[thechew88]

Hi Everyone,

I've read this forum for a while and never really got around to posting.

I'm hoping for some help.

My partner has a Playbook, 64gb. A few weeks ago I went to use it and found it completely dead. I tried to charge it but it wouldn't charge, so I've purchased a Rapid charger.

Now, The problems i'm seeing are this;

1 long red light followed by 5 blinking yellow lights
1 red light for 5 seconds then a red battery symbol on the screen for 6/7 seconds, followed by the blackberry loading page for about a minute before starting again.

It's one or the other of the above depending how the Playbook feels i'm guessing.

It did the blackberry loading screen last and is now off, but still plugged in, will this be charging? Will this work? Or do I need to do more to get this working?

Thanks

[thechew88]

I thought this site had a response time of 5 minutes?

[MrGlenn]

In fact, the response time here is so amazing your question has been answered in the past!
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...arging-762903/
Repeatedly charging the PlayBook for short periods of time. This allows a small charge to be built up until it has enough juice to fully start charging again. Read that thread to understand how/why.

BlackBerry Passport signed @ C0007CC89

[thechew88]

Stacked charging didn't work for me. Can I stack charge with the Rapid charger??

Thanks

[MrGlenn]

What can I say? The exact behaviour you describe is a match for the battery having too low a charge. I think you should be able to use the Rapid charger for this, but it can take a long time for the battery to get a high enough charge.

BlackBerry Passport signed @ C0007CC89

[robsteve]

The magnetic charger doesn't always make a proper connection, so if the USB charger works, it is a more reliable method. Once you get it booted, download BatteryGuru and when using the magnetic charger, use BatteryGuru to confirm it is charging.

When using the magnetic rapid charger, cord to the left seems to connect best.

Posted via CB10

[thechew88]

The magnetic charger doesn't always make a proper connection, so if the USB charger works, it is a more reliable method. Once you get it booted, download BatteryGuru and when using the magnetic charger, use BatteryGuru to confirm it is charging.

When using the magnetic rapid charger, cord to the left seems to connect best.

Posted via CB10

Still no luck here.

When I plug in the rapid charger, the device shows the red light for about 4 seconds, then the battery screen, then after a minute tries to boot and switches off, then nothing. It's been plugged into the Rapid charger for 4 hours now and still nothing.

How do I ensure the device is in the correct state to be charged as i've been told it wont charge when powered off?

[kbz1960]

Make sure it has a good connection plugged into a power strip with an on and off button. Use it for the on and off stack charging.

[MrGlenn]

It does charge when powered off, that is the charging method. Allowing it to turn on while charging drains any increase in charge you have until that point. That is what the article I posted before describes in detail...

[robsteve]

How do I ensure the device is in the correct state to be charged as i've been told it wont charge when powered off?

The blinking yellow/orange lite will show that it is booted into the charge mode. Your battery may be too dead to even get into this initial boot stage for charging.

[cletis]

The magnetic charger doesn't always make a proper connection, so if the USB charger works, it is a more reliable method. Once you get it booted, download BatteryGuru and when using the magnetic charger, use BatteryGuru to confirm it is charging.

When using the magnetic rapid charger, cord to the left seems to connect best.

Posted via CB10

Loathe though I may be to providing assistance to someone who bursts onto a public forum with an ignorant, incorrect, and arrogant whinge about some imagined 5-minute response time guarantee, I will agree with this analysis. It's likely, given the p�ss-poor consistency with which the magnetic charger makes a connection, that the stack charge attempt failed because at least some of the individual charges never happened. Yes, for a stack charge, using a USB charger makes more sense. (And OP's recent posts state that he's continuing to use the magnetic charger.) Keep in mind, OP, that any micro-USB charger that puts out at least 1.8A will do; it doesn't have to be a BB-branded charger.

I do have to thank the OP, however, for his use of the phrase "stacked charge," which my brain immediately associated with the demise of a certain Mr. Arthur Jarrett, a convicted criminal from the movie "Monty Python's Meaning of Life" who was allowed to choose the manner of his execution. The choice he made could well be referred to as a "stacked charge," so thanks again, Chewie, for the image.

[thechew88]

Welcome to the CrackBerry Forums Create Your Account OR Ask a Question Answers in 5 minutes - no registration required!

[robsteve]

Welcome to the CrackBerry Forums Create Your Account OR Ask a Question Answers in 5 minutes - no registration required!

A lot of us in North America were still in bed when you posted your question.

Posted via CB10

[oragex]

It seems when the battery depletes below a certain level, there is a module that blocks the battery from being charged back. It a very common issue.

Have a look on Youtube "playbook charging" about the guy that jump charges the battery. Perhaps there are other ways to do it.

[kthhrrsn]

Here's the info that Mr. Glenn asked you to read. It worked for me a couple of years ago:

Try this one from mapsonburt:

Locked, bricked Stack Charge Charging

Mapsonburt:

The PlayBook OS currently shuts down at 3.5 volts. When the battery gets below 2.67V it won't show power lights or even try to start because there isn't enough juice to even power the processor to run the code on the BIOS. The BIOS is software hard coded on a chip within the PlayBook that tells it how to load the PlayBook OS and is coded such that it only recognizes signed PlayBook boot images (which is why it is so hard to root and that nobody has been able to get one to boot Android or WebOS. The BIOS software also contains some charging algorithms for when the OS is not running - ie device is powered off but plugged into a charging source. This code ONLY runs when the battery is above 2.67 volts because the processor can't run below that.

The root of the problem is that this design issue prevents the device from accepting any charge longer than 60 seconds when the battery is too low to run the charging algorithms on the BIOS or on the OS (one runs before the device is powered on and one runs afterwards). RIM did this because Lithium Ion batteries have a nasty habit of catching fire if not charged properly so they wanted to ensure that the processor could be in control of the charging. Makes perfect sense and they probably thought they were avoiding situations like where early Li Ion batteries on laptops were catching on fire. The problem is they were a bit too aggressive in dealing with the problem at design stage. If the battery is below 2.67Volts their protective algorithms can't run but you also can't put enough charge into the battery to charge it! Hence all the reports of people having success with stack charging.

Unfortunately there are a lot of wrong ways to do this floating around out there and getting repeated everyone someone posts a new thread on the issue. It really should be made a sticky. What is the right way?

1) ONLY use a source that provides 1.7Amps or more of charge. The original charger provides this. The rapid chargers provide a lot more. Your phone charger only provides a fraction of this. Anything less is going to take forever to charge the battery above 2.67 volts and may not have enough juice to charge the battery AT ALL once the processor starts to run above 2.67Volts or even worse once the OS starts to run above 3.5Volts. Forget about using your computer to charge it when the OS isn't running as the computer looks for the hardware to identify itself and won't put out a full charge current unless the device indicates it can accept. Once the OS is running, you'd often CAN get enough power from the USB on the computer but that is because the OS has signaled it is OK for the computer to send it. When the OS/BIOS isn't running, the PlayBook won't take much/any charge from a computer. The rapid chargers are best as they quickly charge but more importantly do not use the (too) flimsy USB port. A lot of problems are caused by this port getting wobbly over time and the device not getting a charge at all. Everyone should have a rapid charger.

2) Until you get your device WELL above the 3.5Volts that let's the PlayBook boot, do NOT try to start it. Every attempt drags the battery down some more and that attempt sucks much more charge from the battery than you can put in in those 60 seconds before the hardware shuts down the charging. How can you tell where your battery is? Well if you are getting no lights on the playbook on your first charging attempt you are below 2.67volts. If lights go on and then it doesn't start the OS it is below 3.5Volts. If it loads the OS and then dies it is just above 3.5Volts. If the device loads the OS it is somewhere below 5.0Volts. Depending upon where you start (how low the battery is) various techniques work best. They are: REAL stack charging (plug in for 60 seconds, unplug, plug in for 60 seconds, repeat until the processor starts accepting charging (the big battery symbol on the screen). Again, DO NOT try to turn the device on until then. You are just working against yourself and it will take much longer. You should get the charging symbol within 20-45 minutes of repeated REAL stack charging. Forget you ever heard of plugging in for 2 mins and then off for 2 mins and similar as those 2 mins of off time are COMPLETELY worthless. I have put a multimeter on the PlayBook in this state and it NEVER takes more than a minute of charge when under 2.67volts but will accept another minute of charge after a short (1-2 second) disconnection. Just do it right.

3) Once you see that charging screen leave it plugged in to the charger (stop stack charging) for at least an hour before you try to start the PlayBook. If you don't you may end up in a situation where the attempt to start drags that battery back down below 2.67V and you have start stack charging again. Be patient, you are almost there!

4) Fully charge your Playbook after this to ensure your PlayBook gets back to 100%.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot RIM can do about this now. It's a hardware design issue. I'd be interested in knowing if the fixed it with the 4G versions. I don't think I've ever seen that complaint with one of those but I've "fixed" both of mine a few times (the kids keep trying to power them on after letting them shut down on low battery despite me saying time RUN not walk and put it on a rapid charger when ever it hits the flashing red battery signal (9%). I've also helped many friends and people on the web and NOBODY who has followed the instructions has failed to get their PlayBook to charge.

I'm convinced this fault is the reason so many PlayBooks are returned to the stores and through RMA. RIM has been very good about this but it should never have happened. Happy Charging!

Posted via CB10 using my Passport

[BlazorBoy]

I took his 5 minute post as jocular. I take his lack of a thank you as a sign of poor upbringing.