[stunn0000]

registered to comment this: red led of dead also on my playbook, stacked charging reaches one time a green led but failed further on. after that, no led for 10 secs, but for 1/10 of a sec. tried again and again. lost patience then, used my leatherman charge (hohoho), pried the case open, disconnected (mentioned in another thread) the lipo via two tiny screws and the connector beneath that. after 10 secs reconnected the lipo (without removing it btw), wallcharger. green led now.

[FF22]

registered to comment this: red led of dead also on my playbook, stacked charging reaches one time a green led but failed further on. after that, no led for 10 secs, but for 1/10 of a sec. tried again and again. lost patience then, used my leatherman charge (hohoho), pried the case open, disconnected (mentioned in another thread) the lipo via two tiny screws and the connector beneath that. after 10 secs reconnected the lipo (without removing it btw), wallcharger. green led now.

Yes, there have been a few rare reports that actually opening the pb and physically disconnecting the battery has helped. I think folks are reluctant to suggest that as it would kill any warranty and it appears that in a number of cases, Rim has been willing to fix pb's even if the warranty has expired.

Let us know if it finally charges and acts normally over the next day or so.

[oldyellr]

My playbook is charging... after talking to two support people, they sent me to RMA and Jonathan, the young guy I talked to, told me that over time, if people are not careful when they unplug their BP, the usb slot on the playbook gets misaligned. Look into the usb slot on the playbook, the flat line of contacts should near the bottom. Mine were near the top so when I plugged in the charger last Thursday, it was upside down. DOH ! ! ! I never really paid attention to how I was plugging it in, what symbol was at the top of the plug-in. Anyway, I just used a flat thin object to gently push the contacts down and the charger plugged in the correct way and my baby is charging as we speak. RMA Jonathan did say if it happens again, I'd have to send it in for repairs. I am elated, easy fix and I will be paying closer attention to what I'm doing with my charger. Thank you RMA Jonathan

I think that is a big problem with the Playbook, the trapezoid shape of the USB port on it is not very obvious. If the slot in the plastic case were just a little wider, it would be easier to see.

[yasiryaseen]

I am facing same problem my PB got switched off because of 0% battery now its not getting on even I used wall plug for 2 hours. Not red night nor yellow blibk light is responding. What should I do to get it on?

[FF22]

I am facing same problem my PB got switched off because of 0% battery now its not getting on even I used wall plug for 2 hours. Not red night nor yellow blibk light is responding. What should I do to get it on?

Have you tried another ac adapter? Have you tried Stack Charging? Have you tried using the pb adapter to charge another bbphone or other micro-usb device and see if it works on that device?

As a first test, UNplug from adapter and replug and see if the red light comes on even very briefly?

[guydubourg123]

My playbook has died now every time I plug it in I get a solid red light followed by 5 blinking green lights, please can someone help me bring my playbook to life???

[Chrysalis1156]

My playbook has died now every time I plug it in I get a solid red light followed by 5 blinking green lights, please can someone help me bring my playbook to life???

Have you tried the things posted in this thread???

[guydubourg123]

Yes I have tried everything!

[victorshikhman]

Make sure you follow the directions for stack charging that others have given, no shortcuts. They've worked for a lot of people. But if you have and it still doesn't work, call RIM tech support.

[bbfan1040]

Downloaded latest 3mb beta update. Find slot charger now works when charge down to 3%. Wow - Great improvement!

Couldn't get PB original charger to charge. Slot saved me!

[guydubourg123]

Which stack charging method works best?

[SpookySr]

My playbook is charging... after talking to two support people, they sent me to RMA and Jonathan, the young guy I talked to, told me that over time, if people are not careful when they unplug their BP, the usb slot on the playbook gets misaligned. Look into the usb slot on the playbook, the flat line of contacts should near the bottom. Mine were near the top so when I plugged in the charger last Thursday, it was upside down. DOH ! ! ! I never really paid attention to how I was plugging it in, what symbol was at the top of the plug-in. Anyway, I just used a flat thin object to gently push the contacts down and the charger plugged in the correct way and my baby is charging as we speak. RMA Jonathan did say if it happens again, I'd have to send it in for repairs. I am elated, easy fix and I will be paying closer attention to what I'm doing with my charger. Thank you RMA Jonathan

You were right. Mine was doing the same thing as KOOLWATER's PB. I noticed that the USB cable wasn't working with PB Desktop either. I must have been bending the center post up by putting in the plug upside down. You are supposed to insert the PB Logo up and the letter B down. I used a wooden toothpick to realign the center post. It's charging now. I'm going to get the magnetic post charger from ebay.

[son7ofadam]

That sounds like the same issue I am having with my PlayBook too. While on the rapid charger dock i get the charge icon but the Battery level continues to drop tried the factory usb charger same problem. I'll try the stack charging trick and see if it works.

[Jommy98]

2 weeks ago I pluged my playbook and it was in 23% and was not charging but it is showing that it is pluged in. Now it will on ,but still remains in 0%.
please what do I do????

[djratza]

this works unbricked 2 playbooks, plug in the charger red light shows up the 3-4 green light the unplug for 30 seconds on a timer, then plug again red light 3-4 green unplug do this until only the green on comes to life then your bb is back to life

[djratza]

another fix press the power button everytime the red button turn off, it will turn red again do this 2 -3 times it s back to life

[dgw166]

I have been without my PB for over six weeks, read this post and realised that I had done the exact same thing, charger was upside down due to small plastic connection being moved to top of slot. I used a plastic tooth pick moved the slot back to the centre plugged the charger in with the BB symbol upside and Voila! it started charging straight away.

[Zeo001]

hi; I have tried all your ways to get my pb to reboot but i have not gotten it to work. I sat for 1hr. with it plug in to the surge cord on for untill the red lite come on and off 15 sec.30times and that didnt work. Try leaving it on for 2mins. at a time for 1/2hr. that didnt work.. it come on to the blackberry playbook while booting and after 3 min dies. wat else to do?

[victorshikhman]

@Zeo001

If you're saying the PB shuts down after 3 mins while booting, maybe you have a software problem in startup. Try connecting your playbook to your computer and reinstalling the OS. I think there was a how-to posted for that somewhere around here. Worst case call Blackberry support - they're always ready to help.

[victorshikhman]

@Zeo001

If you're saying the PB shuts down after 3 mins while booting, maybe you have a software problem in startup. Try connecting your playbook to your computer and reinstalling the OS. I think there was a how-to posted for that somewhere around here. Worst case call Blackberry support - they're always ready to help.

[Zel143]

what if it doesn't work even if you did all the steps do you have any procedure..to make my playbook live again pls... I need your response....

[FF22]

what if it doesn't work even if you did all the steps do you have any procedure..to make my playbook live again pls... I need your response....

How old is the pb?

You have tried Stack Charging? See below for the latest way to stack charge. You've tried a different adapter? A rapid charging unit?

Locked, bricked Stack Charge Charging

More Mapsonburt:

Don't keep trying if you get the Red light/5 Yellows... you'll soon drag the battery down past where you can start it again. Leave it off, plug it in and let it charge (with at least a 1.8A charger). Once you get the flashing (once every few seconds) green light, you can power it up - on the charger. If you do drag it down below the red flash/5 yellows, plug it in for 1 minute, unplug (at the wall) for a second or so, plug it back in and repeat for 20-30 minutes. You'll eventually get the red/yellows and then leave it plugged in (and off) until you get the flashing green. It's a PITA but the PlayBook has a very conservative charging algorithm when the battery is below 2.67 Volts to prevent explosions (I'm guessing). I've never been unable to start one with that method.

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!


........................
The battery is likely below 2.65 volts. That happens if the PlayBook has sat for a while. Plug your charger into the playbook (make sure it's the stock charger and not a computer or other charger as you need to pump in lots of amps - more than 1.7amps - the more the better). The rapid charger is even better as it can go to 5 amps.

LEAVE the charger plugged into your PlayBook. Unplug it from the wall (to save the fragile micro-USB port) every minute for a few seconds and plug back in. You'll see lots of references on the web to plug in for 2 minutes and unplug for 2 minutes. Ignore those. I took the PlayBook apart and put a multimeter on mine when it was doing this. If the battery is below 2.65 volts, the PlayBook charging circuit charges for about 1 minute and then shuts down. NO AMOUNT of continued charging makes any difference. As soon as you unplug it (at the wall) and power it back up, it will take charge again for another 45-60 seconds. Repeat.

Keep doing that for as long as it takes to get the screen to show the charging display. If it is just below 2.65volts, it will take somewhere between 20-45 minutes as the battery only takes a little bit of charge each cycle and you need to get that voltage up over 2.65 volts (at which point it will show the charging display and take a full charge). It may take more... but keep at it. Every time you plug it in for 60 seconds, you are adding a bit more power to the battery.

DO NOT try to power the device on until the device has a full charge. You will just risk getting it into a situation where it can't fully boot before it drags the charge down below 2.65 volts again and you'll have to start all over.

This works... and saves you from having to jump start it like I did the first time I got mine into this situation.

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

KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook battery power charge, discharge characteristics, and guidance on extending battery life

[frielfanatic]

I would contact blackberry. I've had 2 replaced. Did all that was mentioned above. The first was out of the warranty period and they still replaced for free