How to troubleshoot Galaxy J3 that’s quickly losing battery charge

Hello everyone! Welcome to our latest #GalaxyJ3 troubleshooting post. If there’s one issue that won’t go away with today’s smartphones, it’s the one we are discussing in this post today — quick battery drain. In a lot of cases we’ve examined, battery drain issue has a higher chance of occurring once the device has reached a year. This is usually due to natural decay that happens inside the battery itself. In some cases, external factors such as bad apps, poor app- or operating system-coding may be behind the trouble. Below is a short list of troubleshooting steps that we feel are applicable for cases mentioned in this post. Be sure to do more research on how to eliminate or minimize battery drain issue in your device if you’ve already tried all that we include here.

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Problem 1: Galaxy J3 drains battery quickly, won’t recharge when battery is below 5%

Hello. I own the Samsung J3, and have been disappointed in its performance for the past 6 months. Once it was a perfect phone, with an easy and long lasting battery life and quick operations. Now it takes 10 seconds to load ANYTHING even at 100% battery, and once the battery falls below 5%, I know to prepare for at least a half-day without my phone. This is the worst issue with a phone I have ever seen. IT SIMPLY WILL NOT CHARGE BACK FROM BELOW 5%. Nothing I do, besides completely arbitrary cable/wall plug combinations, will bring this phone back from the dead. I have been waiting at work for an hour and it still hasn’t raised from the “lightning bolt (please charge your phone” symbol. It’s not even at 1% charged. That is ridiculous. Please let me know what I am doing wrong. I am using the samsung wall charger and cable that came with the phone. The cable will sometimes charge from my car, so I know the tech is working, it’s the phone or phone battery that has a huge problem. Let me know. Thanks. — William

Solution: Hi William. Smartphones can become problematic for a lot of different reasons so unless an exhaustive diagnostics (both software and hardware) is performed, there’s a slim chance of ever finding the actual reason for your own issue. Though your problem appears commonplace, the exact cause may be device-specific, which means that there may be a unique factor in your J3 that directly or indirectly makes the symptoms show.

For example, the real reason why charging appears to be erratic may be coming from a fault in the hardware side, particularly the charging port. In some similar cases, a bad third party app may be to blame. Solutions for an issue like this don’t vary much though so the way to proceed is by trying relevant software troubleshooting steps. If they won’t work, you must then either replace the battery or send the phone in for repair. Below are the possible solutions that you must try.

Refresh the system cache

Some boot-related problems are fixed by wiping the cache partition, where the system cache is located. Updates and app installations can sometimes mess up the system cache, which in turn, leads to all sorts of problems. To see if a bad system cache is causing the trouble, make sure to wipe the cache partition first. Here’s how:

1. Power off your Galaxy J3. Press and hold the Power key, tap Power off and then touch POWER OFF to confirm.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight wipe cache partition.
6. Press the Power key to select.
7. Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.
8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Observe the phone in safe mode

Some apps can cause problems too. Keep in mind that not all apps are created with the same skill and resources. Some may end up successful in terms of financial rewards for the developer while others may not. Others may work as intended but after some time, due to lack of time or resources, may no longer be optimized come a new Android update. As is often the case for outdated apps, they end up causing problems for the operating system. To see if your phone’s woes are being caused by a third party app, boot the phone to safe mode. Here’s how:

1. Power off your Galaxy J3. Press and hold the Power key, tap Power off and then touch POWER OFF to confirm.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
3. When ‘SAMSUNG’ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode’.

Remember, safe mode is not a solution in itself.  It’s your way to know if our suspicion that a third party app is to blame is true. Safe mode blocks third party apps and services so if your phone charges normally or works as expected, the problem must be caused by a bad app.

To identify the problematic app, you must uninstall apps until the issue is gone. The cycle should be: uninstall, observe, uninstall, observe.

Recalibrate the operating system

Since your problem seems to involve the battery, it’s also a good idea to calibrate Android so it detects the actual battery level of the battery properly. After some time, the operating system (Android) may get confused in tracking down battery consumption or charge so it’s good if you can help see to it that it does. It’s simple and can be done easily. Here’s how:

1. Drain the battery completely. This means using your device until it powers down by its own and the battery level reads 0%.
2. Charge the phone until it reaches 100%. Be sure to use original charging equipment for your iPhone and let it charge up completely. Do not unplug your device for at least two more hours and also don’t use it while charging.
3. After the elapsed time, unplug your device.
4. Perform a warm restart by holding the Power and Home buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears.
5. Use your J3 until it completely ran out of power again.
6. Repeat steps 1-5.

Wipe the phone via factory reset

Factory reset should be the last software troubleshooting step for this case. This procedure will bring all software settings back to their defaults so it’s a good way to get rid of glitches and bugs that may have developed over time. Factory state software is generally free of bugs that can cause the battery to malfunction. Be sure to check how charging works immediately after you factory reset the device.

If the phone works fine after a factory reset but not when you restore your apps, one of your apps must be problematic.

These are the steps on how to factory reset your J3:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Cloud and accounts.
4. Tap Backup and restore.
5. If desired, tap Backup my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
7. Tap the back key twice to return to the Settings menu, then tap General Management.
8. Tap Reset.
9. Tap Factory data reset.
10. Tap Reset device.
11. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
12. Tap Continue.
13. Tap Delete all.

Replace the battery

The good thing with J3 is the fact that it features a removable battery pack. Thus, for this case, it’s a good idea to replace the battery if all the steps provided above won’t work at all. If you know someone that has a J3 with a working battery, try to use its battery and see how it works in your phone. Otherwise, just proceed by buying a new battery.

Send the phone in

If nothing works at all, you’re not in luck. There must be a hardware malfunction that causes the symptoms you’re experiencing right now. Contact Samsung and let them fix the issue. Otherwise, have it checked by a good third party repair center.

Problem 2: Galaxy J3 only charges until 91%, shuts down on its own

Hi. When I plug my phone in to charge, it will charge up to a certain point and then it must shut down because I will see it booting up on it’s own. Then after a while, I’ll go to use it and it won’t be on. I can’t get it to come on again unless I take it off the charger, pull the battery, replace the battery, then turn it on. It only charges if it appears to 91%. Any idea what might be causing this? It’s really weird. Sometimes it will shut down and restart several times on it’s own. I’m think when it gets to 91% it shuts down and doesn’t come back on by itself. It will charge up to 80 something percent before shutting itself off and then on I’m thinking. I’m at 90% right now and it’s still on. Anyway, kind of a weird problem I think. Thank you for any help you might be able to provide. — Peter

Solution: Hi Peter. The same set of solutions may work in your case. Sure, the circumstances may be different from William’s above but any of our suggestions for him must work in yours too. Just skip the troubleshooting step that you’ve done if you’ve already performed it before contacting us. 

Also, make sure to install any Android or app updates once they become available. Remember, updates don’t only bring cosmetic changes but fixes to known bugs as well. Although developers would want to minimize battery consumption when designing their apps, some may also release patches to fix inefficient codes. Be sure not to skip any update if possible.

To add, you can also try to see if you can remember anything that you may have done differently. For example, if the problem coincided after installing a new third party app, it may save you some time if you jump straight to uninstalling that app and observing the phone.

 

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