PDA

View Full Version : My T3 won't turn on

SteveinDanville
02-22-2005, 01:54 PM
Edited a phone number today on the handheld and hot-synced, and then tried to turn it on about 10 minutes later, and it won't turn on. Neither power button, sliding open of case, or pushing any of the buttons will turn it on. Soft reset did nothing at all. The green power light is on while it's in the cradle, hooked up by USB 2.0 through a Belkin hub to my Dell laptop. This setup has worked since I first got the T3 last year. I'm scared that the handheld is dead, and this was a lot of $$$ to spend for a paperweight. It's less than a year old. Any ideas what I can do to get this thing up and running again? Also, is this instability something that will happen again? I've had to soft reset due to freezing 4 or 5 times in the last 8 months, which always scares me.
Vidge
02-22-2005, 04:57 PM
Try an in-cradle reset. If that doesn't fix it, call Palm.
SteveinDanville
02-22-2005, 06:43 PM
Try an in-cradle reset. If that doesn't fix it, call Palm.
I did, and it didn't respond at all. I have an email into Palm, and they haven't responded yet. I forgot that I have a 3rd party program that stores passwords, along with a Cycling Log that serves as a diary of my cycling miles (4 years worth of miles in there); I sure don't want to lose either of them! Hopefully they are archived on my laptop, but I've been surprised the wrong way in the past. That's why I don't have a Handspring Visor anymore...
jjesusfreak01
02-22-2005, 06:46 PM
I did, and it didn't respond at all. I have an email into Palm, and they haven't responded yet. I forgot that I have a 3rd party program that stores passwords, along with a Cycling Log that serves as a diary of my cycling miles (4 years worth of miles in there); I sure don't want to lose either of them! Hopefully they are archived on my laptop, but I've been surprised the wrong way in the past. That's why I don't have a Handspring Visor anymore...
Hope you get it fixed.
Phaggard
02-22-2005, 09:58 PM
Depending on what data you have on it, try a hard reset. If you have owned your pda more than 90 days, they will charge you $25 for the assist unless it leads to shipping it in for a repair.
tanker_bob
02-23-2005, 07:10 AM
Try a hard reset. If that doesn't work then let the battery run all the way down, which will take a long time with the screen off. Alternately, disconnect the battery for about a minute. There are sites on the web to tell you how. These will return it to factory settings.
SteveinDanville
02-23-2005, 08:43 AM
Since it won't turn on, I'm not sure how long it will take for the battery to "discharge". It's in the off mode. Nothing I've read on the site seems relevant re: discharging the battery since I cannot turn it on.
SteveinDanville
02-23-2005, 08:46 AM
By the way, a hard reset does nothing either. It's now a paperweight that cost $400. Nice stable platform here...
Phaggard
02-23-2005, 08:47 AM
I'm not sure if this link will work but try. Or go to www.palmone.com and select Support, then Customer Support, then Repair Service, then US Repairs, then under the Tungsten pull down, select T5. Now hit the link in the paragraph that says to troubelshoot before starting a repair. There is a link for "will not turn on" under Hardware.

http://kb.palmone.com/SRVS/CGIBIN/WEBCGI.EXEnew,Kb=PalmSupportKB,ts=Palm_External2001,Case=obj(1398)
Dags
02-23-2005, 08:56 AM
Go for Tanker Bob's battery disconnect advice.

I had this problem with a Clie once - where the machine appears dead and won't respond even to a hard reset. Disconnected the battery for a minute and the little bugger fired up fine. Did a restore from backupman and Robert's your Mum's Brother. ;)

Try it - it might work. I hope you had a backup to make this fairly painless.
SteveinDanville
02-23-2005, 10:41 AM
Try a hard reset. If that doesn't work then let the battery run all the way down, which will take a long time with the screen off. Alternately, disconnect the battery for about a minute. There are sites on the web to tell you how. These will return it to factory settings.
So where are the sites on the web to show how to disconnect the battery on a T3?
SteveinDanville
02-23-2005, 01:23 PM
Well, I found the site and disconnected the battery, put it back together and there was life in the ol' gal yet. However, my initial joy soon turned to disgust. When I put it in the cradle and tried to power it up, it booted up as if it had been hard reset, but there's a loud electrical buzzing coming from the T3, and it will only stay on for about 5-30 seconds, at which point it dies, and I have to start the initialization all over again. It's dead, as far as I'm concerned.
tanker_bob
02-23-2005, 06:09 PM
Try leaving the battery disconnected for 5-10 minutes before giving up. Usually the tiny capacitors discharge within a minute, but its worth trying one more time with a longer disconnect.
Punisher
02-24-2005, 07:29 AM
Also, after disconnecting the battery and reconnecting the battery, I would probably let it charge for a good long while before firing it up. Might also check to see if your ac adapter for your cradle is actually putting out voltage.
Jamie
SteveinDanville
02-24-2005, 12:43 PM
It's dead...I am now spending $125 plus $39.99 for an advance exchange repair order, so I'll have a replacement in 2-3 business days, and I return the paper weight in the packaging that the replacement came in. I'll tell you, I'm not too excited about spending $165 every fifteen months when my handheld dies on me.