Managed to brick my Pandora

[moofaloof]

So to keep it short and sweet, I bought a 1 GHz Pandora off eBay, and while tinkering around with it, I forgot to make sure the battery case was shut all the way. Well while I was flashing it with a newer firmware, big supriise, the battery fell out and now it won't turn on at all. No lights flash when I put in the battery, or when I charge it. I've tried tricks that I read on other forums (leave the battery out for a few hours and put it back in, press the right trigger + start while putting the battery back in, ect) but nothing has worked so far. It has randomly turned on by itself the past week, but whenever I try to restart it so I can reflash it, it just turns off again.  I'm pretty much at a loss of what to do, and not sure what the next step is.

 

[levi]

Ah, an easy fix!  Hopefully someone will be along with the reflashing SD setup shortly, but that's all it takes.

 

[notaz]

If it turned on by itself once it means the bootloader is fine (it's very rare for it to get corrupted), it's more likely just a discharged battery. Just make sure the battery is properly seated and keep a charger plugged for a while. After that it should be possible to get through the boot menu and start reflashing again.

 

[levi]

If when you do try to turn it on, you try while holding down the R-trigger, see if it loads a menu and stays there.  That's how you access the bootloader, and your road to recovery.

Edit: Just recapping what Notaz said.  I should read comments properly before replying.

 

[moofaloof]

It's all good. This happened last Saturday, and ever since then it's turned on twice; the last time was Wednesday. I've tried leaving it plugged in, and turning it on while holding the R trigger, but it won't even boot up/turn on

 

[mcobit]

The charging is controlled by the system, right? Will it even start to charge if the system cannot be booted?


I would say: leave it plugged in until it turns on, then leave it like that for a while to get some juice to the battery.


After an hour or so, try to reboot it by Pandorabutton + Power switch and see if you can get to the bootloader.


Edit: Also have a look at the batterycontacts. Are they making good contact with the battery? Are they corroded? Maybe you need some padding on the battery to get good contact.

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes, it also charges when no bootloader is on the Pandora, just very slowly.


That's the reason it can take a while for it to start up when the battery is fulluy discharged.


Moofaloof, please let us know what you mean with "turning on". If the power LED (left side) goes on, it means that it has successfully started the bootloader, even if nothing is on the screen.


Do you mean with turning on that it doesn't boot or that not even the power light goes on?


It sure sounds like improper battery contacts or an empty battery, do you happen to have a multimeter to check that battery voltage?

 

[moofaloof]

Well whenever I plug it in to charge, none of the lights light up, and beforehand they did. The battery/charging the battery was working fine before I tried to reflash the firmware, so I don't think its that. I left it plugged in for around two days, but nothing happened. Unfortunately I don't have a multimeter.
When it did start up on its own, it booted up like normal to the desktop. But then whenever I would restart it or shut it off, it wouldn't boot up or do anything, and none of the lights flashed even if i took out the battery then put it back in. I've also tried turning it on with the AC adaptor connected, and nothing. Again I don't think it's the battery, since the times it did start up, the battery was at a decent level (60-70 percent) and it was working fine/charging before I tried to reflash the firmware. What's this I hear about an SD card boot?

Fixed Double Post ~ Wally

 

[EvilDragon]

Are there paddings inside the battery compartment? Looks like the unit doesn't get power from the battery.


Usually, there should be two small foam pads on walls left and right from the battery compartment.

 

[moofaloof]

Are there paddings inside the battery compartment? Looks like the unit doesn't get power from the battery.


Usually, there should be two small foam pads on walls left and right from the battery compartment.

I checked, the two small pads are there. I'm positive it's not the battery. Both the battery and it's ability to charge were working fine before I tried to flash it, and ever since that incident the power light won't even light up when I insert the battery, or plug it into the charger. 

I'd really like to know more about this SD set-up that was mentioned earlier. Really it's just a matter of getting the unit to boot-up, but no matter what I've done I can't get it to even turn on or to get the lights to flash. 

 

[EvilDragon]

Hmm, but if the unit does boot up occassionally, the bootloader should be fine...

I could send you a premade SD-Card which boots in every unit without bootloader and restores everything to default settings, if you like.

 

[WizardStan]

I'm positive it's not the battery. Both the battery and it's ability to charge were working fine before I tried to flash it

You mean before the battery fell out?How far did the battery fall and what did it land on because there is a chance that it may have hit something hard enough to damage it.

Has anyone suggested trying to boot without a battery inserted? It's an unofficial feature on account of it only working about 90% of the time, but if you remove the battery and then plug in the charger it may boot up. That would help rule out some stuff if it did, but you could be one of the unlucky few that can't if it doesn't.

 

[EvilDragon]

No 1GHz unit will work without the battery, only some of the CCs can do it, AFAIR.

 

[notaz]

No 1GHz unit will work without the battery, only some of the CCs can do it, AFAIR.

 

[EvilDragon]

Ah, okay. The ones I tried didn't work, but they were all from the same batch, so maybe with some of the chips from one batch it doesn't work and with a different one it does.

 

[WizardStan]

Mine as well runs without battery.

 

[moofaloof]

Hmm, but if the unit does boot up occassionally, the bootloader should be fine...

I could send you a premade SD-Card which boots in every unit without bootloader and restores everything to default settings, if you like.

That would be the best thing thing ever. Should I PM you my address?

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes. I'll also include a battery, just to be sure.

 

[klapse]

ED: setting a new standard for service...

 

[moofaloof]

Yes. I'll also include a battery, just to be sure.

PMed you my address. Thank you!