Restarting after OS update
 

I just installed the latest OS (2.1.?) on my Playbook via WiFi. It said it had finished and that it had to restart. I clicked the restart button.

It took a while to do anything, but after a few minutes it displayed "Blackberry Playbook" in the middle of the screen with a changing coloured background. Then after a few more minutes, the screen went black.

10 minutes later it was still black, so I figured nothing else would happen. I held down the power button, and eventually the red light came on, and after a while I saw "Blackberry Playbook" on the screen again for a while. Then it went black again.

The battery was on 54% charge during the upgrade, and has been plugged into the proper charger all through.

What now?

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I would leave it on the charger overnight and turn it on again in the morning. If it still doesn't boot up, try connecting it to your computer, assuming you have Desktop Manager installed, and turn it on again.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Thanks for the quick reply. I got impatient and decided to follow the factory reset instructions here. It's done the install (presumably the same OS version again) and is now "Connecting to device".

I saw "Blackberry Playbook" come up on the screen for a little while, and now it's black again. Hopefully Desktop Manager will tell me when to give up waiting.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Now Desktop Manager is saying "The desktop loader is unable to connect to The device. You may need to enter the password on the device."

I doubt it's flat, but I'll leave it on charge over the weekend. Will it charge if it's not turned on?

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Could someone please confirm if I'm now seeing the symptoms of a flat battery? I.e. power on, see "Blackberry Playbook" on the screen for a while, then it goes black.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

If you went through the restore option like this:
shutdown playbook,
connect to Desktop manager
wait for Desktop manager asking you if you want to restore,
klick yes,
Desktop manager loads OS from internet and installs on Playbook,
install done, playbook restarts (with the playbook screen in different colors)
Finally, the deskop manager should confirm that the install is done.

if the last step does not complete, I think there is not much you can do:
Leave the PB on the charger for 5 hours. Try again if you can start, otherwise repeat the above procedure.

Or, google for "BBHTool - BlackBerry OS Downloads", download an older PB Firmware.
Google for Dingleberry, download. Put the Firmware you downloaded previously in the Firmware/Custom folder, launch Dingleberry, and use it to download the OS to the playbook.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I suspect turning off the device when it was rebooting created the problem....You should have just plugged it in and left it alone until it rebooted. If you do manage to force an OS reload with Desktop Manager or somehow load an older OS from somewhere, don't make the same mistake. Personally, I think you should be able to force an OS reload with Desktop Manager. Just follow the directions. For what it's worth.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Maybe, but I doubt it was going to ever finish rebooting. How long could it possibly take? After it had gone black after displaying "Blackberry Playbook" and the changing colours, I saw no sign of life for more than 10 minutes before I started fiddling with it. Does it take longer than that?
I've managed to get it to for the OS reload several times, but it never finishes the reboot afterwards.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I know it takes longer to reboot when it restarts after an OS update. My wife's took a long, long time. I don't know for sure how long because I don't know when she restarted, and she only complained after waiting longer than she thought necessary. In your case, the scren going black makes me doubt my advice, but I still would have left it on a charger and hour or two to see if it would finish booting before assuming it crashed.

I didn't understand your last part. Are you saying you have forced an OS reinstall but it still doesn't finish the restart?
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Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Yes, several times. I'm waiting at least until Desktop Manager has given up waiting for the reboot.

I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong with the charger, and that all I'm achieving is to make it flatter and flatter each time I try.

The original problem was that I was having trouble making the amount of charge increase, despite the icon showing the lightning bolt. I could leave it on charge for days with no change (but at least didn't go down), or sometimes it would charge right up.

The same charger will successfully charge a phone, so it's not dead. It's the one supplied with the Playbook, with a yellow USB plug.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

The #1 key to updating ANY BlackBerry device is patience.

Sorry you are having trouble ... is you PB still under warranty? You may want to consider that route and get it replaced ... sounds like a hardware issue to me.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Don't think so - it was purchased last August. I'm making inquiries about it now.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

It doesn't sound good to me. Sounds like it could be a hardware problem. But I don't know what more you can do on your end.
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Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Is this likely to help? That tool is for downgrading for jail breaking, and I'm uncomfortable with the whole process. I'm not convinced that it's the OS upgrade that killed it, given the previous charging problems I had that I hoped the upgrade would solve.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I dont know if that helps, but if the problem you encounter is related to your device, firmware or loader, then, it might be worth a try to check if a different loader software or os will be able to make the PB working again.
You can use dingleberry to root the playbook, but, you also can use it to load the OS to the playbook. Also, if for some unknown reason your playbook wont function with the version 2.1, dingleberry is a way to check if an older version will work (rim will not give you the option to load an older os then 2.1)
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Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I'm hoping I've found the answer. I just noticed that there was a tiny fragment of very fine wire stuck on the magnetic pins of the rapid charging socket. It was shorting out the middle pin (non magnetic) and the right hand pin (strongly magnetic). I don't have the rapid charger, so I've never looked at this socket before.

Does anyone know the electrical details of this socket? Could this be why I was originally only able to get some charge into it occasionally? And perhaps why it's acting like it's flat now?

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Now I'm trying to follow instructions I've found for getting enough charge into it to let it boot, but they don't match what I'm seeing.

They say things like plug the power in for two minutes, out for two minutes, etc. But If I plug the power in, I see a red light for a few seconds, then a green light, then the screen says "Blackberry Playbook", then it goes black. Leaving the power cable out for any amount of time doesn't result in the cycle repeating.

The only ways I can get the light to come on again are to hold down the power button for ten seconds, then either:
- press the power button again - cycle as above but no green light - or
- unplug and plug in again - cycle as above.

Am I doing something wrong, or does it work differently for OS2.1?

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I have never seen any instructions that say plug it in for 2 minutes and pull it out for 2 minutes. Where did you see that?

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I think it was here. (Click on the word "here" - why is it so hard to specify a URL sensibly here?)

Lots of other variations listed on that page, but in the second posting they say:
"I was told about "stack" charging, 6 cycles of charge no charge, for 2 minutes each, charging for never more than 2 minutes."

I'm not stack charging, but no idea if that's relevant.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

So far today I've done 22 power cycles to try and get some charge into it, and probably did 20 yesterday. When it's got enough charge, will it just boot up?

It's possibly a good sign that if I pull the plug out during the few seconds that the green light is on, I can see a picture of a plug on the screen, with an arrow pointing to a lighting bolt. I assume this mean the system knows when the plug is in, and is happy that it's charging, at least while the green light is on.

I'm concerned though about what happens after the green light goes off. If I leave it, after a little while it displays "Blackberry Playbook" for a while. I have to hold the power button in to allow a new cycle to start after I unplug/plug in the power. I'm concerned that because there's no light on at the time that perhaps it's draining the battery a little. It might be that with each cycle, I'm actually draining the battery a bit more overall, rather than gradually adding charge. Or will it be running off the charger, and never draining the battery at all?

Holding the button in to force it off for another cycle only seems to work once the "Blackberry Playbook" message comes up. I can make that come up quicker by pressing the power button once anytime after the green light comes on, so when I notice it, I press it immediately after it goes off again.

I haven't found any descriptions of the power cycling that mention having to hold the power button in each cycle. I'm wondering if all the instructions out there are for versions prior to 2.1. Don't know if I'm just wasting my time. The dealer still hasn't responded to my email.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Now the dealer wants the IMEI number to check the warranty. It's not on the case, so I assume you can only get it via the OS, which isn't running. Any ideas?

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Is your PlayBook the 4G model? If it's wifi only there is no IEMI, only the PIN. If it's a 4g the number should be on the box I think. It also has a serial number and MAC address which are unique to the device.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

No, it's WiFi only. I assumed it wouldn't have an IMEI because of that, but the dealer said there must be one. They're still searching their records for the serial number.

Should LED light up when charging?
 

I just thought I'd post an update for this issue. I was instructed by an Optus shop to "call Blackberry direct" on 1800 039 536.

Despite it being over a year old (maybe 16 months), he said it has a 90 day phone help warranty, which we never registered for, and which he said has been extended for all Playbooks with no end date. This is in Australia, no idea if it's true for other countries.

He spent a long time on the phone trying all the usual tricks to get it to power up, then said it would have to come in for repairs, and that it would be covered by the warranty for sure.

I received an RMA and special packaging in the mail, and sent it back.

About a month later, someone rang to say it was busted and I'd have to pay $374 to fix it. I said I'd been told it would be covered by warranty, and she said she'd check.

Another month later it arrived back here repaired, not replaced. The paperwork says "Fault description - Power miscellaneous" and "Components replaced".

It's working fine, even after a wireless OS upgrade. It's a bit hard to get used to it again after using an iPad for a while.

One thing I've noticed is that the LED doesn't light up while it's charging. Isn't it supposed to flash green or something? It shows red, then green, for a little while when it's starting up, but never while it's charging.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

KB27705-BlackBerry PlayBook battery power charge, discharge characteristics, and guidance on extending battery life

Weird. Does the LED flash while device is powered on and operating?

Only thing I can think to do is reinstall the OS.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

Correction - it does flash green while charging if it's turned off. It's only while it's on that it doesn't flash.

My Blackberry phone is the same, so I assume this is normal.

I still don't know what wrecked this Playbook, or what they actually did to fix it. For all I know, all they did was take the battery out to charge it up. Or they may have replaced something that had been damaged by the tiny wire shorting it out.

Re: Restarting after OS update
 

I have my PlayBook on and plugged in at the moment, and the LED is flashing. If there is a setting that deals with this I don't know what it is. I don't see anything.

I have my BlackBerry set to go into sleep mode dimmed and with LED off when on charge. I'm pretty sure that otherwise the LED would be blinking.
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