Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Las Pinas, Manila, Philippines
Posts: 35

Hey guys, I got my Visor December of last year. Not to brag, I was already carrying my Visor everywhere and have been preaching the gospel of the Springboard technology long before most people here heard of it. I raved about how cool the Visor is to anybody who cared and as a result of this, three friends of mine who were considering getting Palms went out to purchase Visors instead.

I was so enamored of the Visor that I glossed over some points which are, on hindsight, fatal. I'm beginning to think that in an effort to take the handheld market by storm by being the cheapest brand around, Handspring cut corners every chance it got.

But whereas before I stupidly thought that Visor's shortcomings were just skin deep, I'm not so sure about it now.

To explain everything, here is my email to Handspring, which, incidentally, they have ignored so far. Its "we will try to respond within 24 hours" line is crap. Believe me.

I'm Franklin dela Cruz from Manila, Philippines.
Up until now I have been a rabid Visor fan.
In fact, my raving caused no less than three
of my friends to go get themselves Visors notwidthstanding the extreme difficulty
of doing so in this part of the world. They were supposed to purchase Palm IIIc's but I convinced them that Visors were better buys.
I really don't want to change my mind about your company!!!

Please help me out!







My Visor Deluxe won't respond at all.
Last Friday, I noticed that it had become slow and sluggish in
recognizing my handwriting and opening applications.
I deleted recent and old apps that I suspected to have capability
od wreaking havoc with the Visor's operations. No dice.
I then performed soft resets numerous times. It would cure the
problem for a while but it would be back with a vengeance.
In desperation, I finally did a hard reset. IT MADE MATTERS WORSE!
Now I couldn't get past the digitizer tests!
Please help! This unit is only nine months old. HOW COULD IT BE
BROKEN ALREADY???!!!!!

PLEASE HELP ME!

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

have you tried to sync and then remove the battery for 15+ minutes?
That should fix any (software related) problem... if it is still not working, you have a hardware problem. Contact Handspring (by phone to be sure...)

If it is working after that it is software, sync again and if the problem returns it is one (or more) of you apps... remove the batteries agian and start loading the apps one by one to see which one is the problem... I know this takes forever, but is the only way to find out...

p.s. I moved the thread to How To/ Troublshooting..

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Las Pinas, Manila, Philippines
Posts: 35

DONE THAT

I've tried everything but recite vodoo incantations.
Man, I have never had this problem with my old Palm III, which received far worse battering than this...this...jerrybuilt <edited..> called the Visor.
To those thinking about getting one, think twice. My friends who I have suckered into buying Visors are hopping mad at me and mighty afraid their units will be the next to die.

Would you happen to know Handspring's international toll-free number? I don't intend to let these jokers get away with this so easily.

Thanks a lot.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

for hardware problems look here:
http://www.handspring.com/support/repairs.jhtml

Also take a look here

I'm sure your problem is a unique case... I understand your frustration but 1 bad unit does not make the complete productline 'suck'....

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Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Franklin:

I understand your frustration, but I would mention two things:

1) I've never heard of your problem before, so this is probably a unique case.

2) If Handspring does not officially sell their product in your region of the world, then you can't necessarily be upset with them for bad support in your region.

That said, they SHOULD answer email (a lot of big companies don't, which makes me wonder why they have email addresses in the first place) and you should expect SOME sort of response/support for your problem.

I wish you luck. Do let us know what happens!

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: PARK FOREST IL USA
Posts: 7

I had the same problem and it drove me crazy. it took better than a week end to get it to work correctly. I removed the batterys for 3 or 4 hrs and resynced all my devices. sidekick, palmdesktop, truesync. didn't do any good. to make aa long story short. I deleted and reinstalled truesync etc. on my computor, this ended up elimnating my slow problem. the onlything i can think of is that something got corrupted.

frank

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frank

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Las Pinas, Manila, Philippines
Posts: 35

THANKS FRANK!!!

Frank,

Your suggestion just might work. Thanks a lot.
I'll let you know what happens.
Pardon my ignorance but just what is truesync?
Thanks again.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Las Pinas, Manila, Philippines
Posts: 35

Just my luck, eh, Toolkit?
I understand some people still are very much enamored with
their Visors. I just hope this problem does not happen to any one of guys or I just know you'll curse the day Jeff and Donna left Palm.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Climax, MI
Posts: 15

I had similar problems just recently. Everything would slow down to the point of not being able to write or change apps or even hotsync. My screen would flicker really bad and it even wiped out all the data on my backup module!

I did a hard reset (again)and left the batteries out for about 24 hours last weekend. The problem hasn't reared it's ugly head again (yet).

I think that something in the system got corrupted because the problem started after loading several new programs into it and even though I deleted them all my problem stayed and progressively got worse.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

i just had a thought...there is that problem with the PalmOS which causes shortcuts to be duplicated every reset and i remember reading somewhere that this slowed down the system...would A LOT of these really slow down the system? Would a program like DBScan (which eliminates the duplicated shortcuts) solve this problem? The fact that the problem kept getting worse and worse and after removing the batteries for so long it wiped out all the duplicate shortcuts????

Just a thought.

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Stealth-Mod.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Las Pinas, Manila, Philippines
Posts: 35

Hoser_in_USA:
I remember that whenever I tried to capitalize my letters by doing the two upward strokes, my Visor would act really weird like bringing up the security application or the graffiti help screen. Could the digitizer be misreading my strokes as shortcuts?

On second thought, even the hard buttons have militated against me and wouldn't respond.

Everybody:

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'm trying them all out and will let you know whose brilliant idea does the trick of bringing back my Visor to life.

I swear, my old Palm III never gave me this problem. I feel like a total sucker for trading it for the Visor. I'm not done with Handspring yet. I have a feeling that mine's not the only lemon out there. Give it a little more time and we'll be hearing a babel of similar complaints.

Again, could anybody give me HS's international toll-free numbe?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

---

Originally posted by Franklin dela Cruz

Again, could anybody give me HS's international toll-free numbe?

---

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: PARK FOREST IL USA
Posts: 7

answer what is true sync

true sync is a conduit used by sidekick pim. it is a program to tie sidekick, palmdesktop etc. so that you transfer data.
I hope you get your VDX going.

frank

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frank

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 2

regarding the hangup problems

I have been having the same problem. It also started after installing new applications. I think it may have been Hack Master, in particular the Eco-Hack. I use the Visor more than most, and I have Vindigo and AvantGo, so when I HotSync it eats up batteries.

This morning, while it was hanging up, I managed to get to the datebook and watched in utter amazement as the Visor selected several different times, bouncing from one to another. After a few minutes of doing this, it stopped. I think there was some sort of application that is in the memory (hidden) and it is trying to "do" something. I also noticed it sometimes would scroll through documents while I was reading on either AvantGo or AportisDoc.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

overclocking

Did you use any overclocking utilities (they shall fasten the system by increasing the tact rate)???

I read that the processor gets to hot after using them. Sometimes it never seems to happen, sometimes it happens just some weeks (or months) after the first use.

As long as the unit is too hot, the device won't work correctly or even get damaged.

The device is never really powered off, just send to sleep mode where it consumes less power. But it can't cool down enough in this mode. This explains why
a.)No reset works (and it gets worse as longer the device is used)
b.)Taking out the batteries for a long time works

So NEVER USE ANY OVERCLOCKING UTILITIES - Heat shortens the lifetime of any electronic device, if not killing it before...

Please tell me if you use an overclocking utility (to see if this or something else caused the problem).

Cu
zap!

Registered: May 2000
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 20

Is it possible that this is a palmos virus? I have heard that they exist but don't know what they do or how to fix them.

Zap7: Where did you hear that? I know that it applies to normal cpu's but are you sure the same apply to palm CPUs as well?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

Hot CPU

A virus should be killed by hard reset...
As far as I know, there's only one known (...) virus out there: A special version of liberty. It seems to be a crack for a gameboy emulator, but it deletes all data...

Back to the cpu: Jeff Kirvin has released an ebook with lots of experience, hard- and software tips for palm and visor, and he described that he knows people who had the problem. ( http://www.jeffkirvin.com/writingonyourpalm/ )
I currently study information technology (or at least the German name for this - i tried to translate it ;-) ) and it seems very logical to me that the Motorola Dragonball also has problems when overclocked, as most electronics (I worked for a PC Service company, and on hot summer days there were more probs with normal PCs than on other days... really! OK, but the summer issue is not important for the palm, I think).

So Palm-CPUs can get too hot when overclocked.
There's also a reason why the visor is more sensible for this than the palm III: The visor ist 58% faster then the PalmIII because they optimized the OS (for Desktop PCs, there's an opposite program: CPUIdle sends the CPU to sleepmode when theres not much systemload, so they will be slower - you wont realize it, when you need more power cpuidle switches off- but it doesn't get so hot and doesn't consume so much power. I've tried it on my notebook, and I didn't hear the temparatue controlled fan anymore expect when I was watching DVDs...), so it could be that the visor overheats faster when overclocked.

SO I'm very interested in the fact if the people who face this problem have overclocked their system because of three reasons:
1.) To help them and help others that this doesn't happen again
2.) To find out if its a generell hardware problem of any visor regardless the software you use
3.) If so: Find out if it's really a heat problem (and the solution would be to leave the batteries out for 12 hours every two month or so)...

Again: I think it's a very strange problem and the heat-explanation is the only one that seems logical to me.
(Sorry for the long statement and if my English wasn't understandable for a non-German all the time)
cu
zap

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

Re: Hot CPU

quote:

---

Originally posted by zap7
So Palm-CPUs can get too hot when overclocked.
There's also a reason why the visor is more sensible for this than the palm III: The visor ist 58% faster then the PalmIII because they optimized the OS

---

You might be on to something, Handspring has shortened the 'wait-states' on the Visor to make it faster. This is a great idea but in some circumstances it could hypothetically lead to problems in extreme circumstanses...
the wait-states are build in as a security...

Do the people who are experiencing the problems live in hot/damp area's??

quote:

---

(Sorry for the long statement and if my English wasn't understandable for a non-German all the time)
cu
zap

---

your english was perfecly clear to me (said the dutch guy )

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Las Pinas, Manila, Philippines
Posts: 35

Zap7:

Elated at the possibility of being able to squeeze more juice from my batteries, I once installed EcoHack. Sadly, I never had the chance to find out whether it extended battery life because the moment it started screwing up my Visor's speed, i nuked it.

That was four months ago.

Could it have heated up my processor so much as to have caused damage???


Also, one "battery-replacement" before this problem started, I noticed that the triple A's went down to zero voltage much much more quickly than normal. I did not give it too much thought then but after your posts, I'm thinking: could that be the harbinger of doom?? Could rapid loss of voltage damage the Visor?


Toolkit,
Yes, the Philippines is as temperate as they come. It's hot. It's damp. It's trying even the patience of people who've lived here all their lives.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

temperature

Uh, Franklin, that sounds bad.

First I have to say: I know about hardware and have long experience with strange behaviour of desktop PCs, but
I'm not a PDA engineer, so what I write NOW is just a thought of me and may be wrong:

1.) I don't think using overclocking for just a very short time will cause damage. But, however, it is possible, especially in a very hot and damp environment.

2.)Humidity and heat are killers for electronic devices...
So maybe the Visor works just fine in good cold ;-) Germany and some others countries, while it has problems with extrem climate. Because it has the changing in the waitstates it gets confused easier than "real" Palms.

What you reported is just a single case. The question is:
What about the others who had this problem?

Did taking out the batteries for a long time (while leaving the visor in a cold room, if you have an air conditioned room or something like this) work for you?

Still I think that every other explanation fails to describe why:
1.) A hardreset doesn't work (it should eliminate all software problems)
2.) Leaving out the batteries for 12 hours does work in most cases for other people (a permanent hardware damage should not be fixed by this)

The only difference between a hardreset and leaving the visor without batteries for some hours should be, as far as I know, that the device is really completely off in the latter case.
If you leave the batteries in, only the screen is off. The RAM gets refreshed, the processor is busy by looking for the next alarm to pop up and so on....

What worries me is that your last batterie set was down to zero that fast... I think THIS really sounds like hardware damage that could be permanent...

So: What about your device now? Did the batterie trick work? Have you called handspring?