Pixel 4 XL Question Mark in battery [Analysis & Repair]
Pixel 4 XL Question Mark in battery [Analysis & Repair]
Do you have a Pixel 4 XL with a question mark on the battery? This is a common problem with these models due to the battery flex cable design.
Pixel 4 XL with unknown battery status in the top right status bar
Once we disassemble the Google Pixel 4 XL we can locate where the battery flex cable is seated into the motherboard socket..
As we can see in the image above, the battery flex cable is held down by four screws. These screws go through a bracket to put pressure on the flex cable and surrounding area to hold the parts in place.
In theory this is a good design which would prevent anything from moving around, but in practice what really happens is over time the battery gets moved around and it cracks the solder joints on the battery connector and at this point the phone cannot read the bms data from the battery. The bms is a battery management system which takes the raw voltage from the battery and interrupts it to tell the phone the percentage, temperature and other values.
Missing socket on battery flex
The issue is caused by fracturing of the Battery FPC connector, which results in the phone not receiving data from the battery. Li-Ion batteries in modern smart phones don’t just have a ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ terminal like your more simple batteries. They also transmit data to the phone. Which consists of telling the phone the temperature of the battery, the amount of cycles its completed, its current voltage, and more. However when this data isn’t getting transmitted to the phone – yes there still is power to the phone – however the phone cant determine what % the battery is. The battery connector on the battery side, doesn’t have much solder on it, and fractures quite easily after a drop.
Here at Wires Computing we’ve seen it all and have fixed hundreds of Pixel 4 XL battery question mark problems. The solution is typically either replacing the battery and/or re-soldering the socket on the battery to ensure the battery data lines [SDA & SCL] can be read by the phones software.
If you are in need of this service, we would be glad to take care of this and get your phone running like new again. We perform this repair by walk in or our mail in repair service.
Cell Phone Repair Services in Burlington, VT
Wires Computing
383 College St. Burlington, VT 05401
(802)448-0403