Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 2

Prism won't charge - tried everything

I have been a happy Prism owner for almost 18 months, but now it appears that my Prism has died suddenly.

I was on a trip last weekend and tried to use my travel charger but it would not charge at all.

Got home and my Prism wouldn't charge on the cradle either.

Researched message boards and handspring technical support.

1. soft reset
2. in cradle reset
3. system reset
4. hard reset
5. even took off cover, disconnected battery and reconnected, then represted 1, 2, 4 above....
6. Checked voltage between pins 4 & 7 on cradle - worked fine at 6v!

Symptoms:
A. Never get lightning bolt
B. Charge never seems to go up (at about 15% though indicates 3.65V)
C. If I keep it in the cradle it seems to keep working but the charge level isn't moving up at all.

My battery had been working just fine and I didn't drop or abuse the Prism. I thought I had read somewhere about a connector coming loose but I don't see where that might have happened when I opened up the Prism.

Handspring charges $20 for tech support and I don't want to pay $20 just to be told I have to toss it out or pay for repair. Does anyone know if Handspring will repair/replace due to this problem even if out of warranty.

Again, I think I have tried all steps mentioned and have run out of ideas. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

Run down the batteries to where the prism turns off by its self then charge it overnight Well thats My 2 cents

Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 2

tried that

Thanks for the tip - I ran down the batteries (wow it took forever playing bejeweled after all the warnings) and put the prism in the charger overnight.

Went to turn it on this morning and the guage is still virtually empty.

It seems as if the rechargable battery has actually died suddenly. I say this because the Prism works fine in its charging base but the charge will not increase.

I got a price quote of almost $60 from gethightech.com for a new battery - doesn't seem worth it for an 18 month old prism. Any other suggestions?!?!

Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 118

Battery

Try battery factory (nationwide chain) they *claim* to be able to replace any sort of battery - either order it or make it for you. The prism battery is a removable, and has quick disconnect clips.

By the way, if they *can* please post this fact. With the discontinuation of the prism line by handspring, there will be a lot of folks who will be interested.

Also, so long as you're there asking about it, you might want to see if they can build a *bigger* capacity battery into the same form factor. It wouldn't necessarily have to be li-ion, could be NiMH instead.

Good luck and Cheers!

Tucson Sailors