Pandora 1st time charging reboots & no red LED

[mikeb]

Hi all,


just got my Pandora (yeah... .


I did a search in the forums but did not find this problem.


Anyway, plugged it in to charge and it starts, get the Pandora logo on the screen, green LED lights and after 10 seconds the screen goes dark & green LED goes out and after another 10 seconds I get the Pandora logo on the screen again and the green LED lights up.


It keeps doing this continuously for an hour now. It looks like it constantly reboots.


The Pandora will not start up.


I removed the battery and booted it on AC and it started fine, created my userid, password etc.


Did a shutdown and put the battery back in, same thing, I get Pandora logo on the screen, green LED lights and after 10 seconds the screen goes dark & green LED goes out and after another 10 seconds I get the Pandora logo on the screen again and the green LED lights up. Again, it looks like it constantly reboots and it refuses to boot.


I never get the red charging LED.


Is this normal ? Anything I can do ?


Thanks,


/Mike B.

 

[WizardStan]

That is definitely not normal, unfortunately.


Have you tried with just the battery, no AC charger?

 

[mikeb]

That is definitely not normal, unfortunately.


Have you tried with just the battery, no AC charger?

Yes, tried to start it on battery only and nothing happened, screen remained black. I assumed the battery was totally drained. :-(

 

[mikeb]

Sigh, remove the battery and the Pandora works perfectly.


Add the battery and it will not boot on battery.


Plug in AC, Pandora starts to boot (see boot up screen with progress bar) but after 10 seconds, screen goes black and Pandora reboots.


When it reboots I get the Pandora logo, but nothing more and after 10 seconds the screen goes black and Pandora reboots.


It continuously cycles through the power down and reboot cycle.


Is my lovely new Pandora screwed ? Send it back ? A new battery ?


This is so cruel, years of waiting, 2 extra days waiting because UPS are idiots and when I finally get my Pandora it does not work :-(

 

[WizardStan]

I don't think I've ever heard that problem. The fact that it doesn't turn on at all with just the battery combined with the charger not able to start charging suggests that the battery is completely no good. That's just a guess though.


Strange thing though, if the battery is completely drained, I mean so totally drained that you couldn't power a watch with it, plugging in the AC charger should not turn it on right away: it needs to pre-charge the battery enough to get it above a certain threshold. It's kind of confusing.

 

[mikeb]

Sigh, not encouraging.


Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot further ?


Thanks,


/Mike B.

 

[mikeb]

Did a full firmware reflash and completed it successfully.


No help, still the same behavior, whenever I put in the battery, it does not boot with the battery and if I connect the AC with the battery installed, it reboots continuously :-(.


Remove the battery and run only on AC, the Pandora works perfectly.


/Mike B.

 

[MWeston]

Try powering on while holding the right shoulder button and just let it sit at that menu for a few hours. If I remember correctly, that should let it sit there doing some dumb charging at a very low rate so it should sit for a few hours at least. It's just an idea to see if a slow rate of charge can energize the cell if it was sitting at too low of a capacity for a long time. After this long period, do a normal boot and see if it loads all the way.


If this doesn't work then it seems like the battery might be toast.

 

[Nintendo]

Didn't someone (I think their username started with a B or K?) yesterday or the day before have this exact same problem?

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes, might be the battery. I've seen two so far that had that issue.

 

[Nintendo]

Ah ok thanks, I'm sure that's the minority of them all.

 

[mikeb]

Hi all,


I have tried all variants, including powering up with the right shoulder button pressed and got the menu "boot normal" etc.


However after 10 to 15 seconds, the screen went blank and the unit started rebooting itself over & over again, it would not stay at that screen.


Looks like the battery is toast :-(.


Will contact Craig to discuss a replacement.


Thanks to all of you for all the responses.


Regards,


/Mike B.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, at least a battery is no big deal. No need to send the unit back

 

[Nintendo]

Is it advised to use Pandora without a battery in place?

 

[slaeshjag]

Is it advised to use Pandora without a battery in place?

As long as you don't plug in a battery with power connected, it shouldn't do any damange. Although it is a undocumented featured.

 

[Nintendo]

Undocumented...Ok, thanks for the info...I'll do things as per normal for now it seems.

 

[EvilDragon]

Using a Pandora without battery is no problem (if it works, there are some units where it simply doesn't work, that's why it's undocumented)

 

[Nintendo]

Cool~ Thanks all, mine is running via wall power with no battery inside. Will keep battery in a safe place, what do you suggest? Fridge?