PINE64

Just in case anyone else is having a similar problem.

My Pinebook has had a history of just shutting off at random occasions after a couple of months light use.  I had put this down to the development status of the system, however, it was getting more and more common, occasionally refusing to boot, so much so I was starting to be convinced it was hardware.  
I opened the thing up and removed the tape covering the cable from the battery to the mainboard.  The left hand side of the socket on the board was broken and the connector came away with the tape.    
The bend in the power cables meant it would not stay in position, and I didn't want to blob some epoxy on the connector in case of future upgrades.  So, several strips of tape to route the battery power leads in position and reseating the connector and it now works perfectly.  I had been worried it would be a dodgy capacitor somewhere, but a relatively simple fix.

One thing I did notice with the system when I thought it was software based was that while I was looking at the system logs in an ssh session is that the USB system lost power and came back.

Anyway, if anyone else has a similar problem with random system crashes / power offs, it may be worth a look.

(09-19-2017, 02:34 AM)stealthbanana Wrote: [ -> ]Just in case ... <snip>
 ... and removed the tape covering the cable from the battery to the mainboard. (1) The left hand side of the socket on the board was broken and the connector came away with the tape.   <snip>

 ... (2) the system logs in an ssh session is that the USB system lost power and came back. 

(1)  The connectors in the Pinebook (in fact all such devices of late) are very fragile ( particularly the FPC connectors ).  The battery connector in my Pinebook is also very loose, and without the cloth tapes in place would not remain seated. I have disassembled my Pinebook enough times now that it made sense to purchase a small role of the cloth tape.  Due to an unrelated P&P defect, I've had to have my machine apart and under a microscope several times ( I spare you , its been written-up elsewhere ).

(2)  monitor your logs and provide feedback if the usb power bus drops , now that you have the battery connector issue corrected.