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| Title: Palm IIIC digitizer problems, misalignment solution |
| Posted By: Ottho |
| E-mail: ottho@rocketmail.com |
| Date: 02/16/2001 at 20:18:52 |
Message:Hi everyone,
I have been reading about the dreaded digitizer misalignment problem on the IIIc (and also the V it seems). I stumbled upon this posts because I was suffering the same problems. I have very short fuse for devices that cost more that $200 and dont work, so after trying the fixes proposed by varios persons in the forum (warm boot, cold boot, brightness down, etc) and seeing that Palm didnīt seem to know what was the problem and was just wasting money exchanging them and the people getting the same problem, I decided to take my IIIc apart and see what the heck was going on!!!!
Upon opening it up something became very aparent, it was filthy inside. This came as no surprise, if PC gets dirty just by sitting around (open yours and see!) imagine just how much dust and other filth can be inside a device that you carry with you everywhere. Also, a device that you carry around can suffer of high electrostatic build up, affectig the preformance parameters of various components. As with cars, electronic equipment needs servicing, specially if is heavily used. Thus I proceeded to clean the thing (properly grounded with a wrist anti-electrostatic thingy and mat). After the cleaning, unfortunately, there was no improvement. When I started to put the unit back together to send it for servicing one of the connectors came loose, upong further inspection I noticed that this connector (4 wire flat) came from the digitizer and it had some sediment bulid up (some sort of carbon accumulation probably due to hummidity and the electrostatic bulid up I mentioned before). I proceded to clean this connector with an eraser (from a pencil if you must know, white ones work better than pink ones), and then reassambled the thing. Voila!! no more digitizer problem! After realignment and 3 days of usage, the problem seems to be solved. It will probably come back after another six months of usage, but it can be easily solved. to conclude here are some thoughts on this problem:
-This problem can happen in storage to reconditioned units, the ones Palm sends when you get your unit replaced. This happens probably because the are not putting any or enough silica gel to absorb the humidity on the boxes qhen they are repackaged, so when you get the replacement unit, it has the same problem. They probaly sotre them in a relatively high humidity area too.
-This problem is probably a lot more common on humid areas, say near the coast, than in desert areas, like vegas (Do you know why the have so many planes at the airport just parked? it is better to store them here because of the dry climate).
-It can happen to ANY MODEL with the type of connector the IIIc has.
-For future model or for a more permanent solution, it is better to solder the connectors or use some sort of sealed optoelectronics for the interface with the digitizer.
-Regarding the suggestion to change the light intensity to solve this problem, it probably worked because the flourescent light emits some sort of EM field that make the electrostatic bulid up worse in the Carbonized connector leads. So turning it down reduced this filed and allowed the digitizer to work a little better, but eventually the bulid up would be so bad that even with the brightness all the way down the problem would be there.
-Warm, cold or any boot is completely pointles in regard to solving this issue. Evenso, it might be helpfull after cleaning to warmboot to directly to the digitizer settings screen and realign.
-If you are going to do this YOU WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY (as if having one has helped you any). If you are not comfortable servicing electronics devices or do not have any experience doing so, DONT DOIT, look for a frinend of a local technitian to it for you, if you attempt this yourself without any know-how in this filed, be warned that you will probably RUIN YOUR PALM. The inside of this thing is lot more complicated and sensitive than that Soundcard you installed.
-How to avoid this porblem in the future? well, mu suggestions are:
A.Get a solid case that covers the whole unit, sealing it properly inside the case (do not ask me which, I donīt know any, if you know of one, please let me know). If you are "EL CHEAPO" put the unit inside a ziplock bag, only taking it our for use and then put it back in the bag, accompanied by one of those silica gel packs that come with all new stuff.
B.-You could try to find a way to put some silica or some other type of humidity absorbant inside the unit, but this will be tough since space inside the case is limited. Alternatevly, you can move to vegas.
C.-You can also try to seal the connector with some silicon, wither lubricant or the type that dries to a flexible solid, however be very carefull, because if you miss the spot you can make the problem mush worse.
D.-If you are going to do these, DO NOT TOUCH the ICīs, even if you are grounded, just to be safe, use plastic, ceramic or wooden tools.
E.-Use cotton clothing, and get some decent shoes. This may sound ridiculous, but non natural fibers help the bulid up of an electrostatic field around your self (your own personal force field if you will). Tennis shoes keep you isolated or "not grounded" so when you touch something that is, there will be a discharge. The discharge can be several thousand volts, it wont kill you because of the very low current, but it is very umpleasend to the receiver of the discharge or to the device (I am not sure but if this happens when you are pumping gas you could probably start a fire). Non rubber sole shoes keep you constantly grounded, so this will not happen. Not only that, but you will have the added benefit of a better image once your throw away those cheap poliester shirts and trousers, if you can afford a Palm IIIc you can get some decent clothing, if not, sell the Palm and get yourself some decent clothing first.
Well that about covers it, I hope the info was usefull, I will probably be setting up a website to post my rants and suggestions, I'll keep you posted.
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