Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Alexandria, VA, USA
Posts: 4

Changing batteries forcing hard reset?

For some reason, occasionally when I change batteries (about 33% of the time), my visor will lock up on the reset "palm OS" screen. It will just keep blinking the Palm OS logo, and only a hard reset will bring it back to life.

Has anyone else noticed this problem, or something similar? If so, any fixes? I have the sinking suspicion this may be a "return to Handpsing" proble, but I figured I would ask here first. Thanks!

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 33

Sooo, when you change your batteries you get a palm reset screen? That right there seems a bit odd. Has this always happened?

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It's a John Woo movie. Even the soundtrack will be violent.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Alexandria, VA, USA
Posts: 4

Oops . . . actually, I skipped a step. When I replace the batteries, the Visor won't turn on. So I hit the soft reset button, and THEN it gets stuck on the reset screen. And it hasn't been happening that long . . . . in fact, I believe it started shortly after I started using NIMH batteries. But not for a little while . . . it was working fine when I started using them. And now it only happens about 1/3 the time. Has anyone else noted this kind of problem with NIMH?

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 33

I haven't had any experience with those types of batteries, I haven't made the switch to rechargables yet, but let me throw some ideas out there. Are you using a couple of sets of batteries? If so you might have a set that has lost its ability to hold a good charge which could explain why the Visor does not want to normally start. This could also explain why it only happens a 1/3rd of the time since maybe only one set has gone bad. So if you can identify what set tends to cause this problem replace them with some new batteries and see what happens.

You could also check the change of the batteries using a gauge from a non-rechargable pack of batteries, at least they used to have a gauge in the pack before they went to having them on the battery. This would give you a idea of how charged the batteries are which may point to a bad set.

Just some thoughts.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 2

Replacing Batteries, have to reset

It is happening to me too. I'm using different batteries each time. I replace one at a time as quick as I can, then it does'nt power on until I hit the reset button thru the back of the unit.

At first I thought it might be the sping wire contacts on the positive side of the battery holder. I used a small screwdriver and bent them every so lightly outwards towards the battery just to make sure the connect. It still does'nt work.

I think this might be a problem with the unit.

TM

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

That happened to me once as my VDx was on its way out. My batteries started lasting for incredibly short times, and that would happen sometimes. A few days of that and I accidently dropped my visor on the floor, cracking the screen, so I got a new one from Handspring, problem gone. Try talking to them about it.

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"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 34

This happened to me once....I realized what I did wrong was inserted the batteries with the polarity at the wrong ends.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Antigo, WI
Posts: 37

This has never happened to me and i used my VDx for 2 years, but only with non-rechargeables. Some thoughs. How low do you let the voltage get before you change batteries. the visor battery at full charge (3.0v) operates normally, it has a low power warning threshold at 2.1v, critical threshold softeare (operating system goes into sleeep mode) at 1.6v, When the battery voltage drops below the Critical Threshold the system turns itself off without warning in order to protect user data.

Rechargeables, at full charge put out 1.2 vols (2.4 for two batteries)
When they lose charge they drop very fast at the end. Rechargeables also develope a memory, so depending on their age, how many recharges you have done, how you maintain the batteries (do you drain them down to nothing before recharging) etc, could effect how they are preforming. Did this issue occure when you first started using the rechargeables.

hitting the rest button to power on, is the same as doing a hard reset. I think you are letting the batteries get to low before you replace then and there isn't enough power to keep the operating system going prior to changing your batteries out. Try using duracells for a couple of cycles and see if that makes a difference. Maybe your low battery waring setting is faulty and the batteries acturlly are lower then the visor thinks. have you taken voltage load reads of you batters when taken out to see if the actural voltage of the battery is the same voltage that the visor indicated. Runtime is a battery monitor program i used to track my battery usage. There is also a hack that i used to adjust the visor low battery threshold waring, because the visor internal voltage monitor (meter) is not accurat. Much has been said regarding battery useage on this site over the past 2 years. Do a search and you might find out more.

Good Luck

P.S.

from http://www.batteryzone.com

Battery Types
Nickel Cadmium. (NiCD) The most popular type of rechargeable batteries used in the industry. Can be damaged by repeated charging without fully discharging. This is called the 'Memory Effect".
Nickel Metal Hydride. (NiMH) These batteries offer capacities up to 30% higher per charge than NiCd batteries of the same physical size. They are less likely to be damaged by the 'Memory Effect'.
Lithium Ion. (LION) The newest rechargeable battery chemistry available. Lithium Ion is not affected by the 'Memory Effect'. It can deliver the same capacity and run time in a smaller, lighter pack. The chemistry is most popular in cellular and laptop products.
Sealed Lead Acid (aka: Gel-Cell) Primarily found in emergency lighting and burglar alarm applications. Designed for steady, constant charging with an infrequent, yet heavy discharge.

Battery Care Tips
You should charge your new battery a few times before using it. This is referred to as initializing or forming and will enable you to obtain maximum battery capacity.
NiCD Batteries be fully discharged before recharging. (A full charge is suggested before storing)
NiMH Batteries remain in a fully charged state when not in use. Storage is only acceptable up to 30 days without a charge.
LION Batteries should be charged, by a charging system, capable of proper shut-off.
Lead-Acid Batteries can stored indefinitely. They should be charge at 1/10th of their rated capacity.

from http://www.ebatts.com/

NiCad batteries, and to a lesser extent NiMH batteries, suffer from what's called the "memory effect". What this means is that if a battery is continually only partially discharged before re-charging, the battery "forgets" that it has the capacity to further discharge all the way down. To illustrate: If you, on a regular basis, fully charge your battery and then use only 50% of its capacity before the next recharge, eventually the battery will become unaware of its extra 50% capacity which has remained unused. Your battery will remain functional, but only at 50% of its original capacity. The way to avoid the dreaded "memory effect" is to fully cycle (fully charge and then fully discharge) your battery at least once every two to three weeks. Batteries can be discharged by unplugging the device's AC adaptor and letting the device run on the battery until it ceases to function. This will insure your battery remains healthy.

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[email protected]
http://www.newnorth.net/~jimmy/

Last edited by yim on 10-19-2001 at 08:38 AM

Registered: Oct 2001
Location:
Posts: 5

Changing Batteries.

Changing the batteries may cause occaisonal complications but if it happens on a regular basis then spend those few cents and tell the tech support about it.
wasting time in fiddling around and finding solutions to stuff yourself is good but in cases where its very obviously something dire then u bettah use the tech supprt people's advise.

If there is a blinking screen the first thing we try to do is do a sot reset. if that dont work .. dont just jump right into doing a hard reset. Do a system reset. its the same procedure as the hard reset only that in this case the up scroll button is Pressed.
once again .. a system reset is one that is similar to do as the hard reset but only in this case the UP scroll button needs to be held down. system reset will not delete anything off the visor.. instead u ll have a 60 percent chance that the visor starts to respond. System reset is similar to a safe mode boot in a PC with all the extensions .. Off.

changin batteries also requires that you change the batteries one at a time.. this is absolutely important. thinking the visor is off and changing the batteries by taking thm both out is not recommended. take one out . replace. take the other replace ..

then see whats wrong. or maybe right. if not try the soft and system resets.

beyond that as i said HS tech supprt is the best place to go. before you perform the HArd rest.(now this is if you have stuffo n it that you dont want lost)

Good Luck
God Bless

TO_raptor

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 431

Re: Changing Batteries.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TO_raptor
...changin batteries also requires that you change the batteries one at a time.. this is absolutely important. thinking the visor is off and changing the batteries by taking thm both out is not recommended. take one out . replace. take the other replace ..
...

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Antigo, WI
Posts: 37

dclopper

i always removed both batteries and inserted 2 new ones (at the same time) when the battery level got to about 10% and never had the problem you are having. According to the visor manul, even when the batteries are to low to operate the visor, there is enough power to save your data for about 2 weeks, after that your data gets errased.

I think handspring has done some changes to the power management issues over the past 2 years. My first visor would go thru a set of batteries in 2 weeks. It was replace after a few months due to a scratch on the screen and the replacement visor's batteries lasted about 4 weeks. Then i got that one replaced with an RF optomized visor and the battery usage remaind about the same (4 weeks). I suggest you give handspring support a call and maybe they will replace it. they were always very corropative with me when i had problems.

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Jim Klapste
[email protected]
http://www.newnorth.net/~jimmy/

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 67

I have had my Visor Deluxe for two years now, and it happened tome for the first time last night. I didn't do anything any different than I normally do.

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Brian

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 2

Changing Batteries

I narrowed it down to Hack Master with the afterburner hack and tech sounds. I disable these then change the batteries and no problem.

TM

Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Greenville, Texas
Posts: 1

Visor Battery Monitor

I didn't notice anyone post the feature to change the battery monitor's warning based on type of battery installed.

Just in case it was missed, open memopad, make a lowercase "L" in the grafitti section, tap the grafitti section twice (to make a dot) and then write a 7 in the numbers half of the grafitti section. The battery setting will be shown in brackets. Repeat the process until the correct batteries are displayed, then just leave the memo pad and delete the note. Pretty simple.

Now then - I know this isn't part of this board, but does anyone else know any more of these "shortcut-dot" tricks??? I'm curious as to what more my little visor knows!