So I got an iPad Mini 2 from a friend. It had a cracked screen and does not turn on. I have had this issue with my old nexus 7 2012 model, and the fix was to charge it for several hours. So I did. Nothing. After I brought it home, I took it apart. I am not going to have someone fix stuff like this for me, I can usually do it on my own. I already have a good tablet, thought I would fix this one up for my mom.
Anyway, when I got inside, I disconnected the battery first, making sure not to damage the PCB around its connector. Then I disconnected the digitizer and LCD.
After this, I peeled back the plastic insulation on the top of the battery to expose the two cell tabs. I took my multimeter to them, and there is the issue, the cell is at 2.5v. Too low for the device to even turn on, just like the issue with the nexus 7 2012. I thought.
So I manually charge the battery up to about 3.6V, a voltage that the device should have no issues at least turning the screen on. Then I plug the LCD and digitizer back in, and then plug in the battery. But it is still dead. I have it plugged into my PC with a crappy third party cable (Brand new, just bought it from 7-11) and I am getting nowhere. The screen never turns on, my PC does not see anything plugged into the USB port.
Any ideas? Does the charge controller on the lithium cell need a reset after it goes below a certain voltage? Is my 3rd party USB cable shot? What is going on here?