Hardware First Batch Pandora - not turning on at all


Tootles

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Just reregistered, it's been a while since I was last here. I think the Pyra hadn't even been conceived yet.

Anyway. I've got a First Batch device, which I've had (obviously) since they first started going out. It was a fairly useful device for a while, but then I just stopped using it for a year or two. Eventually I dug it out and put the new OS on it, and promptly forgot it was plugged in for a day or so. I went back to it and it was off. Completely off, and I couldn't turn it back on. I've tried it with a DC charger and a USB charger, both with and without the battery, and nothing has happened at all. Not even a light to acknowledge that it's plugged in.

I understand if these aren't being supported any more, but I'd rather it doesn't just remain a brick forever.

What sort of problems might cause this (lack of) behaviour?

Thanks.
 
They are still supported, no worries :)

Do you have a multimeter? Can you check whether the battery has some juice left?
 
3.03V coming out of the battery - I should have thought about that first *huff*

Nothing at all coming out of the DC adaptor. I'll try another, that could well be my problem *sigh*

Confused at why it's not doing anything over USB, but I never really charged/used it that way anyway.
 
USB charging a dead battery could take a considerable amount of time to charge to the point for the Pandora to power on, you won't get a red light or anything. If the battery is that dead, it may take 10-20 minutes for it to trickle charge enough to power on.
 
Am I the only one who is storing unused batteries in the fridge at 50-75% load?
I always did this with notebooks, netbooks and the Pandora and it's awesome that it's possible at all without having to put the whole device in there.

Regarding your problem: Have patience, try loading it for 20 minutes and see if it does something again then, as written above.
 
I only ever put laptops in the fridge back in the day when I was trying to clear the BIOS settings - take the battery out, chill it overnight, and hopefully the BIOS will be wiped. Excellent for early-to-mid 1990s laptops with passwords that couldn't be hacked.

I left my Pandora on charge (USB'd to my laptop) overnight - not a sausage, I'm afraid.
 
Am I the only one who is storing unused batteries in the fridge at 50-75% load?
Nope, that is where I keep mine. I have been keeping batteries in cold storage since I was a kid and saw adults doing it (not sure if it helps with AAs and such, though, but I burn thorough those too quick to store them).

I've tried it with a DC charger and a USB charger, both with and without the battery, and nothing has happened at all. Not even a light to acknowledge that it's plugged in.
This concerns me a bit. You didn't remove and insert the battery while plugged in, did you? This can damage it. I can understand thinking "well, the charging indicator isn't on, so let me pull the battery...still nothing, lemme just put the battery back in". I am not sure if this will kill it if the battery is dead, but I would think it would still be a problem. Edit: Not all Pandoras can be powered without the battery, so plugging it in with no battery might not help it power up.

How long did you let it charge, either through the charger or USB, before you decided it wasn't working? It took a while when I tried charging the completely drained battery from USB. As others have said, let it sit and charge for a while (maybe a couple hours) then check to see if the charging LED is on.
 
This concerns me a bit. You didn't remove and insert the battery while plugged in, did you? This can damage it. I can understand thinking "well, the charging indicator isn't on, so let me pull the battery...still nothing, lemme just put the battery back in". I am not sure if this will kill it if the battery is dead, but I would think it would still be a problem. Edit: Not all Pandoras can be powered without the battery, so plugging it in with no battery might not help it power up.

How long did you let it charge, either through the charger or USB, before you decided it wasn't working? It took a while when I tried charging the completely drained battery from USB. As others have said, let it sit and charge for a while (maybe a couple hours) then check to see if the charging LED is on.
I don't think I did, can't remember offhand though. I've had it power on with the battery not in before, that's why I tried it without - along the lines of "maybe it's too preoccupied trying to kickstart the battery to be able to fire up". Still nothing though.

I left it plugged into the DC supply for about three hours. USB overnight. No light, no nothing.

That said, I've just checked the voltage from the battery - it's gone up from 3.03V to 3.11V. So obviously something is happening, just too slow to really be much use.

So maybe it can't charge properly any more? Helluva coincidence that my power supply doesn't work either... unless I've cocked up and fried them both together at some point, leaving it plugged in for too long at some point or something...
 
Well the unit must be booted to charge as charging is controlled by the kernel.
Without beeing booted you only get a very minimal charging current. I am not sure if USB even delivers anything at all that way.
 
Well maybe I'll leave it plugged in for a few days on USB anyway, just to see if that's enough to bootstrap it. If I can get it turned on, maybe I can get it to charge. Pain in the posterior that the charger's gone though.
 
Just cut the cable and connect it to an 5V source. Eg old usb cables. Or get a psp charger.
USB charging never worked correctly at all for me, so if that is the same case with you you will never get it booting.
 
What firmware were you using before you upgraded? Also, how did you upgrade? (I don't think this will help find the issue, just curious since you mentioned possibly leaving it plugged in to long.) With recent versions of SZ I leave mine plugged in, sometimes for a day or two, and I haven't had any of the problems that people experienced with the early days, as it does a good job of monitoring charge and not overcharging, then trying to keep it topped off.

I had a random thought that maybe the screen wasn't coming on, but everything else was doing what it should. This is extremely unlikely, since no LEDs come on (I don't remember if you can disable the charging indicator, however I think you would remember doing that). Although unlikely, maybe try turning brightness up. That wouldn't help if the cable is shot, which I again doubt based on you not staying you noticed those symptoms.

@EvilDragon and others, what would happen if you were charging and there was very quick loss of connection with the battery, and it then immediately reconnected? Something like a bump when charging. Could that cause the same issues as removing and reinserting the battery with mains power connected?
 
That said, I've just checked the voltage from the battery - it's gone up from 3.03V to 3.11V. So obviously something is happening, just too slow to really be much use.
USB-powering isn't very efficient anyway and I'd be surprised if it works at all with a completely empty battery since
If you know anyone with a PSP, borrow the charger for an hour.
 
USB charging never worked correctly at all for me, so if that is the same case with you you will never get it booting.
For me it is extremely slow, but overnight would have been enough to get mine going. Perhaps there are some units that can't charge by USB. It might be best to get a PSP compatible charger to try (I just don't want to recommend a purchase for a potentially dead device, which I guess I'd why you mentioned splicing together a charger).
 
What firmware were you using before you upgraded? Also, how did you upgrade? (I don't think this will help find the issue, just curious since you mentioned possibly leaving it plugged in to long.) With recent versions of SZ I leave mine plugged in, sometimes for a day or two, and I haven't had any of the problems that people experienced with the early days, as it does a good job of monitoring charge and not overcharging, then trying to keep it topped off.

I had a random thought that maybe the screen wasn't coming on, but everything else was doing what it should. This is extremely unlikely, since no LEDs come on (I don't remember if you can disable the charging indicator, however I think you would remember doing that). Although unlikely, maybe try turning brightness up. That wouldn't help if the cable is shot, which I again doubt based on you not staying you noticed those symptoms.
I upgraded from 1.6 (I think) straight to the most recent one as of a couple of months ago - via SD card install to NAND. Well, I'd tried upgrading before and it broke, but TF for the unbrickable ROM bootloader, haha. It gave me no problems for a few days, and then I went to it and it was just dead.

Also, I have been using a PSP charger. Somewhere I've got another one, I'll try and root it out - my brother had a knack for getting and then quickly breaking PSPs, and I inevitably inherited all the cables because I'm a nerd. Also I've got the original charger *somewhere* so I'll try and find that too. Most of my room is books, old cables, and homebrew radio equipment, and most of teh cables look the same.
 
I'm currently using a USB->PSP charge and data cable that was pretty cheap to obtain. I already had a 2W USB wall wort, though if you just want to test it, you could use any USB port on any machine I guess (some of them need to be powered up and turned on before this will work fwiw).

Edit: Sorry, I wrote this before I read that you think you already have another PSP charger to try.
 
It could also be that the bootloader somehow was damaged, so you'd need to reflash it with a specially prepared SD card. I can send you one, if you like.
 
How does that work? The device is acting thoroughly dead - unresponsive in every way.
 
If the bootloader is broken, it doesn't show any signs of life.
However, you can prepare a special SD card with a bootloader and force the system with holding START while switching it on to boot from SD Card.
 
@Tootles ED will send you what you need to put on the SD card, and the instructions on how to do it. I forgot about that possibility, so I say give it a shot.

ED, thanks for all the great support.
 
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