Pinebook Pro not powering on / not booting (tried things listed in wiki/forum)

[Natrox]

I would take a look at the schematic and check if you're getting all the correct voltages using a multimeter.
If you find that one of the components isn't outputting the expected value, it may have been shorted. I don't know if you have the tools or expertise to replace individual components though - IF you can even find the component for sale anywhere.

I ran into this same issue, the only thing that the PBP was doing is giving me a blinking red charging light. I did a re-seat of the EMMC and a few reconnects of the battery and it came back alive; so I'm not sure what was going on.

EDIT:
I reckon there's a very low chance, but if you happen to be find yourself in Tokyo, I can take a look at it for you!

[mamboman777]

I drained my pbp battery on accident too. I did a lot of messing about, even used the reset button and recovery mode a bit. I had to boot from an SD with the eMMC unplugged to get it going. In my case, I think something got corrupted on the eMMC. Flashing a new os on the eMMC made it work again. That being said there's people way smarter than me wind here. Could be I got lucky and something else was going on.

[kiefer]

So I tested the pin that say DC IN on the circuit board with respect to ground and the voltmeter shows 5.3 V.

@zaius and @Natrox: Not sure how to test the output of the regulators and use the schematic linked by @Natrox . To my shame I am not very good at reading circuit diagrams and connecting them to the real world situation, i.e. the pins on the circuit board. Also wouldn't I have to remove the motherboard for that and look on the bottom side? Not sure if this can be easily done with keeping all the periphery connected.

If anyone in Austin, Texas around who could help that'd be great!

[Natrox]

I think a lot of parts can be reached from the top of the board. 5.3V seems right, my guess is that one of the power sense chips broke. I'll take a look at the schematic in a bit to give you some pointers on where to look.

It's definitely not the easiest thing, but the best way is to find the components you wanna look at and test for continuity between pins/pads as specified in the schematic.

I'll get back to you in a bit with some ideas.

[aaspectre]

I spilled my drink on my pinebook pro. I could not intervene as the reason it happened is because I passed out on it. It sat unintervened with for potentially hours.

It was spilled on from the right side, and upon disassembly I saw no evidence of liquid reaching the left side, yet I am experiencing identical symptoms to those of this post. My misfortune may be your clue.

[Natrox]

Alright, some things you can try:
- Check the RK808-D SOC in the schematic and measure the PWRON pin. See if you see a voltage when you press/hold the power button. If you don't trace its path and check the components involved in that.
- On the same chip, check the pin CLK32KOUT1. It's supposed to be always-on, so see if you get a clock signal from that.
- Check VCC1 on the same chip to see if you at any point you get a voltage on it.

If you get the PWRON signal, but no CLK32KOUT1, the chip may be broken. You can also check BOOT0 to see if anything happens on that if you try to power the machine.

Some other things:
- Check the RK3399 chip. See if EFUSE_VQPS gives you 1.8V. If it doesn't I suspect it has been tripped - but I don't understand the exact mechanics of it.
- Also check V27 on this same chip to see if it gets a signal when you attempt to power on.

There's another fuse at the DC-058 DC-IN. Check the schematic. See if the R1206 fuse has any continuity. If it doesn't, you might be able to get off lucky by just replacing the fuse. I wouldn't recommend bridging it, as there might be a good reason (short-circuit) that the fuse tripped. It's supposed to be a fuse that resets itself, but sometimes it takes a long time for its resistance to reset back to workable levels.

If you still can't find it, but you suspect a short-circuit - there's another technique you could try: get a small squirt bottle of isopropyl alcohol (has to be pure). You can spray it on random areas of the board. If it fizzles due to heat, it's likely that you've found a short. Usually this will be a small component or chip, and you can then use the schematic to confirm the short-circuit. Replacing it could fix your issue.

Anyway, best of luck and let us know if you manage to fix it!

---

I spilled my drink on my pinebook pro. I could not intervene as the reason it happened is because I passed out on it. It sat unintervened with for potentially hours.

It was spilled on from the right side, and upon disassembly I saw no evidence of liquid reaching the left side, yet I am experiencing identical symptoms to those of this post. My misfortune may be your clue.

If you're lucky, you might have just fried the power board. Try and see if my suggestions will work.

[kiefer]

I just wanted to update this post:

Since I did not want to spend the time finding a faulty component on a new product I contacted pine customer service and and asked for a refund. Initially they were asking for a 15% restocking fee. But I insisted this be treated under warranty, which they accepted. I had to pay shipping cost myself (about $15 for USPS medium size flat rate box from Texas to the return center in California), but the reimbursement was prompt after the package had been delivered to the return center.

I'd like to thank @Natrox for the help and hopefully the comments will be useful for somebody else running into this kind of issues with their pinebook pro!

Since I needed a reliable laptop to run linux on I instead bought a Motile M141 for $200 from Walmart for now. Which also is lightweight and has a 14" inch display, which were my main criteria (along with the price) for buying the pinebook in the first place.