[TrulyPuzzled]

Just joined Crackberry - used a Blackberry for 9 years and last year bought a Playbook (love it!!).

Loved it so much I decided to buy my mother one for Christmas - so it's only 3 weeks old. She is having a problem charging it up. Got to 50% when she noticed that even when plugged in it wasn't charging. It's now down to 1%. I've tried her charger on my PB and it charges no problem. I've tried my charger on her PB and ............. no charge happening.

I've read a posts from other users who seemed to have similar problems and have tried stack charging (on 24th time) to no avail.

Any advice? Or should I go find my receipt and take it back to the store?

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Take it back. If they don't do it use the warranty. Don't waste your time dealing with RIMs problems

[Chaddface]

Does it show a lightning bolt over the battery when plugged in? Might your mother have plugged in the USB upside down. Look closely at the port. The plastic tab with the contacts should be almost touching the bottom of the port(backside of the PB). Exchanging would be the easiest I suppose if it's not a simple fix.

[F2]

UNLESS it is dead, stack charging does not do anything.

Check to make sure that she did not put the usb plug in upsidedown and bent the connector in the pb's usb port either up or down. The connector should be near the bottom of the port but it should be level and not slanting upward or downward. In some cases, it can be GENTLY corrected. Compare with your pb.

If you purchase Battery Guru it will show more info that just the battery icon - it will show active charging.

[Jonesy1966]

I've always been suspicious of micro-USB charging ports, they've always seemed really flimsy to me and history is backing me up. I would return it to RIM under the warranty and wait for a new one or the old one fixed. Once you have it back, get yourself a couple of charging pods. They used to cost $60 or $70 but the price has dropped to $15, at least here in Canada, at Staples. The pod utilises a magnetic connector rather that the micro-USB port and is far less prone to wear and tear.

[djenkins6]

If it's physical damage from the USB connector being put in wrong way round rim might not cover it. They will cover usb problems if the connector is not damaged as that points to charging circuit electronic problem.

[dugggggg]

A simple solution is to acquire the PlayBook Rapid Charger with the magnetic connector. These can be gotten now for under $17 on Amazon or supposedly $5-10 at Staples stores. Don't get the Charging Pod---its pins eventually misalign and it's not worth all the hassle trying to get it to charge again.

[F2]

Here's my summary picture of the types of chargers

[TrulyPuzzled]

One of the first things I checked was that the USB connector was in the right way up. Not the case and it didn't work even using my own connector (I checked the inside of the port but was okay). Took it back to the store and it was replaced as faulty. Will look at purchasing the rapid charger for her as it may make life easier. She heads back to the UK on Wednesday and after that I can only offer phone support to her!!!! ;-)

Thanks to all of you for responding. I really appreciate it and hope to start contributing myself. Happy New Year to all.