Phone doesn't keep charging from USB anymore

[Guest budda]

Recently my MDA Vario II has stopped charging from the PC USB cable all the time.

I connect it up, it begins charging, but after approx 30 seconds it will make a disconnect noise and cease charging. This is when the battery is at about 20% charged. If i leave it, it does seem to go back to charging for a bit (orange LED on). All a bit random :-/

I've tested this on two different PC's and 2 different USB cables.

Also the PC often reports that it's an unrecognised USB device being connected. One of the PCs is running MS Vista - should that be any additinal issue?

Is it related to the OS recognising the device, before it will charge?

[Guest MikeSel]

Hi, I have recently started to notice something similar....

Firstly forget about the vista issue, my PC is Vista Business Edition an it seems fine on there.

I got some desktop cradles from ebay which are USB with power adapeter built in, sometimes my device wont even charge from the power when in the cradle. I find a soft reset seems to sort it! The unrecognised device thing is an anoying issue with xp. I had this once with a Cisco phone, turned out to be the USB cable! You say you have tried more then one USB cable though? Is this direct to the PC or via a USB hub.

I have it on a Vista box and 2 XP boxes, an sometimes it needs a softreset. unless this is just coincidence?

[Guest Confucious]

You really should use the orriginal cable - although cables from other devices have the same connectors SmartPhones have some strange wiring inside! But if the cables have been working they should be OK.

Do the batteries charge OK using the mains charger?

[Guest budda]

You really should use the orriginal cable - although cables from other devices have the same connectors SmartPhones have some strange wiring inside! But if the cables have been working they should be OK.

Do the batteries charge OK using the mains charger?

Personally I'm using the original cable from the MDA Vario II box. I've got two because the first handset touch screen had the offset problem and was replaced by a new phone - so I kept the USB cable ;)

Battery charges perfect using the 3-pin mains -> USB adapter.

Battery also charges perfectly using the in-car charger as supplied with the Co-Pilot bundle.

[Guest budda]

You say you have tried more then one USB cable though? Is this direct to the PC or via a USB hub.

I have it on a Vista box and 2 XP boxes, an sometimes it needs a softreset. unless this is just coincidence?

I'm getting the same issue at home on a XP Pro desktop, and at the office with Vista Business.

Usually the USB cables are plugged in to the USB hub via the monitor, but I tried the same cable directly in to the front USB of the PC to make sure. The same issue continued to happen. Windows popping up saying unrecognised USB device, and the charging of the device being intermittent.

[Guest Confucious]

I was just about to ask if yoiu were using a hub! You've already rulled that out.

USB doesn't provide as much power as the mains charger, not sure about the car charger.

Could be a dodgy battery but the varioII hasn't been out that long and as you've had it replaced I'm guessing it's not that old....

Sorry, run out of ideas, hopefully someone else will come up with a solution. Good luck!

[Guest jonc]

Yes, I think it's related to the fact that the OS is reporting it as unrecognized. I've has similar issues with ActiveSync not working and then it stopping charging. I've had these issues while using a hub (through a monitor as well), as ActiveSync just seems to dislike hubs.

One thing I would suggest is to disable the "advanced networking" in the USB settings. ActiveSync should still see the device, and charge it etc.