No computer will charge a deal Ravr or SLVR for that matter.

-Vincent

You do NOT have to turn your Razr on. With the 'proper' drivers loaded (WinXP machine) and USB cable, when you plug the phone in, it will start-up in charge mode. The inside screen will indicate with a Charging Battery screen. See kanebear's post for driver location on OSNN.net.

redjr...

I can't explain why some devices charge fine without drivers and some are shut down. I observed the same thing. I can charge my Hitachi VoIP phone over USB. The computer just recognizes it as a "USB Device" and off it goes. Some Motorola phones simply won't charge unless one has drivers loaded. I haven't tried "forcing" a generic modem driver or some such, that might work as well.

fwiw... I've charged my dead (completely discharged) razr off of my computer via mini usb. I had to leave it be for a while before attempting to power the thing on, but it did eventually power on.

I charged it from my PowerBook G4.

This has to be one of the most irritating and stupid design decisions - especially coupled with the fact that its really easy to not notice when the RAZR battery goes dead.

I have (twice now) had the RAZR die, and not have enough juice left to power up. Since it couldn't power up (fully) to "register" with the laptop, it wouldn't charge.

I know that its not a USB problem, because you can charge non USB phones off the USB port without them registering as a data link... its something special with the RAZR.

Palm device nugget
 

So I had an old Palm Tungsten T...I could plug it into any usb port (mac, PC, sun workstation) etc. and it would charge. No drivers needed.

Now with my Palm T|X, if the drivers are not loaded on Windows XP, then it will not charge.

bizarre.

There are indicators on both screens, and doesn't the phone beep at you when the juice is getting low? If you're a real phone junkie, carry a fully-charged spare battery. As small and slim as the battery is for the Razr, shouldn't be a space issue to throw an extra one in your bag. Way better security than trying to find an outlet at the airport just to charge your phone. Have you ever tried to find an AC outlet at your local airport? Or, any airport for that fact! Gawd, there rarer than hens teeth at a pawn shop ;)

I've been carrying portable gadgets with me for 20+ yrs, and for most of them, a spare battery goes along. In fact, I can't remeber the last time I bought a device and didn't buy a spare battery. Seems to me, as important as the cell phone has become in todays hectic, always-stay-on-top-of everything madness society, a spare battery is el-cheapo insurance and a small price to pay for never running dry?

BTW, my computer charges my Razr fine, and quick! It's(USB) a much better solution then the separate charger my old 720 required.

redjr....

There are, and it does, but if you're driving and using a BT headset you don't always hear the beep. And for some reason the battery on mine would go from 2 bars to dead very quickly (esp when using BT).

What you suggested is exactly what I did -- I went and bought a second battery and a direct charger (put the battery in the charger).

Its still a bad design - USB gives power even if you don't register as a device, use it (for reference see the USB lights or fans or ... other random gadgets).

And - a head of warning here - it won't work with all USB cables. I learnt that lesson the hard way. The USB I have for my blackberry - charges my blackberrry but not my RAZR.

Which reminds me - now that I have 2 RAZRs I'd better mark up the correct USB cable so I pack the right one on my next trip.

/E

That's not what I am seeing when using my IBM Thinkpad. The USB cable I have been using is the one from my Cingular BlackBerry 7290.

------------------

And an update to a previous comment of mine:

With the direct connect to my notebook, the meter flashes but no segment shows. I must say though, I did not keep it plugged in to the USB cable for long

This past week when I plugged the RAZR in to the USB, the flashing segments did show. Charge time however, seemed materially longer by USB, which makes sense due to the lower amperage.

Ok, I was on a powerbook and used the USB cable that works with my blackberry 7100 and card reader.

The BB wall charger will not power the Razr.
The BB wall charger with US plug will not charge the BB but works fine with UK plug and convertor.

The BB US car/wall charger works fine with the BB in car and in wall. It will not charge the RAZR in the car, nor via wall but strangely enough will keep it powered up!? Unplug and dead RAZR dies again.

I spent three days chasing a charger for my Razr in Anaheim. Eventually a friend with another motorola phone arrived and I used her charger. Next day I managed to actually get my own US charger for it.

I was so desperate I started contemplating getting a new phone. Finding a charger proved to be more difficult.

/E

I just looked at my BlackBerry wall charger, and its 5 volts at .5 amps. This is the same output wattage discussed previously, that should come from a PC's USB port. As to polarity issues on the mini-USB side, one only can guess.

One should be able to buy chargers (phone or BB) and such at any U.S. cellphone outlet. Just look around for one advertising Verizon or Cingular.

That's precisely what I thought. NONE f those had it. I got lucky at T-mobile though.

/E

Didnt read everyones post but...
 

Have you tried going into Menu, Connection, USB Settings, and changing from USB Drive to Modem/COM, I did and my phone started charging. I charge it thru my PC and my XBOX 360.

well my phone is being detected by the computer, but i dont think it is charging. It was completely dead, and when i plug it in i am able to turn it on, so im guessing its giving it power, but its not charging it. I left it on there all night and when I unplugged it, it had 1 bar, and died within an hour. I dont know if it is just the battery life sucks, or its not charging. Now when I unplug my phone, it says LOW BATTERY and will die right away. I downloaded the drivers last night but i dont nkow how to open them and use them. someone please reply. email me your reply if you know how to help. thanks :)