Jon Olivier

I have been having problem lately with the power/synch connector on the bottom of my X50V. When placing my Axim in the cradle, I now have to press on the top of the Axim (thus slightly pushing it towards the back of the cradle) to get it to make contact for synching and charging. When using the synch cable, I have to keep pressure on the bottom of the connector to keep contact.

Has anyone run into this problem before? Does anyone have suggestions on what I may be able to do to fix this?

I can still recharge the battery by removing it and placing it in the base of the charging cradle, and I can synch wirelessly, but I can no longer charge the battery in my car using the synch travel cable. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Jon Olivier

uzziah0

Start with the basics,
did you look at the connector to see if there is anything in there?
try cleaning it with a little piece of tissue paper dipped into rubbing alcohol (this might clean off build up on the connector pins) - do this very carefully, you don't want to pull anything out of wack.

FredS

I started having that problem also. My will not charge in the cradle while it is on. If I turn it off it will charge OK. If I want to sync and charge I have to put a rubber band around the charging cradle and over the top of the Axim, this pulls it down and slightly back so it must make contact. Using the in-car charger will not work as I have to very slightly press the connector backwards and I cannot hold it that way and drive at the same time.

I have worked on trying to clean the connector on the Axim and on the charging cradle. This system is a weak point as on a prior charging cradle the connector broke loss inside the cradle as the solder joints are very fine.

Craig Smith

I am having this connector problem also, with two different connectors. Presently neither will connect to Activesync. Is anyone aware of a common fix?

Mako230

There's a few threads on this site already. It's very common. Mine had the exact same problem. I believe the connector breaks wnere it is soldered to the mainboard. I sent mine to pocketpctechs for repair. Turn around took 6 days and works perfect. (I also did the 128mb ram upgrade at the same time). I highly recommend them.

davrol

I had the same problem having to push down on the Axim in its cradle to get it to charge and/or sync.

However it turned out to be a cradle problem. I got a new cradle and the problem disappeared.

On the old cradle the connector plug had become loose and wobbled a bit backwards and forwards. Eventually it broke off completely at one end and sank down into the cradle. I tried to repair it but without success.

snissenbaum

I managed to repair my cradle temporarily by soldering the contacts of the connector after opening the cradle but I am back to pushing the axim on the cradle again now

davrol

Originally Posted by snissenbaum

I managed to repair my cradle temporarily by soldering the contacts of the connector after opening the cradle but I am back to pushing the axim on the cradle again now

I think that it would be well worth your while to get a new cradle. I managed to find a genuine new Dell cradle for £5.50 (about US$11 at the present rate of exchange). The shipping and delivery, next day by courier cost £6.00 - more that the cradle itself! However Dell UK charge £33.40 inclusive so it was a pretty good deal. :)

If you are in the UK you can get one from Stock Asset Management, e-mail sales@saml-uk.co.uk I found them on e-bay. Your avatar box does not give your location. SAM might possibly ship internationally. If not, try e-bay but make sure that it is a genuine Dell cradle. There are others on offer which will not take an extended battery and do not have a charging bay behind the connector.

Good luck!

rmj03

Originally Posted by Mako230

There's a few threads on this site already. It's very common. Mine had the exact same problem. I believe the connector breaks wnere it is soldered to the mainboard. I sent mine to pocketpctechs for repair. Turn around took 6 days and works perfect. (I also did the 128mb ram upgrade at the same time). I highly recommend them.

I can't find the other threads. Where are they?

Are you referring to the cradle or the Dell Axim itself?

rmj03

Originally Posted by uzziah0

Start with the basics, did you look at the connector to see if there is anything in there? try cleaning it with a little piece of tissue paper dipped into rubbing alcohol (this might clean off build up on the connector pins) - do this very carefully, you don't want to pull anything out of wack.

Okay, that didn't work. What's your next suggestion?

twmiller

I think you may need to send it in for repair. Sorry.

Mako230

[QUOTE=rmj03;1059143305]I can't find the other threads. Where are they?

I just typed "broken loose connector" in the search field of this site and came up with plenty of hits on this subject.

rmj03

I purchased from PocketPCTechs.com for US$19.99 a Dell Axim x50/x50v Lil Sync Pro Retractiable Sync-n-Charge Cable that works great. I was able to sync as well as charge my Dell Axim x50v.


P.S. All 3 cradles I obtained eventually broke. It was so discouraging. I still use the cradles to charge the batteries. You can only charge a battery inside the Axim with the Sync-n-Charge with the Dell Axim powered off.

Pocketbrain

I found that the Dell cradle has a design flaw that allows it to break easily. This has also damaged the connector on the bottom of my Axim X50. I would have been happy with merely a broken cradle, but it just had to mess up my pda as well.