I tried to charge my pocket reform before upgrading the firmware. However, I was unable to boot. For some reason, the battery status was showing 0% and at 3.0V. I tried to boot for a few times. The keyboard lighted up, but the screen was dark. I tried to “reset the keyboard” with the “r” command. After a few rounds, the keyboard was not even on, and the charging LED was not even lighting up.
I tried the following:
several different charger
on and off the Standby Power switch on the side
Unplug and replug the battery packs
But nothing happened. It goes all dark now.
I need help for trouble shooting.
First thing, can someone confirm the position of the Standby power switch? If I want to turn the device on, should I push the switch up?
It could be that your batteries got too low. I would leave a charger plugged in that has worked in the past plugged in. It might need a while to “wake” the batteries.
Maybe disable power on the side, open up the back of the display. Disconnect the two batteries, and replug them in. Lid back on, and then flip the switch again for power. Try charging.
Are you sure the charger you are trying to use works? The Pocket Reform can be very picky about what it will accept.
You could check if you have a defective charger board like on my Pocket Reform (MNT Pocket Reform doesn't boot). If that the case and you just received yours you can send it for RMA (I’m still waiting for a new one) and use the Pocket Reform without battery.
TL;DR: access the battery compartment and see if the main IC (U1) of the charger board is super hot (check with a thermal camera of thermometer as it could be 125+°C so very hot to the touch). If yes it might be defective.
This same thing happened to me. I think i got a faulty board. The main chip on the charging board fried while it was charging. I might try the jumper bypass for power after I hear back from them. Was so excited to get my pocket today too…
