I Think My Pandora May Have Died! X.x

[ljones]

Oh noes!

(Sorry for the typo in the thread name).

Ok this has happened pretty recently. Actually it happened today! What the problem is that my openpandora is intermittently starting up or not powering up at all - battery or with power/charger unit. Sometimes it will power up but only briefly, other times not at all and remains lifeless.

One other thing I've noticed however (picture attached) is that as of today and I've just seen this right now - at the top right of the pandora a small gap has appeared - almost as if the two pieces of plastic that make the pandoras' case have pulled apart slightly. I've not tried to open the pandora up myself and I've not dropped or banged it, just noticed this as it has not been powering up.

The right button (left and right gaming buttons at the top of the pandora) has become quite loose now , it always was a little loose but ok though it does look like it is drooping down more than it used to.

Anyone else had this problem at all?

thanks

ljones

 

[Mr B]

Grabbing a screwdriver and carefully tight it back up, haven't been a option i assume?
B!

 

[ljones]

*reads thanks for that .... Unfortunatly that didn't work I managed to get the pandora to power up, it started up as normal - but then powered itself down!

Edit: Nope it looks *really* bad. All kinds of strange things are happening -- working with power supply plugged in but reported battery as being 3% full. Then after a reboot reports battery is 80% full but when I take the power supply connector out it shut off (no picture) looks like something is wrong inside for sure. The LCD display also was jumping up and down (hard to explain) as well though that stopped.

ljones

 

[Mr B]

Well, email them, and work out the details on how to send it back. They'll look at it, and figure out if it's a warranty or not, and have you fixed back up with the least fuzz possible. Do get back here and let us know what happens in the end.
B!

 

[ljones]

Will do, just sent 'em an email now.

ljones

 

[ahahah]

did your pandora receive a shock?

 

[ljones]

Nope, no shocks or bangs at all. Now that I think about it a bit more - the screen jumping and not powering have happened before in the past (about a month or so ago). But they only happened *once,* and I probably 'wrote them off' so to speak as a fluke or one-off event. Looks like whatever has failed has been doing so, just slowly.

I also always keep my pandora in its carry case too.

ljones

 

[Pleng]

Edit: Nope it looks *really* bad. All kinds of strange things are happening -- working with power supply plugged in but reported battery as being 3% full. Then after a reboot reports battery is 80% full but when I take the power supply connector out it shut off

80% hmm. Have you tried taking the battery out and re-inserting it, taking extra care to make sure the pins are lined up correctly?

 

[urjaman]

reboot reports battery is 80% full but when I take the power supply connector out it shut off

This is behaviour without a battery*.

EDIT: * one that is connected properly that is.
Why not just take out the battery and check that the five screws are tight, check battery contacts, etc (as above)?

 

[MichaelXX2]

Just send it back, they'll fix it up for sure. I'm assuming the problem lies in the fact that your Pandora was assembled by hand for the most part, and there might have been a minor slip-up in the process.

 

[Tempel]

Weird charging issues, and the case has started to push apart? I'm getting flashbacks to this. Does your battery look okay?

 

[ljones]

I tried removing the battery and putting it back in and powering up. XFCE starts but then closes down as if it were being powered off. As for the screws I did try to tighten one but I fear if I try to do this to any of the others the plastic will break. Tight screws + plastic = x.x . The two pieces of plastic have come apart and are apart if the battery is either in or out.

Hmm .....................

Ok this is now getting *really* weird. I just tried the second battery that came with my pandora (not using the power unit).

With the second battery the pandora stays on, the battery also fits quite nicely. Case is still apart a little at the top right however. Seems to be working.

With the first battery XFCE gets so far and restarts. The battery is a slightly worse fit as well. This is weird - how can a battery make XFCE shut itself down? If it were a bad battery connection I'm guessing the pandora would not even start up?

Strange the 1st battery (which I've used in the pandora since day 1) should be a slightly worse fit and be playing up, it has been working up until now. I've been using that 1st battery all the time with no issues. Glad I had the 2nd battery !

I looked at the battery contacts and pins, they both look nice and clean and as far as I can tell make contact ok.

Can't physically see any difference between the batteries however. Maybe I've got a duff battery?

ljones

 

[Asmo]

Does the screw holding the corner that is separating seem to be loose? On the face of it, if it seems 'tight' and the case is still parting, it could be that it has actually pulled it's mounting point off the upper half? That'd be the worst case of over-tightening so far.

 

[#1 GameMaster]

I remember when there was all the trouble with the shoulder buttons that the team said that they realized that a lot of the screws they had were all different lengths and that might be why yours Pandora is separated there the screw being to long.

As far as your Pandora acting up the way it is it sounds like your battery is bad because my PSP did the same thing when its battery started going out it would shut down in the middle of a game then I'd turn it back on to see it saying that it still had a 60% charge; as soon as I got a new one it was problem solved.

 

[trooper]

@ LJones

I am assuming that your first (Original/Most used) battery has not swollen up/expanded through use ?,
Judging by what you have said with regards to there being no physical difference between the two batteries.

Trooper

 

[ljones]

I'll have another look at those two batteries but I guess I just got one that wasn't 100%. Right now I'm just keeping an eye on the whole situation. Prehaps if the battery is swollen it is only by a small amount but enough to finish off that battery. Which worries me a bit -- did I kill the battery by charging it in the pandora, does the pandora get too hot and make the battery swell or was it just not 100% from day 1?

ljones

 

[Prometheus]

Regarding the swelling, have you read the thread that Tempel linked to on the first page of this thread? If you haven't, please do so.

I can't answer the question, but from reading that link it seems that you need to be very careful if the battery is swelling. I don't wish to sound alarming, but the linked thread mentions that such a thing is essentially a time-bomb.

 

[trooper]

Regarding the swelling,

Cough!!!, Ooowww, Sounds like he needs to see a doctor. :rolleyes:

Trooper

 

[WizardStan]

With the first battery XFCE gets so far and restarts. The battery is a slightly worse fit as well. This is weird - how can a battery make XFCE shut itself down? If it were a bad battery connection I'm guessing the pandora would not even start up?

This is what XFCE is configured to do automatically if the battery level drops below 5%. It's a safety mechanism, but can be changed/disabled. First you need to actually get into it though.
Power it down, and from powered off plug in the charger. That should get it to start at least, and you'll be able to see the charge level and play around with it while it charges.
If the batter does not seem to be fitting, it is not unheard of to fold a tissue or something and stick it in under the lid to help hold it in place more. A lot of electronics have a little piece of foam glued onto the cover to serve this purpose, but I guess they either didn't think it would be a problem (and for the most part it isn't) or didn't consider it at all.

 

[-Tj-]

Weird charging issues, and the case has started to push apart? I'm getting flashbacks to this. Does your battery look okay?

This is the first thing I thought of after looking at the pics with the understanding that it hadn't been dropped. Please take pics of the two side by side, as I'm sure this will help out others in the future as well.

I don't have my Pandora yet, but if the battery fits very tightly inside the case, any small amount of force will try to find the weakest link to relieve the stress, as with any kind of strong internal pressure.