[ndon70]

A full wipe or debrick, or in your case I guess a restore, is one of the things the tech guys would have had you try. Glad to hear it worked out!

thanks! full wipe, debrick or restore wasn't possible as the desktop mgr kept failing to communicate with playbook. tech support was unsuccessful as well....

[Chaddface]

You restored the PC to earlier date then you were able to do a de-brick of the PB?

[ndon70]

You restored the PC to earlier date then you were able to do a de-brick of the PB?

yes, i did a system restore to an earlier date. my playbook is now fully functional:-)

[peter9477]

ndon70, great it's working now.

I don't understand about the "system restore". You mean you did that on your PC? Only Windows has a system restore, as far as I know, but I don't see how that would make your PB work suddenly.

If you meant you did a restore of a previous backup, to the PB, then I didn't understand the earlier post which said "full wipe, debrick or restore wasn't possible as the desktop mgr kept failing to communicate with playbook."

Just puzzled what actually happened here, so we can help others in the future.

[ndon70]

ndon70, great it's working now.

I don't understand about the "system restore". You mean you did that on your PC? Only Windows has a system restore, as far as I know, but I don't see how that would make your PB work suddenly.

If you meant you did a restore of a previous backup, to the PB, then I didn't understand the earlier post which said "full wipe, debrick or restore wasn't possible as the desktop mgr kept failing to communicate with playbook."

Just puzzled what actually happened here, so we can help others in the future.

my playbook would not turn on and the led just kept flashing red in a 2 blink sequence. i tried holding the power button down and the combo of vol up, vol down and the power button and still nothing. then tried to connect to the desktop mgr on my pc and it gave me the error message with the option to install/update playbook OS. i clicked install and it went through the motion of downloading software, but no progress as i encountered another error message stating that there was a problem communicating with the playbook(something to that effect). but before all this, i bought a rapid charger and let my playbook charge while turned off. 2 hours later i got a steady green light, unplugged the charger and powered on my pb to the red flashing blink, black screen. after a phone call to tech support they were not able to help. granted, i haven't connected my pb to my pc for a couple of days. so i decided to do a system restore on my pc to the day i last connected my pb to my pc. opened up desktop mgr, connected my pb and was able to reinstall OS losing everything saved on my pb. i could only guess i got a virus or installing internet explorer9 on my pc(windows7) had something to do with it possibly changing some security settings. i installed IE9 to my pc while my pb was charging.

[peter9477]

Thanks for the clarification, ndon70. So in the end, after fixing the PC problem you ultimately did manage to do a "debrick" (from the sounds of it... I think your install was effectively the same thing) and now it works.

All's well that ends well, provided it doesn't happen again. :-)

[dontheman]

the rapid charger will kill your battery miuch faster ... i made the misrake of confusing it for myy normal bb charger and now my phone bateery dies really quicjkkk

[peter9477]

the rapid charger will kill your battery miuch faster ... i made the misrake of confusing it for myy normal bb charger and now my phone bateery dies really quicjkkk

You must be confused. The PlayBook rapid chargers have a special connector that is unique to the PlayBook and you could not have plugged either of them into your phone.

[FF22]

the rapid charger will kill your battery miuch faster ... i made the misrake of confusing it for myy normal bb charger and now my phone bateery dies really quicjkkk

In addition to what Peter said, RIM actually sells the pb's normal charger as a "rapid charger" for bb phones. So it is an acceptable option, even if done accidentally.

[pkcable]

I too appear to have this problem.

[FF22]

I too appear to have this problem.

Doesn't rim know better than to mess with a CB moderator?

What is the problem? Using the dock and it not charging? Are the pins all, well, springing back up so that they all make contact? Do you get a Lightning Bolt but NO charging? Have you jostled the pb to make better contact?

Does it take a charge from the normal ac-usb charger?

[peter9477]

Fears of the rapid charger killing your battery are misplaced. As I've said repeatedly elsewhere, the rapid charger does NOT charge significantly faster than the regular charger when you have the device "off" or in standby.

The claim of "2x faster" charging applies only to the scenario where you're actively using the PlayBook while charging it. Under those conditions, the regular charger can't keep up with the load and the power that actually makes it to the battery goes down a lot, whereas the rapid charger can continue to supply the usual full charging power and also the extra power the PlayBook needs for the screen etc.

Basically if you don't have the screen on, the regular charger pumps about 8.5-9.0W into the battery, while the rapid charger manages barely more at about 9.5W.

Also note that those are "maximum" values, which apply only when the battery is below about 65%. Anywhere above that and the charging current is limited, with the result that either charger puts less than 9W into the battery, meaning they charge at identical rates above approximately 70% battery level.

So since the rapid charger has that nice magnetic connector which can quick-disconnect if you trip over the cord, and because it puts no wear and tear on the critical USB port, it is always a better idea to use the rapid charger if you have one.