[MikeElmendorf]

My Pre (Sprint) has been working well, finally. All of a sudden tonight I noticed it got very, very hot and my battery (Seido 1350) was draining at an alarming rate (like 20 percent in a few minutes!) The phone was almost too hot to hold. The only change is that I updated to the new beta release of Facebook earlier this evening before all this started, although it seems unlikely it could be related.

I turned airplane mode on, thinking it may be because I was in an area with not great coverage (I had driven about an hour from my house, and when I arrived at my destination and noticed the problem, my battery was in the mid-80's, so the problem must have somehow started while I was in the car and the device was not being used).

I powered off, did a battery pull, a few times in fact, and the problem continued.

I thought maybe something went wrong with the Seidio battery, so I took the battery out and left the phone off because it just kept getting hotter and hotter (looking at both Govnah and Battery Monitor, the battery seemed hotter than the CPU, although the CPU was fast catching up and eventually I got the critical temp warning as I was turning it off). Govnah, when I checked it, was also showing battery drain of 1200+!

Came home and put in the OEM battery, hoping all would return to normal. But it instantly got hot again--it would heat up as soon as the battery went in, even with airplane mode still on, and the battery was draining at an incredible pace again.

So finally, I doctored the phone, reluctantly, figuring that would surely solve the problem. I wasn't sure it would make it through the doctor successfully, but it did. However, no dice--the phone, running immediately after the doctor, is heating up the same even before I have re-synched my Palm profile.

I called Sprint; they really don't know what the problem is, of course, but made an appointment for me with repair tomorrow at a local store. I suspect they will just replace it (and I was able to copy everything over on USB, so hopefully I did not lose anything).

Has anyone else seen this before? I follow these forums pretty closely and don't recall anything quite like this. And does anyone have any solutions other than replacement?

(It won't even power on now if I try putting the battery back in--I just get the plug and red battery, suggesting the battery is already dead).

[Xx Spaced xX]

My phone did that a few times, actually. All I did was pull the battery and let it sit for a few minutes before I turned it back on. No one on here was able to give me a proper explanation as to what was wrong. Thankfully, it hasn't done it in a while. But, if I were you, I would pull the battery tonight, and not use it. Reboot it tomorrow, and if it still does it, see if they will replace the phone. Keep me posted, I really want to know what the repair crew will say about it; if anything.

[kel101]

this happened to me last night, i woke up randomly at 5am, and my phone was on charge, but really hot like 46 degrees i think, then i took it off charge to cool it down, i wake up 4 hours later and its on 10% battery.

(i have the 1350 battery)

[GodShapedHole]

I could've stopped reading at "Thunderchief". The readiness with which a lot of you install software that is openly labeled dangerous (heck, they even dropped the "potentially" when they cracked the Gigahertz mark, didn't they?) and then, when something dangerous happens, go and say "well it's probably NOT the nightly build of the experimental alpha kernel that brings my uncooled processor up to twice its intended clock speed because that's been stable for the week or so I used it."

Guess what, Einstein - YOU'RE AN ALPHA TESTER. You should post this in the Thunderchief thread; the Kernel dev is going to eat this up and it might help them make an improvement. Just don't run experimental tinkering stuff like Thunderchief at a Gigahertz or Blackbird at 1.2 and expect much sympathy when something goes wrong.

It's like it's uncool to use the well-tested and known-good UberKernel these days, wherever you look, people are running the Alpha ones and it doesn't look like all of these are the type of people that are good Alpha testers for the devs.

[NachoB]

uh, is your rant over with? And posting in the Thunderchief thread is not possible, Einstein, since the dev requested it be closed.

[MikeElmendorf]

Spaced, did many, many battery pulls. With two batteries. No success. Let it sit overnight and just tried it now; it immediately started heating up again. I'll let you know what they say at Sprint; I suspect they are just going to look at it, feel how hot it instantly is, and chuck it. Strange thing is that it is still doing it post doctor with nothing re-adding.

Truth is, my Pre has always done weird things. I've had random slowdowns, heat ups and battery drains (but nothing like this) that no one could explain so maybe something has always been off and it finally bit the dust.

I did wake up one morning a month or so ago to find the device dead on the touchstone. I wonder if this happened then and somehow it righted itself after it recharged with a new battery. It doesn't seem to want to stop whatever it is doing now.

[MikeElmendorf]

By the way, for what it is worth, I did the Palm tech support chat last night and they said they have never heard of this exact issue, either.

[shadavis08]

well considering all the warnings about overclocking your phone . I suppose the processor probably went berzerk and crapped out. Lol this is only an assumption .

[NachoB]

Just out of curiousity, have you ran JStop to see if there is anything strange running in the background?

[twiktor]

Yeah this has happened to me as well. This week in fact although I didn't have Thunderchief loaded but rather Uberkernel. Bringing the phone outta sleep has been a toss up as it's seemingly very tired and just as I am a bad morning person, my phone is a 4 snoozer till it wakes up now. Also of note is that my phone's modem for data is kaput. Noticed the EV wasn't appearing and then did a quick test. Once it gave an error 20 and then an error 1000. When using WebOs Quick install I can see that my phone no longer has any modem firmware listed. For brief moments I got the EV to show today for sprint initiated text message but thats all it's been. Heading to sprint tomorrow.

[GodShapedHole]

uh, is your rant over with? And posting in the Thunderchief thread is not possible, Einstein, since the dev requested it be closed.

in that case, color me an ***** because the thread is closed and I don't keep track of which threads on this forum are open and which are closed. That must mean that Thunderchief is now considered safe, stable software meant for end-users. Proceed with your highly intelligent discussion about why silly Palm tech support has never heard about this issue that has only ever cropped up with a modified Kernel that they have never seen because it's a bunch of underground hackers' daily changing hobby project kept in a semi-secret software feed marked "experimental".

Palm gives people freedom to do whatever they want with the phones they bought with their money. If you take this freedom and install software marked with pictures of nuclear explosions and disclaimers like "this kernel will destroy your phone", and then say you didn't have any idea that it was dangerous, because if it was dangerous, why was it so easy to do?, and that the Kernel worked well for a few days, proving that it must have been something else (i.e. maybe the Facebook beta app - of course) then I just don't know.

I suspect that THIS is the reason why other companies in this market (Apple, now apparently Motorola) clamp their products shut for dear life: if the user can do NOTHING that the manufacturer didn't intend, they can't do stupid things like these and then quite naturally blame the manufacturer. I suppose that this is called "foolproofing" a product.
Apple products, for example, are absolutely foolproof. Palm isn't so foolproof; it actually lets you DO things. But if you're a fool, and expect your twenty-first open card to open as quickly as your first (and get indignated when it doesn't, citing how quick iOS opens apps) or install a highly inofficial, experimental alpha overclock linux kernel by a bunch of enthusiasts that comes with warnings of voided warranties and molten processors because you can (and act confused when the phone breaks and won't power up anymore), then yes, Palm really did a bad job at catering to your needs by enabling you to do something stupid.

I am sorry to have to say it like this, but I hope they continue to do so. I don't want to give up my freedom so other people who cannot cope with too much freedom don't get burnt.

<edit> Screw it, it's long enough already, let's make it longer. This could just as well be a battery issue unrelated to Thunderchief, but really, if you're running an experimental OC kernel, all bets are off and I would consider it unethical to bring it in to a shop to have it replaced on warranty. You voided your warranty when you let your CPU run at higher speeds than intended by Palm. Not saying that you should never take any risks - but if something happens, you're basically on your own.

What ticks me off isn't discussion of what actually happened here - although the kernel dev should know as it could be connected to Thunderchief - but the implication is "I'm taking it to Sprint to have it replaced, and then I'll post things like 'This is my fourth Pre, I'm getting tired of taking them back to the store every time'".

[MikeElmendorf]

Nacho, did that and also ran top. I did not see anything out of the ordinary and doubt that it was something running since it continued to eat the battery alive even after doctoring. I think something was screwy with the hardware and it finally gave in. I have had an issue that's been discussed in the Govnah thread with major slowdowns that come and go with no reason (accompanied by bad battery performance) so this may just have been the main and final event of whatever that was.

[pastorich1]

You voided your warranty when you let your CPU run at higher speeds than intended by Palm. Not saying that you should never take any risks - but if something happens, you're basically on your own.

Don't get me wrong GodShapedHole, I understand your frustration here. I just want to make a technical clarification if I may. Palm MAY void your warranty as a result of overclocking. It doesn't mean they will. If your device fails due to an OC related issue they MAY void your warranty. But if your USB port stops working or your touch screen stops responding or your speaker quits working they have no reason to not honor the warranty.

Certainly the dealers like Sprint, AT&T, Verizon etc. should have qualified tech people to evaluate those matters. However if they don't, I am sure it is like many other wholesale/retail relationship. The retailer files a claim that a given item is defective and requests credit, the wholesaler/supplier then determines whether in fact it is a valid claim and makes a decision to either offer credit or not (and they can and do know if any device has ever been OC'd). So then the risk falls back on the retailer, unless the wholesaler values and benefits from the relationship enough to just issue the credit regardless.

In the end, there is an ethical element to all of this that is encumbent upon the end user. But the user has little ability to know whether their issue is OC related unless the retailer identifies it. If questioned about it as a possible cause the end user should admit it and accept the consequences.

A final side note... let's keep this whole thing civil ok? Thanks guys.

[acidhax]

You blamed your overheating pre on a facebook install? ---And you're running an alpha 1ghz+ kernel?

ha...ha...ha...

Oh this is funny.

[RUSH]

The phone is possesed... Return it immediately!

[NachoB]

@MikeElemdorf
If you want to try an earlier WebOS version (the ones that wipe everything) let me know.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Don't get me wrong GodShapedHole, I understand your frustration here. I just want to make a technical clarification if I may. Palm MAY void your warranty as a result of overclocking. It doesn't mean they will. If your device fails due to an OC related issue they MAY void your warranty. But if your USB port stops working or your touch screen stops responding or your speaker quits working they have no reason to not honor the warranty.

From Rod, not saying you are wrong, just the couple times he has addressed it and the one time HP/Palm did (1 time I remember reading I mean). It has sounded more like this quote below.

A key thing to remember is that if you overclock your device, you automatically give up all warranty rights.

And yes, Palm can easily tell if you have overclocked your device or not - they get a report from your device every day about what apps it is running.

-- Rod

[pastorich1]

From Rod, not saying you are wrong, just the couple times he has addressed it and the one time HP/Palm did (1 time I remember reading I mean). It has sounded more like this quote below.

Yes, I recall reading the post and a couple of others similar to it. The way I read Rod's statement is that you no longer have a guarantee that they will repair or replace your device under warranty. It doesn't mean they won't it just means they aren't required to.

There was also a very technical warranty discussion on the topic of OC modifications and somebody else cited case law that stated a manufacturer must honor a warranty for a warrenteed failure if that failure was not caused/related to said modification. I will have to search to see if I can find it.

[neville1355]

use webos doc 1.2.1, I believe that does a complete erase (someone back me up on this?)

[Tyndall]

Phone mods are now legal.....I am not certain they would automatically void a warranty because of patching.