Pandora won't boot (no charging light)

[tankgirl]

Hi everyone,


Last week I got my Pandora


I've followed the instructions carefully, charging it to 100% the first time. The second time I put the pandora into low-power mode, and let it charge overnight (I don't know if the charging light went on). Next morning, no boot, and no charging light either!


I've tried removing and inserting the battery, and I've tried using toiletpaper between the battery and the lid (in case it didn't make contact). Nothing works, not even removing the battery and try to start the pandora with only the charger.


I've tried flashing, but the pandora just doesn't react to the powerbutton-R-button combination.


This morning, the pandora power light (green) went on when I connected it again with the charger, but went out almost immediately.


What can I do? I'm ready to try anything, I've waited so long (like all of you pandora-owners), I'm kind of desperate now.


Thanks in advance!

 

[tsh]

Sounds to me like your charger was good when it was new, but expired overnight, leaving you with a un-charged pandora and no way to charge it. If you plug in a mini-USB lead and connect it to a PC USB port, it might at least start to boot (but probably won't have enough power to start up fully).


If you are lucky, you might have a spare charger with the same specs - but make sure it is rated at at least the same current as the pandora one, and 5 volts. (Only genuine PSP adaptors are officialy encouraged as an alternative)

 

[TJFBryant]

it does sound like a charger issue.


If you or a friend has a PSP charger.... try hooking that up to be sure.


If it doesn't work ... try using the old charger by plugging IN THE CHARGER first and THEN place the battery back in the Pandora... see if it reboots itself.

 

[Prometheus]

If it doesn't work ... try using the old charger by plugging IN THE CHARGER first and THEN place the battery back in the Pandora... see if it reboots itself.

I don't think that this is advisable - putting the battery back in whilst running on mains power could fry something. I seem to recall that it has been specifically advised that we do not do that.

 

[tankgirl]

I will try getting a psp charger, but I won't do the battery thing as it is clearly advised not to do this


Thanks for your help, I hope/think it is a charger problem, and not a pandora problem.


If the battery is empty due to the charger problem, will it still charge even if the pandora is turned off?

 

[MarioPandio]

Due to the way the charging circuitry works, at present it is not possible to charge the Pandora whilst it is off. If the mains are in, it will boot up, and if the battery is removed and re-inserted whilst 'off' the mains, it will again boot up.


It is only possible to charge it with the system fully on but then set into low power or sleep mode by flipping the switch to the right briefly and it will charge slightly faster this way, than if fully on with the screen on etc.


When you do get your new charger, dont be alarmed though if at first nothing happens and no lights come on when you first plug it in. If the battery is completely dead it could take at least 30mins before the red charging light comes on and any sign of a boot up occurs. If still zero occurs after a long while, you have a more serious issue perhaps.


Hope you get sorted and welcome to the fray

 

[tankgirl]

It was the charger, I switched it for a psp one, and now the red light turns on, yay!


Thanks everyone, for helping me I'm going to ask for a new charger now..

 

[tankgirl]

Cheered too soon, pandora booted, went out, as went the red charging light. Won't turn on, not even without battery. I will let it 'charge' for about an hour, maybe something will happen then... any ideas?

 

[Bosbeetle]

Cheered too soon, pandora booted, went out, as went the red charging light. Won't turn on, not even without battery. I will let it 'charge' for about an hour, maybe something will happen then... any ideas?

I think when you get a light you might as well let it charge for about 8 hours just to get some juice back into the battery.

 

[tankgirl]

Cheered too soon, pandora booted, went out, as went the red charging light. Won't turn on, not even without battery. I will let it 'charge' for about an hour, maybe something will happen then... any ideas?

I think when you get a light you might as well let it charge for about 8 hours just to get some juice back into the battery.

Yeah, but the problem is, there is no light now, no green, no red light, nothing

 

[Bosbeetle]

Cheered too soon, pandora booted, went out, as went the red charging light. Won't turn on, not even without battery. I will let it 'charge' for about an hour, maybe something will happen then... any ideas?

I think when you get a light you might as well let it charge for about 8 hours just to get some juice back into the battery.

Yeah, but the problem is, there is no light now, no green, no red light, nothing

And after an hour? And have you already tried a usb cable? (very sad to see I was looking forward to some online wesnoth)

 

[NoeleyC]

Sounds quite similar to my first Pandora, it only lasted a few days in my possession before I had to return it. Mine had a tendancy towards random rebooting. Tried the same fixes as above, but after a day or two of the problems manifesting themselves, it had died completely and wouldn't respond to chargers or charging via USB. So back to Pandora hospital it had to go.....

 

[tankgirl]

Tried mini-usb and charging for an hour..nothing


E-mailed ED and asked him what to do next.

 

[tankgirl]

Cheered too soon, pandora booted, went out, as went the red charging light. Won't turn on, not even without battery. I will let it 'charge' for about an hour, maybe something will happen then... any ideas?

I think when you get a light you might as well let it charge for about 8 hours just to get some juice back into the battery.

Yeah, but the problem is, there is no light now, no green, no red light, nothing

And after an hour? And have you already tried a usb cable? (very sad to see I was looking forward to some online wesnoth)

I think we're doomed to never have a working pandora at the same time

 

[tankgirl]

Oh, I found out something:


If I leave the battery out for a long time, and then put it inside the pandora again, it boots when I connect the charger!


Only, it will go out as soon as the system loads, and it will not charge (tried leaving it on the charger for several hours, nothing).


It still won't startup without battery though


And it only starts when I use battery and charger!


Any ideas how to get this thing to charge??? I can't get it to low-power mode when it loads the OS.

 

[WizardStan]

As others have said, have you tried charging through USB yet? Just a regular USB mini cable, the type that would connect a camera to your computer. It definitely sounds like there's an issue somewhere in the charging system. I'd suspect the charger itself, but you say you've replaced it, so we need to look elsewhere I think.


edit: whoops, yes, you said you did. Sorry, missed that post. Then I have no ideas other than to replace it

 

[tankgirl]

Well, I thought, what the heck, and plugged in another mini-usb into the pandora. As I read your comment about sending it back, I got really sad, and wanted to unplug the pandora.. and behold... a green and red light!!!! I'm flabbergasted! the red light is blinking a bit, but I don't dare to touch it! Any idea what this is?


I won't touch the thing for another few hours

 

[NoeleyC]

Never seen a red blinking LED on my Pandora, is it blinking in a nice sequence or erratically? (working since 6am, so not at my most articulate!, I suppose give it an hour or 2, then gingerly hit the ON button?? (fingers crossed!!!)

 

[Mr_Loon]

Well, I thought, what the heck, and plugged in another mini-usb into the pandora. As I read your comment about sending it back, I got really sad, and wanted to unplug the pandora.. and behold... a green and red light!!!! I'm flabbergasted! the red light is blinking a bit, but I don't dare to touch it! Any idea what this is?


I won't touch the thing for another few hours

Sounds promising, from memory the charging led will blink when the battery has less than 10% charge.

 

[NoeleyC]

Well, I thought, what the heck, and plugged in another mini-usb into the pandora. As I read your comment about sending it back, I got really sad, and wanted to unplug the pandora.. and behold... a green and red light!!!! I'm flabbergasted! the red light is blinking a bit, but I don't dare to touch it! Any idea what this is?


I won't touch the thing for another few hours

Sounds promising, from memory the charging led will blink when the battery has less than 10% charge.

not really let mine down to that 10% limit, so that mgiht explain my ignorance in that matter!