Old mobile. Daughter used it as an alarm clock for the last year (don't ask...), stayed plugged in to power the whole time.
Now it suddenly died - battery won't charge at all. Won't turn on. Tried every button combination to being it back to life.
Happy to bin it, just want to make sure no data could be retrieved - it still had her logged in to several apps. Some photos are on it I am sure as well.
Short of taking a hammer to it, is there a better way of doing it?
blowlamp
microwave oven; 800W 30s.
leave it on a railway line..
AFTER Removing the battery!!!
I assume she?s tried another charging lead and charger?
Tim
What make & model is it?
I would take the battery out and measure its voltage. If there is a small voltage it should be chargeable with a new charger, but if the voltage is zero it's probably gone short circuit.
3+hours on and no mention of an angle grinder? O tempore! O mores!
Yes. The screen shows 0% charge when connected to the charger, but doesn't progress from there. It does turn on for a fraction of a second then died because the battery is empty. Tried with different cables/charges.
Like I said - happy its time has come. Just want to do it in an orderly manner.
Moto G6
My thought exactly!
IIRC that is what the security service people used on the "Snowden" hard drives that the Guardian used to have. I'd be pretty confident about that. Battery out of course, one longitudinal cut and a couple of transverse ones. Then a few taps with a lump hammer to make sure.
Surprises me. I'd have thought they'd have just put them in a shreddeer at an approved facility as they have done for years with HMG's hard drives. Apart from anything else, that wd have avoided the need for all osrts of extra paperwork - security risk assessment, H&S risk assessment, environmental permit for waste operation, etc etc.
Seen batteries do that. You can occasionally get some life by taking the battery out and forcing it to accept charge on something other than its charger. . A new battery will solve it of course
You could replace the battery for a tenner or so. However, that assumes it's the battery & not the charging board (with the USB socket on), which is probably a fiver. Videos on youtube about how to DIY.
So considering it's a usable device, I'd take it apart, for fun, risk the tenner (or the fiver if the USB connector is u/s which you will be able to see when you plug in a charging cable & gently wiggle it), and if I decided not to replace the battery, or charging board, and wanted absolute data safety, hit it with a sledge hammer, or torch it.
Bonfire and stand well back
Bill
Just leave it in a bucket of water for a few days. Outside.
Too much risk of it getting blown off the line or grabbed by someone who sees you put it on the line.
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