Crash upon first boot

[LuciferRising]

Hi folks,


Received my Pandora today.


First off had a hell of a time just getting it to charge or show any signs of life. First thing I did was plug mains power in. Only thing I was getting was a green light all the way on the left (SD activity light?). Wasn't sure why that light was on but nothing on the right side. I have read that sometimes it can take a while for Pandora to "wake up". Gave it like 45 minutes or so. Nothing. Popped battery out a few times (without mains hooked up). Even waited 10 min a few times.


Finally after a few tries, got green power light! Immediately plugged mains in and got red light within a second or two. Good. It was charging. Opened the screen and Pandora was booting up. Went through first run wizard and told it to boot to minimenu since first off just wanted to play around with emulators (after installing HF5 and codecs). After a bit of loading I was in minimenu, but Pandora was completely unresponsive. Nubs weren't working. Grabbed stylus and after a few touches around screen.. crash! Just a bunch of vertical lines. Lines were sort of colorful at first, then after a few seconds became black and white. Couldn't do anything. Hard reset not working either.


Pulled out mains and yank battery again. Popped battery back in and got power light on first try then plugged mains back in again and got charge light. Opened screen and just had 4 white vertical bars.


Have been trying for a while now to get any kind of power or charge light again. When I pop the battery in I am back to just getting the green light all the way on the left. Not able to get a charge or power light.


Have been reading forums for last two weeks while waiting for my panda and felt like I was prepared for anything. But I am just lost. Any ideas? Should I try re-flashing?


Thanks.

 

[EvilDragon]

Hmm, never seen something like that.


You could try running it without the battery, to make sure it's no power issue.

 

[LuciferRising]

Hmm, never seen something like that.


You could try running it without the battery, to make sure it's no power issue.

Am trying that. Just getting that darn green light on the left. Have been trying for a while now. Was able to get it to start booting two times in between several tries. First time it went right to white bars and froze up. Several tries later actually made it into minimenu and everything seemes ok (screen was responding). Popped my SD card in with HF5 on it (First time inserting SD card). Before the card was even half way in, it crashed again. Ever since have been trying to get it to power up again.


Have been trying several times now just using mains (no battery). Just getting solid green light all the way on left.


only thing different after several tries with battery out is that the green light on left is occasionally blinking. Wasn't doing that before.

 

[WizardStan]

Sounds like corrupt firmware. I'd suggest doing a complete reflash before going any further.

 

[myownlittlworld]

Sounds like corrupt firmware. I'd suggest doing a complete reflash before going any further.

If the reflash doesn't help it, it kinda sounds like a hardware issue:

...crash! Just a bunch of vertical lines. Lines were sort of colorful at first, then after a few seconds became black and white. Couldn't do anything. Hard reset not working either.

My laptop did the same thing when it needed its graphics card replaced (some sort of short, IIRC). Of course, this analogy goes only as far as my Pandora is similar to my 7-year-old Gateway, which is to say, not very far at all.


I'm sure your distributor would be happy to help you get a replacement unit if need be, ED and the group are really great people.

 

[LuciferRising]

Ok. After about 25 tries without battery, actually got it to boot up. Every other time just got green light on left. Made it into minimenu. Popped SD card in. Actually played Battle Jewels for a minute. Quit game. As soon as minimenu popped back up. Blam! Nothing but green vertical lines. Completely locked up. Can't hard reset.

 

[LuciferRising]

Thanks for the replies. Will try reflashing now (if I can get it to boot). But yeah, seems like maybe it's something more.

 

[WizardStan]

To reflash, you hold the right trigger and then connect the power. This brings up a "boot menu" of sorts. If you have difficulty getting that boot menu, then you are in a very bad position indeed

 

[LuciferRising]

To reflash, you hold the right trigger and then connect the power. This brings up a "boot menu" of sorts. If you have difficulty getting that boot menu, then you are in a very bad position indeed

Yeah. I am trying over and over. This is crazy. Just getting the light on the left. Sometimes it just comes on solid. Sometimes it comes on blinking. Sometimes there is a few second delay then goes to solid.


Is that light in fact the SD activity light?

 

[myownlittlworld]

Yeah. I am trying over and over. This is crazy. Just getting the light on the left. Sometimes it just comes on solid. Sometimes it comes on blinking. Sometimes there is a few second delay then goes to solid.


Is that light in fact the SD activity light?

Yup, the green light on the far left of the left-hand lights is the SD light.

 

[Prometheus]

Are we sure that the vertical bars aren't in fact from a duff LCD cable? I only say it as the description of those bars sounds exactly like what happened when the cable on my previous unit failed.

 

[LuciferRising]

Are we sure that the vertical bars aren't in fact from a duff LCD cable? I only say it as the description of those bars sounds exactly like what happened when the cable on my previous unit failed.

I'm not sure. Seems like maybe its more some sort of power problem. I mean it literally took 25 times (without battery) just to get the sucker to power up with the mains.

 

[WizardStan]

Those are the SD activity LEDs, but they are controlled by the CPU. They should not be coming on until it has started booting, and definitely should not be the only LEDs lit. The far right one is the power LED and should definitely be on. If you are seeing the LEDs on the left lit up and not the far right one, then you have a hardware fault almost certainly. Given the amount of other problems (R trigger, LCD weirdness) I'm going to suspect that the package was actually dropped in transit or something.

 

[LuciferRising]

Ok. After several several tries (lost count this time) made it to boot menu. Chose boot from SD1. Got a few seconds of text like it was starting to reflash. But then screen went black (backlight is still on)and SD light is solid. I am guessing I should be seeing text throughout the whole reflashing process? Looks like it just died on me again.


I have the lastest firmware on a freshly formatted card.

Those are the SD activity LEDs, but they are controlled by the CPU. They should not be coming on until it has started booting, and definitely should not be the only LEDs lit. The far right one is the power LED and should definitely be on. If you are seeing the LEDs on the left lit up and not the far right one, then you have a hardware fault almost certainly. Given the amount of other problems (R trigger, LCD weirdness) I'm going to suspect that the package was actually dropped in transit or something.

Yeah. Something is really wrong here. Package looked pretty good when it got to me. Box wasn't dented or anything. But who knows?

 

[MarioPandio]

Hope you get sorted as all hells gonna break loose in your case it seems.

 

[LuciferRising]

On the bright side.. lost my newbie status. But still rather be a newbie with a working pandora. Ha-ha. Sorry, just trying to keep my pma (positive mental attitude).


I've been reading the forums for a while. So I was really prepared for anything (though I do realize we hear more about the problems than the good experiences). but was more hoping for an easy button fix or something like that.

 

[LuciferRising]

Thanks to everyone that tried to help. But I guess I'm giving up. I'm getting nowhere fast. Seems like my pandy's problems are beyond the more common issues.


Could someone point me to a thread explaining the rma procedure? I know I stumbled upon one before but can't find it now.


Any tips on best way to ship from US to UK? I paid for UPS 2 day to get it here, but if I'm gonna eat the shipping I don't think I want to put that much out again.

 

[dsleaf67]

Ok. After several several tries (lost count this time) made it to boot menu. Chose boot from SD1. Got a few seconds of text like it was starting to reflash. But then screen went black (backlight is still on)and SD light is solid. I am guessing I should be seeing text throughout the whole reflashing process? Looks like it just died on me again.

No, It does go black for at least a few seconds (can't remember exactly how long). Maje sure you leave it during flash as it can take many minutes in fact they warn first boot if takes longer after reflash.


Good luck no matter what?

 

[LuciferRising]

Ok. After several several tries (lost count this time) made it to boot menu. Chose boot from SD1. Got a few seconds of text like it was starting to reflash. But then screen went black (backlight is still on)and SD light is solid. I am guessing I should be seeing text throughout the whole reflashing process? Looks like it just died on me again.

No, It does go black for at least a few seconds (can't remember exactly how long). Maje sure you leave it during flash as it can take many minutes in fact they warn first boot if takes longer after reflash.


Good luck no matter what?

Thanks. I gave it plenty of time. It wasn't doing anything.

 

[myownlittlworld]

No, It does go black for at least a few seconds (can't remember exactly how long). Maje sure you leave it during flash as it can take many minutes in fact they warn first boot if takes longer after reflash.


Good luck no matter what?

Thanks. I gave it plenty of time. It wasn't doing anything.

Yeah, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to finish the reflash process (and maybe(?) that long to start after the flash is complete?). You have at most 3 seconds after it turns on to make sure you've hit the shoulder button to reflash it.