.

Edited August 22, 2023 by david

[jack4uno 1]

This may be helpful for people wanting to open the Fxtec pro1 to recharge/replace the battery.

It has video instructions on how to open the phone. 

https://store.fxtec.com/fix-your-broken-smartphone-screen/

[jack4uno 1]

11 hours ago, david said:

You need to disassemble it and get enough charge in the battery for it to get to be able to boot to the charging screen (or someone else do that for you).

Here is how I got a charge in my pro1 battery.

There are other methods that have been posted.  For example, you could jump charge it with another battery (9 volt alkaline battery was offered as an example).  But however you charge it, you need to get the Pro1X battery out of the phone.

Thank you. This looks incredibly complex for a noob like me with zero experience. I feel like I'll end up damaging the phone if I open it myself. 

However, I don't think any local repair shops would be familiar with the Fxtec Pro1 whatsoever, so it seems like I am out of luck. 

[david 929]

1 minute ago, jack4uno said:

Thank you. This looks incredibly complex for a noob like me with zero experience. I feel like I'll end up damaging the phone if I open it myself. 

However, I don't think any local repair shops would be familiar with the Fxtec Pro1 whatsoever, so it seems like I am out of luck. 

I believe Fxtec will do it if you contact them.  You'd be without the phone for a while though.

My guess is a repair shop could do it if given that link to the instructions on how it is done.  They are generally used to taking apart many different models of phones.

[jack4uno 1]

1 minute ago, david said:

I believe Fxtec will do it if you contact them.  You'd be without the phone for a while though.

My guess is a repair shop could do it if given that link to the instructions on how it is done.  They are generally used to taking apart many different models of phones.

I am assuming Fxtec offices would be in the UK. I am located in the Philippines and shipping would be extremely costly for me. 

Thanks for the idea, I'll consider showing that instruction video to a local repair shop. I fear the hinge won't be as snappy and smooth after the repair. Curious to know how was your experience with it? Thank you.