Weird, random T615C problems

[breegenie]

My T615C has begun to exhibit three problems recently:

*occasional inability to hold a charge for more than two hours
*random shutting off while I am in the middle of using it.
*randomly won't turn back on after off for a while.

The Clié sits in the cradle a total of about four hours a day, in split up bits of time. Some days, the amber light never shuts off. On those days, the battery begins to drain as soon as I remove it from the cradle and it is dead or nearly there within 2-3 hours of removing it from the cradle---whether I have used it or not; whether an alarm has gone off or not.

Other days, it charges fine and stays at 100%. I have cleaned the charging mechanism on both the cradle and Clié (with an eraser, as suggested by someone here), but it still keeps happening randomly. I bought a new Sony charger and have begun backing up to MS & charging it at home so that I don't lose my data until I can sync at work again.

The newest problem is that it keeps shutting itself off, and sometimes won't turn back on unless I do a soft reset. This isn't the auto-shut off setting kicking in, it is literally turning off in the middle of an action. I'll be entering a new appointment or todo and it turns off! It has happened in every software application (Datebook, ToDO, Splash ID --really irritating) and I can't cause it by doing a particular stroke, it just happens. When I do get it to turn back on, the battery level is usually about 20% lower than I remember it being. And no, I'm not hitting the on/off button (my BF did ask that!) :)

It also sometimes won't turn back on after it has been off for a few hours, and it isn't ringing for alarms during that period, which is the #1 reason why I own a Palm device. This ALWAYS requires a soft reset to turn it back on. This has happened about 5 times in the last three weeks. Battery power is around 70% when it comes back on.

The only new software I have added was BatteryGraph to track the battery usage and I've been trialing the LifeBalance demo for the last 12 days, but the battery problem has going on for about two months and the shutoff has been happening since before the LB demo.

Any help would be appreciated ASAP, as I am afraid it will eventually not even turn on. and I'll have dead Clié.

[GRDORI]

Hi Breegenie,
How long have you had your T-615? I'm wondering if the battery is just worn out and inaccurately reporting it's actual power level. Unfortunately, all rechargeable batteries eventually wear out (I think I've read that the Li-ion are good for 2 1/2 to 5 years of normal use). Lithium-ion are better than other rechargeables because they don't suffer from "memory-effects" that older styles suffer from (requiring a full discharge before recharge) but like all batteries they do die. If you suspect that this might be the case, I believe you can get a replacement cell from www.cliebattery.com, they'll provide you with the correct battery and instructions on how to replace it (as they say at their site). When the battery in my T-665 begins to die I'll get a new one from them. But, it's only 6 months old and I haven't had any weird effects and my battery level doesn't go below 60% (I just charge it whenever I'm not using it!). Anywho, I hope this helps!

[breegenie]

My T615C is just under one year old, and until recently, the battery level never dropped below 70%, as I do most of my work on the Clié desktop software and use the Clié when I am away from my computer.

Since I am still under Sony warranty for a few more weeks, I emailed Sony and they had me do a hard reset. While I was at it, I cleaned off a bunch of old programs I don't use anymore. We'll see if that helps!

If the battery does die, I still have another year on the Best Buy PSP, so I'll probably have them send it to Sony to replace the battery. I don't feel comfortable poking around in something that electronic and small, and I already paid the $80 for the PSP. Plus, I don't like any of the new Palms as much as my Clié.

[GRDORI]

Well, I hope you can figure it out! I failed to mention in my previous post that I did have a refurbished T-615 (from Sonystyle) and returned it after 28 days when CompUSA offered the T-665 for a difference of $30.00. When I had that model it did exhibit some weirdness after about 2 weeks, and even a hard reset didn't solve the problem, so I just let the thing run down completely. (I used the Sysinfo program and set the auto-off to "always on" and ran the movie player until it konked out...I even continued to turn it on to drain all the power from it.) After exhausting it completely, I proceeded to charge it for 4 hours, did a soft reset and then hotsynced it (just like it was a new unit out-of-the box). It then ran fine until I upgraded to the T-665.
GOOD LUCK!

[GRDORI]

Hey breegenie, I also forgot to mention that the PSP you got at Best Buy only covers replacement of the unit, not repair. It's easier for them just to give their customers a new unit (for most products that they sell) than to have to track a repair workorder. If you double-check with them, I believe you'll find this is the case...just thought you should know! If replacement becomes necessary, they should give you your original puchase price as a store credit and you can choose whatever you please. In Sony's current lineup the SJ-30 is comparable to the T-615 while the SJ-33 is like my T-665 (adding MP3/ATRAC playback). Both of the SJ's lack the enhanced IR port, so the Clie' RMC isn't supplied.
TTFN