Screen problem

[Pleng]

I don't think this problem is anything to do with the amount of power being drawn. If you don't like sad stories then please stop here.

I had my Pandora plugged into charge, with the lid closed, and figured I may as well plug my phone into my Pandora so they could both charge at the same time (my phone only charges via USB). The Panodra was busy doing a NAND dump at the time, nothing too strenuous.

I lifted up the lid to check the progress of the dump (it had finished) and I noticed the phenomena that Prometheus described in her original post. The screen was having a hissy fit flickering all over the place.

I immediately unplugged my phone from the USB port but things didn't look right. My desktop is rich in blues and purples anyway so it as difficult to tell if anything had gone wrong, but it did look more washed out than I'd remembered. A quick boot up of Sonic the Hedgehog confirmed my worst fears. The once vibrant colours are now wishy-washy, it seems as though there is some kind of pale blue wash over the screen.

When actually playing the game, every now and then, just for the shortest millisecond, the correct colours appear to be trying to make their way through.

Is this covered under warrenty do you think? And do OP have any warrenty replacement units in stock anyway? I'm mortified

 

[Caine]

Is this covered under warrenty do you think?

It better be! That's a perfectly normal usage scenario there.

 

[mali]

I'm just guessing here, but this might be a coincidence and not related to USB charging. Maybe you put some pressure on the lid while plugging in the USB cable and got that spikey-solder-blob-from-speaker-connection-killing-LCD-ribbon effect.

 

[Pleng]

I don't think that's the case. The plug went in and came out pretty easily, and I've plugged things in with more force before now. Also, the new colour of the screen seems to match the colour that it was flickering to and from before. Maybe I should plug the phone back into the Pandora and try and pull it out when the screen is flicking, hoping it pulls out when the screen is at the right colours. Though I'm clutching at straws now and that could just do more damage, i doubt the screen will even show the right colours when the phone is plugged back in.

 

[Prometheus]

This doesn't sound quite the same as what happened with mine - mine only did this for the handful of moments that the scary LaCie hard disk drive was plugged in, which I did whilst the Pandora was open. I tried it again to be sure it wasn't a Pandora problem and then immediately unplugged it again once it was apparent that it wasn't to do with the Pandora, but with mine it was purely related to the drive, and there were no after-effects.

I hope you can figure out what happened, here.

 

[EvilDragon]

Unfortunately, that sounds like the broken LCD cable, yes... :/

 

[Pleng]

This doesn't sound quite the same as what happened with mine - mine only did this for the handful of moments that the scary LaCie hard disk drive was plugged in

well the symptoms were exactly the same. Thing is I had the phone plugged in for half an hour or so before I opened the Pandora and noticed it was happening!

Unfortunately, that sounds like the broken LCD cable, yes... :/

So do I have to return it?

 

[MWeston]

EDIT: Changing my post. With more testing from Pleng, this clearly looks like a bad cable or loosened connector. Regardless, it would be repaired under warranty.

Notaz and I are testing units with USB devices we have and we are loading the sh1t out of them and the screen doesn't flicker and my 320GB 2.5" drive works great. We don't know why certain devices are causing the LCD flicker yet as I'm pulling 1.2A from the battery and Notaz got up to 1.8A with stuff attached to USB. Those are some serious loads and we can't reproduce any problems yet.

 

[EvilDragon]

Wow!
I didn't know that... but it sounds reasonable. A mobile phone will probably try to get as much juice out of the USB port as possible to charge...
Question is, if there is any way to fix... colors are sometimes trying to come through... hmmm :/

 

[Pleng]

I don't see any reason why the phone would draw more current than the spec specifies. And if the Pandora is not able to supply that much current then why doesn't it just refuse it? Why as the Pandora still supplying power to the device 30 minutes later?

Can you be quite clear please. Are you suggesting that this should NOT be covered under warranty?

(sorry ED my response was to MWeston)

 

[Polossatik]

Even if the issue is like Mweston say, an overdrawn of current by the device you attach, I'm surprised this can actually destroy the LCD.

It's as such not the "pandora's fault", but it's for any "normal" user not easy (I would say almost impossible,seen few people have the tools and knowledge to measure this) to find out *upfront* if a device then risks to damaging the pandora.

There are plenty of 2.5 HDD's than who risk in damaging the Pandora...

Can this be monitored from software? Like making some kind of "USB test" tool that you can run, which monitors the current drawn and maybe switches off the LCD to avoid damage and uses a LED or so to report "OK" or "Fail - disconnect now"...
Or some kind of watch dog that disables the LCD and does a nice "warning" flikkering of LEDS if it detects such a situation...

Just thinking outloud..

 

[foft]

If there is a hardware trip then you'd think that, even allowing for spikes, it'd be quicker than a person could check it manually?

 

[Pleng]

and you'd wonder why the Pandora was still supplying power 30 minutes later...

 

[mali]

Imo, it would be best to configure the port to shut off completely when too much current is drawn immediately without allowing it to retry. Retrying should require a reboot, at least till this has been investigated further. This might kick out several devices that could work otherwise, but it's better to stay on the safe side. It's a handheld after all and no 15" brick.

 

[EvilDragon]

Don't worry, we will sort this out for you - you will not have to live with your blue screen (sounds like Windows )

Also, there is a GPIO signal that gets triggered when there is too much current. notaz and MWeston are currently working on displaying a warning and shutting off the USB port in case such things happen. There is a hardware limit at the port, however, it seems to react too slow when there are peaks instead of a constant flow of too much energy consumption (if I understood correctly).

 

[Pleng]

Don't worry, we will sort this out for you

thanks! any idea how?

 

[mvickers03]

Hi Pleng, for warranty/RMA's just email openpandorasales@gmail.com

 

[Pleng]

think I might call instead. I have a flight coming up soon so I'd like to try and get it sorted asap. That is if they have any warranty units left!

 

[Pleng]

OK quick update. If I tilt the screen to from around 45 to just under full lock degrees it flickers gently. If i tilt it lower than 45 degrees it seems to be the right colour. Playing sonic with the lid half closed is an, uh, interesting experience!!

When it's at full lock (or even when not) just pushing gently on the front or back of the top half of the case makes it flicker about manically.

That's gotta be cable related, right?

 

[mali]

*sigh of relief* Yep, sounds like it's just the LCD cable