Keyboard/Docking Station Not Charging Tablet

[kenewton]

Last night I noticed that my keyboard/docking station was not charging my tablet. When I plugged in the dock/tablet, the charging light came on, but it stayed solid amber. Even though it was plugged in over 12 hours, it never changed to green. The tablet was fully charged when I turned it on this morning, so I know the charger is working. As I used it through the day, though, the tablet steadily discharged even though it was firmly connected to the keyboard/docking station.

I don't know whether it's relevant, but I upgraded to ICS earlier this week. It's possible this issue started then and I just didn't notice it until today. Has anyone else seen this? Is it related to ICS, or is it a hardware issue?

I appreciate any advice or insight you can offer.

 

[Tom T]

I think it is caused by the ICS upgrade, I've had some unusual battery behavior myself, it seems to mainly happen when my transformer is docked and in sleep mode. I haven't done the factory reset since upgrading, for the most part the minor issues I've had don't seem to repeat themselves, but if the battery issues get worse I probably will.

 

[kenewton]

Thanks. I was afraid it might have something to do with the upgrade. While researching this problem, I ran across a discussion of using a hard reset to resolve battery problems. That's not the same thing as a factory reset, is it? What exactly does a hard reset do?

 

[Frederuco]

Thanks. I was afraid it might have something to do with the upgrade. While researching this problem, I ran across a discussion of using a hard reset to resolve battery problems. That's not the same thing as a factory reset, is it? What exactly does a hard reset do?

First, the dock light should turn green when it is fully charged. If the dock battery reaches zero, sometimes it will not charge again and needs to be returned to be fixed. You can get Dual Battery Widget app from the market (add it as a widget to your home screen) to see the dock battery level.

Hard reset (clears all the caches and memory on the device). This is not a data wipe (factory data reset)

To do a hard reset, shut down (long press the power/lock for 3 seconds and choose shutdown)
Unplug the charger cable, but keep the tablet docked. Hold the VOL DOWN and POWER for 10-12 seconds until you see some small text appear. Release both buttons.
The next screen will have 2 icons, the Android on the right will be highlighted green.
Wait 10 seconds and it will say "Cold-booting Linux"

That's it!

 

[kenewton]

Thanks for the information, Frederuco. I installed the dual battery widget. According to it, my dock's battery has no charge. I find that hard to believe, because I charge my tablet and dock every night and the dock light is a solid amber. I guess I'll have to contact Asus about repairing or replacing the docking station.

Again, thanks for the info.

 

[Frederuco]

One other thing to try is to use a regular USB port to try to charge the dock only for 3-4 hours and see if that brings it back to life.

Solid amber just means charging, but if it never turns green it isn't really charging.

 

[Tom T]

One other thing to try is to use a regular USB port to try to charge the dock only for 3-4 hours and see if that brings it back to life.

Solid amber just means charging, but if it never turns green it isn't really charging.

I believe a flashing amber light means it is charging the tablet,a solid amber means the tablet is charged and it is charging the keyboard dock, and of course solid green means both are fully charged. I have to wonder if we will see an update from Asus soon to deal with the charging issues, they seem fairly common and I remember they had the same problem early on with honeycomb and issued an update to fix it.

 

[kenewton]

Thanks for following up, guys.

According to the user guide, the docking station (TF101G) cannot be charged by connecting the USB cable to a PC. I tried it, but the charging light did not light up.

Also according to the manual, a solid amber light while charging indicates the battery is between 10% and 95% charged. In my case, the light is constantly a solid amber whether plugged into the charger or connected to the tablet. Something's definitely wrong with the dock. I'll be contacting Asus to see what my options are.

Thanks again.

 

[lobitoh]

hi,
i,am also having the same issue. my keyboard dock before it help charge the pad when you dock it. but now doesnt even budge. but al functions work except,charging.
i used the dual widget and shows value. but the charging light appears always orange never goes green.
so,i wonder kenewton, how did you fix the issue?
thanks

 

[jtsauburn]

The transformer can be charged from a PC, but the PC port must be usb 3.0 in order to charge. A 2.0 port will connect, but not charge.

 

[deep_karan]

Hi,
I recently got TF101 and Dock . When i recieved it, the battery was completely drained on tablet and dock. Then i connected both to power using asus adapter. I have dual battery widget. Now I see that tablet is fully charged and dock is at 0%. i did cold boot with tablet on dock and power supply disconnected . Charged for 10 hours . Battery is still 0% on dock .
Please help if someone ried something else
Thx

 

[Nikkita]

Hey, I kind've been facing the same problem with my Asus Fonepad lately. Its not charging when its switched on, but when switched of I too just get an Amber thingy, and then it disappears. How is this to be solved? One more thing that I have noticed is that its battery life dies quickly than usual.... I am quite unsure what to do.... India has very few Asus stores and some them don't know how to fix this.. Urgent help!!!

 

[dhinged]

I've had this same problem for a year, except the amber light is always blinking. The tablet will charge, but never the dock. I think this happens when the dock or docked tablet is allowed to fully discharge, as I've read some batteries when not set up properly by the manufacturer will not be chargeable after a full discharge.

I tried contacting Asus and their website said to find a local authorized repair location, but I called and they didn't even know what the tablet was and said they would probably just send it to Asus anyways. Asus said they would charge $150 to fix it (it's out of warranty), which is what I paid for the dock anyways. I'm not even sure I want to keep the tablet, but the dock is almost valueless (having it docked drains the tablet battery much faster), but I would like to know how to repair it if someone can give me some advice or recommend a link I should check out to fix it myself.