Should I throw it away?

John Yossarian · 04-17-08, 06:58 PM

Hello guys,

I need your help to get my iPAQ hx4700 back to normal. I had left my PDA on the couch when my son (8 1/2 year old) found it. After playing with it he decided to play with the settings: the result is that my iPAQ is locked and judging on a few things he must have used strong alphanumeric password (I am not sure that he intended to put a real password, rather playing with it) and most probably must have ticked the security after hard reset box. I have hard reset it twice without success.

If hard reset action cannot resolve it I am a bit lost. I have just managed to get it back to normal after losing the touch screen and now I have this brick.

Can anyone advise me on how to go ahead (if possible at all)? I was thinking of flashing the ROM but I am not sure this would help, moreover I have seen enough people who bricked their PDA's playing with ROM flashing.

Does it make sense to contact HP? Could they help me?

Thanks in advance for reading this (and hopefully for chipping in).

Cheers,
John:o

daddybfree · 04-17-08, 07:21 PM

Guess I should be more careful letting my kids use my Axim

Sorry I don't know what to say to help

Julie · 04-17-08, 09:14 PM

There is a way to set the password up to be retained even if a hard reset is performed. If that's what your son did, then I don't think there's much you'll be able to do to gain access to it (except for coming up with the right password).

Have you updated it to WM5.0? or is it still running the windows mobile 2003se OS? If you updated it WM5.0, you'll need to perform a clean reset to restore it to factory settings (a hard reset won't do the job on a WM5.0 device).

I don't think HP can help you with this. They would probably tell you that the device is out of warranty and want to charge you to look at it. In the end, if the password was set up in such a way that it cannot be removed with a factory reset, there's little they can do. Trying to update the ROM also won't work on a password protected device, since you'll be prompted for the password before you can proceed.

John Yossarian · 04-18-08, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by Julie

There is a way to set the password up to be retained even if a hard reset is performed. If that's what your son did, then I don't think there's much you'll be able to do to gain access to it (except for coming up with the right password).

Have you updated it to WM5.0? or is it still running the windows mobile 2003se OS? If you updated it WM5.0, you'll need to perform a clean reset to restore it to factory settings (a hard reset won't do the job on a WM5.0 device).

I don't think HP can help you with this. They would probably tell you that the device is out of warranty and want to charge you to look at it. In the end, if the password was set up in such a way that it cannot be removed with a factory reset, there's little they can do. Trying to update the ROM also won't work on a password protected device, since you'll be prompted for the password before you can proceed.

Thanks Julie,

It is 2003SE OS that means that it has been cooked. It seems that it is hopeless.

Julie · 04-18-08, 02:14 AM

When you start up the pocket pc, when you enter a password, do you see a button with the words "reset now" on it? If so, you can select that button and your pocket pc's memory (IPAQ File Store included) will be wiped.

John Yossarian · 04-20-08, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by Julie

When you start up the pocket pc, when you enter a password, do you see a button with the words "reset now" on it? If so, you can select that button and your pocket pc's memory (IPAQ File Store included) will be wiped.

Hi Julie,

Answering your question: No, I do not see this window. After reading a bit I cannot help but wondering how my son managed to go through the meander-ish menu to set it up. He must have gone to the Pause question in the secret question section and did not choose (I do not think he had any idea what he was doing at that time) to clean the security via a hard reset.

Someone at work mentioned to me that should I find an old motherboard in working oder) I might still get away by replacing the current one. Obviously one can still use the rest of the iPAQ:(.

I am very unhappy about the situation. Next time I will not leave anything like that in his reach.

Anyone with any other ideas?

Julie · 04-20-08, 09:53 AM

I've always thought the setting to have a password survive a hard reset is not readily accessible, so I agree with you. I'm surprised your son managed to press the right combination of keys to cause this to happen. Not being able to see the device myself, I'm not convinced that the handheld can not be restored, but I really can't think of what else you could try.

Have you tried removing the battery for several hours to let the backup battery drain and (hopefully) provoke a hard reset?

Pocketbrain · 04-20-08, 11:13 AM

Don't throw it away!! There are plenty of nerds on these here forums who could do something with it.

.

spud42 · 04-23-08, 08:41 AM

can you put it into bootloader mode without a password? if so yo can reflash it with WM2003se... or what ever you want.. try reading the thread about WM5 russian rom . there is a lot of info there about how to put the ipaq into bootloader mode to reflash even a "bricked" 4700...

John Yossarian · 04-24-08, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by spud42

can you put it into bootloader mode without a password? if so yo can reflash it with WM2003se... or what ever you want.. try reading the thread about WM5 russian rom . there is a lot of info there about how to put the ipaq into bootloader mode to reflash even a "bricked" 4700...

Hi Spud42,

I have not tried it but I will. I have found someone locally that would like to have a go with it so I might simply sell it (if this did not work).

Kevin1a · 04-24-08, 05:29 AM

In case you do decide to sell it, may I ask you it the screen is the same as the one on the hx2755 QVGA? Does anyone know?

spud42 · 04-24-08, 09:38 AM

kevin1a please dont hijack threads. but your answer is a definite no. the 4700 screen is 4" vga 480 640. not qvga 240 320.

John here is a link tot how to use the bootloader

http://wm6.flyingarizona.net/instructions.txt

and here a link to the bootloader program

New/Stable Version Universal BootLoader - Brighthand.com Smartphone and PDA Discussion Forums

hope you can unbrick the ipaq. a 4700 is too good to waste....lol

John Yossarian · 05-03-08, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by spud42

kevin1a please dont hijack threads. but your answer is a definite no. the 4700 screen is 4" vga 480 640. not qvga 240 320.

John here is a link tot how to use the bootloader

http://wm6.flyingarizona.net/instructions.txt

and here a link to the bootloader program

New/Stable Version Universal BootLoader - Brighthand.com Smartphone and PDA Discussion Forums

hope you can unbrick the ipaq. a 4700 is too good to waste....lol

Hi Spud42,

I have been a little busy last week but your advice made me look for solutions. I found something (see link below) that resolved the problem. The main issue was to find someone with hx4700 willing to make an image ROM file for me. It took me a while but the effrot was well worth it. Someone here mentioned that it should not boot unless unlocked but somehow it did re-flashed the ROM and I am now installing the programs I used to have on it before my son became curious:).

From now on this one of the things he won't play with :) That is the agreement.

Thank you to all who chipped in. What initially looked as a hopeless situation turned out in the end to be solvable.

Cheers,
John

The link:
How to repair broken iPAQ after unsuccessful ROM upgrade - Resco Forums

Julie · 05-03-08, 07:16 PM

Wow, so glad to hear you got it working again! What a relief it must be! Thanks for letting us know and for sharing the link.

I guess it was quite a lesson to learn. I imagine your son doesn't want to play with it any more either.

John Yossarian · 05-03-08, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Julie

Wow, so glad to hear you got it working again! What a relief it must be! Thanks for letting us know and for sharing the link.

I guess it was quite a lesson to learn. I imagine your son doesn't want to play with it any more either.

Hi Julie,

Yes, it was massive relief and very rewarding experience in the end. I could imagine how easy it could have transfered into a nightmare:).

My son is insisting now for one Pocket PC "that would be his and should anything happened to it he is not going to blame anyone":).

I guess it must have been lesson for him too, in a way.

Whilst looking for solutions I have come across a certain Prof. Julie :) at the HP official site. It rang a bell:).

Thank you for your support and advice! Much appreciated!

Cheers,
John