pandora boots up then shuts down on its own


nik

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
Messages
61
Hi,


so I just got my Pandora a few days ago. I checked the battery and it was in proper place. It swims around kinda, but I guess that's normal?


I flicked the power button to the right, it does not start.


I think, must be a discharged battery. So I plug it into socket and let it charge a few minutes. I try to flick the power again - nothing. I go online and start looking for help in forums, it magically boots up on its own.


I enter in username, password, by the time I get to naming part, the unit just powers down on its own again.


I flick the power... Nothing. About 5-10 minutes later it does the same thing. Comes on, I create a 2nd user... I guess it saved the first one already, then it just powers off a few configuration steps after domain name entry. I think I got to calendar part that time because I was quicker entering in stuff...


It's continuing this behavior consistently. Comes on, stays on for a few minutes, then turns off.


While it's on the right indicator light has a little bit of green on the right side and is flashing red for the rest... Left indicator light is blank.


Is this normal behavior or perhaps my Pandora is better utilized as a projectile thrown at a wall?


Please help.
 
It may not have enough juice yet. The pandora has to be on to charge so im guessing that its not getting enough power before its trying to turn on to charge
 
If the battery is below a certain threshold, the charge circuit goes into a special full charge mode and won't turn on. As soon as the battery is sufficiently charged, it'll come on.


There is a script that is run after log in that checks the battery level and if it is below 5% it initiates a shut down (it's configurable once you're into the system). It's not supposed to do that when plugged in but it may have a bug in it.


Anywho, the best course of action is to just leave it charging for some time. A half hour should be enough to get you started but you may want to leave it for an hour or two just to be sure without attempting to create a user or log in or anything. Just plug it in, close the lid, and leave it for a bit. Hopefully that'll get you somewhere.


I don't know if the low-power mode works from the user creation screen but you can try: once it comes up, flick the power switch and the screen will shut off. The LEDs should stay on. This is "low power" mode (it still needs a lot of improvement) and is the best method of charging a low battery like this. After some time, flick the switch again and it'll come back to life. Or the script isn't active that early in the boot process and it'll do nothing so your best bet is to just close the lid and wait.
 
Please DO NOT use as a projectile thrown at the wall!!!


Plug it in the wall, close the lid and wait for the goodness!!!!
 
Thanks for the help everyone.


I left it plugged in for a few hours now, it's still doing the same thing.


However, I did leave it with the lid up... I shall close it and leave it for a few hours again and come back and report my progress.
 
Lid up or down shouldn't really make a difference, it's just usually better with the lid down.


Sounds like the battery isn't getting charged fast enough.


Try removing the battery and running it just on the charge cable. DO NOT PUT THE BATTERY IN WHILE RUNNING ON THE CHARGE CABLE. This is an experimental feature of the charge chip and not guaranteed but it works in most Pandoras so give it a try.


If it is able to complete the boot without reseting as it has been, that could be a sign that the battery is no good.
 
Well now I'm pretty disappointed.


I plugged it in just on power minus battery. Left light glows green just a little. I flicked on switch and nothing happened. I think I saw the screen flash but that could have been my imagination. No boot, no nothing.


I tried it with the mini usb -> usb in laptop, also nothing. With or without battery. When it does come on I get exactly as far as I did 5 hours ago - to the calendar date selection, before it powers down.


What do I do now?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
try placing a piece of folded up paper between battery and battery cover, and when inserting battery, place the battery on the loose cover, and just put the cover on the pandora with the battery on the cover, so youre putting both at same time
 
Could also be that the charger itself isn't supplying enough amps to keep up with the demands of the Pandora. If you've got a PSP adapter, or know where to borrow one, that's the only other thing I can think of trying right now.
 
Could also be that the charger itself isn't supplying enough amps to keep up with the demands of the Pandora. If you've got a PSP adapter, or know where to borrow one, that's the only other thing I can think of trying right now.

I'm using the charger that came with the pandora package... That sounds very strange, but I'm not a hardware guy so I'll take your word for it.


Will try the folded piece of paper thing tomorrow and if that doesn't work will try to get my hands on PSP adapter.


Will let you know how it goes, stay tuned.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Left the unit plugged in all day with a folded piece of paper to press down the battery and nothing. Same behavior as yesterday...


I guess all that's left to try is PSP adapter. I will buy one tomorrow.


Will post an update then.


This sucks.
 
if you happen to have a multimeter(VOM) check your voltage on your battery
 
if you happen to have a multimeter(VOM) check your voltage on your battery

I have something like that for a car battery but I don't think it'll work on this one.


PSP charger didn't work.


So I guess my battery died in shipping or I got a crappy battery or what? What do I do now, it came out of the box this way?
 
If you have a problem without using the battery, so the problem doesn't come from this battery.


Just a try, what happens if you plug the power while maintaining the R button ?
 
If you have a problem without using the battery, so the problem doesn't come from this battery.
Actually, this doesn't rule out the battery. Not all Pandoras can run without a battery, because it's an "experimental" feature of the SoC - that this one doesn't work without a battery is perfectly normal. ;)
 
...


that this one doesn't work without a battery is perfectly normal. ;)

Does anyone know why some Pandoras do not work without a battery, just running on mains power, but others do?


Not disputing the fact in any way, I've heard it said in lots of places by lots of people, just never heard why this is the case or what percentage of Pandoras will not work when connected to mains without battery.
 
If you have a problem without using the battery, so the problem doesn't come from this battery.


Just a try, what happens if you plug the power while maintaining the R button ?

Hey,


when I plug it in with battery while maintaining R, nothing happens.


When I plug it in WITHOUT battery maintaining R, I see screen flashing continuously. But it does not turn on. It actually just keeps flashing... I've been watching it for a few minutes now and approx. every 5-6 seconds uniformly there is a flash on the screen but that's about it. None of the LEDs (the lights on right and left) are glowing.


Is it faulty unit or battery?


RobotNinja what do I do?
 
Sounds like something is up with the boot loader, the flashing might be the start of the boot sequence, then it crashes and does it again. It takes about 2 seconds to get to screen on from hitting the power switch so that sounds about right. Boot, crash 2 seconds in, reboot.
 
Back
Top