[EdY]

Not sure how the Playbook can be on and show 0%, unless battery miscalibrated. My playbook automatically turns off at below 5% and won't turn on again unless it is in the wall charger. It can never get to actually show 0% as far as I know and actually stay on.

If your charger wasn't working you wouldn't be able to keep it on, and it wouldn't show the charging lightning bolt either.

However, I have found my wall charger (all black) with the prongs that flip in and out doesn't always charge. I think the contacts get worn or loose. You have to plug in a certain way (certain side up) so the prongs have rotated all the way out.

My wife has the international charger (yellow tip) that is meant to accept different country plugs that slide in, and that seems to work better.

Anyone else notice this?


Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Crackberry Tapatalk Forum app

[E10CDM]

@PTZ: I recommend you to contact PB support, and request for an (advanced) RMA; just got mine confirmed, FEDEX box is on its way (again, this is RMA #2, nut now I am getting a new unit as permanent replacement);
I think you are right that it appears to be a structural battery problem, combined/shielded by the PB charging & display software; I can only recommend to make log files & time histories with the Battery Guru Appp, even though PB support has not yet requested them in my case.

@edyb: I can only confirm that the yellow tip OEM charger (which is standard outside issue NA I believe) gives the same "irragular" charging behaviour and need for various recovery methods. See my remarks above, it is very well possible to have a 0% battery reading (or even a 99999% in my case once) with the PB still functioning; also, the show of the lightning bold with the OEM USB-charger or the dock-charger does not mean the battery is actually charging / discharging. Am no expert, but am quite sure this is combo hardware/software issue, which is PB specific (so not all units have this) but is getting reported more and more on this forum in various threads

[narci]

Hi all, I have an issue with a PB that won't boot up or charge.

First, I used 2 different Playbook chargers, A Rapid charger and a BB 9900 charger.

Second, I tried the stack method and still doesn't work.

What happens is when I plug the PB Charger/Rapid charger, the red LED turns on and the battery with the lightning bolt appears(empty). Then it goes away and a green LED comes on and stays on. After a little while the Playbook Logo appears. It stays like this and doesn't boot up. I have had it on the charger with the logo staying on for 10+ hours and still nothing.

I read the RIM articles and states that a solid green light means it's charged.

Here's the dilemma. If the PB is physically charged and the OS is reporting no charge, how do I fix this?

DM reconizes it as no charge and won't update the OS.

[FF22]

Make sure that there is NO backlight by going into a very dark room or closet. I'm not sure that anyone has verified that the rapid charger can be use for stack charging. Can you find another usb-charger and try again?

You could also call rim.

The PB has a one year warranty to the original purchaser. It also has 90 free Tech support. I do not know how Rim deals with "quasi-tech support v. warranty"

Rim Support
Tel:
Canada Toll Free: 1-877-644-8405
United States Toll Free: 1-877-644-8410
Puerto Rico Toll Free: 1-855-651-4936
Email: [email protected]
(UK Support) 0800 096 2805

Playbook French Support
http://fr.blackberry.com/playbook-ta...ok-support.jsp
Phone : 0800 914 533 (within 90 days from activation)

[PTZ]

Update on malfunction. After work the PlayBook was at half charge it seemed so I unplugged it and it worked fine until I went to the browser then it went black. I pushed the start button and it came back on, then that bong sound which occurs when it is running out of power. The icon showed no power left and it went dead again. I plugged it in and am writing this with it. Not holding power in the battery it looks like. So I guess it has come time to call the RIM man about my problem. Good luck to all. The Play Book is still my favorite gadget.

[narci]

Unfortunately the PB ran out of warranty on May 15th

I have a feeling the physical battery is fully charged but the OS is thinking it's fully drained so when the OS boots up, it thinks the battery is dead. It won't charge because the battery is fully charge already.

My only other alternative is to leave the PB alone off charge for a week or two hoping the physical battery will discharge, then I can stack charge tricking the OS that it's actually charging.

Either that or the bootloader is messed up.

Does it make sense?

BTW, plugging the PB to DM, it asks me to retry, update and cancel. None of the options work (except for cancel). DM recognizes my PB as 'Blackberry Playbook (0)'.

[FF22]

You might want to still give rim a call. They rma'ed my pb and I was past the warranty period, also by about 2 weeks. They may or may not fix it but you can certainly try.

[E10CDM]

Agree with F2 above here, contact PB support, refer them to these CB threads to prove your issue is not unique and they should (advanced) RMA your PB

See couple screenshots below, including Battery Guru screens, from before and after my first RMA for this issue. Was sent back with "nothing found" message, but my new/refurbished PB is on its way, should arrive today/tomorrow

[E10CDM]

Here is the current reading of Battery Guru, with OEM charger yellow tip connected and without

[nofiz]

Agree with F2 above here, contact PB support, refer them to these CB threads to prove your issue is not unique and they should (advanced) RMA your PB

See couple screenshots below, including Battery Guru screens, from before and after my first RMA for this issue. Was sent back with "nothing found" message, but my new/refurbished PB is on its way, should arrive today/tomorrow

Rim is aware of this defect since last summer whit no fix yet . I sent back my brand new 64GB whit same issue(it was 28 days old) they sent me an old refurbished it was built last August when I called customer service to complain I was told that is all thy can do. Why pay for new ? You may end up whit JUNK. GO Rim GO.For sale a 3 month old BB 9900 and an old Playbook best offer.

[everart]

well! I am Brazilian and Please excuse my English. I have the same problems above: the battery is no more than 0, even with the wall charger connected, with it off I have a green led blinking as though charging more, nothing changes

[FF22]

Again, try stack charging:

Okay, try any and all of the various methods, including just holding the power button in for 30-40 seconds. Also go into a dark closet and make sure the screen is really black/off and not a lit up gray.

I was told about "stack" charging, 6 cycles of charge no charge, for 2 minutes each, charging for never more than 2 minutes.


Plug the PB in with the factory charging cable (red light comes on for a several seconds, then goes off). Wait about 10 more seconds. Unplug PB for about 30 seconds.

Repeat n times.

n == 6 for me. Finally my PB light switched to green, then began to oscillate, signalling charging. After a few more minutes my PB came back to life.

You might want to UNplug/Replug at the wall/socket end to avoid using or damaging the weaker usb port on the pb itself.


Just talked to tech support, because i'm impatient sometimes. Here is the initial process they gave me to try.

Plug in the charger for 2 mins, unplug for 10 sec -> Repeat 6 to 8 times

Then while unplugged perform the Hard reset (POWER, VOL + and - at the same time) . **When the red light comes on PLUG IN THE CHARGER**

The playbook is supposed to then start charging/boot.
...........................
Along the same lines as just above, someone posted:

FOUND A QUICK FIX HOPE IT HELPS

WOW, i tried EVERY SINGLE Step out there and the one step that worked ... was HOLDING down the power key for 20 seconds, after 20 Seconds do not let go of the power button and plug in the wall charger, and then let go... should get a steady red light for about 10 seconds, then the battery icon with lightning bolt should appear.. the it will charge with just a flashing green..... lol wasted 4 hrs for nothing hope this works for everyone else

.................
Some have now found a shorter sequence works:

Oh man I fixed it. I stack charged it! But not for 2 minutes.

Every time my PB red signal goes off I removed the connection from the wall charger and placed it back within a second. I repeated it for almost 25-30 times and all in the sudden a big charger button showed up on the screen and a green light on the charging LED. I left th e power connection for 2 more hrs and started using it.
................
And another posting that might help....

There are a few solutions and some are mentioned above. SO try the things I am mentioning below.... Let me know if it works .

Problem Scenario: 1. Blackberry wont boot or turn on, on pressing the power button, the red light stays for a few seconds and does not turn on 2. Sometimes you will see the red light followed by a green/ yellow light that blinks 5 times and does not turn on.

Reason: The main reason why both of the above things happen is because the battery is completely drained out, you could call it " Flat out". The problem with playbook is that the playbook wont charge if the playbook is Flat out drained. whereas other tablets or cellphones does....Playbook has to fix that issue. Meanwhile we do have a solution to go around that problem and that requires some patience. Some of the solutions mentioned in the previous comments indicate to charge it via computer.... "It doesn`t work" not if the battery is drained out flat.... so dont even bother trying it if u see the above mentioned problem.

Solution: try this step by step and this are 3 different solutions so one of this would definitely work. 1. Press the Power button and you will see the Playbook Logo ( chances for this are low ) 2. Press the power button and the volume together, if there is 1 % charge left there is a chance that it would boot on, when you see the logo, immediately charge the playbook ( chances are medium ) 3. This solution requires patience. plug the charger into the socket and plug the USB into the playbook, the red light stays for 8-10 secs. Remove the USb from the playbook wait for 2 to 5 sec and replug the usb back to the charger and wait till that red light comes and goes again. repeat this step atleast 20-30 times. you might be asking why? the only power that the playbook gets is when that red light is on when plugging the usb into the playbook, once that light goes the playbook is not charging.. so what you are doing here is forcing the playbook to get charged for 8 sec every time u plug it to the playbook....this way the playbook gets that power needed to boot. Once the Playbook has that power to boot. The red light stays and changes to green but this time it blinks slowly and keeps blinking. you would also see the playbook logo return.... this green light keeps blinking until there is enough charge for the playbook to stand on its own and then changes to a solid red until it gets fully charged.

Knowledge Base Article

KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook Power - Battery charge and discharge characteristics

[xKrNMBoYx]

I've had this happen to me once. I let the playbook drain completely and left it drained for a week or two. It took almost an hour for the percentage to get to 1% but it did charge. Maybe the battery need to be warmed up a bit.

Plug in the wall charger or quick charge, and then try turning on your playbook. Sometimes it will show a low battery sign and it doesn't start up right away, but it will after a few moments.

[everart]

I have no problem to turn on the tablet! but even on, it is not loading. appears only one ray, and nothing else! when off the green LED blinks continuously, but still nothing changes.

[tyshone1]

I experienced this issue a couple of weeks ago. The battery was pretty much drained but I wanted to browse a little longer before plugging it into a charger. The unit shutdown before I had a chance to plug it in. After plugging it in, I noticed the power light would stay on for approximately 30 seconds and then it would go out followed by five blinking amber lights. I tried all the suggestions listed on this forum and none worked. I called RIM and they asked me to power the unit on and as soon as the last amber light flashed I was to plug the device into power. According to them, I should have seen a battery charging symbol on the display. But unfortunately after several attempts, it never happened. I had to send it in for repair.

BTW: The technician said this was a issue in the first firmware release but should have been resolved in the up to date version I was running.

[everart]

48 hours on the charger is 0 load! I'll break this down.

[dono54]

Yesterday my neighbour came over with a long face and his playbook. The playbook was on 0 charge and would not start. So I said I can fix it and started stack charging. After about 20 starts the green light came on and we got the PB started. We could see it charging and finally it got to 100% charge. I had one happy neighbour.

thanks F2 for your directions on stack charging.

[EdY]

check your charger by trying to charge your phone with it!!!

my charger is the type with flip-out prongs, it is unreliable. I have to play and wiggle it...

eventually i see the "lightning bolt" on the battery icon. I just leave it without moving it.

i believe this is a major flaw which affects many of the retractable prong-type chargers, but never bothered to call warranty because i have so many others I can use at home, and even the broken one works if I wiggle it enough.



Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Crackberry Tapatalk Forum app

[EdY]

oh yeah, and to compound problem there is the "stack charging" method which you should look up.

I did this a few times myself and it worked.

of course, if your charger is unreliable (see my previous post) then you will be frustrated as to why stack charging doesn't seem to be working.

therefore, make sure you plug your charger to phone and see that lightning bolt is turning on...

this will verify your charger is not a problem. Then do not move your charger, carefully unplug from phone and plug into playbook and proceed with stack charging!

worked for me many times once I realized it was not only the playbook but also the charger!!!!


Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Crackberry Tapatalk Forum app

[FF22]

Yesterday my neighbour came over with a long face and his playbook. The playbook was on 0 charge and would not start. So I said I can fix it and started stack charging. After about 20 starts the green light came on and we got the PB started. We could see it charging and finally it got to 100% charge. I had one happy neighbour.

thanks F2 for your directions on stack charging.

You and neighbor are most welcome (typing one fingered as I eat my pickled herring sandwich)

[everart]

if I connect it without the battery? do I install the system again?

[everart]

leave the responsibility of recharging the hands of a software is a minimum! stupidity! hardware has much more security, I can not do anything else with this thing!!

[JerBru]

Not sure if someone already mentioned this but the usb connector on the phone can get bent. Make sure the tab inside the usb port is centered. I purchased a rapid charger for this reason and it works great. Very fast.

[everart]

Now I'm sure that the problem is software! this video I made, shows the LED blinking without the charger! this can not happen! now wondering if it is possible to do a reset on the motherboard with: jumper, aluminum foil, or otherwise?

[FF22]

Now I'm sure that the problem is software! this video I made, shows the LED blinking without the charger! this can not happen! now wondering if it is possible to do a reset on the motherboard with: jumper, aluminum foil, or otherwise?

Listen, anything can happen. But since it does that, that's a sign of life.

Have you tried all of the various stack charge methods?

Here's a new one posted today:

My Playbook:

*Dead for 7 days
*No LED indications
*No flashing Red/Greenish Orange LEDs
*Dead that PC cannot connect with playbook

Solution:

*Press Start Button
*As you press the start button, quickly insert then pull-out USB stock Playbook Charger off the USB port (less then a second with each start button press + insert/pull-out)
*Playbooks USB port can be damaged over-time, so wiggle the USB stock Charger while performing the Start Button + Insert/Pull-out method.
***I did this at least 5-7 times***
*Perform steps continuously until Red LED light turns on for 8-10 seconds and then the green/orange flashing LED indicator 5x.
*Once this happens, leave playbook alone for at least 2-3 hrs.
***While waiting, make sure you try and press the start button once again to see if the playbook is finally receiving the good 'ol electro-juices-s-s-s by observing the same Red LED light turning on for 8-10 seconds then green/orange flashing LED indicator 5x. This means you've finally done-did-it.***
*After 2-3 hrs of waiting, un-plug the USB stock Charger then perform Hard Reset (Start+ Vol Up/Down) and wait for about 10-15 seconds.
***Warning, if you dont wait 2-3 hrs before pulling the USB stock Charger, you will be stuck back to a dead Playbook once again and going to have to start all over.***
*Wait for the Red LED to turn back on and the RED DEAD BATTERY ICON with the BOLT should pop up on the screen.
*The oscillating green lights should initiate showing signs of your playbook finally drankin' sum juices LOL!
*Make sure you now wait for another 2-3 hrs until the playbook starts up by its own along with the low battery sound indicator.
*From here, you have the option to leave the playbook on while it charges or turn it off and having a higher rate of charge.