There are a lot of new members who come here with the same questions after getting a new RB and I figured it might be useful to make a guide to answer some of these, especially with the holiday season bringing in a large wave of new Pleo owners. There’s already a guide on what to do when you first get your RB
here, so I recommend that any new owners read that first. This is more a list of solutions and explanations for common problems that first time RB owners face.
Q. Help! My Pleo's neck makes a popping noise when he curls up to go to sleep!A. Pleo RBs in hatchling stage often press their heads into their feet when curling up, and sometimes this can cause the motor to try and move past its current position while it is still blocked by the neck, causing the motor to stutter and make a "pop" sound. This is normal for young Pleos and should stop happening by the time your RB is grown up.
Q. Help! My Pleo's head is stuck in one position and is/isn't making a popping sound! He won't even turn off when I press the pause button!A. Pleo's necks can get jammed from time to time. Again, this is more common during the younger stages of life, but can happen at any point. Normally, it is not a good idea to remove the battery while Pleo is operating, but in this case, it is your best option. Remove the battery as quickly as possible to prevent damage and restart the Pleo. Your RB should be working fine now, if not, it may have a snapped neck cable or a more serious jam.
Q. Help! My Pleo can’t move his leg at the knee/hip!A. Turn the Pleo off and manually move the leg until reaches the straight position if bent or bent position if straight (you should hear a click) and turn the Pleo back on again. If the leg is still acting odd, try petting it to determine whether the Pleo is just simulating an injury or is actually damaged. If it is just simulating an injury, the leg should still be able to move at all joints, but the Pleo may be hesitant to walk on it and will scream if you touch it. This is not an actual mechanical problem and can be solved by feeding your Pleo its rock salt for a couple battery cycles. However, a more serious problem in Pleo RBs is for one of the wires connecting to the potentiometer in the knee or hip to become detached. If your Pleo is not simulating an injury and can’t move his leg, this is likely what happened. This can easily be repaired with a soldering iron, but it is strongly recommended that if this happens to your Pleo while it is still under warranty that you return it.
Q. My Pleo RB won’t turn on and just keeps beeping. What do I do?A. The clock battery is probably not inserted correctly or not inserted at all. Remember that the big tab goes under the battery, but the two little tabs go over it.
Q. My Pleo RB's neck makes a soft crinkling noise when he moves it. Does this mean there's something wrong with the cables?A. Generally speaking, no. Some new RBs can make crinkling noises for the first few battery cycles that will go away once the Pleo reaches adulthood and generally don't present any problems.
Q. It’s only been a couple weeks and my Pleo’s skin is peeling already! Did I get a rip off or are all Pleos like this?A. If your Pleo is an original 2010 RB, lots of serious skin problems are likely and there isn’t much you can do about this aside from using products like Gibbs to try and keep the skin from drying up and cracking and updating the Pleo to the newest operating system so it goes into packing position when switched off instead of curling up which can damage the skin. Newer RBs have a tendency to all lose a certain flake of paint in the same spot on the same shoulder after the first two weeks of play. This is not a worrying sign and the problems generally won’t progress much more than this for around another year unless you are petting your Pleo very heavily and storing in somewhere very hot and dry. If you are worried about your Pleo’s skin, you can make or buy outfits for it to prevent wear and use products like Gibbs to keep the skin from drying out once the Pleo is no longer under warranty (using any product other than Pledge on a Pleo’s skin while it is under warranty will void the warranty, but I am personally not a fan of Pledge and have not seen any improvements from it).
Q. Why won’t my Pleo walk? He just stands there and makes the same few noises over and over.A. You’re Pleo is probably still in hatchling stage. It may take up to four or five full battery cycles for a Pleo to take its first steps, so please just give your little bot some time and he should be able to walk before you know it! Also remember that even when full grown, some RBs like to explore more than others and most will not walk if it is near their bed time.
Q. My Pleo keeps falling asleep with one beep and then waking up on his own again much later in the day. What do I do?A. You’re probably playing with your Pleo too close to its bed time. Press the button on his back right foot with a paper clip at the time of day when you want your Pleo to be most active. This time does not have to be noon for you, but the Pleo will see this time as the middle of the day and form its sleep/wake schedule around it. If the Pleo turns off with one beep and you do not want it to wake up again later on its own, turn the Pleo back on and then turn it off by pressing down the pause button.
Q. My Pleo is crying and shaking all of the time! Am I bad Pleo owner? Is there something wrong with my Pleo?A. The answers to these questions are no and no. Pleo RBs are very fussy creatures and there are a lot things that could be causing your bot’s sour mood. The most likely one is that the room is too dark for the Pleo and it is scared. In a dark room, a Pleo RB will whine, cry, shake and try to go to sleep. If this sounds like what your Pleo is doing, try to up the lighting in the room or move the Pleo to a brighter area. There is also a firmware patch that can be used to remove the software’s scared of the dark feature if the lighting in your house isn’t bright enough to accommodate your new bot. It is also possible that your Pleo has caught a cold (should be sneezing and coughing as well in this case) or that your Pleo is “injured” (should be holding up a leg and scream when you touch it). These can be healed with the mint leaf and rock salt items respectively and usually take about 2-4 battery cycles to go away. Your Pleo may also be upset if it hasn’t been fed in a long time. A common mistake is to only feed an RB once in a battery cycle while most need multiple feedings (offer the conifer leaf to your Pleo until it refuses it).
Q. My Pleo just sits there making noises and doesn’t do anything interesting. It is really boring, is this all it can do? A. Make sure the noon clock is set to the time when you want to play with the Pleo most, the Pleo is fully grown and that it is well fed and happy before making snap judgments about it because these things can greatly affect its behavior. Pleo isn’t meant to be able to do much in the sense of showing off or having lots of flashy tricks. It’s meant to mimic a living creature and provide a sense of company. If this isn’t what you were looking for, then Pleo may not be for you, however; there are more things to do with a Pleo than just sit there and watch it. If you’re finding yourself bored with your Pleo, but don’t want to give up on it quite yet, you can try holding the Pleo in your arms while watching TV or reading; taking the Pleo outside with you to public parks, museums or casual restaurants and watching reactions; and just leaving it running (supervised) in the background while you work on something else. Just remember to not leave your Pleo unsupervised for long periods of time because their tails and necks can easily get caught on obstacles and cause damage if no one is around to help.
Just post here if there is anything that you think should be added to this guide and I will add it. Also let me know if there are any changes that you think should be made. I didn't include more serious RB problems here since those are not common and are not generally what new owners are asking about, but I can add more general troubleshooting info here as well.
