Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 9

Please help. My Visor Deluxe seem to have a bad contact somewhere inside. What should I do?

Yesterday, the screen became all black. After replacing the batteries, trying reset etc, I removed the batteries. After re-installing batteries in the morning and turning the Handhel on, the screen is blank ("white"), sometimes with a horizontal black line. I could perform the HotSync (and restore the Visor's contents.)

However, the screen contents become visible and the Handheld works if I apply slight pressure on the left part of the case, sort of "fron-to-back" squeeze the unit together on the left side of the case! When I remove the pressure, the screen turns blank again.

It seems there is a bad contact somewhere inside. I tried to tighten the two little bolts on the back bottom -- no change.

Please help! I am an electronic engineer, so I guess I could fix a poor contact -- with some detailed instructions how to open the case and where to look for a bad contact.

Lubos in the Texas Hill Country part of Austin.

Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 118

Are you under warranty?

I had the same problem with my original Ice deluxe. I called Handspring support and had them send me a new one. Its a physical defect, I suspect its a bad trace or poor solder joint somewhere on the connection betweeen the digitizer and the main board.

If you're not still covered, try anyway. Handspring support has been very understanding when I've had to call. It also helps if you haven't *dropped* the visor or otherwise abused it.

Cheers and best of luck,

Tucson Sailors

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 9

Dear Tuscon Sailor,
thanks for your tips. My Visor is out of warranty, but I will call the Handspring Support. That's what Handspring people suggested, too, in a reply to my email - after suggesting the basic steps such as "fresh battery", "Restart" etc.

Cheers, Lubos

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 216

Return it...

Yes, call Handspring and exchange it.

It's not a loose contact in the traditional sense of the word. I've opened up my Visor Deluxe and examined it in detail. I'm also an EE and I have designed gadgets with LCDs similar to the Visor's.

There are no connectors to the LCD along the left edge of the Visor/screen. What is there however is a very fragile flexible circuit board that is soldered down to the PCB directly under the LCD glass and that then wraps around the left edge of the board and glass to connect to the LCD glass on top. Also on that flex circuit is a rectangular chip that is one of the LCD driver chips.

What probably happened to your Visor is that the flex circuit has been damaged. All it takes is a slight "crimp" in the flex circuit to break a trace. A design that I worked on in the past once had the exact same problem you describe because the plastic case was designed wrong and a screw boss hit the flex circuit, put a crimp in it, and broke traces on the flex. You can't fix this kind of failure. The entire LCD (or the entire Visor) must be replaced.

The problem could also be the elastomeric conector that connects the flex circuit to the LCD glass. Again, this is simply not repairable. It needs to be replaced.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Posts: 44

might be cheapest option to break your screen

Assuming it is just an LCD connection, it might be the cheapest option to have Handspring replace the screen for the repair fee if you are out of warranty. You get a different Visor identical to your one back. When they replace broken screens, the whole LCD assembly and glass digitizer gets swapped out - that's why it costs quite a few dollars.