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Phone Repair Wollongong

Phone Won’t Charge: How To Work Out Why

Four things cause almost every charging fault, and they are worth checking in order of how cheap they are to fix. The most common one costs nothing and you can do it yourself in five minutes.

What to do

  1. Try a different cable and charger

    Cables fail far more often than phones do, and they fail intermittently first. Borrow one that is known to work rather than testing yours on another device — a cable can carry power well enough to light up a different phone and not enough for yours.

  2. Look inside the charging port with a torch

    This is the one that costs nothing. Pocket lint compacts into the bottom of the port until the plug can no longer seat fully. If the cable feels loose or falls out, that is almost certainly it.

  3. Clean it out carefully, with the phone off

    A wooden toothpick or a plastic pick, never metal and never while it is plugged in. Scrape gently along the bottom and hook the lint out — it usually comes out as a surprisingly solid grey pad. If you are not confident, we do it at the counter in a couple of minutes.

  4. Watch how it behaves on a known-good charger

    Nothing at all after ten minutes points at the port or the board. Charging only at some cable angles is the port. Charging fine but dying by lunchtime is the battery, which is a different repair.

Still stuck? Bring it in.

We are at Unit 6/61 Market St, Wollongong, open 7 days. Walk in without an appointment, or check an estimate first.

0466 446 461Book a repair
Unit 6/61 Market St, Wollongong Open 7 days

Questions

It charges only if I hold the cable at an angle.
That is the port, either lint or a worn connector. Holding it at an angle is bending the pins into contact, which will stop working eventually.
It says charging but the percentage does not move.
Usually the battery rather than the port, especially on a phone more than two years old. Sometimes it is the charging IC on the board, which is a bench job.
Is a charging port repair worth it?
Almost always, yes — it is one of the cheaper repairs and it does not touch your data. We will tell you if we think the phone is not worth it.
My MacBook will not charge.
Different problem, different answer — there is a full guide to it under Blog, covering chargers, ports, batteries and board faults in order.

Check what it would cost

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