Hint for getting support on a TH-55/e ...

[Kennewick_Man]

... if you live in America.

NEVER mention Bluetooth. Those vicious bastards at Sony (why god WHY do I keep buying their crap?) told me all they can do is refer me to the UK support line... I am pretty bummed out at the moment.

Gads, maybe someone here can help me. I did searches and tried various things - but I think my Clie's died on me. I went to turn it on, and it did nothing. So I took out the stylus and punched up the reset button, then the bluetooth started blinking. That's it. No startup noise, no screen. It's still blinking actually - it usually shuts off after 3 minutes.

After going through the script monkey and waiting 20 minutes to get to the 'real' tech (arsehole) we did hard reset attempts etc. I really do not know what to do with this thing ... a call to UK will cost me a fortune in hold times and it really pisses me off that it's the same frikin' device for all practical purposes that was sold here. It's still under warranty too. I wonder if expansys will be of any help. Probably on my own here.

Anyone have any special support numbers for Sony, or tricks I have not tried? They have my erial number on record now, so I bet if I call back they'll pull it up and give me the same line. I am just going to let it drain and see if that helps. This just bites. I feel like I lost half my brain.

:confused:

Help?

[Kennewick_Man]

I kept on reading posts, as there's not much else to do when you wait for a Clie to drain, esp when it' not really *on* ... much. Anyway ... I was trying to avoid it, but the dreaded battery pull it like frikin' magic. I have some watch repair tools, and one little device served to remove that 3-blade screw nicely. Plugging it back in I powered it on and got the Clie startup screen, but it was totally washed out, laggy slow and no sound. Then it all went white. Hmm. Well, a flashlight is at least more useful than it was 3 minutes prior.

So I said screw it and did a hard reset -- color! sound! Factory fresh goodness. Luckily my ms backup was only a week and a half old, so a restore and a hotsync later I am back in business. I am happy my trusty companion lives again, but still somehow very paranoid that whatever happened can happen again. Permenantly.

Note: I still think Sony support is among the worst on the planet, and I still the guy I was talking to should go fornicate himself in the heart with a chainsaw ... twice. That being said, I am sure I'll continue to be an idiot in the future and buy something else from Sony.

If you made it this far, thanks for listening to me ramble. I'm going to bed.

-km

[rlc7254]

Since the BT version is not supposed to be sold in the United States (it never received FCC approval to be sold, among other things), Sony US could get in big trouble for offering support on that type of device. I know it sounds chickens**t, but that is the way their legal department looks at it. Essentially they would be providing service to a non-FCC device, and could face criminal and civil prosecution and liabilities. I work in the xray equipment repair business, and all the equipment I work on must be FDA approved for sale and use in this country. If it doesn't have that approval, then the company selling it could be fined, and the person working on it also can face criminal charges. We live in such a law suit happy country that it forces companies to impose these limitations to save their behind.

Just my 2 cents worth.

:D

[MCheiron]

Perhaps you can try the e-support! But I have no idea how long it will take to get an answer:

https://e-support.vaio-link.com/eSupport/index.jsp?layout=CLIELINK

MCheiron

[Neuronet]

no, the guy who was supposed to support it in the US realised that it wasn't bought there and therefore he didn't actually HAVE to do it, so he didn't. I'm betting they will know and care little about legal situations for particular products from abroad. Working for support is all about how you can palm people off most effectively.