Info: Charging and Ghosting

[Bundabrg]

Hi All,

I've had a hectic week with my Z and I thought I'd post what happened and how I fixed it. A lot of info I got from this group so it really is a good repositry of information.

Anyway, for some reason my 'Digicom Universal Charger' 5V 1.0Amp decided to quit it and didn't charge my Z. I didn't notice till the battery actually went totally flat. After paying $50AUD on my charger I was a bit annoyed that it decided to quit, but apparently the eletronics shop won't replace a charger (Which I guess I can understand). I bought another one, same V same Amp.

Now I accidently reversed the polarity and my Z didn't start charging. After quickly realising my mistake (with heart in my throat and sweaty palms now), I switched the polarity so that the 'Center' is positive and the 'Outside' is negative.

Now my Z charged for maybe 2 minues, then the charge light started flashing on and off slowly. It certainly didn't charge enough to even start. I'm not sure even now if this was caused by the reversed polarity or the fact that it totally flattened.

Anyway,  I suppose I should mention that my battery is an EA-BL08, that is supposed to charge to 4.2V apparently. Measuring between + and - with a multimeter showed a voltage of about 2.2V.

Now I can of course boot up fine with  'D+B', logging in as root and issueing a 'reboot' with the power plugged in.

I plugged it into the power and brought up the diagnostic screen with 'D+M'. Went to page 3, EXTRAS, 'Normal Diag Mode' and hit 'Clear Adjust Values', which blanked out 'Tablet' 'COM' and 'PHASE' on the main screen. This did not help (and in fact I think this has nothing to do with the battery charging).

Then went to Page 2, Batt Voltage Adjust, 'Battery Voltage Check'. It showed the following: -

Code: [Select]

Main Bat AD: 113 (2.2V)

Flash Data: ----Seemed that the unit didn't know how much to charge the battery to. So I pulled the battery and connected the + terminal from the charger to the + on the battery and the - from the charger to the - on the charger and charged it manually, as per

Aussies HOWTO

When it hit 4.2V, I put it into the Zaurus, did D+M, page 2, Batt Voltage Adjust, 'Battery Voltage Adj' and hit 'S' to flash in the current voltage. Now a check shows the following: -

Code: [Select]

Main Bat AD:  208 (2.6V)

Flash Data:  213
   delta:  +439

ADJUST AD:  208->  647
                 :  (4.1V)
And everything works fine. Phew.

However the 'Clear Adjust Values' step came back to haunt me when I booted into pdaXrom. I had a major ghosting effect, mainly seen down near the task bar. Also I had screen flicker. And now this is important, and probably also why some Z users see screen flicker in pdaXrom and others don't.

Went to D+M. Of course 'Tablet', 'COM' and 'Phase' are still '---'. So I went into Page 1, 'COM ADJ Setting', and set it to '114' which resulted in the image not flickering at all!. Then went into Page 1 'LCD Phase setting', and set it to '8' so I didn't have ghosting.  No idea how I set 'Tablet', probably 'Touch Pane (VGA)', and its now currently 0.

Booted back into pdaXrom, and voila, no ghosting, no flickering.

My story. Hope it helps anyone in a similar situation.

I can't remember all the links to the posts that helped me, but I googled using both the terms 'Zaurus not charging' and 'Zaurus won't charge'.

 - Bundabrg

[Bundabrg]

Just to reply to myself, I meant to ask a question.

When I charge my Z using my charger, I can hear a high pitch sound, especially when the screen blanks. Definately coming from the charger.


Does anyone else have this? Is a 5V 1A charger not powerful enough and perhaps I need to invest in a 5V 1.2A?


Oh btw I'm using a regulated universal charger. Don't get an unregulated one! Voltage jumps all over the place. ;-)

 - Bundabrg

[KAShirow]

I wonder, does 'Clear Adjust Values' clear battery adjust as well?

[maslovsky]

Seemed that the unit didn't know how much to charge the battery to. So I pulled the battery and connected the + terminal from the charger to the + on the battery and the - from the charger to the - on the charger and charged it manually

It looks like the 10. Charge option alows you to manualy charge battery up to whatever limit you want. Note: to return from that screen - press BS button!

[Bundabrg]

Sorry to resurrect such an old post, but I made an interesting discovery.

I set my battery adjust to 213, which is lower than what everyone else had. However to charge the battery higher, you need to either do what Aussie suggested and manually put the charger terminals to the battery (not something I like too much I have to admit) or buy the external charger, otherwise the Z just stops charging once it reaches the flashed in value.

I discovered that if you go to Battery Adjust, and leave it on that screen (The one that says press 'S' or 'Home' to flash), the battery will charge (IE, the charge light comes on), and it will allow you to charge the battery higher than the flashed in value (depending on the maximum the battery can take). By doing this, I got mine to 217, and that is where it won't go higher (my charger starts squealing).

I think it will also only charge the battery if the switch on the bottom of the Z (to lock in the battery) is in the unlock state... that way the service menu is running only from power and not using up the battery. It takes about 6 mintues for it charge up a number (ie, 215 to 216).

 - Bundabrg

[maslovsky]

I discovered that if you go to Battery Adjust, and leave it on that screen (The one that says press 'S' or 'Home' to flash), the battery will charge (IE, the charge light comes on), and it will allow you to charge the battery higher than the flashed in value (depending on the maximum the battery can take). By doing this, I got mine to 217, and that is where it won't go higher (my charger starts squealing).

I think it will also only charge the battery if the switch on the bottom of the Z (to lock in the battery) is in the unlock state... that way the service menu is running only from power and not using up the battery. It takes about 6 mintues for it charge up a number (ie, 215 to 216).

There is not so much of a reason to enter such high values as the battery level will drop down almost as quickly as it charges up. But yes, you can get extra few running minutes

[Bundabrg]

... you can get extra few running minutes

Music to my ears ;-)

[bethanyb]

I have a C860 which seems to have battery problems as well. I went into the service menu, following Aussie's instructions. From the posts I gathered that the appropriate/factory setting for the battery should be 208. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't have a multimeter or any wires, so I went into "Battery Adjust" and stayed there until "Main Bat AD" reached 208. What units does this number correspond to? When I, at first, was charging the battery in "Charge" and switching back to Battery Voltage Check, it seemed like the voltage increased by 0.1 V with each unit (201 to 202 for example). But then why not keep charging until 360? Is it just that 208 signifies "Charge the battery until it achieves 4.1 V?"

Anyhow, I'm happy to say that after leaving the service menu, my Zaurus turned on. Thank you for leading me in the right direction.

--bethany

[lubansky]

Bundabrg, Aussie, thank you both for your help! You both rock!

Having just moved country, I don't have the resources such as wire or a multimeter, but through patience and following along the cricket, I was able to charge the battery from the menu. It only seemed to have lost the battery, nothing else. Has anyone worked out why yet?

[Bundabrg]

Hah, I've dug up this topic again because my Z kept charging half way and shutting down, and I was going WTF. Also, under Opie/GPE, the charge light would come on for a while, then it would turn off, when the battry wasn't even halfway charged. WTF again ;-)

I suddenly realised (as per beta4 instructions pdaXrom that I had tried before) that I had performed a Full NAND Flash erase as one of the steps.
This effectively wipes your battery settings. I believe reflashing a new NAND doesn't restore this.

Anyway, I suspect most of the time you will have empty settings iff (if and  only if) you've done an erase. So I suspect this may be a topic visited often ;-)

 - Bundabrg

[johnla]

This might get me flamed for being a retard but...

I just got my C1000 yesterday and I noticed the screen flicker problem and when I read this thread, it seemed like it's the solution. So I went to the D+M menu and adjusted the values, but couldn't get out of the menu! I went through the 3 pages and couldn't find any reset or exit button. After awhile I figure what the hey and just hit the power button. It turned off, i hit power button again and I'm in the same menu except it's red this time. I go through the same procedure looking for the reset or exit option but I dont see it and hit power again.. still same menu.. I figured this menu must be like the boot menu on my desktop so I figured I could just pull the plug and it should reset when I put the battery back in.. It doesn't.. I can't power back on anymore! I tried to just plug in the power cord but that doesn't do anything either. I hope I didn't kill the poor thing. Please tell me there's something I can do for it? A way to reset to factory or reset the D+M screen?

As I said, I got it yesterday and am effectively a n00b. Thanks.. I appreciate any help!

I'm running
Cacko QTopia Rom 1.12 1029311005
Kernel 2.4.20