Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Warren, OH, USA
Posts: 57

opening your Prism

As far as I can tell, there is no way to tell if a unit has been opened up or not so your warranty should not be affected at all. Having had mine open, it is a very easy process. Again, make sure the plug from the battery to the board is firmly in place.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 242

I've noticed this sudden drop off after recharging, too, and I've been wondering whether constantly topping off shortens the ability of the battery to hold a charge.

I'm glad I'm not alone.

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 60

Well, before I go any farther, let's establish this: I am not an expert. I may be a geek, and I've built my own desktop PC from the parts on up, but I am not an expert on battery memory, life, or handhelds in general.

Now, on with the show:
It may be a battery memory issue, but if so, I don't know why it's not affecting all Prisms.

The first Prism I had had no battery life issues at all. This one (a replacement for dead power light) does.

I tried opening it and plugging it in snug, but it wasn't loose. -sigh- so that didn't help.

I'll make this post long and dull, but here's the cut-n-paste from my memopad:
These measurements were taken 10 minutes apart
bat at 76%
72%
72%
68%
69%
67%
20 minutes later
56%
--. -- --
Recharge. These measurements were taken 20 minutes apart
100%
98%
96%
96%
95%
95%
91%
93%
96%
95%
91%
90%
92%
90%
92%
89%
---------
Recharge. 30 minutes apart
"fix" - every 30 min
96%
90%
84%
78%
74%
74%

I put it in the cradle for a few moments to sync and get this memo. Now the battery reads 84%. It just dropped to 83% after I turned the thing on to read it. -sigh-

I'm going to do a hard reset tonight, recharge it overnight, and then see.

If that doesn't help,
-ring-ring-
"Hello, Handspring Tech Support"
"Send me a replacement."

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: wellington, fl. usa
Posts: 19

i was having the same problem with my prism about a week ago. talked to tech. support and they told me to do a soft reset while the prism was in the hot sync cradle. i did it, and it worked. i haven't had a problem since. my led blinks as its charging.

one question, though. did anyone else having the problem have the travel charger( with 4 aaa batteries)?
terry

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 242

I first noticed the problem WITH the 4 AAAA emergency charger.

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Clarksville, VA, USA
Posts: 74

The green LED charging light stopped blinking about two months ago even though the Prism continued to charge.

However on a business trip last week I was using the Emergency Charger (aka 4 AA charger) with some not-so-fresh batteries and end up having the charging difficulties described in this thread. A soft reset corrected the problem, but the led is still dead.

David T. Gillis

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 60

Terry465:

Just to clarify,

Did the soft reset in the cradle fix the LED not lighting or the battery not recharging/dropping fast?

My Prism Battery stayed at 100% for a few hours today, then dropped 7% in 20 minutes of use today. (sigh). If anybody cares (or even if they don't, heh heh heh), I'll post the rest of my battery level measurements later.

I just wish I had a simple answer as to what's doing it. Is the battery bad? Is there something else wrong?

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 3

Battery meter software??

Hey All,

Sorry if this is common info, but how do you folks monitor battery level?
Am I missing something basic, or is there 3rd party battery monitoring s/w?

TIA, DatHead

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Seattle, Washington
Posts: 293

press up button and hold it!
use your stylus and press the battery icon.
Good Luck

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I Love My Prism!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 242

I use "launch 'em," which gives me the option of monitoring battery use by voltage or percent.

I am concluding incidentally that the PRISM does not reliably report battery stats. Yesterday, for instance while it was reading 36%, I got the typical warning that my batteries were low and I should recharge. That shouldn't happen at 36%. Also, after recharging, it kept indicating 36% for awhile, finally, begrudgingly popping up after a couple of uses.

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 52

Replacement for No Charging Problem

I am very thankful for this site. I've had a couple of occasions where neither the cradle nor the portable charger would charge my Prism -- just a solid light. Two resets were also ineffective. It finally worked after a 3rd warm reset. I am so glad to know that this is not isolated to my unit. A call today to Handsprings will result in a replacement within 5 days.

It seems to be working right now but I can't risk a permanent no-charge situation. Hopefully my replacement will not have the (1) paint problem, (2) scroll button problem, (3) worse digitizer problem , etc. etc.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 4

battery coda

I posted on this thread sometime ago, and it may interest those facing a similar problem to know that:

Handspring replaced my Prism. New Prism did not charge either.

Kept old, beloved Prism, received new cradle from Handspring. (Tech help just sighed, asked for address.)

Problem apparently solved, albeit w/o losing substantial data and most of the address book.

Good luck.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Posts: 4

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mark Squires
[B]I use "launch 'em," which gives me the option of monitoring battery use by voltage or percent.

Another app you can use is GoBar by Aladdin Systems (www.aladdinsys.com). I have used this to get 1) a rough visual indicator of the current level, 2) tap the 3D battery icon once and get the %, 3) tap again and get current voltage, 4) tap again and the icon changes to a "RAM" chip visual indicator of remaining RAM (duh), 5) tap again and get the same "RAM" chip icon + number of K free (whew!).

Funny thing is, this app was upgraded recently and it seemed that my Prism lacked "stamina" afterwards. This could be far-fetched, but when they say, "your actual mileage may vary," is battery life a product of what kinds and how many apps are installed on your machine, even if they are not being used extensively?

I am also using the 16 MB Hagiwara module, and it doesn't seem to be a power sucker, but maybe I should go back to my 8 MB module for comparison.

One last thing, thanks akur for yet another undocumented tip! After trying akur's tip, my Prism indicates one figure, GoBar another. Go figure?

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 77

Recharge problems as well

I got my prism just around the time they came out, now yesterday im running into the prob where the light stays green and doesnt blink, plus the % dropped in jumps. It does charge but very slowy. Had it charging for 10 hours and still didnt get a full charge.

I have an email out to handspring, i hope im not due for a sendback but if I am it wont be that bad being im waiting to get the memplug and ill send my prism back once I do a back up on it. SO ill get all my old settings back I hope.

BTW, i too have an eye module 2. I left it in ever since I got it.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Europe
Posts: 1

quote:

---

Originally posted by docdean
One last thing, thanks akur for yet another undocumented tip! After trying akur's tip, my Prism indicates one figure, GoBar another. Go figure?

---

Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 11

Tech labs charger with 4AAs

The Tech labs charger with 4AAs seemed to spawn the battery problem for me as well. I would place in cradle and light would not blink and the gauge would read rully charged. I would remove from the cradle and the gauge dropped down to 50% or so, and then would keep heading down. I called Handspring and they shipped out replacement. However, the Prism discharged completely, hard reset, and the problem was gone. When the new unit arrived its charging light was completely out so I am sending the "new" one back and keeping the current unit and hoping this problem does not come back. Has anyone heard from Handspring or Tech Labs regarding the 4 AA unit and this problem?

Interested to hear because I love the utility of the charger but if it causes this headache...we'll see.

Reid

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 77

Charger problem update

Well I reported my Prism wasnt charging. I did a soft reset and all is fine "for now"

(Wipes brow)

If I run into it again ill be sure to post. Thanks for everyones input on how to fix it.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Virginia
Posts: 3

Weird Problem

I've had my Prism 3 weeks and love it. Tonight it wouldn't charge on USB cradle. I checked connections but it didn't feel like it was sitting firmly on the cradle. Wouldn't hot sync either. After reading this thread I compared it with my daughter's Deluxe and the little connections had retracted up into the Prism. I tried to gently pry them downward but that didn't work. Finally had to take out those 4 little screws in the back. The connection had completely come loose and the connector thingy was just flopping around inside. I had to reseat two little black pegs onto the board. I don't have a clue if this will be a permanent fix or if the thing will migrate out again, but the whole connector seemed very insubstantial from the inside. Once I reseated and rescrewed all worked fine. I think I might be a little less happy with my Prism and now I'll be worried that it is going to happen again.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Texas
Posts: 47

Problems with travel charger too

I've had my Prism a few months now with no problems in charging. I bought the travel charger for a trip this past week and have charging problems ever since. The first charges witht he charger were fine, the light blinked and the prism's battery charged. Then the light went on continuously, so I threw out the batteries and replaced them. I haven't been able to charge the prism since - either using the travel charger or the USB cradle.

I'm frustrated. But thank God I had the foresight to get a backup module...

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: wellington, fl. usa
Posts: 19

snippet. i had the same problem also. put your prism in the hot sync cradle where you normally charge it and do a soft reset on it. ( it's somewhat awkward, you have to put your reset pin into the little whole on the back of the prism while its sitting in the cradle.) it works.


terry