TX Battery drains extremely fast

[ejosepha]

I have had this TX for over a year. I use it very little, mostly to look at contacts and calander, with occasionally using the wifi for internet. I recently downloaded an external keyboard (Sierra) with bluetooth, which I only tested a few times. Suddenly, the battery drains extremely fast, even while just looking at a few photos or using calendar. I did a hard reset and deleted the keyboard application and started again but the battery just seems to drain extremely fast. What could this be? Is it possible that suddenly the battery is just no good and won't hold the charge? Any advice? If there is no solution, can I get the battery replaced by the factory or a service? Is there a test for the state of the battery?
thanks,
steven

[Splat0104]

You might check to make sure your bean receive is not on becuase of the keyboard setup.

Or if your Wifi/Bluetooth settings haven't been changed by it as well.

Also you might want to check and see that the keyboard driver hasn't left you a bit of software somewhere that is hidden deep in TX doing this for you.

Just some off the top of the head sort of thoughts... sadly I have no clue about the keyboard your using, so I'm lost there. :confused:

Good luck.

Oh, you might try doing a system reset (hit the reset button while holding the d-pad up, release when you see the palm logo). I think that stops apps from running that might be going in the background - and see if that helps.

[ejosepha]

What is a bean receive. Do you mean that the bluetooth isn't on? If so, I turned off the bluetooth. It was strange that even after I turned the bluetooth off, the keyboard continued to function on the TX for some time. Eventually the keyboard went off and that was it.
How can I check keyboard setup?
How does one check the wifi/bluetooth settings?
I'll delete the keyboard application again and see if this makes a difference, because this symptom seemed to start after I downloaded the application from the internet instead of using the CD that came with the keyboard.
If that fails, perhaps another hard reset and don't install the keyboard application and see what happens just using wifi.
Is is possible that suddenly the battery went bad? Can a new battery be installed by anyone?

[PalmSole]

You could try whats called an in cradle reset. Hook your Tx up to the charger and then press the reset hole as if your doing a soft reset. Then leave your TX alone charging for at least 3 hours (don't turn it off just leave it alone). This sometimes lets the internal circuits recalibrate the battery settings. Another way to monitor your battery charge and time in between charges is a niffty little freeware program called Batterygraph.

[PinCushionQueen]

What is a bean receive. Do you mean that the bluetooth isn't on? If so, I turned off the bluetooth. It was strange that even after I turned the bluetooth off, the keyboard continued to function on the TX for some time. Eventually the keyboard went off and that was it.
How can I check keyboard setup?
How does one check the wifi/bluetooth settings?
I'll delete the keyboard application again and see if this makes a difference, because this symptom seemed to start after I downloaded the application from the internet instead of using the CD that came with the keyboard.
If that fails, perhaps another hard reset and don't install the keyboard application and see what happens just using wifi.
Is is possible that suddenly the battery went bad? Can a new battery be installed by anyone?


1) Beam Receive - is where you turn your IR to be on all the time or not. This is found in Prefs ->Power. I suggest turning it off.
2) Also check your bluetooth settings to "Do not allow for wakeup" This is also found in Prefs -> Bluetooth, then open the menu and makesure that it says "Allow Wakeup" - this is confusing I know, but the menu selection is a toggle so if it says "Allow Wakeup" it's actually set to "Do not allow wakeup". If bluetooth is allowed to wakeup then it's constantly looking for other bluetooth devices even when your pda is turned off - this runs your battery down very quickly.

**Note - that it's very possible that setting your bluetooth to "Do not allow wakeup" might make it so that your keyboard doesn't automatically connect and that you have to go in a turn on bluetooth manually each time. I'm not sure because I don't use a bluetooth keyboard - I use the Universal Wireless (IR) keyboard. There might be some setting in the application used to run the BT keyboard that remedies this - but again I'm not familiar with this.

3) I've not heard of batteries just up and going bad. Doesn't mean it can't happen just not incredibly common from what I've seen. I don't think replacing a battery in a TX is an easy task. If that is your problem your best bet is to send it to Palm

[Nekkutta]

If you turned BT off and the keyboard continued to work afterward, that seems to me that the keyboard driver is overiding the BT controls of the Palm OS and basicly keeping it on, constanly looking for a connection. That would drain the battery quickly.

Nekkutta

[ejosepha]

thank you for the responses. I deleted the keyboard application, did a hard reset and am waiting a few days to see how long the battery lasts. It seems to have gone back to normal. Perhaps if I load the keyboard program from the CD instead of downloading it online, I can avoid this problem. I turned off the BEAM ON in preferences as well.
Thanks again,
Steven

[Splat0104]

thank you for the responses. I deleted the keyboard application, did a hard reset and am waiting a few days to see how long the battery lasts. It seems to have gone back to normal.
Good to hear.


Perhaps if I load the keyboard program from the CD instead of downloading it online, I can avoid this problem. I turned off the BEAM ON in preferences as well.

Maybe. If the driver overrides your Bluetooth settings and leaves it active all the time I am betting your battery will continue to do the same disappearing act. Just be ready to wipe everything clean and try a different thing, like the palm wireless keyboard if it does it again.

Also- before you reinstall _anything_ else - install the keyboard driver and try it out. Check to see if it works without draining your battery.

If it doesn't add your apps back one by one and see if they work fine before continuing. There may be a conflict between apps and the driver causing it too...

Just a thought.

[Heather Cullen]

Hi, your device’s battery will drain more quickly while using a keyboard.

You can conserve your device's battery power by turning on the Enable Power Saving option and limiting the length of time that the keyboard driver stays on when the keyboard is not in use. As long as the keyboard driver is on, it uses the IR port on your device to search for a signal from your keyboard, and this activity uses battery power. If you don't have the Enable Power Saving option turned on, the keyboard driver stays on as long as your device is on.

For directions to enable the power saver, click below:

http://kb.palm.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,kb=PalmSupportKB,CASE=obj(2141),ts=Palm_External2001

Heather