[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General] markshanks:
New Red Light of Death Fix??

I think I have come up with a better solution to the red light of death problem - at least it worked for me. What struck me when reading the problems and the solutions was that the problem is exactly the same for everyone - red light when plugged into charger only, and won't ever turn on. However, the proposed solution with bouncing the battery had very variable results - worked for some, but not others. Some others said replacing with a new battery fixed the problem, but others said it did not. One guy said it was fixed when he charged his existing battery with another method. These inconsistencies suggest that there is some solution here, but the suggested solution is not exactly correct. For me, I tried the bouncing a bit and had no success.

Since there seemed to be some suggestion that the battery was at fault and it was possibly due to low voltage, I chose to take the battery out of the phone and LEAVE IT OUT for about an HOUR. The notion was that batteries can recover their voltage when they are not under load.

I then plugged the phone into a charger, and then plugged the battery back in. The amber light immediately came on, and I was able to turn the phone on/off, and recharge the battery.

In hindsight, I think the critical step is not what you are doing with the battery, but what you are doing with the phone in this situation. Ever since you first put your battery in the phone, it is continually receiving a current - even if you reset the phone, the phone still has a battery attached and is maintaining the circuitry. When you unplug the phone and remove the battery (and an hour is likely much longer than needed), the capacitors in the phone will slowly discharge and it can go back to its state before a battery was originally put in. This then seems to reset the problem and allows you to again get access.

This solution would explain some of the inconsistencies in terms of the previously suggested solutions. When the guy recharged his battery using another charger, the phone was left without battery while it was being recharged. If someone replaces the existing battery with a new battery, the time it takes to get the new battery affects how long the phone is without battery. The bouncing - without touching the other side contacts - could also be effectively leaving the battery unconnected.

Once the phone was up and running, I also had the problem whereby the phone was only intermittently working, and the battery discharge was much higher than normal. However, I noticed that the phone would work when the data connection was at "E" and would not work when the data connection was at "H". So I downloaded the CommManagerOnOffButtons.cab the previous poster mentioned, and turned off 3G. Now, "E" always shows, calls always work, and battery life is much improved.

Amazingly, I've also noticed that with turning off 3G, the phone reliability and call quality is better than when it was new. I think that the 3G really causes a drain on the battery and possibly interference, and this leads to some of the odd sounds I used to hear when using the phone.

In short, take the battery out for an hour, replace, and turn off the 3G. At least for me, the red light of death went to a phone that is working better than it did before.