Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Sayre, PA
Posts: 39

Neo hard resets itself when batteries are changed

My neo developed a nice quirk. After I change the batteries the unit locks up and can only be restarted by reseting the unit. Unfortunately this is a hard reset and it wipes the unit memory. Yes I tried the trick of removing one battery at a time and no I am not wait ing too long to change my batteries. I called Visor Tech support and their tech in very broken english thought it could be from a third party piece of software that has corrupted my Neo. They offered to replace the Neo if I send it back to them. If I was willing to pay them $25.00 then they would immediately send me a new Visor and a prepaid mailing envelope. I thought that was little steep and declined. The tech did say that I should not just reinstall my existing backups on the new Neo because I could corrupt the new one too. Uhh ok so I should find out what software is doing this and not reinstall it on my Visor. His english was not good enough to explain how I should accomplish this though. I also would not like to be without my Visor for more then a week. Any ideas if it is possible to remove the offense third party software from my Visor and keep from shipping my Neo to Kentucky. Also is the tech right or is he just accomplishing a quick fix because he didn't know the answer and maybe someone here does.

Thanks

Bob

__________________
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
- David Byrne

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 65

Sigh...I just had a nice long reply and blew it away by hitting an extra escape character...

Now you get the abbreviated version

A. Find out if you need a new Neo or not
1) backup in your normal way
2) hard reset
3) DO NOT hotsync or do any other restore
4) make sure it works fine
5) change the batteries
If you Neo needs a hard reset, you need to have it replaced.

If not, then you need to

B. Figure out which app is the offending one.
1) find your ...Palm\<YourName>\Backup directory and rename it to something (so that when you hotsync, you wont' get everything restored)
2) add one app at a time, changing batteries after each addition
3) when the problem reappears, you've found the offending app (let everyone else know what it is

The above assumes that the problem occurs whenever you change the batteries and not just when they NEED to be changed. You might want to try that first.

I'd try hacks and other system software (like keyboard drivers)first, since they are most likely to cause the problem.

Good Luck

Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Singapore
Posts: 174

Erm, I thought that you have to change the batteries really quick?

Something like under a minute...

How bout trying what dessa has mentioned. And if it doesnt work, try my method.

Hope it works.

cheers
/andre.

__________________
my little webby
I still love my Visor Prism

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Sayre, PA
Posts: 39

thanks for the help

Sounds like a plan I will try it this afternoon. Thanks for your help.

__________________
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
- David Byrne

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

The batteries are wired in series, meaning leaving one installed while changing the other has no effect whatsoever. As soon as one is removed, the circuit is cut and the Visor stops receiving power. The onboard capacitors are supposed to provide power for approximately one minute.

I've found that placing the Visor face down on a folded towel or piece of foam helps prevent any of the buttons (especially UP) from being accidentally pressed which may lead to a reset. Also, make sure that you return to the main launcher screen and power off before removing the batteries.

Lockups and resets can also be caused by battery monitoring apps that automatically detect changes of batteries.

__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Sayre, PA
Posts: 39

thanks Mark

Don't think I am pressing any buttons accidently, changed the batteries on my deluxe sucessfully for two years. I do return to a main screen and shut the power off to therunit before I change the batteries. I am using launchem II and maybe it has a problem with a Neo, never caused a problem with the deluxe. Staring to sound more and more like a bad capacitor.

Thanks again

Bob

__________________
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
- David Byrne

Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Singapore
Posts: 174

I have no idea guys, because when I first removed my batteries when I got my Visor, I removed two at the same time, and that caused a hardreset.

Therefore, from that incident, I only replaced one at a time. I cannot afford to lose any of my data... despite owning a Backup Module and hotsyncing almost daily.

__________________
my little webby
I still love my Visor Prism