[Slion]

Dear Nokia customer support,

Since I upgraded my E7 to Belle it gets into a power hungry mode emptying the battery while idle whitin 4-6 hours.

Over months I tried to understand the cause of this problem and failed.

Reboot does not help.

Uninstalling apps does not help.

Reseting the device apparently helps and fixes the issue for a few weeks.

Since resetting the device every couple of months is really no fun I would like you to get this investigated and fixed ASAP. I understand many of your customers are facing the very same issue.

Cheers,

S.

[Slion · Accepted solution]

I believe I found the process which is draining E7 battery in 6 hours.

Talking about E7 with Belle Refresh and all update installed.

For months I've been trying to understand what was causing my E7 battery to run dry after 6 hours.
Today after a bit of coding to run my own task manager I eventually found out that a process named CPixSearchServer.exe is very likely to be responsible for this behavior.

Looks like this process belongs to some Microsoft Apps. Yet it won't go away after you uninstall Microsoft Apps.
See: http://www.ipmart-forum.com/archive/index.php/t-761128.html

Reseting your phone as mentioned in there does get rid of it:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/16164_What_if_The_ultimate_Symbian_o.php

Hope it helps!

[Slion]

BTW Nokia feel free to get this fix. I've almost debugged it for you.

It might be that it is only happening if you have many, many files on E drive.

Like hundreds of thousands.

[Slion]

Here are the screenshots prooving my case.

One is taken from my E7 exhibiting the problem.

The other from another E7 working just fine and in fact without that CPixSearchServer installed.

I'm guessing CPixSearchServer is coming along with the latest Microsoft Apps but I could not swear it.

In the bad screenshot you can clearly see how CPixSearchServer is hitting the CPU. I'm guessing it's also driving the file server crazy by scanning one the drives. What's funny is that even when E: drive is dismounted you still get the same CPU usage. Something must be really wrong with that CPixSearchServer.

[Slion]

Actually CPixSearchServer is apparently coming from Search Widget rather than Microsoft Apps. So just do not install Search Widget then.

[DESe6]

Where did you get the task manager?

[Slion]

It's my own creation. Not yet publicly available. You could try qooSystem as it show the CPU usage too. Last I checked it was not available for E7 though.

[Slion]

To sum up it now looks like components installed by an OTA update called Search Widget is causing power drain under certain situation or configurations of your drives.

That bug is not likely to manifest as soon you install Search Widget. It can take a few weeks or months for it to surface. Once it does it drains your battery in 6 hours. Then it wont go away even after reboot. Depending of the weather condition it might drain your battery in only 8 or 10 hours but it just wont go away. Your battery is not broken it's just a software bug.

I could not find a way to uninstall Search Widget. The only solution I know of is to reset your device. Then make sure you do not install that Search Widget OTA update.

[Slion]

Latest update on this.

It turns out both Search Widget and Microsoft Apps 2.01 are installing this CPixSearchServer.exe

Thus to avoid that bug do not install either of those OTA updates.

[Slion]

Having worked around my issue with CPixSearchServer I moved on to the next offenders.

harvesterserver.exe and smartsearch were the ones still using CPU while idle.

SmartSearch is easily taking care of. Go to Search settings and disable the start on boot option.

As mentioned here you can hide files or directories from harvesterserver by setting their hidden property. This is easily done by mounting your E drive as Mass storage on your Windows machine. Right click on the folder, get the property dialog and tick hidden. No need to apply to sub folders and files.

You want to make sure any folder which contains a lot of items is marked has hidden so that harvesterserver won't spend hours scanning it. The down side is that hidden items won't show up in the built-in file manager anymore. Make sure you reboot your device after setting hidden folders.

[Slion]

Now I wonder if that trick with hidden folders would also work for CPixSearchServer.

Definitly something worth testing. It it works we could use Microsoft Apps without degrading battery life.

[Slion]

I just got hold of a Nokia E6-00 from a third person and it's exhibit the exact same problem.

Its user was complaining the battery life was really poor and often gone within 6 hours.

Attached screenshot showing CPixSearchServer.exe using way too much CPU over long period of time.

This device appears to have another major problem with MessageStoreExe.exe also consuming way too much CPU cycles and thus power. Most CPU cycles spent in the Kernel is down to NandThread which is basically file system driver access. It is most likely caused by both processes mentioned above.

[Slion]

To diagnose your problem you can use:
http://slion.net/view/Dev/TaskManager

[kp2e50]

So what's the solution for the battery drain issue?

[Slion]

First of all it depends what's causing it on your device.

This you should be able to find out using that Task Manager application.

Go on the URL mentioned above and do some reading. It suggests some workaround in case that CPixSearchServer is causing your issue.

In short:

* Backup whatever you need from your device.

* Format all data drive: D: and E:

* Reset your phone using 3 fingers method.

* Install all updates but not Microsoft Apps 2.01 and not Search Widget.

* Disable Search start on boot up.

* Make sure folders containing large amount of files are marked as: Hidden.

[kp2e50]

First of all ...the Task Manager shows a CPU usage of 403% on my E7, when the highest process is EwSrv.exe @ 0.89%. I am not clear what this means.

Moreover these two applications also show up in the OTA "SW updates". The CpixSearchServer.exe is already visible in task manager though with very little usage.

So what could be the diagnosis for the power drain & how could I tackle it?

Moderator's Notes: This post was edited and the link was removed as it provides instructions about unauthorized procedures of reflashing the device that will invalidate the warranty of the device and may cause further damage. 

[Slion]

403% ? That's odd. Not supposed to be really.

Anyway since you already formated your device I guess we are done with diagnostics as newly formated devices usually not not exhibit that particuliar problem. Let's assume that CPixSearchServer was indeed your problem.

To get rid of that process you need to format your phone using the 3 fingers method as explained here:

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/12185_Another_three_finger_salute_do.php

Then format your E drive from the File Manager just to be sure your device is clean.

Obviously do all that at your own risk.

Then you should get OTA update for Nokia Store app once you get it you should be able to download everything you need from the store like Maps for instance.

Remember do not install Microsoft Apps 2.01 or Search Widget OTA updates. I believe any of them will re-install CPixSearchServer which in a few weeks time will screw up your battery again.

[kp2e50]

The CPU reading on Task Manager v1.01(12)consistently shows more than 100%. 

The Search Widget & MSapps are pre-installed on my reset device AND also show up on the OTA updates. The Cpixearchserver & MSexe are also present in the list of processes.

So is there no solution to the battery drain?

[Slion]

Did you do the 3 fingers reset?

[kp2e50]

Yes - It's equivalent.