palm killed my Tungsten

[Cheeup]

I've had a Tungsten T3 for a couple of years, and despite the lack of accessories available for it, I've loved it. I finally broke down and bought a palmOne wireless keyboard, which has made the use much easier when in a meeting. Yesterday I was clearing off some junk on it, and came across an icon called KEYBOARD. Obviously I knew it was for the wireless device I had just bought, but didn't know why there was an icon for it. So I clicked on it. The screen went completely white. The power would not turn off, it pressed the hard reset button.. nothing. I put it on the charger. Nothing. It wouldn't hotsync. I was hoping that if it stayed on, the batteries would die, I could recharge it and hard reset it. It's batteries did die, but it won't charge at all.
Any ideas? It makes me mad that palm would put a dang icon on my PDA that will kill it, and then won't extend my warranty when THEIR device kills my PDA. A $169 repair fee isn't worth it to me....

[Streaky]

Welcome to Brighthand, Cheeup.

[Cheeup]

Thanks Streaky...
I've always had good luck with forums... hopefully I will with this one as well.

[DragonHunter]

That's bizzare....even letting the batteries completely die won't clear everything enough to bring it back?

[lelisa13p]

Welcome to Brighthand, Cheeup.

I'm sorry for the circumstances that brought you here, but hopefully someone will have knowledge to help your device. I'm moving this thread to the Tungsten T forum, where others who've used your model will see it.

[dkirker]

Ok, so by what you said the batteries died completely. I will assume that the device sat for 4 to 6 hours.

Ok, now, I have not had this exact problem, but this should work.

Place the device in the cradle slide the unit up so that it is still plugged in and you have access to the reset hole. Now, tap the reset button.

If the charging lamp turns on, but pressing the power button yeilds nothing, leave the device to charge. After the battery has died completely the Palm device must charge for 4 to 6 hours before it will respond to a button press. Sometimes it will respond before, but I have drained my unit before and I had to wait for it to charge (4-6 hours) before it would respond to the power button.

Good luck with your unit.

[lelisa13p]

What dkirker is describing is an In-Cradle Reset, which will have the added advantage of resetting the charge circuits in the handheld, while also putting a full charge into the device. To add to his instructions, after putting the device in the cradle (and while still connected) pushing the reset hole, leave the device completely alone for at least 4 hours, preferably overnite. Then in the morning try to turn the device on normally.

Post your results - if successful you could help someone else, if not maybe we'll have some more ideas for you.

[grahamnind]

This sounds like a problem I heard about a couple of years ago. Quite a few people were experiencing it. It is known by Palm but not acknowledged by them in the knowledgebase. It's something to do with a conflict between the PhoneLink files and the keyboard driver.

Here is one person's testimony

I have tried once more to run the keyboard, and again the dread White Screen of Death appeared. Maybe the T3 will run tomorrow, maybe not. The PalmOne (Emotional) Support Forum indicates that the problem has been known since the UWK was released in September, with nary a fix nor even an acknowledgement from PalmOne.
If you must buy this wonder, do so BUT DON'T BUY IT OPEN BOX AND DON'T EVEN THINK OF BUYING THE KEYBOARD.

Palm Support's solution, at the time, was to send it back to them to disconnect the battery. You may have to do it yourself now as the T3 is no longer supported. Or you could, as mentioned above, make sure that the handheld is fully discharged. This does take a long time: others may know how long. You then need to install the latest keyboard driver and also the latest PhoneLink files, both of which can be found on Palm's website.

Oracle : I'm sorry, kiddo, I really am. You have a good soul...and I hate giving good people bad news....

[Cheeup]

Hey everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. I emailed Palm with my situation, and they gave me the instructions for a full In-Cradle reset. Unfortunately, there was no response. No charging lights came on.. anywhere. As a matter of fact, when I plug it into the cradle, my Windows XP tells me "USB Device Not Recognized". That message from WinXP is the only reaction gotten from the cradle, the T3, or the PC.
I do truly appreciate everyone's help. Any more suggestions? I don't mind cracking it open to reset a battery, but those little screws are kicking my butt, even with a proper sized screwdriver.

[RickAgresta]

Hey everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. I emailed Palm with my situation, and they gave me the instructions for a full In-Cradle reset. Unfortunately, there was no response. No charging lights came on.. anywhere. As a matter of fact, when I plug it into the cradle, my Windows XP tells me "USB Device Not Recognized". That message from WinXP is the only reaction gotten from the cradle, the T3, or the PC.
I do truly appreciate everyone's help. Any more suggestions? I don't mind cracking it open to reset a battery, but those little screws are kicking my butt, even with a proper sized screwdriver.

I'm guessing here, but I think you need a Torx driver, size 5.5 or 5 or 6; as far back as m130 thats what Palm was using. if not available, a slotted-blade screwdriver of "just about" (love those technical terms, don't you? ) the right size, held at ~45-degree angle, may 'bite' enough to allow you to remove the fastener (since I don't know the right term for a screw with a Torx head).

hth, Rick