[Ananya Zaman]

The current state is, when i connect rapid charger red LED shows for few seconds, then the big battery comes up and fades after few seconds, then the green LED comes and fades, after few seconds OS seems to start, blackberry playbook text and colors play around for about a minute and everything goes black by then. I kept for about an hour like that and it doesnt start.

I have searched for few similar issues in the forum but lots of methods confuse me more.
Can anyone help me with it?

[cbvinh]

The current state is, when i connect rapid charger red LED shows for few seconds, then the bg batery comes up and fades after few seconds, then the green LED comes and fades, after few seconds OS seems to start, blackberry playbook text and colors play around for about a minute and everything goes black by then. I kept for about an hour like that and it doesnt start.

I have searched for few similar issues in the forum but lots of methods confuse me more.
Can anyone help me with it?

1. Make sure the battery is properly charged by using the original charger and charge it overnight.
2. Try the hard reset by holding down Power + Volume Up + Volume Down for more than 15 seconds, then just Power to turn it back on.
3. I've had the PlayBook hang on boot (the colors never stop playing) due to the PlayBook having issues connecting to a hotspot. The solution is to take the PlayBook far away from the hotspot and turn it on. The black screen kinda sounds like it was about to present you with the login but something happened. Step 2 will probably fix it.

Try and report back.

[Ananya Zaman]

now i'm stack charging it for about 20 minutes(plug in rapid charger for 40-50 seconds untill the green led fades then disconnect and reconnect). Lets see what happens.

update
Tried stack charging for one hour, then tried power up, nothing happened, tried hard reset nothing happened. It doesn response if i press power button. Repeats earlier things if connected to charger. Not sure what to do now. May i'll leave it connected to charger for overnight.

[cbvinh]

now i'm stack charging it for about 20 minutes(plug in rapid charger for 40-50 seconds untill the green led fades then disconnect and reconnect). Lets see what happens.

update
Tried stack charging for one hour, then tried power up, nothing happened, tried hard reset nothing happened. It doesn response if i press power button. Repeats earlier things if connected to charger. Not sure what to do now. May i'll leave it connected to charger for overnight.

Do you have the original charger? Use that for overnight.

[Ananya Zaman]

i dont have original chargers, i have a rapid charger which i bought from here Genuine Blackberry Playbook AC Home Wall House Travel Rapid Charger PSM24M 120D | eBay

[cbvinh]

i dont have original chargers, i have a rapid charger which i bought from here Genuine Blackberry Playbook AC Home Wall House Travel Rapid Charger PSM24M 120D | eBay

I guess you can only use what you have. I've found that sometimes the rapid charger doesn't charge the PlayBook, even when the battery flashes with the lightning bolt. Quite a few times, I would plug the PlayBook in when it reached a low battery state only to find the battery to be even more drained the next morning. I've never had that happen with the original charger.

[jpash549]

I guess you can only use what you have. I've found that sometimes the rapid charger doesn't charge the PlayBook, even when the battery flashes with the lightning bolt. Quite a few times, I would plug the PlayBook in when it reached a low battery state only to find the battery to be even more drained the next morning. I've never had that happen with the original charger.

There have been many posts concerning the false lightning bolt with the rapid charger. The reason usually is that all three pins are not making contact. The solution is cleaning and adjustment of the pins. Many people use Battery Guru app to verify that charging is actually taking place. Sometimes one orientation of the charger cord works better than the other.

[SEAWARRIOR]

clean the contacts w/ qtip & rubbing alcohol...

[cbvinh]

There have been many posts concerning the false lightning bolt with the rapid charger. The reason usually is that all three pins are not making contact. The solution is cleaning and adjustment of the pins. Many people use Battery Guru app to verify that charging is actually taking place. Sometimes one orientation of the charger cord works better than the other.

This is the first time I've heard of this, the false lightning bolt due to pin contacts. I started a thread a long time ago about it but no one mentioned this. Good to know.

[adougl26]

i have had this problem. I let the battery go completely flat and then try charging it again

[to boldly go]

are you setting up your playbook for the first time?
I found (1) it has to have its charger, any wimpy phone charger wont do.
(2) you have to have a wifi connection for it to update to.
(3) it takes forever to just turn on and warm up, I call it the lava lamp show. then it takes foreer to do its initial setup. been thru this recently myself.

[Ananya Zaman]

ok, i tried charging for whole day/night, it doenst help. Whenever i connect it to charger then red LED comes up followed by big battery with bolt and then a yellow LED, after the yellow LED fades, black seems to boot, but screen goes blank somewhere in the middle of boot process. Though the backlight seems to be on. Im getting hopeless.

[cbvinh]

ok, i tried charging for whole day/night, it doenst help. Whenever i connect it to charger then red LED comes up followed by big battery with bolt and then a yellow LED, after the yellow LED fades, black seems to boot, but screen goes blank somewhere in the middle of boot process. Though the backlight seems to be on. Im getting hopeless.

When you say it seems to boot, are you saying you're seeing the colored screen and then after about 2 minutes, it goes black, when it should display the password or normal screen? It's confusing what you're describing. The big battery with bolt indicates it wants to be charged, but you're also saying it's booting, which means there's enough power to get to the password/normal screen, at which time it realizes there isn't enough power and shuts off.

The problem still seems to be that the battery hasn't charged at all, even overnight. Can you get a USB charger that will supply at least 1.7 amps?

[Ananya Zaman]

i have few usb chargers but none of them are 1.7v, and its goes black after colored screen.

"colored screen and then after about 2 minutes, it goes black, when it should display the password or normal screen?"

- Exactly.

[cbvinh]

i have few usb chargers but none of them are 1.7v, and its goes black after colored screen.

"colored screen and then after about 2 minutes, it goes black, when it should display the password or normal screen?"

- Exactly.

Yeah, that does sound like it doesn't have enough power. It basically boots and once it's fully booted, it checks the battery and shuts off due to low power.

I suppose you can try: 1. making sure the three pin contacts are clean and 2. changing the direction of the three pin connector when you attach it to the PB, as others have suggested.

The USB charger needs to be at least 1.7 amps, not volts. Another alternative would be to plug the PB into the USB port of a computer and let it charge that way. USB ports usually only supply 0.5 amps, so it'll take a lot longer (and you need to be sure the PB is off so that it doesn't drain at all), and if you do it overnight, you might get enough power into the PB to get the rapid charger working again.

[SEAWARRIOR]

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...aybook-895909/

[Carterbits]

ok, i tried charging for whole day/night, it doenst help. Whenever i connect it to charger then red LED comes up followed by big battery with bolt and then a yellow LED, after the yellow LED fades, black seems to boot, but screen goes blank somewhere in the middle of boot process. Though the backlight seems to be on. Im getting hopeless.

My remaining two of four PlayBooks have both done this same thing this week. The influx of dying PlayBook threads has me wondering if there is something more than meets the eye on an individual basis...

Download Noted, a 5-star rated, native BB10 memo pad app.

[Carterbits]

Yeah, that does sound like it doesn't have enough power. It basically boots and once it's fully booted, it checks the battery and shuts off due to low power.

I suppose you can try: 1. making sure the three pin contacts are clean and 2. changing the direction of the three pin connector when you attach it to the PB, as others have suggested.

The USB charger needs to be at least 1.7 amps, not volts. Another alternative would be to plug the PB into the USB port of a computer and let it charge that way. USB ports usually only supply 0.5 amps, so it'll take a lot longer (and you need to be sure the PB is off so that it doesn't drain at all), and if you do it overnight, you might get enough power into the PB to get the rapid charger working again.

I have successfully stack charged PlayBooks from fully drained over the last couple of years in immediate and extended from and I've never seen symptoms quite like this ... very odd.

Download Noted, a 5-star rated, native BB10 memo pad app.

[Cynycl]

My remaining two of four PlayBooks have both done this same thing this week. The influx of dying PlayBook threads has me wondering if there is something more than meets the eye on an individual basis...
Download Noted, a 5-star rated, native BB10 memo pad app.

Wow, four playbooks in two weeks?

I'm thinking the same thing. There seems to be a lot of playbooks dying all of a sudden. Seems like they are more than EOL, they are DOA in increasing numbers. I wouldn't buy another used one if mine die as I suspect their is an expiry date on all of them and in less than a year only the chosen few will still be operational.

It's not only the battery issue, seems the camera issue affected lots of folks around the same time and then several started to get the display issues about the same time as well.

I guess it's just like every other product anymore, engineered to last as long as the warranty.

[Carl Estes]

First, you will be all week long on the PC usb charging tact. You need the OEM charger 1.8 amps, or the Rapid Charger. and you may have to let it charge overnight after "Stack Charging" for a few hrs.

But I am starting to suspect the batteries are starting to outlive their charging lives (seems about right considering release...)
I have my first PB, kinda acting a bit strange on the charging bits also, this one will be regulated to the Ridgeline for Maggelan directions and Neutron player into blueteefs for audio....

c

[Stephen_TX]

I've had a similar scare recently too. I knew it was charged, but it wouldn't boot (no red light, and no screen colors). It did finally boot when I held down the power button, and it appeared to be much further into the start-up process than I expected, meaning it may have been booting all the time. This experience, and other posts, have caused me to keep a non-Desktop Manager backup of critical files (W7 files in my case) just in case it fails.