Xoom dropped, wouldn't boot without charger - FIXED

[MartyA]

Had a minor mishap today that freaked me out but got out of it without huge issues. Hopefully this will help someone else.

I was laying on my couch reading and fell asleep, dropping my Xoom about 2 feet onto a well padded carpet. Didn't think much of it, but then it wouldn't boot unless the charger was attached. Needless to say I freaked a bit.

I'd previously reviewed the Xoom teardown here so I wasn't too scared of opening the case up to see what was going on.

After opening the case (really easy like they said) I took a close look at the battery connector - you'd think this would be solid since it's two screws holding the leads down - but I found that the washer under one screw was loose. I removed it and checked it out - nothing seemed wrong - so I replaced it and it was still loose. I put a bit more torque on it (still using a bare driver bit, so very torque limited) and got about another turn on it and the washer was tight.

Voila! The Xoom booted up again as normal. Looking back, I'm guessing this screw was loose from the factory but the lead had contact anyway until I dropped it, which jarred it loose.

FWIW, I didn't break any "void warranty" seals and all the screws were standard T5's. This turned into a finicky but no-brainer fix.

Hope this helps someone else out...

 

[LMO]

Great post! Thanks for sharing! Will keep this in mind.

 

[Smokexz]

Wow, don't see people doing this on iPad. I seriously do not know how you can open an Apple product, they never have screws or latches, at least none that I can see. Seriously, how do you open up, an iPad to self fix it? Lol anyways, good job and may god be with you the next time your Xoom falls from such a height. Sure it's only two feet but the device is so heavy the impact can be brutal.

Sent from my Xoom

 

[lobobuzz]

Great info! I've fallen asleep a couple times with my Xoom too. lol

 

[Simonbarsinistr]

I have too, and our bed is pretty high over hardwood. The thought of dropping it off the edge scares me.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[LMO]

Never dropped mine, but have fallen asleep with it though. The best is when you wake up and find that you have opened all kinds of apps, and downloaded some random app from the market! LOL

 

[chaz_uk]

I really don't want to drop my Xoom but if I do and a similar thing happens, ill be sure to pry her open.

Any other damage at all on the poor thing?

 

[jnewell]

Dropped mine from table height onto a linoleum floor on the train. No damage, not even any cosmetic sign of a drop. There was another post a week ago by a guy whose Xoom dove off the kitchen table onto a tile floor - no damage...it's built like a tank, physically speaking. Check out the iFixit teardown. This thing is, honestly, way overbuilt physically. We don't actually need tablets that will survive, physically, for a decade after the CPU, GPU and OS are obsolete.