Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Broken Beam?

Hi there,

Purchased a Prism 2 weeks ago... Last weekend I was printing via the IR without any problems.

This morning I was at work trying to beam Ababall over to a friend of mine's IIIc... The beam was interrupted, and from then on has not worked.

I made sure we both had beam receive "on" so that I could try sending/receiving from her. Nothing worked. I tried a Vx with the Prism... Nothing. The Vx with the IIIc worked no problem.

I also tried beaming just a business card, and nothing worked.

I tried numerous distances... nothing!

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm going to go home and try printing again using the PrintBoy suite... But even if that works, does that really solve anything?!?

Handspring advised that if it doesn't work to call them back and they'll ship out a new unit. My only worry is that I'll end up with a refurbished unit. Is there anything I can do about that?!?


TIA!

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

did you try a soft reset?

you don't have Norton AV for Palm installed by chance, do you? Sometimes NAV/Palm prohibits the beaming of apps.

Last edited by on 07-16-2001 at 11:57 PM

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

Try a soft reset to see if that helps. If that doesn't work, try a warm reset to disable any hacks and try beaming.

__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Smittyofdhs,

I wish I could tell you that I did, but, unfortunately I don't...

Mark,

I did both soft and warm. After the warm, I received the "Exchange Libraries" message... I then did a soft reset to correct that. Still nothing

Anything else I can try? I'm going to do a hard reset to see if that does anything, although, I'm beginning to think it might be a hardware problem...

Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

hmm. I've had a similer problem recently too - I was never able ot attirbute it to anyhting becuase I had so many beta's and other things running etc..etc..

1) Is their the option to have "yes" in the prefs program, under enable beam receive? If their isn't the only way I've found, is to do a hard reset. I have no clue why it happens, but it's the only way recently that I've been able to get it to work. It's happened twice to me - but as I said, I had a million of unstable things running so I had no clue what happened..

__________________
-miradu

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Miradu,

That's what I thought it... that perhaps running beta programs may have had something to do with it. I proved myself wrong. I did a hard reset, and only installed "PrintBoy" onto the Visor... I moved my backup directory so that no other files would be synched... Verdict: Still did not work...

I ended up calling Handspring... They're shipping me another unit (most likely a Refurb).

I'm still trying to figure out what it was... Is it a hardware issue? Could an IR fail after only being 2wks old?!?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shakes
I'm still trying to figure out what it was... Is it a hardware issue? Could an IR fail after only being 2wks old?!?

---

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Oakland, CA USA
Posts: 61

MarkEagle--a warm reset will turn off the ability to beam as well. (It will give you an error about exchange libraries.)

But its true that a lot of hacks interfere with beaming. I also think that Palms and Visors like a different distance for beaming. I've often found it tricky to beam between different devices.

As for hardware failures, I once had a Prism that was dropped on the corner near the IR window and stopped beaming. I opened it up and found that the IR module had been broken off at one solder point--it was simple to fix with a little help from a soldering iron. But before opening things up, I would make sure the IR isn't working at all (if it can receive a beam, it's ok).

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Yeah, I've heard about IR failing if the unit has been dropped. This unit was 2wks old, and hadn't even been bumped!

My old Deluxe was dropped a couple of times (once it flew across the room and slammed into my front door! ) and still had no problems beaming.

This one was printing via IR fine last weekend, and all of a sudden stopped sending/receiving and printing, altogether.

I would still like to know what it was. I was suggested to take a picture with a digital camera, while attempting to beam something, with the IR pointing directly at the lens. For some reason, you can actually see a light if it's taken with a camera. If there's no light, it means the device's IR is non-functional.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shakes
Miradu,

That's what I thought it... that perhaps running beta programs may have had something to do with it. I proved myself wrong. I did a hard reset, and only installed "PrintBoy" onto the Visor... I moved my backup directory so that no other files would be synched... Verdict: Still did not work...

I ended up calling Handspring... They're shipping me another unit (most likely a Refurb).

I'm still trying to figure out what it was... Is it a hardware issue? Could an IR fail after only being 2wks old?!?

---

Sometimed draining the batteries works. After a hard reset, the system still saves the time and date, and sometimes saves the problem causing thing. If you want, leave it running with .3 to disable auto-off. It should run out of juice overnight and resort to complete factory settings, not knowing the time.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Thunderbird,

Is that option 3 still possible on a Prism? Even though it would restore it to factory default, if the IR is faulty, it wouldn't make much a difference, would it? You think it could be somehow tied into the software?

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shakes
Thunderbird,

Is that option 3 still possible on a Prism? Even though it would restore it to factory default, if the IR is faulty, it wouldn't make much a difference, would it? You think it could be somehow tied into the software?

---

Sorry for being confusing, but what I meant was is to turn on the Prism, go into Memo Pad, go into a new memo and write .3
Then, leave the Prism on until the battery completely drains. It's somewhat risky, but it should delete absolutely everything except the OS. Once you recharge, it will become like the day you bought it, asking for the date and time, etc. Although it appears to do what a hard reset does, a hard reset sometimes doesn't delete everything. It is a little risky, but if you are going to get a replacement it doesn't matter. It's worked for other problems. It could be either a hardware problem or a software problem, so you might as well just try this, if you have time. I think it's a software problem since you didn't drop it. Let me know what happens.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Thunderbird,

No... I did understand! I just wasn't sure if the Prism could actually benefit from that... But I guess a power drain is a power drain is a power drain!

I will do that tonight... You're absolutely right, I have nothing to lose... I'll let you know the outcome. I don't know what to hope for. If it's a hardware issues, I'll receive a replacement (most likely a refurb), if it's a software issue, I'll have to figure out what program is causing the problem.

Thanks for the suggestion!

It's gonna be a long night!

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

Shakes-

How'd it go? You have updated us yet,

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

Update:

- I did a hard reset... nothing
- drained the battery, installed nothing but PrintBoy... nothing
- Called HS Tech Support, attempted their workarounds (which, may I add, had already been done )... Called back a second time, was advised they were shipping me a replacement
- Received the new unit, performed a backup using PiBackup... FLAWLESS!
- Attempted an IR Print... nothing... but... joy!

I guess it was a faulty IR from the first device. I still can't explain it, the unit was only 2 weeks old, and had been working the week before. I thought it may have been the 1.4 update, but the update is also on my new machine, and working fine. ???

How's that for an update?!

I wanted to thank everyone for their help and suggestions! It was much appreciated!

Shakes

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

Well, then sorry for pushing you to a battery reset. Oh well, but I'm glad you got a working visor one way or another.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 75

I'm actually glad that you suggested it... I mean, afterall, if a hard reset doesn't actually "hard reset" the device, then what else are we supposed to resort to?

Thanks again! I'm glad as well!