PPCGeeks - Inconsistent charging after custom ROM

PPCGeeks (http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/index.php)

- HTC Touch Pro 2 (http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97)

- - Inconsistent charging after custom ROM - *solved* (http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=140987)

Inconsistent charging after custom ROM - *solved*

Issues that several users have reported with their TP2 not charging with certain custom ROMS appear to be caused by the 1% battery driver that is cooked into the affected ROMs.

The charging problem:
1) is present in almost all of the available custom ROMs
2) can be reproduced by installing any of the available (on XDA or PPC Geeks) 1% battery drivers on an unaffected ROM
3) has no impact on charging by tethering
4) has no impact on charging from the HTC charger or other high quality chargers
5) will allow an affected TP2 device to charge from low quality chargers when powered off
6) will not allow the TP2 to charge when powered on using a low quality mini-usb charger, including most car chargers

Background:
I have used HTC devices for several years starting with the 6700. Among our family we have several devices and recently ended up switching 4 older devices (Touch Diamond, Touch Pro) for Touch Pro 2's. We also have accumulated several different chargers.

After switching to the TP2's (and flashing ROMs) sometimes the phones would not charge. We would switch chargers and often the device would charge and we initially assumed the charger was defective or the usb connectors were defective or dirty.

After noticing this behavior with several phones and chargers, I started being more systematic. I discovered that charging by tethering always worked and that the HTC chargers and cords always worked. Other mini-usb chargers were hit or miss (Motorola-won't charge, Blackberry would charge).

I tried flashing my phones with various ROM's to verify that it was the ROM itself. My stock (Sprint) ROM had no charging issues at all. Flashing from my stock Sprint ROM to all but 2 custom ROMs resulted in crippling its ability to charge from most of my car chargers and many of my inexpensive mini-usb chargers. Flashing back to stock always restored the phone's ability to charge.

ROMs that would NOT charge consistently:

Juicy ROM
SuperRom
MightyROM
Sprint Lovers ROM
BigMaxSenseROM
Formula.LD
MR.X ROM
MaverickROM
Kickslide ROM
LEAD ROM
Energy ROM

ROMs that would charge consistently:

Sprint Stock ROM
Medium Hill ROM
VINdows ROM

In mid Dec. the VINdows ROM incorporated the 1% battery driver and I noticed that with this ROM my phone would no longer charge. I let the chef know and he advised me to simply install and then uninstall the 1% driver. This fixed the problem. I tried this on the other ROMs with no success, apparently for this to work, the ROM cannot have the 1% driver cooked in but must instead install it when it initializes. Subsequent VINdows ROMs have not incorporated the 1% driver and have no charging issues.

Verification of this cause of the charging problems was assisted by Sharkie405 who has incorporated a charging issue workaround in his most recent ROM. He custom made a ROM without the 1% driver which, when tested, had no charging issues. His most recent ROMs include the 1% driver but allow it to be uninstalled, restoring the ability of the phone to charge from the lower quality mini-usb chargers.

At this point, only 2 Touch Pro 2 ROMs are in active development that do not incorporate the charging limiting 1% battery driver, the VINdows ROM series and the Sharkie ROM series (driver can be un-installed). It would be great if the chef's of the other ROMs being actively developed (I am glad there are still a few) would also consider some sort of workaround for those of us who need to be able to charge from a variety of mini usb chargers.

Alternatively, it would also be great if there was a way to modify one of the 1% battery drivers that did not interfere with charging.

Figuring this out required flashing / re-flashing several phones with 40+ ROMs and plugging them into lots of different chargers. In addition, it took the work of 2 gifted ROM chefs and their willingness to build special editions of their ROMs. Thanks to the chefs and the several "lost" users who have posted about this issue over the past several months. I hope this post clears up this long standing issue for everyone affected.