I Think My Pandora May Have Died! X.x

[DaveC]

*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

If the case is separating that will mean the battery contacts may be pulling apart causing intermittant contact which would give you those erratic behaviors.

The main thing is getting the case to close. There should be no gap in the side of the case.

 

[carlberry]

Mine did the case separating thing in the same place (although I didn't notice any battery problems). I just glued it back (carefully) into place, haven't had any problems since.

 

[ahahah]

Mine did the case separating thing in the same place

so this problem can occurs to anyone?
* worry *

 

[Asmo]

Indeed. I'm still curious if the screw in that location has either torn it's mounting point off, ripped it's threads free or what? Gluing as a fix is a bit too permanent.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, it CAN occur to anyone, however, I've not yet gotten such a unit back, so it seems pretty rare.
There are quite a few units that fell to the ground from a table or similar, they all survived, but I guess cases differ and some may have some cheaper platic,

The behaviour you mention with the battery is typical for a misaligned one. It's pretty much related to the open case here I think.

Some things to remember:

1. A battery that isn't properly aligned on the three contacts never charges higher than 80%.
2. The battery needs to be put in BEFORE the unit is connected, otherwise it won't be recognized and charged properly.
3. If the battery is totally empty, it can take up to 30 minutes when you connect the Pandora to your AC Adaptor to charge before the unit shows any signs of life.

 

[Chaser]

I have a small case crack similar to the one Prometheus raised a thread about, which appeared without notice but I doubt the instance of cases spontaneously doing what the OP is experiencing will prove commonplace. Have no fear.

In addition this Pandora has been dropped twice, once from a table onto laminate and once from a jacket pocket to that weird playground texture stuff, like springy tarmac, when wrenched by my son. It is perfectly intact from both shocks. So +100 on DaveC´s design as its pretty darn rugged to external stresses.

 

[centus]

Sounds to me like the battery swelled up a bit (LiPo batteries do that sometimes), it may have even caused the case to part (the swelling can be significant from the batteries I had seen swell).
if that is the case, I would stop using the battery, while I don't think calling it a time-bomb is accurate, this battery is faulty and should be replaced.

Your best bet would probably be to send the unit back for a case replacement along with the bad battery for battery replacement...

 

[carlberry]

Can't see any sign of swelling on my battery I just assumed that the case screw had stripped slightly (can happen in any device). I may have to unglue my handy work soon anyway (not difficult, it really was only a dab of sticky stuff) as the pandora has started to display the dreaded purple tint at any screen angle other than fully open, if it stays that way it's fine but I suspect it means it's going