imported_geocacher

I have a brand new hx4700. In the process of learning to use it the 4 buttons around the touch pad did not appear to be working.

In trying to use active chat to talk to hp (useless as they won't talk to me until monday after 9am) I needed the product and serial no. so I turned it off and removed the battery.

Now when I turn back on (battery cover is locked) by pressing power nothing happens.

If I plug in the power and press reset I get a screen with no backlight, a hp logo in the middle and Serial (top) Vers 1.01 (bottom).

Nothing else. It's dead.

I have thus far tried:
a/ Several hard resets in the manner described
b/ Remove battery and reinsert followed by soft reset or pluging power in and soft reset as described in battery chaper of manual
c/ Insertion into cradle which had the result of changing the word "serial" on the aforementioned display to "USB" and the tones to indicate a device had been plugged in and recognized on the laptop chimed. Likewise they "chime" again when the device is removed. But Activesync doesn't recognize that it is plugged in.
d/ Removal of battery for several hours and reinsert. Followed by soft reset which returned it to the Serial Version 1.01 screen.
e/ Hard reset again - as expected nothing.

Apart from keeping me up all night on nightshift all of the above served no purpose.

I can't find anything anywhere about restoration of the ROM to the original version of the O/S which seems unreal. Every CD that comes to restore a laptop has that capability (ie. start from scratch on a corrupted system) but unless I'm missing something not on a hand held. This strikes me as odd given that they supply a CD with an MS Product Key on it but I can't see an uploader on the disk.

I thought about attempting to flash the ROM to Vers 1.10 until I read the battery life horror stories on some forums, so decided against that.

I can take it back to the supplier on Tuesday (120 miles away) but really want to get it working, and tech support don't want to talk to me until 9 am tomorrow.

Is it dead? Or really really dead?

Thanks,

Dave

PS When on power or cradle charge light isn't on either. (

Possum Roadkil

If you wanted to try flashing it to the old ROM, that one is available as well. If it's "new" enough I'd return it to the store and get a replacement, as that would be the easiest option.

Sorry to hear you are having problems so early.

imported_geocacher

Finally had a win - sort of. Logged into the US online support, at least theirs is 24/7. Ours isn't.

A slow process (I think he must have been dealing with more than a few chat windows at once) but he finally said it has to go back for service. I suggested that this was unacceptable on a brand new unit and he said if it's new take it back for replacement.

240 mile (400km) round trip though. Lucky I'm going to Melbourne again this week anyway. I haven't been for months and coincidently I'm going twice in a fortnight.

Still pi$$es me off though. Brand new AU$800 PDA and it didn't last long enough to install an application onto

Makes me wonder if I should even bother getting another after I read all the bug reports on it.

PDF file of Online Support chat attached to this post.

I'll keep you posted.

Dave

gschoots

Please bear in mind the accepted DOA (Dead on Arrival) percentage is 5% for most big brand computer companies like Dell, HP. And in my experience if you buy large quantities of the same product this 5% is often a good marker, so if you are that unlucky guy you have to have it replaced.....

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Driftless

press the soft reset button only...this brought mine out of this.....error.

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Driftless....

Driftless

whoops...bring up that screen...then press the soft reset button.

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Driftless....

rob1303

Also try leaving the battery out for half an hour (I assume it is fully charged - if not charge it first).

Then put the battery back in and perform a soft reset.

Where in Aus are you?

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Regards

Rob

imported_geocacher

Hi guys,

Thanks. I have tried a soft reset from that screen. I also left the battery out of it for several hours after I gave up on restoring it last night on night shift.

I think the telling diagnostic factor for the tech on the online help was when he asked if the charge light comes on when I plug it into the outlet or put it in the cradle. It doesn't.

It's apparently dead, an 83, code 4, shuffled off to ward 13.

My location for Rob, is Shepparton in central Vic.

Dave

imported_geocacher

Originally Posted by Possum

If you wanted to try flashing it to the old ROM, that one is available as well. If it's "new" enough I'd return it to the store and get a replacement, as that would be the easiest option. Sorry to hear you are having problems so early.

Two problems:
I don't know how or where to find the old ROM. I would have thought it would be on the disk supplied but I can't find anything on there to restore the OS.

Second, I don't think it will talk to the unit anyway. There appears to be not enough life in it to talk much to the laptop other than for the laptop to beep that the device has docked/undocked and the word serial on the screen changes to USB.

Dave

rob1303

Thanks for the update - I assume they are are sending you a replacement?

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Regards

Rob

imported_geocacher

I'll have to go into Organiser World in Latrobe St in the city on Wednesday when I get to melburne and see what they say. I've printed the script from the tech support session which says replacement so I hope I don't have an argument with them about it.

I'm not sending a brand new unit away for service, replacement is their only option.

BTW What happened to the pdf I thought I attached? Where do attachments show up?

I had hoped to have all my geocaching stuff transferred over to it by Tuesday as my old Palm Tungsten E has problems of its own. (Gravity is the enemy. If you drop a PDA in space nothing gets broken.)

I'm really frustrated about the whole thing. If OziExplorer ran on a Palm I wouldn't be here either.

Any way. Done now.

Dave

imported_geocacher

Attachment was too big. Resaved at text and is now added to original post.

dave

imported_Randy_M

For what it's worth, I had the same symptom (albeit on a 9 month old unit). If it's like mine, it needs to be replaced. HP usa service sent me a return box, and I had the fixed unit back in my hand in 3 days. Yours is new, however; they should just give you a fresh one at the retailer. Hope it works out for you, because it's a great machine.

RED SEVEN

Hey geocatcher hang in there. Sadly as a retailer (non-electronics) I know the rate of goods that arrive damaged and I have seen over and over what a freight carrier can do to stuff but in the end the 4700 is a great machine and I suspect once you get on track you'll won't want anything to do with your old Palm.
Over the years I have had occasion to send stuff back to HP and they have been very fast. Never more than a week round trip. Retailer exchanges sometimes take a little more persistance but they do come through. Once I even had a nice upgrade in units at no extra charge.
Despite the initial woes congrats on your new machine...It'll be worth it in the end!

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RED SEVEN
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IPAQ HX 4700

ShALLaX

I think the problem you're having is broken soft keys. Just how hard did you press them? The only way this bootloader screen will come up is if:

a) Your ROM is corrupt.
b) You are holding down Contact+iTask+Reset

It leads me to believe that b) is occurring since you were messing with the buttons prior to this happening. Maybe you pressed them a little too hard? Maybe they are defective? Make sure that all the buttons still click properly when pressed.