Can't install Developer kit since need 100% battery

[haven]

My newly purchased (new Version 1 eBay) Iliad can't upgrade to the Developer kit because the installation process won't proceed until it sees a 100% battery charge and mine maxes at 88% after being plugged in for a long time. (Weeks, in fact, not that time > a few hours should matter.) After the download, the Iliad rebooted and asked if I had backed up before starting a major software upgrade. When I clicked the right hand box to proceed, it said it would wait till the battery charge was 100%, which means it was waiting forever. Fortunately I was able to cancel from the wait loop, and it's not bricked; on Iliad Settings it shows version v.2.9 after this first download.

I'm trying to provoke a few full discharge - recharge cycles to see if there is some memory effect, though with Lithium Ion batteries I wouldn't think that's the issue. Anyone else run into this and, hopefully, overcome it? Is there any hidden sequence to force a boot-to-shell BEFORE you get the developer kit installed?

Worst case, I'm open to hardware tweaking. I picked the Iliad despite the many owner complaints because the hardware is basically what I want, and and I'm convinced that with the recent flurry of open-source activity, a really nice Linux distro for ebooks is close to emerging. Maybe I can even help a bit.

(At the moment I have the funniest pet peeve on the Iliad forums: the batteries on the Iliad feel like they take FOREVER to discharge ... I guess it's all relative :- )

[Shaggy]

You should be able to do the install with the iLiad plugged in, rather than doing it off of the battery. I'm not sure if it'll still do the charge level detection when you have it plugged in, but I don't think so.

It does sound like you've got a problem with the battery though. Hopefully it won't keep getting worse, until you can't recharge it at all.

[Adam B.]

I think that it detect the battery charge even when it's plugged in.

Likely, you'll have to replace the batteries of the device. There are a few tutorials around for upgrading them, or if you remove the back plate, you can replace them with the same type of battery.

I definitely recommend you upgrade from 2.9. There have been quite a few firmware improvements since then, along with the ability to reflash and run custom software.

[cen]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I'm not sure if it'll still do the charge level detection when you have it plugged in, but I don't think so.

If it's anything like the firmware releases it will require the battery to be at the requested level even with the power adapter plugged in.

One of the more recent firmwares required an ~85% charge where my iLiad had something like 30%. It stalled the upgrade process until it had reach the required level then proceeded on its merry way.

[Shaggy]

What it's trying to install is probably the 2.12 firmware upgrade, so that makes sense.

[haven]

No, it makes no sense to halt the upgrade process based on battery level when you are plugged in to AC power. This is bad program design, doubtless well-intentioned, but just wrong.

The good news is that deep discharging worked! Odd, because we all know there is no memory effect for lithium ion batteries, but I'll take it!
So now I'm upgraded and about to start seeing what this thing can do with the gloves off.

In case anybody else gets stuck like I was and is reading this looking for a solution at some point in the future, there was no magic bullet. I just left the Irex running till it almost ran out of juice a couple times, then plugged it in while turned on till it got as recharged as it would. A couple cycles and for some reason it decided to claim it had 100%.

Irex really needs to fix this bug, i.e. allow us to upgrade regardless of battery level when AC power is on. Once we get the freedom of the developers' kit, we can solve our own problems, but until then we're completely at their mercy, and the bug can block us from installing the developers' kit. Catch 22. I'm not holding my breath. But for now, I'm a happy camper!

[-Thomas-]

I would bet the iLiad can't detect via software if it's plugged in. The LED could be controlled by the charging electronics as well. So this would be mainly a hardware design flaw.

IIRC some people had problems with a wrong battery level on a running iLiad, and it turned out it was due to the battery.o kernel module provided by iLiad. Your problem will probably be related to that rather than a memory effect of your battery.

Once we get the freedom of the developers' kit, we can solve our own problems, but until then we're completely at their mercy, and the bug can block us from installing the developers' kit.

Unfortunately the upgrade mechanism is outside the user-accessable memory and thus can't be upgraded by the community in an easy manner. At least chances are great that you'll brick your iLiad if you try to alter it.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by haven

No, it makes no sense to halt the upgrade process based on battery level when you are plugged in to AC power. This is bad program design, doubtless well-intentioned, but just wrong.

I didn't mean the upgrade process being based on the battery level made sense. I meant that it made sense that your unit was trying to install the 2.12 firmware, and not just the developer's kit.

Yes, it would be nice if the unit could detect that it's plugged in rather than running off of batteries, but as Thomas said, it probably can't. The battery charging is controlled by it's own IC. It doesn't sound like the OS knows the difference. What the upgrade is concerned with is that it doesn't want to start the process if there's a danger that you can lose power during the upgrade. That would potentially result in a bricked device.