[cesar128]

Here is The situation:

I bought my playbook on Jan.2012, but couples month ago I lost my charger, but it was OK because I have an extra Blackberry Charger (bb 8900). It was working great since like a month or so it won't charge anymore.

When I connect it to The charger I get red led for about 15 sec , red battery with bolt, and then pulsating yellow led.

I tried stack charge: no result
(cycles of 2mins/2mins, 2min/10sec, 15secs/2secs)

tried to update playbook: download and install but wont reconnect to tablet

I purchased a Blackberry rapid charging stand for playbook (in case USB port may be damaged): here.. The playbook turn on after several minutes at set-up screen. I followed all steps but then it says battery too low to update and stay at 0%. I left it on this screen for 50+ hours and wont change When I take it from base it shut down instantly.


PS:
1-Calling support is NOT an option, I live in Dominican Republic.
2-No blackberry support office/store over here.

[hemertwv]

First the rapid charger sometimes doesn't connect properly and doesn't charge this is a major bug with the charger.

Start with Holding down the power button and up and down volume buttons for about 15 seconds or so , the unit should shut off entirely.

Then Plug in the old charger and try charging for 10 minutes, then press the power button and you should see a battery indicator on the screen telling you the battery is low
leave it like that for a few hours and it should have restarted.

THe problem with the unit is that it is probably stuck on the charge cycle.

[FF22]

Have you tried Stack Charging with the rapid charger? On the dock, off the dock, over and over 10-15 or so times?

Where did you buy it? Maybe if you call them, you can ship it to/from at your charge but they will repair it under warranty?

I don't know if any of the numbers are available to you:

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] (this route generally does not work and a call is necessary)

(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)

[Tenkawa]

I have one of those docks and I find sometimes the connectors are... finnicky.

Make sure the contacts on both sides are clear. Place the PB on the charge, then lean it forward and back a few times to make sure the contacts get a good seating.

You should either get the bolt or (if off) the red light should come on (and/or blink). Just leave for a while.

[cesar128]

First the rapid charger sometimes doesn't connect properly and doesn't charge this is a major bug with the charger.

Start with Holding down the power button and up and down volume buttons for about 15 seconds or so , the unit should shut off entirely.

Then Plug in the old charger and try charging for 10 minutes, then press the power button and you should see a battery indicator on the screen telling you the battery is low
leave it like that for a few hours and it should have restarted.

THe problem with the unit is that it is probably stuck on the charge cycle.

ok, i'm doing it right now i will let you know.

Have you tried Stack Charging with the rapid charger? On the dock, off the dock, over and over 10-15 or so times?

Where did you buy it? Maybe if you call them, you can ship it to/from at your charge but they will repair it under warranty?

it was a gift! i think from best buy thats the problem.

which cycle do you recommend ? 2 min in - 2 min out?

if what hemertwv recommended does not work i'm going to try your option

You should either get the bolt or (if off) the red light should come on (and/or blink). Just leave for a while.

i already left it with yellow flash from friday to sunday = 50+ hours and it stay at 0%

[cesar128]

What doesn't make sense to me is that... PlayBook actually turn on while on Charging pod but im stuck at update setup because i have no battery

[312Lorden]

Same problem here. Very frustrated.

[cesar128]

Here is a compilation of images showing my playbook where I'm actually stuck >> Playbook on but wont charge
now if I restart, disconnect, hard reboot or anything it will start with red led then yellow pulsating led and then the final step from setup.

[playbookster]

Your 8900 charger doesnt have enough power to charge your playbook.

[cesar128]

Your 8900 charger doesnt have enough power to charge your playbook.

it is on the charging pod! 12V-2A

[frielfanatic]

I had the same problem and had to have it replaced. Tried stack charging with rapid, wall and car. Have any usa friends you can mail it to?

[lw12345]

I'm having the exact same problem. I bought the rapid charger but it's still stuck at 0% after a day of charging with the green light flashing. I've tried stack charging, hard resets, factory resets, different chargers and I don't know what else to try. Is it worth letting it drain completely and trying to revive it then? I'm hesitant about doing that because at least it still turns on now.

[deanasfreddie]

I'm jumping on this thread here, my playbook wont charge yadda yadda you all know the problems.

My issue that, yes unsuspectingly I let my playbook go flat, did the stacking charge and got it to turn on, what happened to me was....

After a while I got the battery sign on the middle of the screen with the flash through it, left it for an hour or two then the playbook rebooted and now I'm on the home screen, happy days - but only trouble is it wont charge up past 0%, lightning strike still on top right corner and plugged in with playbook charger - the charger works on other phones in the house. As soon as I take the charger out it shuts down and I have restart the process.

I have a little over two months of warrantly left (based in UK) I bought it from a major retailer who said that blackberry wont even touch it if it hasnt been registered with them, I don't think I've done, I just tried to do that but I think you have to register the device within the 90 days to get full customer support, I just got put through to a screen that said I'd have to pay for additional support. Anyways that's besides point what I'm after is a possible solution before I have to go through the trauma of returning it.

Cheers guys

Dean

(edit: FIRST POST!!)

[Angus_CB]

Welcome to the forum.

I don't know what the warranty requirements are in the UK. In Canada there is no requirement to register for a warranty.
RIM has 90 day phone support, that you are supposed to register for, but that is not related to the hardware warranty.
All you need from them is instructions on how to get a warranty replacement.

Try any or all of the stack charging methods. F2 has a good post on stack charging here. If none of these methods work and warranty replacement is not an option you may be able to get it going again by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.

WARNING, the following procedure will void your warranty so it is a last resort considering your Playbook is still covered by warranty.
- Remove the back cover. I use guitar picks to do this but a credit card will work also.
- Remove the two Philips head screws holding the battery connector.
- Disconnect the battery lead. Leave it disconnect for 10 minutes.
- Reconnect the battery lead.
- Replace the two Philips head screws.
- Replace the back cover.
Here is a video that shows how to take apart the Playbook and where the battery lead is.

This is fairly easy to do but, as I said above, it will void your warranty.
I have done it myself with a used Playbook I bought.
The OP fixed his by doing this. He didn't bother to follow up in this thread, I read it on another forum.

[deanasfreddie]

Thank you angus for your reply, just tried to get the charging going again and of course I'd removed the charger so had to reboot it again. I didn't have to stock charge the battery just plugged it in and after about 20 minutes the playbook booted up.

What I've done now is from the battery icon at the top I've pressed that and went into standby see if it would charge and nothing, no movement. I then switched off the PB via the same way and after a couple of seconds of yellow/green blinking, I now have a solid green light - this indicated a fully charged playbook!??!

I'm going to leave it for a while then switch it back on.

While it was on, I tried to update the apps which were obviously out of date, it wouldnt let me do and I got a failed message on all of them, I'm assuming since my problems there probably been a little software update?

Anyways thanks again for the reply and should I get no joy from the retailer or rim, I'll pull it apart and do what you say.

Cheers

[deanasfreddie]

wee update, couldn't resist temptation and turned the playbook on again, same ol thing empty battery icon with flash throuhg in centre of screen. I know it'll boot up again just bit of a pain. I may just do what you suggested anyway, warranty schmarranty

[deanasfreddie]

yes definately the reason why apps wont update, just got a recharge the battery to 20% message to unstall update, if only :/

[FF22]

Good luck. (now I have to go out and rake more leaves!)

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] (this route generally does not work and a call is necessary)

(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)

[deanasfreddie]

cheers mate, I didn't know the number for uksupport so thanks for that ;-)

[homercb]

In my case I had usb connector problem.. It happened to me cuz kids were using it while it was charging.. if they yank playbook, there is a fairly good chance the pins get bent..

One of the pins got bent in the micro usb female connector.. luckily I was able to bend it back straight enough for male connector to make connection. It charges fine now..but whenever I connect it for charging.. I need to be very gentle..if it bends again, it needs new female usb connector.( I was surprised that I was able to bend it back )

Check and see usb female connector in good lighting.. if you see any metal shining on the floor of the connector.. then you most probably have a bent pin.. you can try bending it with some tool thin enough to fit and not bend other parts of usb connector. I must warn.. it probably is a 20% success 80% failure chance

Update: Sorry I didn't see the part where it was not charging with base also... anyway I'll leave my response here in case its useful for someone else.

[deanasfreddie]

In my case I had usb connector problem.. It happened to me cuz kids were using it while it was charging.. if they yank playbook, there is a fairly good chance the pins get bent..

One of the pins got bent in the micro usb female connector.. luckily I was able to bend it back straight enough for male connector to make connection. It charges fine now..but whenever I connect it for charging.. I need to be very gentle..if it bends again, it needs new female usb connector.( I was surprised that I was able to bend it back )

Check and see usb female connector in good lighting.. if you see any metal shining on the floor of the connector.. then you most probably have a bent pin.. you can try bending it with some tool thin enough to fit and not bend other parts of usb connector. I must warn.. it probably is a 20% success 80% failure chance

Update: Sorry I didn't see the part where it was not charging with base also... anyway I'll leave my response here in case its useful for someone else.

cheers for the reply anyways mate, it's not the snuggest of fits when the chargers plugged into the usb on the pb at all, I think thats the case for all of them

[deanasfreddie]

I decided to return it to RIM for repair, unbelievable customer service in a positive way. Spoke to the nicest of representative called Marco, for quite a long time on two occasions and just sent a generic email to customer services to ask whether I put the rma form in the box with the playbook or outside of the box like it looks like on the instructions, within five minutes Marco called me back to explain that I had to put it in the box. Superb service.

We basically went through a few procedures where I resinstalled the software on the playbook via usb to the computer and unfortuantely it wasn't successful - something about not being able to connect to the playbook and I may have to check whether I have set a password on the device which I hadn't. This was about after an hour of downloading and installing the new update. This is normally the key to fixing the charging problem. I then clicked on cancel instead of retry then got a message saying the update was successful, wierd. So I plugged in the charger again and got to the playbook loading screen after a few minutes with the swirly colourful circles but after about five minutes the PB died without booting to main screen. So its back to the menders and hopefully will get sorted as I'm about to steal back my blackberry that my wife has been using for the past few months so I can get all the bridge loveliness up and running again, instead of the �19.99 piece of rabbits droppings from Tesco I've been lumbered with :-)

I'll update again when I get my playbook back, 10 working days from initial call, not bad at all for an RMA.

[Angus_CB]

Good luck to you. Let us know how it turns out.

[antinyc]

Thanks! This the only thing that worked for me. Stack charging the PB turned it on but it stayed at 0% charge even with the rapid charger plugged in. I opened up the PB and disconnected the battery connector for 10 mins, redid the connection and the pb started to charge!

If none of these methods work and warranty replacement is not an option you may be able to get it going again by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.

WARNING, the following procedure will void your warranty so it is a last resort considering your Playbook is still covered by warranty.
- Remove the back cover. I use guitar picks to do this but a credit card will work also.
- Remove the two Philips head screws holding the battery connector.
- Disconnect the battery lead. Leave it disconnect for 10 minutes.
- Reconnect the battery lead.
- Replace the two Philips head screws.
- Replace the back cover.
Here is a video that shows how to take apart the Playbook and where the battery lead is.

This is fairly easy to do but, as I said above, it will void your warranty.
I have done it myself with a used Playbook I bought.
The OP fixed his by doing this. He didn't bother to follow up in this thread, I read it on another forum.

[Zel143]

Hi....I have gone with the same problem with my playbook if that would happen....is there any option to fix it....pls. I need your help I'm stuck of fixing it....