Playbook charging issues...... and freezing upon startup...

I have a 32 gb playbook,, from day 1 April 19, 2011.... overall very happy... and worth the full price paid - and looking forward to OS10 in the new year.

My problem: I have a BB OEM charging Dock. It worked fine for about 3-4 months... but then beginning maybe 4 months ago -

Playbook consistently freezes for 15-30 seconds after it boots.

More disturbing; When I put the PB in the charging dock... the PB recognizes that it is in the dock (lightning flash appears)... but the Playbook does not begin to charge; rather it continues to drain the battery as though it were not in the dock.
I sometimes need to shut down and restart the PB 3,4,5 times or more before it will begin to charge.
The PB will not charge when it is shut off and in the dock - something it formerly did just fine.

I monitor activity with the Battery Guru app.... typically when I boot in the dock, if I am not going to be successful, battery guru will show between 2-4 watts and never higher. I know I will be successful if when I boot in the dock I see 5-7 watts....
Battery guru consistently indicates Battery Health at 87%.
Have tested the dock with a friend's PB and it works fine every time in charging his unit... so I conclude that something is not right with the PB.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Download overload for it it speeds it up

The magnetic rapid charging units can be flaky - both the dock and the travel version. If the springloaded pins do not make full or rather appropriate contact, you can get what I call the False Lightning Bolt. The bolt shows but charging does not occur (whether "reverse" decharging can occur I don't know - Peter might be able to answer that - it might just be losing power monitoring the non-charge????).

It could be your pb is slightly off kilter so that the contact is not complete. Jiggle your pb as you place it in the dock and watch battery guru. Check your contacts on your pb and maybe clean with one of the spray electric contact cleaners (carefully). Compare your contacts to your friend's. Play with the spring pins with a toothpick or more spray cleaner.

Originally Posted by F2

Compare your contacts to your friend's.

In some jurisdictions "comparing your contacts with your friend's contacts" might be a criminal offence. ;)

Nah, not in WA state - it all became legal in the last week or so! :rotfl:

Genius.. you got it... used a paper clip (with the unit off) to depress and release the pins on the dock... sure enough; one was apparently not making a consistently good contact... working like a charm... thanks so much - it's all in the freakin details.... big issues take care of themselves... little stuff like this problem - makes one old before one's time... Thanks again.

Also to T-Raww - thanks for the Overload tip - will give it a try.