[Gen9, Gen10 General] 55mls:
Charging Archos tablets has always seemed to be a bit mess up, but with the 4.0.2x firmware it's gotten totally idiotic. Hopefully Archos will release a newer firmware that fixes this (and also gets rid of that TOTALLY STUPID "indexing" crap that should never ever have been in things to start with...idiotic morons).

Anyway, to get around the flaw with charging here is what I've been doing... actually, more like what I've always been doing, but for some reason nobody else ever does...

0) Do NOT try to charge from a computer USB connection unless you ABSOLUTELY do not have the proper Archos charger. Even then it's still rather foolish and will take forever. So, just DON'T DO IT.

1) Wake up the tablet and/or unlock it so that you are at the home screen. Let it sit for a while and check if the WiFi indicator shows it is connecting and/or syncing, whatever. If/when it's done with that then continue...

2) Plug the USB cable into the Archos charger, and plug the charger into the wall power outlet. Then plug the other end into the microUSB connector on the G9 tablet (of course, the 250GB HD models don't do it this way, but anyway...).

3) Wait a few seconds and watch and see if it shows it is shows it is charging, or if it is shows "slow" charging. If it is in slow charge mode it very likely is not really charging at all. Just unplug the microUSB cable, wait a few seconds, and plug it in again. Do not rush this step. You may have to repeat it a couple of times, but usually it will show fast charge without any further repeats.

4) Now, just do a short quick tap on the power button to put the tablet into sleep mode, and then JUST LEAVE IT ALONE and let it charge. This is where many people seem to just mess up the charging!

If you keep messing around with the tableit, pressing the power button, etc. all you do is confuse the whole system (on top of Archos having royally botched the software for how charging should work in most of their firmware). Just leave the thing alone and let it charge until the power LED starts blinking. Then you can do whatever you want again.

Using the Archos charger, it will normally take about 1 hour for ever 20% of battery charge. Example: If the battery is at 40% it will take about 3 hours to charge up to 100%. From 0 to 100 will take at least 5 hours (very likely longer if you let the battery go that dead).

Do NOT press and hold the power button to ever shut down the tablet while it is plugged in for charging. It WILL warn you that if it shuts down it will not charge. Why so many people can not understand that is beyond me. If you actually try to turn off (or even reboot) while it is plugged in to charge then the whole system, including the charging circuit, will totally shut down (even if the power LED is stays on, it is NOT going to charge in this way). Which is why I repeat, just leave it alone, don't mess with it, and just let it charge. The less YOU mess around with it the faster it WILL charge. Just leave it alone OK.

I've seen some people say they could charge from 80% to 100% from a computer USB connection and that is totally bogus (not to mention totally impossible). That is just one of the flaws in the Archos firmware and you can not trust any such indication at all.

If you ever do see such wild and drastic changes in battery charge level (either upward while charging, or downward while using), then you really should unplug the charger, press and hold the power button to force a complete and total reset and shutdown. Wait about 10 or 15 seconds to let the power drain out of the memory circuits, and then start the tablet up again.

Seems like there are a lot of people with the child in a car syndrome problem "are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet...", and try the same with their Archos tablets by constantly hitting the power button to check if it is charge yet, or trying to do other things, then hit the power button to go back into sleep, then hit it again to check the charge level, and repeat it over and over. BELIEVE ME, none of the Archos firmware (very likely no other Android firmware for that matter) can actually handle all those constant interruptions and still correctly charge the battery.

If you start your car, drive one block, then turn it off, and the keep repeating doing that how far do you really think you will get before the battery in you car goes dead from NOT having enough time to charge properly?