[djrupey]

Ok, I expect there is an answer on this forum somewhere but I can't find it and to be honest there are so many variantions of help questions, and so may answers (many that go back up to two years and may now be out of date) , that it gets confusing. I'm sorry if this goes over old ground, but I am not a techie and never download leaks or other stuff like that which might mess with the device. So...

I am in the UK. I have a had a 64Gb PlayBook (currently on the official OS 2.1.0.1753) for nearly a year and it has never given any problem, until now. I inadvertently let it run down to almost zero battery power (I can't remember exactly , maybe 5-7% but the red warning was showing). It was not completely dead, just very low.

As both my PB chargers were elsewhere I charged it overnight using my Z10 wall plug-in charger. In the morning I was surprised to see that the battery had only charged as far as 65%. I took it to work and put it on my PB pedestal charger but noticed that although the lightning symbol was showing it didn't appear to be charging any further. Two days later that remains the case, it just won't accept a charge even with the wall plug with yellow USB plug. Being connecteed to a charger seems to stop it discharging, but it won't charge up. If I disconnect and use the PB (it works normally) , the charge goes down normally and I have now lost 17% of my charge compared to when I first noticed the problem,, down from 65% to 48%.

At first I suspected the chargers but they work fine with my other Playbook (a 16 Gb) and my Z10 phone.

My 64Gb is now at 48% and I fear that if I let it run down to 10% or less by using it I am going to be in trouble. Somehow the OS seems to have decided to stop charging and I need to trigger it back into action while there is still decent battery power.

How can I do this? Will a complete OS re-install do it? If so, can someone explain (as simply as possible!) how to do it please?

Thank you, any help will be much appreciated.

[kbz1960]

You can try a 3 finger restart. +,- and power buttons at the same time. Do you haven't magnetic charger to see if maybe it's the USB port gone bad?

[djrupey]

You can try a 3 finger restart. +,- and power buttons at the same time. Do you haven't magnetic charger to see if maybe it's the USB port gone bad?

Thanks, I have been using the magnetic charger, also I have tried the three-finger start, it makes no difference.

[FF22]

I don't think reloading the OS will change/fix the situation. It sounds as if something else is amiss. So neither the regular pb charger nor the magnetic charger are recharging? Or they recharge but only to about 68%?

[Cynycl]

I'd recommend the Battery Guru App as it will give you a log of what is happening when charging. Could help to explain what issue you are having.

[djrupey]

I don't think reloading the OS will change/fix the situation. It sounds as if something else is amiss. So neither the regular pb charger nor the magnetic charger are recharging? Or they recharge but only to about 68%?

The regular PB charger (with yellow USB plug) and the magnetic 3-pin fast pedestal-type charger work fine with my other PlayBook (16Gb) and my Z10. But neither of these will charge the PB 64Gb. they seem to stop it going down but will not add to the charge. So it must be the PB. It isn't the charging points (either the micro USB or the 3-pin one because neither work). I think it has to be something inside the PB, maybe triggered by me using the regular Z10 charger, which in retrospect, maybe wasn't a good idea.

[djrupey]

I'd recommend the Battery Guru App as it will give you a log of what is happening when charging. Could help to explain what issue you are having.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out right now.

[djrupey]

I have now installed Battery Guru on both PlayBooks.

When charging on the pedestal/cradle charger, the readings are as follows:

16 gb 64 Gb
------ ------
Battery Voltage 4.13 3.79
Battery health 87% 89%
Charge 6.69w 0.00w
Charge count 216 67

I've had the 16Gb since Feb of 2012 (secondhand off eBay) and the 64gb since Nov 2011.

I've just put the 64 Gb on my wall charger (yellow plug) and that shows charging at 0.00w too.

I think these results show that the problem lies within the 64Gb PB, it just isn't charging.

[surgeon1919]

Just for fun, let the battery run down till the playbook turns itself off and use the wall charger. Let it charge overnight.

[pacoman03]

Just for fun, let the battery run down till the playbook turns itself off and use the wall charger. Let it charge overnight.

That's an absolute no-no with the Playbook. Don't do it.

[malgpz900]

That's an absolute no-no with the Playbook. Don't do it.

I thought that is how you where suppose to manage the battery on the playbook by letting it run down until the OS switched it off, then charge it up.

Malcolm.

[jpash549]

I have now installed Battery Guru on both PlayBooks.

When charging on the pedestal/cradle charger, the readings are as follows:

16 gb 64 Gb
------ ------
Battery Voltage 4.13 3.79
Battery health 87% 89%
Charge 6.69w 0.00w
Charge count 216 67

I've had the 16Gb since Feb of 2012 (secondhand off eBay) and the 64gb since Nov 2011.

I've just put the 64 Gb on my wall charger (yellow plug) and that shows charging at 0.00w too.

I think these results show that the problem lies within the 64Gb PB, it just isn't charging.

If you use the 64 GB PB for say 30 minutes does the battery voltage show an appropriate decrease. And if you then put it back on the charger do you show charging on the Battery Guru? Battery Guru does keep a file of its readings which are taken every two minutes ordinarily. This is a CSV (comma separated variable) file and there is a free app in BB World called as I recall CSV Viewer. Before you run a test you will probably want to dump readings Battery Guru has taken so as to have a small file of relevant data to work with. If this test does not show charging on one or the other charger you probably check both charging ports for cleanliness and damage. If none of this works give us all a holler.

The PB actually has two batteries and it is possible that one is going bad. As I recall there was a previous thread in which strange things were happening that resulted in very peculiar readings might be gotten in such a case. Peter 9477 is the Battery Guru and you might find something useful for your problem by searching through his posts on the PB battery. There will be many informative ones.

I would agree that it is not a good idea to run the battery way down until you understand the problem. And you better make any necessary data or picture backups while you can.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

[djrupey]

If you use the 64 GB PB for say 30 minutes does the battery voltage show an appropriate decrease. And if you then put it back on the charger do you show charging on the Battery Guru? Battery Guru does keep a file of its readings which are taken every two minutes ordinarily. This is a CSV (comma separated variable) file and there is a free app in BB World called as I recall CSV Viewer. Before you run a test you will probably want to dump readings Battery Guru has taken so as to have a small file of relevant data to work with. If this test does not show charging on one or the other charger you probably check both charging ports for cleanliness and damage. If none of this works give us all a holler.

The PB actually has two batteries and it is possible that one is going bad. As I recall there was a previous thread in which strange things were happening that resulted in very peculiar readings might be gotten in such a case. Peter 9477 is the Battery Guru and you might find something useful for your problem by searching through his posts on the PB battery. There will be many informative ones.

I would agree that it is not a good idea to run the battery way down until you understand the problem. And you better make any necessary data or picture backups while you can.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

Hi, thank you for your help. This is just a quick post from work, I'll try to be more detailed in a later post.

When I got home on Sunday night I put the PB on the yellow wall charger all night. At first nothing much happened but I finally got to the point where the green LED was pulsing. Ah, I thought -it's charging! So I left it charging all night. In the morning I managed to get it to boot up only to find that the battery level was exactly the same as before at 47%. Later in the day I fiddled around with it again and tried various methods of breathing life into it, on the rapid charger etc, but it would start booting up and then crash. I gave up.

This morning following your post I tried again. Hook up to yellow wall charger, press start button. Red LED, then green solid LED, then nothing. Try again. Suddenly the screen comes to life and it starts booting. It goes through the pulsing coloured spheres display for several minutes, gets to the brown/orange ones which means it is almost ready to show the home screen -then it crashes.

After waiting a few minutes, I've just tried again. Red LED comes on, BB PlayBook shows, then it crashes again, without even showing the spheres. Black screen.

I'm thinking despite the battery meter showing 47%, it could actually be flat. From what I have read here on CB, the PB is displaying all the symptoms of a virtually flat battery -or maybe as suggested above, a half faulty battery?

I'm going to try the stack charging method as described in another very comprehensive thread, but it will have to wait until I have time to do it properly, maybe at the weekend. But if anybody has any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them as at present my PB 64 Gb looks like a useless paperweight. Fortunately my other PB , the16Gb is my main workhorse so I am not completely stuck.

[jpash549]

Maybe it would be better to give the dock charger another try. Also assume you have inspected the ports and cleaned the contacts.

[Cynycl]

Maybe it would be better to give the dock charger another try. Also assume you have inspected the ports and cleaned the contacts.

Yes do that and ensure it is getting a proper contact with the charging cradle or magnetic rapid charger. If it doesn't show a charge in Battery Guru then it is not making proper contact. Often times when this happens the lightning bolt will show on the battery icon of the playbook homescreen but this doesn't mean it is properly connecting. Battery Guru is will show if it is getting a charge or not.

[djrupey]

Yes do that and ensure it is getting a proper contact with the charging cradle or magnetic rapid charger. If it doesn't show a charge in Battery Guru then it is not making proper contact. Often times when this happens the lightning bolt will show on the battery icon of the playbook homescreen but this doesn't mean it is properly connecting. Battery Guru is will show if it is getting a charge or not.

Hi, yes I cleaned the three contacts on both the Pb and the rapid charger dock. No joy. Battery Guru clearly says that there is no charge. Or at least, it did say that when I could actually get the thing to boot up. Now it won't get past the boot stage. Just about to try again after an eight-hour layoff.

[Cynycl]

Hi, yes I cleaned the three contacts on both the Pb and the rapid charger dock. No joy. Battery Guru clearly says that there is no charge. Or at least, it did say that when I could actually get the thing to boot up. Now it won't get past the boot stage. Just about to try again after an eight-hour layoff.

I don't expect it to help but reloading the OS won't hurt. If that doesn't work you could try calling RIM, they have been known to fix harware issues out of warranty. You stand a good chance as you have more than one playbook and can verify that the chargers are working fine on your other playbook.

[djrupey]

So I grab the PB, press start button gently. Red light comes on briefly. Then screen lights up with Blackberry Playbook and it starts to roll. Got as far as a handful of transitions as far as the greenish blobs, then I think I heard a little click and the screen went black.

I've got a mind to do it again, here goes.

OK, same thing. 1 minute 10 seconds from the screen starting up it crashes. 30 secs of BlackBerry Playbook, 40 seconds of blobs, then ..blackness.

[Cynycl]

So I grab the PB, press start button gently. Red light comes on briefly. Then screen lights up with Blackberry Playbook and it starts to roll. Got as far as a handful of transitions as far as the greenish blobs, then I think I heard a little click and the screen went black.

I've got a mind to do it again, here goes.

OK, same thing. 1 minute 10 seconds from the screen starting up it crashes. 30 secs of BlackBerry Playbook, 40 seconds of blobs, then ..blackness.

Leave it off and hook to computer via usb with BB manager already running on pc. This should cause it to power on by itself. If it does start fully, you can salvage any files before you do the OS reinstall.

You should also leave it plugged in to power source (rapid charger) so that it doesn't go dead during the OS reinstall.

[djrupey]

Leave it off and hook to computer via usb with BB manager already running on pc. This should cause it to power on by itself. If it does start fully, you can salvage any files before you do the OS reinstall.

You should also leave it plugged in to power source (rapid charger) so that it doesn't go dead during the OS reinstall.

Ok thanks, I will try that later and report back, probably tomorrow (it's 7pm here in UK).

[Cynycl]

Ok thanks, I will try that later and report back, probably tomorrow (it's 7pm here in UK).

One other thing to try. People reported success with was to hold the power button for 30 seconds, then plug in charger still holding the power button down, then release the power button.

[djrupey]

Thank you everyone who has tried to help me with this query.

To cut a long story as short as possible, I tried to reinstall the OS and succeeded. I thought great, it's all fixed. I went through the "personalising process" hooking up to wifi etc. Checked battery state -about 37%. Then it crashed.

I've managed to get it to reboot but it gets so far and then crashes, without getting to the home screen. This happens every time, even after sitting on the rapid charger all night. In the meantime of course I have lost all my data because I was unable to back it all up and had been stupid enough not to do it when the device was working properly.

Eventually I conclude that the basic os (BIOS?) must be corrupted for some reason and realise that my only recourse is to see if Blackberry would do something about it. Of course I am not a techie so I have no idea really, I just know that it won't work despite me calling on all the help I can get from Crackberry and my own relatively limited resources. So I phone Support.

Even though my PlayBook is just over one year old, they say, yes, if the fault is inbuilt rather than being due to my negligence (eg dropping it, messing up USB port etc) they will repair it free of charge. And if they cannot repair it, they will replace it. They are reassured by my experience of my other PB and of being a loyal BB phone user, plus my assurance that I have taken all the advice from the forums. So on Monday or Tuesday a courier sent by BB will collect the PlayBook and very soon I expect to have the problem solved.

So I'd like to say a big thank you to Crackberry generally for what I have learned from dozens of threads over the years, and those who have tried to help on this specific thread. And also to Blackberry, who have just restored my faith in the company.

Assuming that it does indeed have a happy outcome of course!

In the meantime I am a bit pissed off that I have lost all my data including a Voice recording of Roger Waters' The Wall performance at Wembley Stadium a few weeks ago (fantastic by the way) but hey, tomorrow is another day!

[Banco]

I await someone telling you what you already know - if only you'd backed it up....

Still, you get a repair or replacement, and that's good news.

I've got some video I took of the Wall at the O2 if you want it by the way!

[Cynycl]

One thing RIM seems to have right is their repair or replacement program. I'm sure you will be pleased and can expect a brand new playbook as they seem to do that rather than fix the problem unit.

[afzzainizzam]

I hope you could update whether BlackBerry able to repair your PB or they will replaced it with new one only.
I'm having the same crash start-up issue though that was caused by depleted battery juice.