Near Full Breakdown: What are My Options? {SOLVED}


Babbage the Plaid

Still Fresh
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Nov 5, 2011
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Hello again Ladies and Gents,

I have a nastly little issue on my hands with my Pandora, and I thought I should go here for some help before bothering the people tied to the OpenPandora Mailbox where I arranged my purchase.

This little trinket's a blast, but this past week or so, it started going downhill.

When I first got my machine in November of 2011, there were some tiny cracks/cold-seams from the molding process for the case, which were no problem by themselves (I considered them to have a bit of a "innovator's charm" to them... for some reason), but now caused an issue.

Last week, around the 4th of May or so, the crack above the hinge suddenly popped open even wider than it usually was, and I instantly got myself a case of the "Purple Tint O' Death".
However, since the tint vanishes when the unit is completly open, I wasn't too worried about it because it never really affected its ability to operate.

But today, when I started up the unit on my lunch break, it hit a endless loop on the Pandora Emblem.

Hitting the splash screen when loading the OS was hit and miss, but it would never fully load the OS on NAND when it did pass the emblem, and was more miss than it was hit.

Even though I flashed the NAND a day or so after the release of SuperZaxxon Beta 4, a good time after before* the tint incident, I thought to try reflashing again in case something happened to the NAND contents when the battery whent flat yesterday. No such luck.

The Pandora couldn't even load the kernel on the SD card to even start the NAND flash.

I tried the solutions for the Boot Loop problems others have who had posted on the support forums, but nothing came out of it.

So to recap, I managed to get myself in a situation where I have a Pandora with a substantially cracked case by the hinge, the "Purple Tint O' Death", and a board with some sort of problem with it (power components maybe?).

However, that being said, the botton half of the motherboard housing, the power supply, and all of the Screen's housing are crack free.
Also, If my memory serves me right, the screen can seperate from the ribbon cable, so the LCD is okay too.

Could I get a new top motherboard cover, cable, and motherboard shipped, or would it just be easier for everyone involved if I just send it in.

Also, since the opprotunity has risen, could I switch out my motherboard for a 512MiB model instead for an additional charge?

What are my options (opprotunities?) with Tiny Babbage?

Yes... I name my equipment.

*Edit: I meant to say I flashed a good time before the incident of tinting on the 4th, not afterwards.
 
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I think this might be a battery connection issue, the case may have opened up the distance between the battery and connector - try putting some paper in the compartment to pad it out so the battery is forced SOLID against the connectors.
 
I would advise against this. Try first running your pandora without a battery.


I used to pad the battery, but I ended up forcing the case apart even more, making any padding pointless. If it works without battery, then you might want to consider trying to tape the case together (and then pad a little, not too much or you'll just force the case open again) while you are waiting for a new case. And yes, my pandora is unable to run with a battery for this reason, poke it anywhere and it resets.
 
I ran it directly off AC as well, it still is hit or miss past the emblem, but never begins loading the OS.


I also tried padding the case, as well as simply using my fingers as a clamp above where the pins should be, and holding the battery in place until the Bootloader finished.


Still no avail, it reloads in the same spot.


A bit of a gremlin chase, but since I ordered one of the express pandoras built by CircuitCo, could some of the power controlling components inside have developed a problem after the initial testing?
 
I wonder if the broken LCD cable is causing some kind of power issue.


It never did this before the cable became faulty did it?
 
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Is it possible to adjust the lcdbrightness to 0 (backlight off)while bootup to test this?
 
The emblem loop started a few days after the problem with the purple tint, but it never boot looped before that day.


I'll try disconnecting the LCD cable from the board under the battery cover, and try powering from AC.


But before I do, I need some form of output other than the screen to see if the OS loads. I noticed in the special boot options a "USB Serial Prompt" option.


I assume this is used for testing the board without the screen, what's the setup used over at the manufacturing facility for testing over the USB?
 
If it resets, you should see the power LED go out and then turn on again? And when it boots, it will cause some SD-card activity.
 
If it resets, you should see the power LED go out and then turn on again? And when it boots, it will cause some SD-card activity.

I never thought of looking at the SD card lights for booting progress... good catch. :lol:


I'll let you know if the loading gets that far as soon as I take off the back and disconnect the video cable.


Update, May 10: No such luck, after waiting a while, the indicators for the SD cards never lit, so I conclude that it was still stuck at the emblem after removing the video components from the board.


So we have managed to eliminate the video ribbon cable, and the power contacts on the battery as reasons for the boot loop. So I guess the problem is on the only electronic part left, the motherboard. That's unfortunate. But c'est la vie, right?


I think we need to shift from troubleshooting to repair options (unless there are some other ideas anybody has).


looking at the seperate components, the repair seems like something that I could do here, instead of sending the whole thing overseas and waiting for it to come back. is it possible to order a new motherboard, video cable, and top motherboard/keyboard cover, swap the parts out, and send the defective parts back (if you want them)?
 
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I'm not so sure if updating a previous post causes an update to the thread's activity, so I'm posting this sentence, just in case.
 
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Not to worry. I have sent in my unit for repairs, and have been using it happily for quite some time time now.

I think this thread can be closed up now.

Thanks for the suggestions on the troubleshooting, all. I appreciate it.
 
I started reading this thinking "the new silver cases cracked that much? The system became that unstable so suddenly? What has happened to the quality that was GC?"

Then I noticed the date and everything was as it should be. :p
 
I started reading this thinking "the new silver cases cracked that much? The system became that unstable so suddenly? What has happened to the quality that was GC?"


Then I noticed the date and everything was as it should be. :p
^ I almost had a breakdown  :blink:   :lol:
 
I started reading this thinking "the new silver cases cracked that much? The system became that unstable so suddenly? What has happened to the quality that was GC?"


Then I noticed the date and everything was as it should be. :p
^ I almost had a breakdown  :blink:   :lol:
Oh wow. I had no idea this was still here.

I think the worst I had was a *sigh* moment. But beer made that clear up pretty quick.

After I mailed it in, it was all good. So don't let this old thread worry you.

The fixed unit's running just dandy. 
 
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