Palm CPR

I just returned from a two week vacation in Israel and New York. The morning I left, my Pilot started acting strange then it stopped responding to any screen taps. I tried various types of resets to no avail. I tried reseating the memory card which had worked the other time I had a non-responsive screen. Nothing. I consulted some experts, my friends at #palmchat, and we determined the next step was reseating the digitizer cable This required unscrewing the case and removing a ribbon cable. Sound scary? It was. And I didn't have time to perform open Palm surgery before my trip so I spent two weeks Palmless. The withdrawal symptoms were fun, let me tell you.

This morning I opened up my Pilot for the first time ever and reseated the digitizer cable. I put everything back together and the unit works like a charm. Operation successful. Patient lives.

Does this mean you should open up your Palm at the first sign of trouble? Absolutely not. Here are some guidelines to follow if your Palm freezes, crashes, blinks, becomes unresponsive, or otherwise gets sick:

1. Always try to reset the Palm before doing anything else. A large percentage of minor freezes and crashes are fixed by a soft reset. Many others are fixed by a warm reset. Both of these options are simple and result in no loss of data. If a soft or warm reset doesn't work, try a hard reset. Remember you will lose any data in regular memory if you perform a hard reset. If you need more information on resets, see my previous article on backups and resets.

2. If none of the resets work and your unit is less than one year old, call the manufacturer of your unit (Palm, Handspring, or TRG). Your Palm is still under warranty and trying anything else could invalidate the warranty. You can still call technical support after one year, but your manufacturer will probably charge $100 to fix the unit.

3. If your unit is more than one year old, try reseating the memory card if you have a unit that supports it. PalmPilot Professionals and older have a sliding door that provides easy access. For Palm III, you have to unscrew the back of the case to reseat the memory card. I am not sure how Palm IIIx provide access to the memory card, but I know you can access it.

4. Ask some Palm experts. They may have seen your problem or have additional ideas of how to fix it. The best place to go is #palmchat on the openprojects IRC network. There are usually lots of helpful people there including a few people who have taken Palms apart and put them back together again. When I asked the channel about my problem, they immediately suspected the digitizer cable and told me how to reseat it. If your screen is non-responsive, reseating the digitizer cable may be an option if you are willing to dig a bit deeper into the innards of your unit. You can also try posting a question to Palmstation or to the Pilot mailing list.

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