GrapheneOS won't start after dead battery

de0u

schweizer SourLemonJuice My vague sense is that the power controller believes it knows which state the phone "should" be in, on or off. I think if the OS is explicitly shut down then it tells the power controller that the target state is "off", so then plugging in a charger causes the device to present its happy charging display. But I think that if the device runs the battery flat the target power state remains "on", so that plugging it in causes it to try to boot.

I'm not saying this is a good idea! But it might be a useful model for people to keep in mind.

The good news is that tapping the power button to pause booting, and then charging for not very long, should make booting possible if the device stays plugged in. The surest thing is to let it charge for at least half an hour, but I don't think that's necessary in most cases.

It may be bad for the battery over time to repeatedly run it flat.

de0u

nosch I do not understand why the phone boots again after it turned itself off (because of a drained battery) when it is pluged to a charger. It should rather stay off and I could turn it on manually...

Scroll back a bit... de0u

Church

https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/3590#issuecomment-3087453110

sman

Just happened to me on Pixel 8 Pro. Pressing the power button to pause the startup in the bootloader screen and charging the phone in this state solved my problem.

r134a

I do have a powerbank that displays when 'quick charge' is being used by displaying a green light, i believe the powerbank determines > 5W as 'quick charge'. I've noticed several times while rebooting, in boot fase the powerbank doesn't show the green light, indicating that while booting, charging is (below) 5W.

This alligns with this fenomen described here, that when the battery is completely depleted, and when plugging when the device automatically starts the boot process, it can't deliver enough power (below or equal to 5W) to boot, hence why the described method of pausing probably works.

Perhaps someone with more accurate gear than 'a powerbank with a green light' can replicate this and report back accurate numbers.

rufus

I mesured right now with a usb powermeter and have observed that while boot to OS is no charging at all.

When starting phone while booting the bootloader the phone is charging only in normal 5V mode.
While booting to OS there is no charge at all.
(When phone is off it starts with 5V charging and turns to 9V while in chargemode with the big battery symbol showing up.)

schweizer

Can you repeat that test with some other non Pixel phones? Because I suspect this happens with almost every phone: They don't charge during startup and thus require a minimum charge before boot. If someone knows why this is the case let me know.

Given that, it's a bad idea to autostart a phone with an empty battery.

nosch

I also have the same problem almost every time the battery drains completely. I only can prevent the loop, if I plug in a good fast (25 W) charger immediately when the phone turns off.

I think the problem is that the phone tries to boot again too early. The battery is still too empty. I also measured the charging during boot. Charging stops after the "different operating system" screen, when the GrapheneOS logo is shown. Then it tries to boot, but the battery drains again and so on. I think that is rather a critical problem, because it took me (person with technical knowledge) hours to be able to use my phone again...the only thing that helps, is to stop the boot process in "different operating system" screen and charge the battery in this state. Then it boots normally again.

A solution would be, to tell the phone to shut down earlier - at 5%, maybe. Or not allowing it to turn itself on again until the battery is charged enough. And I do not understand why the phone boots again after it turned itself off (because of a drained battery) when it is pluged to a charger. It should rather stay off and I could turn it on manually...

Hopefully there is a solution in a future release - thanks a lot for this great OS!

nandohyphen1

Its crazy how much this has been happening lately! Its like the whole forum is just about bootlooping phones after they die. I wonder why all of a sudden it has just been happening? Is it just a coincidence?

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24707-pixel-8-pro-stuck-in-boot-loop/4

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24510-how-to-stop-phone-from-powering-up-when-charging-from-0/21

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24723-pixel-8pro-bootloop

Its pretty crazy!

Legged8

exactly the same issue, would appreciate some help.

A solution would be, to tell the phone to shut down earlier - at 5%, maybe. Or not allowing it to turn itself on again until the battery is charged enough.

Is there a setting for this?

GrouchyGrape

Can someone explain why so many people let their phones die? I'm sure there's a valid reason, but I haven't had my phone less than 20% battery ever in the two years I've had it. Most days I end with about 70%.

fid03

GrouchyGrape Can someone explain why so many people let their phones die? I'm sure there's a valid reason, but I haven't had my phone less than 20% battery ever in the two years I've had it. Most days I end with about 70%.

Might have to leave the apartment in a hurry and go to a place without a charger for some prolonged time. Think there are lots of situations where you just don't have access to a charger over some time and you didn't plan for that. Then I would normally power off the phone to save power if I could, but I also could forget to check my phone and not notice a low battery level.

jamesh1999

+1 to this issue. It does the same on my Pixel 7a whenever the battery runs flat. I can hit the power button to pause booting when the phone says "Your device is loading a different operating system" but I shouldn't have to just to get it to boot. I wish the phone didn't autostart as soon as it gets plugged into a charger.

GrouchyGrape

I would love to just "not let" it die but the fact of the matter is sometimes I'm out for a long time and unable to charge it. Otherwise, I might be driving and letting the phone navigate on Google Maps - even with the screen off, that burns through the charge and I can't do anything about it while I'm looking at the road.

It happens. It's not great for the battery. I can change the battery if need be. This is still a bug that needs resolving

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