Troubleshoot your device issues
nupe494's profile

Teacher

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7 Messages

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 4:08 PM

4G Elevate Mobile Hotspot Not Charging

My 4G Elevate is not charging when it's on, a PC is connected to it through WiFi and plugged in to either a USB port or to an A/C outlet. This is quite annoying given I cannot keep it charged and essentially have to turn it off in order to do so. Is this normal?

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Former Community Manager

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5.2K Messages

12 years ago

Hey all....

 

The exclamation mark you're seeing is indeed a temperature warning and your Elevate will stop charging until the temperature reaches normal levels. 

 

Here are a few tips to avoid this issue:

 

  • Place the Elevate device in a cooler location (e.g., take the device out of a laptop bag) until the exclamation mark on the battery icon disappears.
  • Stop using the Elevate device for a few minutes until the exclamation mark on the battery icon disappears.
  • Power off the Elevate device for a few minutes. 

Professor

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2.1K Messages

12 years ago

It should charge when it's turned on and plugged in. Does the battery indicator flash USB when plugged into the USB port? When plugged into a wall outlet, are you using the included charger?

 

Try a different cable.

Teacher

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7 Messages

12 years ago

I'm using the cable and charger it came with. I've even used a different cable but still the same result. I do get the USB flashing and from the elevate webpage, it says it's charging but when I look at the display, there is an exclamation point with a bar or two in the battery level indicator.

Contributor

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1 Message

12 years ago

I've noticed teh same thing; my Elevate hotspot is pugged in all the time to a wall outlet with the origial USB cable.  The status screen states "Charging", but instead of the percentage increasing, it declines - for example, one minute it says "Charging - 25%" or something like that (on the att.elevate status page), and a few minutes later it will say "Charging - 22%" - and eventually it will go to zero and shut off, at which point it will charge up again.

Teacher

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7 Messages

12 years ago

Yes, that's exactly what mine does as well. It's quite frustrating! And it doesn't charge when the exclamation point is displayed in the battery status window but I can't get an explanation of what it's suppose to represent either. Does anyone have a solution to this problem is the product simply defective?

Contributor

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1 Message

12 years ago

I'm having the same problem as well. Only started happening recently. Exclamation point trying to charge. It eventually dies and charges while it's off but that shouldn't happen.

Contributor

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1 Message

12 years ago

Somewhere on the ATT website, it says that the exclamation point ! means that the device is overheating. The Techs do no seem to know that. I was told by another tech that you should not keep the elevate plugged in all the time. Charge it and then unplug. I have also found that if you use the Elevate while it was charging it will overheat and you get the ! and it stops charging. Another tech offerred that pulling data through while charging was too much happening and it overheats. I have seen it happen. 

 

 I have started charging it while it is not polling the network. Plug it in and press the button to turn off. It will not turn off completely, but all you see is the charging battery symbol. Does not seem to get as hot as charging when it is polling for a signal.

 

A tech also said to discharge the battery completely 3 times when you first get it.

 

I am not sure the techs really know a lot about this device.

Contributor

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1 Message

12 years ago

I am having the same problem.

 

I have a hard time accepting the device overheats when in use and charging. The battery does not last a long time so charging while in use is a needed feature. I would have expected Sierra to design something a little more user friendly and able to handle a reasonably expected situation.

 

I can only hope future versions of the LTE hotspots will incorporate the ability to robustly operate and charge simultaneously,

Tutor

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10 Messages

12 years ago

I too am having this issue of not able to charge the hotspot while using it powered on and plugged in to AC power charger.

When I bought into this 2 year plan back in November 2011 my hotspot worked fulltime for days plugged into the charger and stayed charged.

I believe ATT purposely disabled this functioning with the latest fireware update my unit received automatically I believe back in March 2012.  This is pure hogwash on their part if they are doing this to limit us paid subscribers data usage to save their network bandwidth.  I think further investigation needs to be done on this.  I believe it is a firmware issue causing our Elevate Hotspots to now all of a sudden not be able to be used for a permanent long term connection to the internet.  What the heck did I buy into this plan for?  I need it to stay up all day and night and not drain the battery when the USB charging cable is powering it.

ATT please put the firmware back to the way it was.  I know my hotspot used to be powered on for days without draining the battery when charger is connected to power it.  The old firmware that originally came with it worked better than this new firmware update they forced (sneaked) downloaded on us.  Is this a breach of our contract?  I want to cancel my service if this cannot be fixed or if they refuse to allow us to use the unit full time without running down the battery and losing connections.

Tutor

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10 Messages

12 years ago

Btw, the signal reliability has also gotten worse with time too. Dunno what's up with that.
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