BB 9900 Horrendous battery life - How to fix?

**vibe69** · 08-12-2012, 04:10 PM

Just recently acquired a BB 9900, it is a Rogers branded phone but its used with Koodo.

Anyways, the issue I'm having is this phones battery life is just terrible, its so bad that it pretty much depletes itself without the phone even being used. Fully charged at 100% will drop down to ~70% within hours of no usage. No calls nothing. I believe the way the battery is that I couldn't even go a day with bare usage on 1 charge.

I have tried a battery pull, also turned off the Location thing - figured maybe the GPS is constantly tracking it? Brightness is set to 40, screen timeout at 10seconds.

I ran software updates on the phone until nothing was reported anymore, the version on it now is 7.1 bundle 1310 (v7.1.0.391 platform 5.1.0.319).

There is no software running in the background I checked the Application thing and nothing is loaded up in the background.

Another issue I am having is that I set the time zone up and everything the time reports fine. Then hours later I check my phone and the clock changed to report 1 hour back so if its supposed to be actually 3pm, it would report 2pm. And all the settings on the phone are actually accurate for my time zone/location.

Please help me out! What's going on here?

**DennyCrane** · 08-12-2012, 06:00 PM

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Was it used? It sounds like you've already done a lot of the troubleshooting that I'd suggest. It almost sounds like the battery has come to the end of its life. I have my screen brightness at 10, and timeout at 30 seconds. I have bluetooth and wifi on 24/7, and I'm a pretty heavy user. I usually get a full day out of mine, and then I charge it over night. Sometimes it won't quite last the day, but that's what an extra battery is for.

You're never going to get great battery life with this phone, but it shouldn't be dropping 30% in 2 hours with no usage.

**vibe69** · 08-12-2012, 07:38 PM

Yes the phone is used, but its in nearly brand new condition. I think it's 3months old? No signs of usage so I'm having a hard time to think that the battery is already bad.

Wifi & Bluetooth is all off, any of the other software updates that offer better performance battery wise?

**RightThere** · 08-12-2012, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by vibe69

Yes the phone is used, but its in nearly brand new condition. I think it's 3months old? No signs of usage so I'm having a hard time to think that the battery is already bad.

Wifi & Bluetooth is all off, any of the other softwares better battery performance wise?

Sounds like a battery issue to me as well. You've checked most of the other things that would cause a drain issue like that.

May have just been a bad battery from the start. Also if the phone is doing some other "unusual" stuff, could be a hardware issue. Hate to say it, but could be water damage.

**vibe69** · 08-13-2012, 06:24 AM

Originally Posted by RightThere

Sounds like a battery issue to me as well. You've checked most of the other things that would cause a drain issue like that.

May have just been a bad battery from the start. Also if the phone is doing some other "unusual" stuff, could be a hardware issue. Hate to say it, but could be water damage.

Any indicators on the phone to show if water damage? Is there anything behind where the battery is?

**Mann Incognito** · 08-13-2012, 08:13 AM

Have you run a software check recently? Some of the later builds (500+) seem to have better battery life, maybe trawl through CrackBerry and see what your update options are. This one seems to be the latest for the 9900:

http://crackberry.com/offiical-os-71...nican-republic

**vibe69** · 08-13-2012, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by Mann Incognito

Have you run a software check recently? Some of the later builds (500+) seem to have better battery life, maybe trawl through CrackBerry and see what your update options are. This one seems to be the latest for the 9900:

http://crackberry.com/offiical-os-71...nican-republic

Sure did, the phone reports as being up to date under Software Update in Device Options. The current version on it is v7.1.0.391.

I did see that same link you posted with people talking about improved battery life, will certainly do the update to that can't really hurt.

**RightThere** · 08-13-2012, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by vibe69

Any indicators on the phone to show if water damage? Is there anything behind where the battery is?

There should be a few small paper circles on the phone. I think the newer BBs had a blue spot when they are OK, and a red spot when there is water damage.

There are some more inside the unit (which you have to take the unit apart to see).

**vibe69** · 08-17-2012, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by RightThere

Sounds like a battery issue to me as well. You've checked most of the other things that would cause a drain issue like that.

May have just been a bad battery from the start. Also if the phone is doing some other "unusual" stuff, could be a hardware issue. Hate to say it, but could be water damage.

Checked and no water damage.

Originally Posted by RightThere

There should be a few small paper circles on the phone. I think the newer BBs had a blue spot when they are OK, and a red spot when there is water damage.

There are some more inside the unit (which you have to take the unit apart to see).

Checked the phone over, and again no water damage is shown.

I did check the device analyzer on the actual phone. Ran the battery test and over about 4hours I looked at the graph. The battery drain rate is 5%/hr, it reports it as high. Cleary this isnt normal? Whats up?

The cellular network is showing like 99.8% usage on that Details page of the battery test. Is this normal? Also the reception I get with the phone and my carrier is always 5 if not 4 bars.

I also saw something in one of the options that talked about "calling method" and on mine the wifi was choosen as selected. Should that be set to mobile network? What is this option even?
Doesn't report any battery or hardware faults.

**DennyCrane** · 08-17-2012, 11:49 PM

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Originally Posted by vibe69

The battery drain rate is 5%/hr

So that's 20 hours of use. That's not bad (for a 9900) if the device is being used. But if it's just sitting in standby not being used, then that's high.

**mick662** · 08-18-2012, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

Originally Posted by vibe69

The battery drain rate is 5%/hr

So that's 20 hours of use. That's not bad (for a 9900) if the device is being used. But if it's just sitting in standby not being used, then that's high.

Be happy with the 5% per hour. I've found that on mine, it's best to be connected to WiFi when it's present and turn off WiFi when it's not. Even still, my 9900 is inconsistent from day to day, even when I have the exact same routine. Another problem I have is this pathetic pile of hardware that is the AT&T microcell. If my 9900 is connected to the microcell and not connected to my home WiFi, the battery drains at a rate of 25-30% per hour. And that's with absolutely no usage.

**vibe69** · 08-18-2012, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

So that's 20 hours of use. That's not bad (for a 9900) if the device is being used. But if it's just sitting in standby not being used, then that's high.

Yah that is true, but honestly speaking I highly doubt that its accurate if its 5%/hr on standby imagine what it goes to when in use? That means in use you might be lucky to get 10-15 if that. It's my gf's so I am just trying to help her out and I cant vouch for the exact usage just I do not think she could get through the day with regular usage on this phone on 1 charge cycle.

I did just update to the newest 7.1 release the .569 release and see how it holds up for her.

Originally Posted by mick662

Be happy with the 5% per hour. I've found that on mine, it's best to be connected to WiFi when it's present and turn off WiFi when it's not. Even still, my 9900 is inconsistent from day to day, even when I have the exact same routine. Another problem I have is this pathetic pile of hardware that is the AT&T microcell. If my 9900 is connected to the microcell and not connected to my home WiFi, the battery drains at a rate of 25-30% per hour. And that's with absolutely no usage.

LOL! That sucks dude.. Not sure how this phone is so power hungry, the i4 has a much bigger screen etc and it seems to be a lot better on battery.

I did notice earlier today the battery life improved? No idea why.. and I also just upgraded to .569 the newest 7.1 release from the link above that everyone reports great battery life from and will monitor it and see how it goes.

**Mr.Conviviality** · 08-21-2012, 01:13 PM

coming from a 9780, I was initially disappointed with my 9900's battery life... but that was before the .5xx and .649 around the corner which have done a better job with battery management...

Nonetheless, here's how you're going to maximize batt life:

Battery Saving Mode "Always On"

The "Application Resource Monitor" in the newer builds will shut down parasitic apps

Screen Backlight Brightness set to 10

Backlight timeout to 10 (mine is 20)

BT off and wifi off unless I'm using them.

Idle will be between 0 and 1%

Heavy browsing will lead to 20-25% discharge rate

calls will be around 15% discharge rate

What made BB think it was ok to shrink the battery on the 9900 (vs the 9780)...I just don't get it...

Either way, this should make things acceptable.

**DennyCrane** · 08-21-2012, 01:25 PM

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Originally Posted by Mr.Conviviality

What made BB think it was ok to shrink the battery on the 9900 (vs the 9780)...I just don't get it...

People were on RIM's you know what to build faster, more powerful phones; in order to do that and keep it thin they had to give up something. We can't have it all. We can opt for an extended battery, but it needs a new battery cover and makes the phone hideously thick IMO. I'm good with it as is. Battery saving tips like those you listed will definitely help.

**vibe69** · 08-22-2012, 08:22 AM

Good info here. And thanks for the advice.

Just want to let everyone know that after I upgraded the phone to .569 and did a clean wipe of the phone the phone runs great. The battery life is excellent now compared to what it was previously. It's actually useable and I don't have to worry about running out of battery.

Highly recommened that OS in the link posted above.