Can my Nexus 7 be revived?

January 28, 2015 5:12 PM

I have a 2012 Nexus 7 that hasn't been successfully turned on in over a year. After the last time I used it, I was without it for a few months. When I returned, it didn't seem to react to being plugged in to charge, even leaving it charging for a whole day. I didn't have time to deal with it then, so now it's been sitting on a shelf for many months. Can it be resurrected, or is it probably just dead?
posted by ocherdraco to Technology (8 answers total)

It might have a bad battery in it. If it's worth the time/money, replacement batteries can be found inexpensively on Amazon. If you know someone else with a Nexus 7, temporarily swap out the batteries, and see if it turns on and functions.
posted by spinifex23 at 5:22 PM on January 28, 2015

Best answer: I also have a 2012 Nexus 7 (which now belongs to my 7 y.o. son), and I have noticed that when the battery completely loses charge, it can be a little tricky to get going again. I've specifically had the "charged for a day, still no response" issue in the past. What I do now is to make sure I use a 2 amp charger, and after it's been charging for some time (>30 minutes), hold down the power button for a long press- maybe 5-10 seconds. Since I figured this out, the tablet will always either a) turn on normally, or b) bring up a large battery charging icon, and I've had no further issues since discovering the 2 amp charger and long press. Obviously, there's a host of other possible issues, but hopefully this works for you.
posted by EKStickland at 5:29 PM on January 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

Mine took being charged in with a higher-power port (the 2A) and then the long hold, at one point, while it was still plugged in. I'm not sure if any part of that was the magic bit that made it work, but it's a known thing with them that they don't like being let to run down completely.
posted by Sequence at 5:53 PM on January 28, 2015

Yeah its like... charge it, then try to turn it on, then charge some more... repeat until it turns on. I cant remember the exact sequence but some amount of that eventually gets it to start up.
posted by thefoxgod at 6:00 PM on January 28, 2015

Response by poster: It worked, it worked! Yaaaaaay! I set a timer for 30 minutes and then just did the long press until the screen turned on. (Probably about 15 seconds.) Hooray!
posted by ocherdraco at 6:10 PM on January 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Also, I have been meaning to ask this question for months, but I kept feeling bad because I had probably killed it, and it was expensive. Don't let this happen to you: ask Metafilter the very first time you think about it! You will save yourself months of unnecessary grief!
posted by ocherdraco at 6:19 PM on January 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

When lithium batteries discharge too far, it physically damages the battery. The device is supposed to notice when it's really low and shut itself completely off, but even when nothing is drawing power a lithium battery discharges at a steady rate because of the internal chemistry.

Go down far enough and the battery is completely dead and thereafter can't hold a charge at all.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:56 PM on January 28, 2015

You're far from the first person to have this problem.
posted by wotsac at 6:58 PM on January 29, 2015