Bricked Pandora (won't even power on)

[dflatline]

So I got an open pandora recently, it's a 1ghz edition. I turned it on and it was working fine, went through the initial set up etc. but when I tried to use it it kept asking me to log in, when I put in my user/pass the GUI selection screen just kept popping up after I put my password in and I had to put it in again to the same effect. I tried reflashing it, but after 30 mins the screen was blank and, well, I accidentaly knocked the battery out while I assume it was still reflashing?

Now it refuses to power on, the LEDS don't even come on and it doesn't appear to even be charging. It's completely dead. Is there anything I can or should try?

 

[TrashyMG]

Take the battery out for ~5 minutes, put it back in. Use a wall charger to charge instead of USB. If the battery is drained it may take several minutes to actually trickle charge to power on, there won't be any LEDs turned on or anything when it's in this state and it will automatically power on once it's ready. If it does power on eventually attempt to reflash while still on the Charger. 

 

[dflatline]

I did give it a good 2-3 hours charge when I first got it so I don't think (but have no idea) if the battery is flat. Perhaps the charger itself is faulty and it didn't charge at all, should I try charging it by USB instead?

 

[elw3]

If the Battery is empty USB is useless.

Do you have an psp charger for a chance? 

Also you could try to plug the charger in without a battery, some units can boot that way.

 

[dflatline]

I don't, no. The battery itself isn't 'square' either which might be a problem; it's thicker on one end and there's a lot of movement in it so it might not actually be on the contacts when I think it is but I have no real way of telling. There's definitely some power going through the charger though. I'll leave it upside down for now and keep moving the battery around and see if I've just not got the right position

 

[dflatline]

No luck, any ideas?

 

[TrashyMG]

The battery moving around sounds odd, the 1Ghz and rebirth models usually have small foam pads on the sides of the battery compartment on the connector side to keep it in place.. the earlier models didn't and sometimes caused issue. Is this a second hand Pandora? I'm wondering if the prior owner overcharged the Battery and casued it to swell to the point of not fitting properly.

 

[dflatline]

It's got the foam pads and as I say, it worked fine for a while. I really think I bricked it with the messed up reflash. There's literally no indication thats its getting power of any sort; it doesn't even get mildly warm no matter what I do to it. It's a Pandora 1002, 1ghz edition if that helps?

 

[dflatline]

Perhaps this will help in regards to what I mean about the battery. Apologies for the low resolution but when I say it's not square this is what I mean:

http://imgur.com/tIPzkjK

There's an uneven gap and its not at right angles.

 

[TrashyMG]

It's extremely difficult to brick the Pandora.. I can't think of any condition that a failed firmware flashing would cause this.. for one it's not really firmware, it's just the OS image being installed to the internal NAND flash memory.. It's a community wide misnomer calling it firmware. The charging and such is handled by hardware. Also If you happened to totally messed up the u-boot bootloader install when reflashing you would still see some indications of power on.. flash of the screen, LED blinking perhaps.
 

There's an uneven gap and its not at right angles.

Mine looks about the same, when you have the plastic lid on it centers it out.  You could try padding the battery lid. on my first batch unit I used a peice of a paper plate, I cut it to the width of the battery and an inch or two in length. I place it between the lid and the battery right over the battery contacts to put a little more downward pressure on the contacts.

It all leads to me an issue either with battery connection, a possible defect in the board causing it to draw more current than it should be..

 

[elw3]

Hm that gap is not at the connectors side anyway.

You could try to check the Voltage with an voltage meter or if you dont have one: lick it. If it is empty the circuit shuts it off and you wont feel a thing.

I am not kidding here...  

 

[dflatline]

At this point I think my best bet is assuming its a power issue and my battery has fully discharged. The poor documentation is an issue I hope they address with the Pyra. If I were to assume there was a problem with my charger or ports, how would I charge it by USB or know it was charging? I'm assuming it's the miniusb?

 

[TrashyMG]

At this point I think my best bet is assuming its a power issue and my battery has fully discharged. The poor documentation is an issue I hope they address with the Pyra. If I were to assume there was a problem with my charger or ports, how would I charge it by USB or know it was charging? I'm assuming it's the miniusb?

You can charge via the mini-usb.. it's a bit slower than the DC plug, but may do the trick..

 

[dflatline]

Ok thanks for the help, I'll leave it overnight and hopefully it'll trickle up enough to boot.

 

[elw3]

Doesnt the USB charging needs to be enabled via software first Trashy? 

I could name a lot of ways to check if there is a charger issue but i need to know if you have any, even the simpliest form of electrical equitment for this? 

A voltage meter, a few cables, or even a needle and two leds will do. 

 

[TrashyMG]

Doesnt the USB charging needs to be enabled via software first Trashy?

No it should charge by just plugging it in, I don't recall anything that disables or enables USB charging.  I've charged a completely drained battery from USB before.

The charging chip I believe does does require some minimal software to control proper charging cycles(IE charge at full speed), but it will trickle charge until it has enough power to boot up.


EDIT:  This won't work on USB, but if your charger is working properly and there is not another issue it should power up without the battery inserted when running on the DC jack.. you may be able to re-run the reflash if it powers on. However DON'T re-insert the battery when the DC jack in plugged in, you could cause a surge that damages the PCB.

 

[dimag0g]

Does your pandora power on when you remove the battery and put the mains charger in? If it does, I'd suggest you try to reflash it while powered that way.

 

[dflatline]

Does your pandora power on when you remove the battery and put the mains charger in? If it does, I'd suggest you try to reflash it while powered that way.

No.

I've reinserted the battery while the DC jack is plugged in before too, is that really enough to cause damage?

 

[gunrock]

Putting the battery in whilst it's charging I believe was listed on a thread here as one of the things you musn't do.

Edit: One source of this info (read whole thread):

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/7513-leaving-pandora-on-indefinately/?p=133129/URL]

 

[dflatline]

So I take it there's nothing else I can do? It's pretty much dead for good?