HELP! Can't reset my Clie (soft or hard) ... !!!

[mavis]

I hope somebody can help me with this.

My Clie was working fine until just now, when I tried to turn it on (it was in the cradle) to check tomorrow's schedule. Nothing. No buttons work, and I can't reset it. The light is orange when it's in the cradle, and turns green when outside the cradle, but the screen is totally dead and the buttons don't work. It is NOT on hold, and I can't reset it.

Any suggestions? It's about a month old, and has been well taken care of sofar (no abuse, etc) ...

:(

[rldunn]

This happened to me once with my NR. You really have two options (maybe 3). The maybe option is you can try a hard reset again, but this time keep holding the button down for several seconds after you see the Palm OS logo, several as in 15-20. If that doesn't work, you're stuck with the other two options. The first is to leave it alone until the battery runs dead. Realize that this could take a few days. The alternative is to take the screws off the back, open the back up, and unplug the battery for about 10 seconds, then plug it back in and put the back back on. I chose that method because I didn't want to wait around for my battery to die on it's own. I still don't know what caused the problem for me, but it only happened once.

[VANWALL]

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago. I called Sony Tech. Support and they walked me through multiple soft/hard resets. No luck. The tech said I would have to send it back. I was going to take it back to Best Buy the next day. Well I left it off the dock overnight and the battery ran flat. After charging the unit came back to life. I did a sync and got my stuff back. It has been working great for the last two weeks.

BTW I have a 665C.

With the internal battery there is no way to easily power cycle the unit.

[VicAjax]

i'm having a similar, but not identical problem with my SJ30:

http://www.cliesource.com/forums/showthread.php?amp;threadid=1476

it's really disheartening.  rldunn, do you think letting the battery drain my help my problem?

[dtsimoncic]

Same here!!, thought i was the only one. I went through the third option, removed the screws and pluged out the battery. Works fine since then (T665).

Maybe there is a way to empty the battery through the serial port with a resistance or a light or something. I have the SEIDO charger and the connector has a two pole connector. Maybe if I use it to discharge the battery it could work. But I think there is a diod in the way but Im going to try anyway.

See you

[VicAjax]

i'm trying the battery drain as we speak.  fortunately (?) when it freezes, it freezes with the power on and the brightness at full.  so it should be pretty dead by the time i get home to recharge it.

but i'm not sure if i want it to be fixed... kind of having a grass-is-greener moment, wondering about the T665 or the SJ33. hmmmm, decisions decisions.

[dtsimoncic]

But in your case the screen is not dead?

[VicAjax]

Originally posted by dtsimoncic
But in your case the screen is not dead?

no... sorry... my case is slightly different (see the link in my first post).  i'm basically here because no one seems to be responding to my original post.

here's my deal:

SJ30 freezes on a "fatal alert" screen whenever i try to power it on with any of the hard buttons (including power, jog, date, phone, todo, memo).  i've tried soft resets and hard resets.  it works fine after a hard reset before i've restored my info, but once i've restored (by hot sync or by ms) it happens all over again.

i've tried deleting all my hacks and any dodgy programs, and i've tried restoring from a 2-week old backup, and nothing works.  other things will freeze it too, sporadically.

long story short: i'm trying a battery drain.  if it doesn't work, i'm going to take it back to circuit city and wait for the SJ33 (or maybe try the T665).

[wellsjs]

What does your "Fatal Alert" message say? If it has to do with a datebook prior alarm (which is what it sounds like), you have possible moved a prior appointment that had an alarm set (effectively resetting the alarm state) and the program fatal alerts. That would explain everything looking good until after you resync, because that puts the corrupt datebook database back in action.

[VicAjax]

Originally posted by wellsjs
What does your "Fatal Alert" message say? If it has to do with a datebook prior alarm (which is what it sounds like), you have possible moved a prior appointment that had an alarm set (effectively resetting the alarm state) and the program fatal alerts. That would explain everything looking good until after you resync, because that puts the corrupt datebook database back in action.

hmmm interesting... the fatal alert only says "fatal exception" and offers a 'reset' button that doesn't work (because the screen is frozen).  however, the battery is now drained, so i'll have to wait till a recharge and hotsync. 

is there any way i can fix the corrupt database?  the clie would work fine right after a soft reset, as long as i didn't power it off (oh, except for once when i tried to launch a game off the ms, and once when i hit the 'home' silkscreen button out of x-master).

thanks so much for the input... it gives me hope.

[dtsimoncic]

Not sure, but what I am sure is that it is a sofware problem, so you have to find out what piece of software is causing the error.

[VicAjax]

oh, now i realize in my latest ms restore, datebk5 isn't even installed, so that's not the problem.  bummer.

and i now also realize you may not have even been responding to my issue, which is understandable considering i sort of mooched off this thread.

[mmmm_beer]

Originally posted by VicAjax


it works fine after a hard reset before i've restored my info, but once i've restored (by hot sync or by ms) it happens all over again.



If it only happens after restoring a backup, try doing a reset while holding the UP button. If it boots all the way, then you have a corrupt program. I had a similar problem when I restored my T615c backup to a T665C. What I did was delete each program one by one and do a reset, until the reset went all the way through. When that happens the last program you deleted was bad. Mine happened to be a game, so don't think that it has to be a hack or system type program. Then make sure to delete that program from your desktop backup directory and your MS backup if you keep one. That way you don't accidentially reinstall it.

[VicAjax]

Originally posted by mmmm_beer


If it only happens after restoring a backup, try doing a reset while holding the UP button. If it boots all the way, then you have a corrupt program. I had a similar problem when I restored my T615c backup to a T665C. What I did was delete each program one by one and do a reset, until the reset went all the way through. When that happens the last program you deleted was bad. Mine happened to be a game, so don't think that it has to be a hack or system type program. Then make sure to delete that program from your desktop backup directory and your MS backup if you keep one. That way you don't accidentially reinstall it.

this was going to be my next strategy, after i see what happens with this battery drain: systematically delete every single app till it no longer freezes (i get tired just thinking about it).

but you suggest pushing reset and the 'up' button... i've done this (i thought that's what a hard reset was)... and it erases all of my data (after a prompt, of course).

this is how i plan to proceed:


clie freezes
i soft reset and delete an app
clie freezes again because that's not the corrupt program
soft reset and delete another one
etc. etc. until it no longer freezes
i'll assume the last deleted app was corrupt and restore all but that one.


do you think this will work with soft resets, or will i have to hard reset to really tell?

[rldunn]

A hard reset is doing the same thing, but instead of holding down the up button, you hold down the power button until you see the Palm OS logo. Using the up button is called a warm reset, which is similar to Windows safe mode.

As for your problem, that technique would probably work, but if you have plenty of apps, it could take a really long time. It really sounds like a hack or a hack-like app that's causing the problem. Did you delete a hack before turning it off? Or do you use any hack-like apps, like PowerJog or something like that? Do you use Jacksprat and/or Jackflash? When you look through your file list, are there any files you don't recognize?

[VicAjax]

Originally posted by rldunn
A hard reset is doing the same thing, but instead of holding down the up button, you hold down the power button until you see the Palm OS logo. Using the up button is called a warm reset, which is similar to Windows safe mode.

ah ha.  that's interesting... i would warm reset (hitting up button) and the palm icon would blink.  then i would hold down power button, and it would ask me if i wanted to erase all my data.

As for your problem, that technique would probably work, but if you have plenty of apps, it could take a really long time. It really sounds like a hack or a hack-like app that's causing the problem. Did you delete a hack before turning it off? Or do you use any hack-like apps, like PowerJog or something like that? Do you use Jacksprat and/or Jackflash? When you look through your file list, are there any files you don't recognize?

i tried deleting all my hacks (easy launch, font hack, graspeedy, clock pop, no lines hack, graffiti anywhere), as well as recent programs i had downloaded.  my first suspect was a program called MapMapLite, with a NYC subway map... i deleted those as well, to no avail.  also just downloaded diddlebug... deleted that, no luck.

 

[rldunn]

Originally posted by VicAjax
i tried deleting all my hacks (easy launch, font hack, graspeedy, clock pop, no lines hack, graffiti anywhere), as well as recent programs i had downloaded.  my first suspect was a program called MapMapLite, with a NYC subway map... i deleted those as well, to no avail.  also just downloaded diddlebug... deleted that, no luck.What did you delete the hacks with? Are you sure they were deactivated before you deleted them? Do you remember what was installed or what changes you made immediately before the problems started?

[VicAjax]

Originally posted by rldunn
What did you delete the hacks with? Are you sure they were deactivated before you deleted them? Do you remember what was installed or what changes you made immediately before the problems started?

i deleted the hacks with filez, plus a bunch of other things i didn't recognize. i deleted x-master and pidirect with zlauncher trash bin (and emptied the bin).  then i did a backup with all those things deleted, so i could restore that way if i needed to do another hard reset.  that still didn't work.

oh! right before my battery totally crapped out, i got a new fatal alert message that said:

MemoryMgr.c, Line: 4384

Free handle

[mavis]

wow, thanks for hijacking my thread!!

:D

j/k anyway, I just took the damn thing apart and disconnected the battery for about 10-20 seconds. Nothing. Did it a second time, and still nothing.

As I was putting it back together, I heard it beep (!!!) and turned it over to see the digitizer on-screen.

IT LIVES!!! :D :D

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm glad I'm not the only one with a tempermental Clie ... lol.

[rldunn]

Originally posted by VicAjax


i deleted the hacks with filez, plus a bunch of other things i didn't recognize. i deleted x-master and pidirect with zlauncher trash bin (and emptied the bin).  then i did a backup with all those things deleted, so i could restore that way if i needed to do another hard reset.  that still didn't work.

oh! right before my battery totally crapped out, i got a new fatal alert message that said:

MemoryMgr.c, Line: 4384

Free handle

Do you use PiDirect, MSMount, or Jackflash/Jacksprat? Sounds like a file didn't get transferred properly. I would look through the files in your RAM and see if you notice something that shouldn't be there.

[Unregistered]

Thanks to all those who posted their horrifying experiences, as they really helped me when I CLIE went into a similar coma. I will post my experience below.

I have a CLIE T665c, with a SanDisk 256MB MS. No major hacking, only X-master installed for a keyboard replacement program.

After depleting the battery playing game (Euchre, for those who want to know), I shut off my CLIE and hooked it up to my computer via the USB Sync/Charge cable, which I got from Brando. The orange charge light came on as usual, and I pressed the HotSync button on the cable.

My CLIE came on, without the backlight, so in the not-so-bright ambient light I could barely see that it was displaying the main screen with the battery status dialogue box. No surprise so far, as that was the last screen I used before I shut it off.

I went to turn on the room light, and returned to find a blank screen, although the power light was still orange. I pressed the Power button -- nothing. I pressed the Power button a few times more (I'm not the repetitive-elevator-button-pressing type, but couldn't help myself) -- still nothing. Now I noticed the MS reading light was on as well, which was unusual.

I thought, maybe it wasn't charged enough to do a HotSync yet, which has happened before when I ran the battery too dry. So I waited for a minute and tried again. Nothing.

I then thought maybe the Sync/charge cable was malfunctioning. So I unplugged the CLIE and hooked it up to the factory-issued travel charger (which I find too bulky to take on trips, but that's another story). Same thing -- the power light went orange, MS reading light also on, but the unit won't turn on.

I decided to soft-reset. I unplugged the unit, and the power light went green, but everything else stayed the same (including the MS reading light). I turned it over, and pressed the reset button. Nothing. My heart started to sink....

I couldn't remember how to do a hard reset (what can I say, I don't wander off the well-travelled path much, and had never needed to do a hard reset), so I decided to search the forum. One of the posts reminded me to check the Hold slider, but it was off, so it didn't matter.

I don't know how to describe it, but it was almost eery looking at the green power light on a CLIE that I knew was very low in power, not being charged, wouldn't turn on, and wouldn't reset.

I wanted to take out the MS to protect the data on it (including my backup), but I didn't want to risk it, since the MS access light was still on.

Man, those few minutes seemed like days, as I frantically searched the net and turned my head from time to time to look at my CLIE, which was still stuck in green-light coma.

Then I came across this post, and decided to let the battery run dry, which I knew wouldn't take long. At some point, both the power and the MS reading lights went off -- my CLIE was now dead, and thus out of the coma.

I then proceeded to charge my CLIE, and this time waited a few minutes before doing anything. According this thread, I should go have some vodka and smoke, but I decided to take a shower instead. :-)

The moment of truth arrived. I pressed the Power button, and the screen came on, still no backlight, but I can see it going through the reset sequence. The backlight came on at the usual point, and my CLIE booted into the welcome sequence (asking you to calibrate the stylus, set the time, etc) just like the very first day it came to me.

The Audioplayer had no trouble playing songs from the MS, so I knew the data was intact. I then sought out the only icon that mattered -- MS Backup. It was big and ugly (low-res), but boy was I glad to see it.

Lucky for me, my most recent backup was May 28, and I knew I didn't entered much new data in the last four days. So after Restore and a HotSync, I was back in business.

MORAL of the story: Back up your CLIE at least semi-regularly (and don't try to HotSync when the CLIE is very low in power).

I even decided to copy the entire backup folder to my computer, in case the MS gets damaged in my next disaster.

Now I can go have some vodka and smoke -- after I back up my mind and go find a set of lungs for future replacement. :-)

[sonyslave]

I've had an NX70v for 5 months with no problems-running all kinds of programs, wonderslik, but no hacks.

I bought an NX60 for my girlfriend 6 days ago and didn't load anything exotic onto it. I tried to keep it as simple for her and operationally stable as possible.

But then it would not power up. While on it worked fine, but once it was turned off it would not turn back on. The first time it happened she thought the battery had died. She put it in the charger for awhile. The orange light was on but it would not power up in the charger. She did a soft reset and it came back to life. She opened the clie datebook app to add date info. then turned it off and again it would not power up. Another soft reset and it came back to life. While I watched it power up I noticed that the battery icon indicated "full". Then she opened the clie datebook app again then exited to home and once turned off it would not power up even with a "tap" (short push of the resect button) soft reset. So we did a hard reset, then we deleted everything on the memory stick and it came back and functioned normally for two hours then again it would not power up once turned off. Instead of doing another hard reset I held in the reset button for about 12 seconds and it soft booted up. Also, it won't beep when it's in the "dead" state if the memory stick it removed or inserted.

I'm going to post this in the NX fourm.

[legohead]

Ahhhh!!!

Isn't it great to have an SL10! Easy removal of batteries etc... :p