BlackBerry® PlayBook™

[drdit]

Hello, 

I'd like to have some suggestions as what to do next... The story is: the tablet worked fine, and was fully charged. I made a soft reset. After that it never went on again. Just plain black screen. The hard reset option (holding down the buttons) does nothing. A 24-hour long charging did not help, either. As I connect it to my PC the red LED goes on for 10 seconds, then it goes off, ans that's it. OK, next thing I tried is restoring the OS using Desktop Software. It turned out to be impossible. After the OS image is downloaded to the PC the application asks me to power off the tablet and then to power it on again. I cannot do that since it does not respond to the  power button. OK, I passed over this by disconnecting the device and connecting it back to the PC. Once I got as far as to OS uploading. But soon it stopped with an error message (Unhandled exception number...) 

So, what should I do next? Could you tell me what the red LED staying on for 10 sec mean? What other options do I have (like opening the device and removing the battery)? Another problem is that I live in Russia and RIM does not have any support here: no service centers, no RIM offices, no stores to try a different charger, etc. Well, the charger is operational, I've checked it with a volt meter. Please give me some ideas what else can be done. Thanks!

[ndsmyter]

I have had this problem before, and I too have tried everything I could find on the internet. But finally I found one thing that did the trick.

The problem was that loading the PlayBook only happens if there is at least a little voltage left on the battery. To solve this problem I did steps as mention in this post: http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-PlayBook/Playbook-not-powering-up-not-charging-not...

[drdit]

Thanks a lot! I followed the instructions you suggested. At least by now I've seen the crossed battery sign on the screen and the LED finally turned green. The tablet is being charged now; going to keep it on the charger overnight. 

[ndsmyter]

The charger symbol is the sign that the trick has worked, because that is what I saw when I finished. If you try to reboot you will probably get the normal boot screen.

Have fun with your debricked PlayBook :-)

[drdit]

Thanks! It's been charging for about 20 hours by now. The green LED is on, and there's a red battery icon on the screen (crossed with something like a white Z letter). I believe I should let it charge for another day, right?

[Lost_at_Sea]

When these batteries are dead, and all electronics using these batteries are the same, they recharge at a very low rate initially. Once they get above a certain voltage, the charging rate increases. It can take several days at very low charging rate before the voltage is sufficient for high charging to take over. Recharging a totally dead battery of this type at a high charging rate is hazardous.

[drdit]

Update: after two days of charging thу situation is: as I plug in the charger the red LED goes on for 10 seconds. Then the crossed battery symbol appears on the screen for another 1o seconds. Then the screen goes blank, and the LED turns green. Then in another 10 sec the LED goes off. What does all this mean? No reaction to hard reset, BTW

[Lost_at_Sea]

It is very slowly recharging so leave it for a few more days.

[drdit]

Thanks! Is it charging when the screen is blank and dark, and the LED is off? It's what always happens after plugging in the charger and the red LED - battery sign - greed LED - all off cycle.

[Lost_at_Sea]

It behaves differently depending on whether the charger is connected after the PlayBook is shutdown or whether it is connected when the PlayBook is operating. In either case the red led only comes on for a few seconds. In the case of the PlayBook is off when connected, the PlayBook will automatically restart and a large battery will appear on the screen with a lightning bolt across it. If the PlayBook is operating when connected to the charger, you get a box indicating Turn Off, Restart , Standby with the small battery indicator with the lightning bolt through it. You should read KB27705 and KB26516.