Mr. Hawk

Frustrating

My 3650 was working perfectly until July 4th. No, I didn't set off a firecracker anywhere near it but the effects would have been similar.

The PDA was in its sync cradle, powered on, displaying the screen showing various tasks. I removed the PDA from the cradle, pressed the Qmenue button and was going to bring the backlight up from off. The unit locked. No buttons responded, nothing at all except for a menu frozen over the Tasks list screen.

A full backup was done two days earlier so I didn't worry about losing data and a soft reboot was my next step. The screen displayed the very same picture as my avatar with the numbers "P1.04" and "1.77" in the lower right corner.

It didn't progress past that screen and I did a second and third reset. Finally an error dialog box appeared saying something about "Program xxxxxxx.exe was unable to load." ...and lots of memory location values were included. A few more reboots gave identical results. So with a deep sigh I flipped the battery disconnect switch off, waited a bunch of seconds and then back on.
Right back to the same reddish screen with the numbers in the right corner.

My guess is I have a corrupt flash ROM but how does one reload the OS (CE 2000)?

I have spent a huge amount of time reading about using CF cards to boot the system but only if a dedicated CF sleeve is used. I have a PC slot sleeve and CF card adapter. Also that the USB cradle supposedly can't handle the restoration so I converted it to a serial cradle. Still no luck - can't make a serial connection. Yes, the parrot is pretty but the only parrots I want to see are mine in the Picture folder!

I need this thing working ASAP. Anybody have a link that can put me on the correct track?

Thanks in advance everyone
Mr. Hawk

oSPANNERo

Step one... you say reset, do you mean hard reset? If not, that is the first thing to do. Step two... try this link. Its from HP/COMPAQ and solves "unauthorized" rom upgrades to 2002 so it may help.

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/fi...oad/11135.html

Step 3... use the search engine on this site (up in the top bar) and have a look around. There is even a sticky about reloading ROM on 38xx when it crashes, not exactly the same but heading you in the right direction.

__________________
Hi, my name is Spanner and I am an iPAQ-aholic

This post has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate!

The same thing we do every night Pinky...

Mr. Hawk

Hi oSPANNERo,

> you say reset, do you mean hard reset?

I tried to make that clear. Soft reset until I mentioned sliding the battery
disconnect switch to OFF. Which is more accurate terminology when
refering to the little momentary reset switch - Reset or Reboot?

> If not, that is the first thing to do. Step two... try this link. Its from
> HP/COMPAQ and solves "unauthorized" rom upgrades to 2002 so it may help.

Thanks for the link. I didn't find that one on my own. I'll give it a shot.

> Step 3... use the search engine on this site (up in the top bar) and have a
> look around.

Did that for better part of a day. There may be what I'm looking for here
somewhere but I figured someone else would know exactly where to look. I
only have dialup at my current location ans searches are painfully slow...

> There is even a sticky about reloading ROM on 38xx when it crashes, not
> exactly the same but heading you in the right direction.

Thanks but I read that before even signing up here. It's detailed but of little
help. See, I've been doing my homework

Mr. Hawk

Mr. Hawk

The files on the HP/Compaq site won't help yet - my first priority is to make some sort of communications contact with the iPAQ. Every iPAQ seems to have some magic button combination that, when combined with the Soft Reset action, puts the device into a special communications mode. What's the correct set of buttons for the 3650? I thought it was: hold down the Power and Center Action buttons then soft Reset. This makes the Rainbow Lorikeet (parrot) show on the screen but that's all.

I've spend many frustrating hours with this thing and even built a custom Serial interface cable into the USB cradle in case USB wouldn't work for the restore (as some web sites claim).

I have two other questions but their subject matter is off-topic. I'll post them elsewhere.

Thanks,
Mr. Hawk

oSPANNERo

Excellent homework infact... more than most. Anyways... let us know about the HP solution and we can take steps from there.

__________________
Hi, my name is Spanner and I am an iPAQ-aholic

This post has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate!

The same thing we do every night Pinky...

Mr. Hawk

Hi oSPANNERo,

> Excellent homework infact... more than most.

I was never one for doing my homework - until it started to matter

> Anyways... let us know about the HP solution and we can take steps from
> there.

Like I said earlier, there was no resolution to the problem - I first need to
make a communications link with my unit. An update on HP's site suggested a
fix for a first-time serial connection under NT4/ 2000 (I'm using 2000 Pro) but
it didn't help. I've tried everything (except for the thing that works). Ok, time
to take "steps". I'm ready!

Thanks!

__________________
Mr. Hawk
------------------------------------------------------------
If some is good and more is better, then too much is just right!

Mr. Hawk

Sure is suddenly quiet in here... I'm ready for those next steps. Anybody?

__________________
Mr. Hawk
------------------------------------------------------------
If some is good and more is better, then too much is just right!