Chosen Solution
Hi Have a problem with a XR . One day it stopped charging. Tried replacing cables etc. no effect. Checked battery health and it was about 70% and I changed the battery - but no effect. Then I tried replacing the charging port and the charging port flex cable. And no effect. Can get the phone to respond to wireless charging, but it gets very hot. Tried connecting the phone to my pc, to do a iTunes setup. But the phone won’t engage with the pc. The phone turns on when plugged into charger and pc , but stays on the empty battery symbol on the black start up screen. Any advise? Best regards
Sounds like the Charging IC “Tigris” or USB IC “Hydra” need replaced… But would have to do a basic diagnostic to find out… I suggest taking it to a reputable Microsoldering shop for testing as you have done the basics and most obvious… Good job!
Hi nicolai, You’ve already tried most of the suggestions I have to offer, which would include the following: Replace chargerReplace charging cordReplace batteryReplace lightning port assembly At this point the only other thing I can think of to try is to unplug the wireless charging coil and see if that has any effect. Outside of the slight possibility you got a bad battery as a replacement, that takes us to the logic board as the probable source of the problem. Others on this site are more knowledgeable about the chips on the board than I am, but there are power management chips that have a lot to do with the charging circuit that are sometimes replaced (“Tristar” comes to mind, but don’t take my word for it), but then there’s also the distinct possibility that the dual layers of the motherboard have experienced separation due to either stress (like from being dropped) or simply age and thermal expansion/contraction. There’s a thing called an interposer that surrounds the edge of the boards and has a ton if internal connections to carry signals between the two. Parts of that can come apart and disconnect electrical traces. Unfortunately, it sounds like you may be well into the possibility your phone will require board level repairs that take specialized equipment and expertise to diagnose and repair. I hope that’s not the case, but you’ve already done pretty much everything possible for a home DIY-er like us to try. You could disconnect everything possible from the logic board; cameras, buttons, Face ID, etc. and see if any of those make any difference; it’s theoretically possible there’s a short somewhere that’s causing the power management to have fits, but I’m afraid I’m not optimistic. Keep us updated on what you find; I’d love to hear how this turns out for you.
If you have replaced the battery, the charge port and tried different cables, this is likely a board level issue. This sort of low battery symbol likely indicates an issue with the charging or USB circuitry. My first thought would be the chip responsible for charging the battery, which is “code named” in this model as Yangtze (earlier models would have used Tigris). It could also be Hydra, the chip responsible for recognizing the charger and other peripherals connected through the lightning point. But it sounds like chip might also be at fault.
Don’t know if you have another battery. But I would try using another one. In my experience there are a lot of faulty batteries if you didn’t purchase it from iFixit.
