PPP Keyboard is DEAD ... !!!

[ZX Spectrum]

Actually it was never alive ..

recently I have ordered PinePhone Pro with the keyboard cover.
when I received them I immediately placed the phone into the keyboard cover.
when I turned the device on (default OS)  the keyboard was not recognized.
I tried to remove the phone then placed it again into keyboard cover but still the keyboard is not recognized.
1 - whatever I type on the keyboard it doesn't appear on the screen.
2- there is NO indicator that shows that there is additional battery (keyboard battery)
3- pushing the battery switch on the side of the keyboard doesn't change anything

is my keyboard faulty??
what should I do?

[bcnaz]

Does the P.P.Pro phone operate without the keyboard ? ---> (troubleshooting starting point ?)

My PPPro seems to have gotten lost at the Los Angeles, California Gateway USA.

* The keyboard is operating on my PMOS Convergence phone, ---> (but, with the noted firmware problems)

[grump_fiddle_reinstall]

Try updating the phone's OS if you haven't done that already. 

My PinePhone responded immediately to keypresses when I put it in. I installed the mobian image from 16.1.22 recently and I didn't need to do anything else to get the keyboard to be recognised. Mobian/Phosh has no separate icon to show that the keyboard is connected. There are no LEDs on the keyboard to show it is alive either. 

My PinePhone Pro is somewhere between here and Denmark so it will be a few days at least before I can try out the keyboard on mine.

[elof]

Try the suggestions above (e.g. PostmarketOS should be v21.12 or edge).

If that doesn't work, your pins might not make proper contact. That was the case for me.

There is a wiki section about this already. Shimming the pins worked for me.
There is a photo linked about where to put the shim.

https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_(...er_contact

[ZX Spectrum]

Try the suggestions above (e.g. PostmarketOS should be v21.12 or edge).

If that doesn't work, your pins might not make proper contact. That was the case for me.

There is a wiki section about this already. Shimming the pins worked for me.
There is a photo linked about where to put the shim.

https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_(...er_contact

to be honest with you I dont have the required skills to flush new OS.
it seams too risky.
I am just regular debian CLI  user with many years of Cortex-M assembly programming but still, this seams not enough

---

Try updating the phone's OS if you haven't done that already. 

My PinePhone responded immediately to keypresses when I put it in. I installed the mobian image from 16.1.22 recently and I didn't need to do anything else to get the keyboard to be recognised. Mobian/Phosh has no separate icon to show that the keyboard is connected. There are no LEDs on the keyboard to show it is alive either. 

My PinePhone Pro is somewhere between here and Denmark so it will be a few days at least before I can try out the keyboard on mine.

to be honest with you I dont have the required skills to flush new OS.
it seams too risky.
I am just regular debian CLI  user with many years of Cortex-M assembly programming but still, this seams not enough

[Merc]

As elof has mentioned the problem is likely to be that the POGO pins on the back of the phone are not making contact with the ones on the keyboard. I would think even if your operating system doesn't have the necessary drives to make it work it should still be able to power on the phone from the powered off state by pressing the button on the right side of the keyboard. Place the phone in the keyboard and then firmly press down where the POGO pins are, you'll for sure be able to hear it snap in, I thought I broke something when I heard how loud it was LOL.

https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_(...er_contact

Thank you for this link, it lead to some really useful information!

[bcnaz]

Actually it was never alive ..

recently I have ordered PinePhone Pro with the keyboard cover.
when I received them I immediately placed the phone into the keyboard cover.
when I turned the device on (default OS)  the keyboard was not recognized.
I tried to remove the phone then placed it again into keyboard cover but still the keyboard is not recognized.
1 - whatever I type on the keyboard it doesn't appear on the screen.
2- there is NO indicator that shows that there is additional battery (keyboard battery)
3- pushing the battery switch on the side of the keyboard doesn't change anything

is my keyboard faulty??
what should I do?

Perhaps if this is your first Linux phone  ?  Maybe play with just the phone for a few days,  then add the keyboard.

Meanwhile there is a lot of information here on the forum, the wiki,  and fellow Pine phone users to talk to, ask questions.

Try to enjoy your step into beta-Linux smart phones

[grump_fiddle_reinstall]

@ ZX Spectrum

You can flash an alternative OS to a microSD card using a card reader and software on your computer. According to this post https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...ot+from+sd with a PinePhone Pro you can boot from the microsSD card image by holding down the power button for longer at start up.

Booting from the microSD card will (should) not affect or alter the default image on the eMMC. If you manage to do something that stops you booting from the microSD card then you can remove the card and reflash the OS image.

I installed mobian as I have been using Debian based OSs since 2008. Mobian works well enough for me so I am still using it. I don't know if changing OS will help your current keyboard problems. But it might help you on your way generally with getting to know your PPPro.

[bcnaz]

Well, Belena Etcher has made flashing sd cards as easy as clicking a few icons.

As far as mixing the Pine phone Pro with the new keyboard, it could possibly be too steep of learning curve for a noobie ?

Even some experienced Linux users have a hard time learning to navigate one new Pine device at a time .

Hopefully you will find enough help here on the forum to get your phone functioning.

[projectcato]

I similarly have been unable to get the pinephone keyboard to work in any scenario (only one pinephone pro to test against) Changing OS doesn't seem to help. I think the issue may lie with my PinePhone Pro Explorer edition, which has one pogo pin with significantly less spring to it than the others...