# Majorly stumped--unexplained massive battery drain



## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

Hi all,

Please don't hate me too much for posting another battery thread, but I'm really stumped. A while ago, to get rid of the really really long boot up times, I took my phone back to stock and re-rooted it with the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit. After installing CWM, I reinstalled AOKP and found that the bootup times were snappy as hell. However, since then, I've had legitimately awful battery life. I'm talking like AndroidOS keeping awake constantly (which is really the fundamental issue I think), the phone dying on an extended battery with 30 minutes of screen on time without data on. I've tried using Better Battery Stats, GSam Battery Monitor, etc. and I just cannot find what the issue is. I even did the same go back to stock and re-root strategy as the past to no avail.

At the suggestion of a user in the AOKP thread, I also took it back to stock and left it without any programs for a few days to see if that could shed more light on the situation. The phone used to get great battery life in stock, but now it's just as bad here as it was under the other custom ROMs. I have attached a screenshot of part of a typical day of usage.

I do have a theory that in the original decision to go back to stock, something went wrong. Idk if it was something to do with leankernel tweaks that I used to run (which I seriously doubt), or if something residual didn't get wiped properly (my actual hypothesis), or what. If there's any way to actually truly completely wipe the phone 100% I am more than willing to do that. It's also totally possible that there's something wrong with the hardware. I'm just trying to avoid going to verizon for an exchange...

The phone is currently still in JB stock (the new leak), but I had the same trouble with JB1 and the 8/29 build of AOKP. Additionally, I have the same issue with franco, leankernal, and faux.

Does anyone have some free time to help me troubleshoot the issue? I am willing to attempt anything at this point. Also, if there's another place I should post for help, please direct me there because I don't want to be the annoying guy posting in the wrong forum.

Thanks in advance for any help!


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## B3L13V3 (Jul 11, 2011)

cnash6 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Please don't hate me too much for posting another battery thread, but I'm really stumped. A while ago, to get rid of the really really long boot up times, I took my phone back to stock and re-rooted it with the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit. After installing CWM, I reinstalled AOKP and found that the bootup times were snappy as hell. However, since then, I've had legitimately awful battery life. I'm talking like AndroidOS keeping awake constantly (which is really the fundamental issue I think), the phone dying on an extended battery with 30 minutes of screen on time without data on. I've tried using Better Battery Stats, GSam Battery Monitor, etc. and I just cannot find what the issue is. I even did the same go back to stock and re-root strategy as the past to no avail.
> 
> ...


 8 hours and you're past 50% I'd say you're getting really good battery life, I'm lucky to get 8 hours out of the extended battery and that's underclocked with all the possible battery saving tweaks applied. But I don't mind carrying around my extra extended battery and a charger


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

I don't think that it's good battery life, to be honest. I think it's horrendous. That's with 15 minutes of screen on time, meaning my phone was in my pocket all day long. Only wi-fi on, no 3G or 4G. With Android OS use that far outstrips everything else, keeping the phone awake almost 50% of the time.

Considering a month ago I could get close to 4 hours of screen on time (right as AOKP first started releasing JB ROMS), I think that something must be wrong.


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

Click on the graph and post a picture of that

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

Here you are. Thanks for helping


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## barski (Mar 5, 2012)

Yeah, your battery life sucks. Something is keeping your phone awake, finding that something is your challenge.

Give XenonHD a try. Phenomenal ROM, then use franco kernel. If you use a backup/restore app like titanium, don't do that and install apps one at a time.


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

cnash6 said:


> Here you are. Thanks for helping


BBS would be the next step to help determine what is waking the device. Also check cpu spy to make sure your phone is sleeping.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

I'm pretty sure it's ROM-independent... I have had the same issue going between stock, CM10, and AOKP ever since that initial return to stock. I think there's something deeper than the filesystem that got screwed up.

Same with checking BBS. And CPU spy. CPU spy shows that I get into deep sleep about half the time, and it stays locked on the lowest speed for that other half (matches the 50% of awake suggested in the screenshots). BBS doesn't tell me anything informative, either... It just tells me Android OS keeps my phone awake...

It's really, really perplexing. And quite frustrating. I have followed as much advice as I can find to no avail. I'm not sure if there's just something wrong with the phone, or what. But I feel like something deeper than the file system has been messed up, but I don't know how to go about fixing it.


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## thesoldier (Jan 25, 2012)

Better Battery Stats WILL tell you what process is destroying your battery, you just need to know how to read it. Post screenshots of the multiple categories in the drop down list for BBS, such as kernel wakelocks, partial wakelocks...etc. Then we can be more help.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

pics of wake locks from bbs

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

Ok. I'll give it a bit of time. I had to reinstall it (didn't bother reinstalling it since trying to use it before going back to stock). I'll post pics shortly once it has collected some data.

Thanks for all your help, guys


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

Ok, here's what I've got after around a half hour...


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

Plus two more that it wouldn't let me attach to the last post... With the exception of the installation of BBS, the phone's screen has been off the whole time.


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

try a different kernel and/or turn off wifi and retest

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

My experiences in the past have led me to believe that the problem was independent of the kernel.

Wifi could be turned off I suppose. If that turns out to be the issue, are there fixes for it in terms of software, or does that sound like the wifi module itself has gone bad?


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

hyar. you may be onto something... trying to turn off wifi took several attempts and gave me a settings isn't responding error.


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## thesoldier (Jan 25, 2012)

Well, it looks like you have multiple things keeping your phone awake.

1) Maps - Lately, I've had problems with this stupid app, but there's something you can do to cut down on the wakelocks. Open Maps, go to settings, uncheck report from this device. You can also click location reporting and hit do not update location. It definitely got rid of the wakelocks for me, but I don't know if it affects Google Now.










2)wlan_rx_wake - I know this is related to WiFi, but I don't know what causes it. I had this problem and searched months ago, but never found an answer. It can possibly be your router doing this, but again I am not sure.

3) AudioOut - Are you playing music or something? Having a screen lock sound can contribute to this and wake your phone each time you lock it. I just disabled screen lock sound.

Hope this helps a little, I would also try another kernel for sure. Faux, Franco, lean, Trinity, I recommend them all. See which one your phone likes the best.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

thesoldier said:


> 3) AudioOut - Are you playing music or something? Having a screen lock sound can contribute to this and wake your phone each time you lock it. I just disabled screen lock sound.
> 
> Hope this helps a little, I would also try another kernel for sure. Faux, Franco, lean, Trinity, I recommend them all. See which one your phone likes the best.


Going to disable that screen lock sound. I'll try another kernel soon, but I was having the same issue with others. Maybe I can get to the bottom of this.

Thanks so much for all your help, gentlemen! (or ladies I suppose, not sure)


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## Art Vandelay (Jan 4, 2012)

How's your battery life when WiFi is off and just using 3g? When you use WiFi are you connected to the same router all day? I've heard that you may have to clear out some settings on your router and reestablish the connection, sorry I don't know what exactly, but maybe someone can remember what needs to be down.

JB in general has higher androidOS drain, but yours is def higher than normal.

Im sure you have already, but make sure you clear cache/dalvik/system more than once and fix permission.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

Turning off WiFi basically stopped all the drain. I don't really have the ability to change anything about the router since I'm at a University. I also don't think there's anything wrong with it, as it wasn't an issue recently. I think something is wrong with the wifi component itself maybe...

I'm turning 3G back on. Going to see if it's a data thing (like if my phone is constantly grabbing data for some reason) or if it's just the wifi...

Is there a way to totally reset the firmware of the wifi card? Is there even firmware associated with it?

Thanks everyone

Edit: appeared to be a drop when I turned 3G on. Any way to see what's using all the data per chance?
Better battery stats suggests that the Google Play Store was downloading 181 MB of data since I unplugged it. I don't see why that should be the case...

On second thought, I don't really know how to interpret this graph with such a small sample size. Maybe I'll go the whole day tomorrow and see what it does. Or maybe I'll just go to Verizon. This is a bit ridiculous...


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## EniGmA1987 (Sep 5, 2011)

If the wifi is causing wakelocks then it should be fixed by wiping and going to a different ROM and kernel. What I would suggest is downloading something like VanirAOSP and a kernel you havent tried, Glados wasnt on your list, and have them ready on your computer. Save any pictures and stuff you need and then 100% wipe your phone by locking and then unlocking the bootloader. Copy your saved pictures back and put the ROM and kernel on the internal SD. Install the new stuff and see how things are. The complete wipe will get rid of any lingering files or other things that may have been sticking around causing the wifi problem.

It could be that your recovery is not wiping all files correctly. Some people have that problem now and then.


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

EniGmA1987 said:


> If the wifi is causing wakelocks then it should be fixed by wiping and going to a different ROM and kernel. What I would suggest is downloading something like VanirAOSP and a kernel you havent tried, Glados wasnt on your list, and have them ready on your computer. Save any pictures and stuff you need and then 100% wipe your phone by locking and then unlocking the bootloader. Copy your saved pictures back and put the ROM and kernel on the internal SD. Install the new stuff and see how things are. The complete wipe will get rid of any lingering files or other things that may have been sticking around causing the wifi problem.
> 
> It could be that your recovery is not wiping all files correctly. Some people have that problem now and then.


I suppose that could be, though the problem has persisted even wiping completely, going back to stock, then re-rooting the device. It's very strange...


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## B3L13V3 (Jul 11, 2011)

decipher this and I would really appreciate it...


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## Syndicate0017 (Jan 21, 2012)

B3L13V3 said:


> decipher this and I would really appreciate it...


What's to decipher? Looks like you played a ton of music. Your phone doesn't sleep while music is played.Thus the high battery drain. 
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Mustang302LX (Jun 28, 2011)

Syndicate0017 said:


> What's to decipher? Looks like you played a ton of music. Your phone doesn't sleep while music is played.Thus the high battery drain.
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Playing music shouldn't cause that fast of drain though.


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## Syndicate0017 (Jan 21, 2012)

Mustang302LX said:


> Playing music shouldn't cause that fast of drain though.


If he's streaming it will...3 hours or so of streaming will take my phone from 100 to 0 no problem. He also had decent screen usage as well (going off his screen shots). Nothing else really out of the ordinary imo.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## knivesout (Dec 1, 2011)

EniGmA1987 said:


> It could be that your recovery is not wiping all files correctly. Some people have that problem now and then.


What sort of actual proof of this kind of conjecture has ever been found? I realize that with some experimental or bugged recoveries there could conceivably be problems. But with proven, stable recoveries? This goes for the poster who suggested multiple wipes in recovery as well - what exactly is that going to accomplish if you're using a trusted, correctly functioning recovery?


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## B3L13V3 (Jul 11, 2011)

Syndicate0017 said:


> If he's streaming it will...3 hours or so of streaming will take my phone from 100 to 0 no problem. He also had decent screen usage as well (going off his screen shots). Nothing else really out of the ordinary imo.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


 this is all music stored locally, no streaming going on here and phone is also in pocket for the majority of the time. I have my cpu settings at max 1036 and min 230 running wheatley governor and bfq schedule on Franco's latest exp build. Screen settings are in auto with screen off at 30 seconds...I mean usually I don't complain about battery life but it seems some of you guys might be able to help me achieve better results. Seriously my average battery life is 5 hours, and all I really do is listen to music while at work...


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## Syndicate0017 (Jan 21, 2012)

B3L13V3 said:


> this is all music stored locally, no streaming going on here and phone is also in pocket for the majority of the time. I have my cpu settings at max 1036 and min 230 running wheatley governor and bfq schedule on Franco's latest exp build. Screen settings are in auto with screen off at 30 seconds...I mean usually I don't complain about battery life but it seems some of you guys might be able to help me achieve better results. Seriously my average battery life is 5 hours, and all I really do is listen to music while at work...


I'll be honest with you, while your drain seems a little high for locally stored music, I don't think its too far off from normal (if at all). Music keeps your phone awake constantly so battery life will suffer. Use it like normal at work tomorrow after downloading GSAM battery monitor or better battery stats and post the results. Because the android battery status screenshots look pretty normal to me for your usage pattern.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## zwade01 (Jun 16, 2011)

cnash6 said:


> I wonder if there's a WiFi firmware update? Having never done the OTA upgrade since re-rooting my device, I wonder if I lost this somewhere along the way?


Have you installed the latest radios from last week?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## EniGmA1987 (Sep 5, 2011)

knivesout said:


> What sort of actual proof of this kind of conjecture has ever been found? I realize that with some experimental or bugged recoveries there could conceivably be problems. But with proven, stable recoveries? This goes for the poster who suggested multiple wipes in recovery as well - what exactly is that going to accomplish if you're using a trusted, correctly functioning recovery?


There are a few posts on these forums even where people listed the files that were left over after doing a wipe from recovery. No one knows why there are certain files that dont get wiped. I have seen people post about the problem when using CWM and TWRP so it isnt really a recovery problem, something else in the phone is not letting the files be wiped.


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## sublimaze (Nov 17, 2011)

Copy everything you want to keep (photos, ringtones, 3rd party apks, etc) to your computer, use GNex Toolkit to revert to bone stock including stock bootloader & radios. When you get to the Google account setup wizard, don't sign into your account. Just hit "skip" or "next" to get past the setup wizard. This prevents the phone from automatically downloading your market apps. Reboot, then sign into your Google account, sync contacts and install BBS & CPU Spy and nothing else, and use it as you normally would for at least 48 hours.


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## theonlycosmic (Feb 1, 2012)

To fix the OPs problem I suggest the following.

Format sdcard. (Back up first)

Update the boot loader to primelc03 and radios to FF02 and FG02.

Update recovery to CWM v6.0.1.0

Flash Jakeday's jelly belly v7.0 and make sure to wipe data and format system before doing so.

Also, NEVER, and I mean never, restore system data or just data at all. Only restore Apps without the data.

If you tried every step above, and I mean even if you already did it just do it again, then it is a hard ware problem.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Eli (Aug 22, 2011)

Mustang302LX said:


> Playing music shouldn't cause that fast of drain though.


I agree.

I stream music for over 2 hours while riding my bike, GPS on using the Garmin Fit app, and I don't burn that much battery as the OP.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## strikeir13 (Jun 7, 2011)

cnash6 said:


> Turning off WiFi basically stopped all the drain. I don't really have the ability to change anything about the router since I'm at a University. I also don't think there's anything wrong with it, as it wasn't an issue recently. I think something is wrong with the wifi component itself maybe...


The fact that you are connecting to university Wi-Fi may make a difference. My Wi-Fi drain is definitely higher on my university Wi-Fi than on my home Wi-Fi, so there is some router setting that can contribute to higher Wi-Fi drain. I do think yours is probably higher than it should be, but not to the extent that your phone's hardware is to blame.

I don't have a solution to the higher university Wi-Fi drain, and since you can't really change your university's router settings, there isn't much that can diminish that Wi-Fi drain. As others have suggested, completely wiping the phone and internal sd card could help. Try this first though: wipe data, then only add back the apps you use one by one. That could help identify if it is a rogue app.

As for ROM/kernel suggestions, I'd go with some CM10 incarnation and either CM stock kernel or LeanKernel. Good luck!


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## cnash6 (Aug 23, 2012)

strikeir13 said:


> The fact that you are connecting to university Wi-Fi may make a difference. My Wi-Fi drain is definitely higher on my university Wi-Fi than on my home Wi-Fi, so there is some router setting that can contribute to higher Wi-Fi drain. I do think yours is probably higher than it should be, but not to the extent that your phone's hardware is to blame.
> 
> I don't have a solution to the higher university Wi-Fi drain, and since you can't really change your university's router settings, there isn't much that can diminish that Wi-Fi drain. As others have suggested, completely wiping the phone and internal sd card could help. Try this first though: wipe data, then only add back the apps you use one by one. That could help identify if it is a rogue app.
> 
> As for ROM/kernel suggestions, I'd go with some CM10 incarnation and either CM stock kernel or LeanKernel. Good luck!


After spending the day talking to people at my school with the same phone, I'm almost 100% sure that your answer is correct. wlan_rx_lock is huge for everyone I have talked to, which corroborates the many anecdotal stories you find when you google that particular phrase. This summer my school made big WiFi changes, and I would be unsurprised to discover that they changed something important.

Thanks for all of your help, everyone!


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## jackstraw (Jun 10, 2011)

Wow, I need to do some more changes because if I went to work, left 8 hours later and was at 50% I would be in good shape. I looked at your op ss and thought your really not in that bad of shape, but maybe I've got the horrible battery.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## anotherfiz (Sep 23, 2011)

So im responding to a late ass thread. But I had similar problems to OP - and I decided the solution was similar . The question is, what setting on my wifi could this be?


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## DR3W5K1 (Feb 19, 2012)

zwade01 said:


> Have you installed the latest radios from last week?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


FYI radios have nothing to do WiFi. Try flashing the drivers from the ota.


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