Dead Vizio Tablet

[Slappy]

We got my mom-in-law a cheap Vizio tablet at Christmas, I think it may even be a refurb and it won't power up all of a sudden. It's a model VTAB1008.

When I plug it into an AC outlet, the logo comes up, it blips,then powers down and keeps going through that cycle. I read how to do a Hard Reset & factory wipe or flash the OS but none of it really works. I'd need an OS on an SD card which I don't have so I just tried the factory reset in the menu, but it goes back to the power cycling.

Vizio said to contact one of their Authorized Repair centers, who want at least $65 to look at it and then whatever the repair costs end up being. I'm not sure it's worth even that honestly.

[Joe]

Sounds like it is not charging the battery and it it is completely dead. Even when you try turning it on when plugged into AC it still senses the dead battery and shuts itself off. If you can get inside of it, not an easy task, unhook the battery for 30 minutes and then hook it back up and let it charge overnight to see if it then takes a charge. If it does it will probably boot after that.

[Slappy]

Sounds like fun, I'll see if I can pry the bugger open. Thanks!

[Farabomb]

If it's a android device it sounds like a boot loop. I wouldn't rule out the battery but it may need a full wipe and install from the SD. I'd try that before cracking it open.

[Joe]

I would recommend that too except for the part about:

When I plug it into an AC outlet, the logo comes up, it blips, then powers down and keeps going through that cycle.

[Farabomb]

I've had my tablet do that when I wasn't paying attention and installed a bad ROM. It would boot to the splash screen then reboot to the splash screen. Lather, rinse and repeat.

[Joe]

Me too. On mine the secret was to hold volume down (or up can't remember for sure) and the power button until it booted into a secret recovery mode where everything was displayed upside down and I could reset it from there.

[Farabomb]

In his post it seems that he has tried that but it didn't help. I've had to use a program called odin to basically low level format the device. Odin is what is used to program samsung devices for whatever carrier you have.

[Joe]

I've seen that mentioned on the XDA forums but have never tried it myself.

[Farabomb]

It's a puckering experience but I've had good luck so far. AFAIK Odin is for Samsung ONLY so be sure to read up on your device. Make sure you have the exact model or bad things can happen.