- Re: The Digest V1 # 1114

- Screen Lines

- 5mx with faulty screen

- Re: Problem with 5mx _ The Digest V1 # 1114

- Problem with 5mx? # 1114

- Re: Problem with 5mx?

Date: 19 Jul 2007 06:41:02 +0100
From: Michael Bruhn <address truncated>
Subject: Re: The Digest V1 # 1114

Dear Anne,
I've had this problem before. There was no data loss, just the 
display did't work. I had to have the screen cable (flat ribbon 
cable) replaced.
Good luck - Michael Bruhn, Ueberlingen, Germany

> Date: 17 Jul 2007 16:57:30 +0100
> From: Anne Parry <address truncated>
> Subject: Problem with 5mx?

> I am hopeful that someone can help me or may have experienced a 
> similar problem and will be able to offer me some advice.

> I used my 5mx this morning and it was fine, it has reasonably new 
> batteries and I had no problem inputting information, switching off 
> and on etc. I went back to look something up a couple of hours 
> later and there were now a series of horizontal lines running 
> across the screen when I switched on. I have replaced the batteries 
> but it is still the same.

> The very bad news for me is that due to my laptop crashing a couple 
> of months ago I have not been able to back up the 5mx since then. I 
> have been waiting for the hard drive to be replaced and it's return 
> was iminent and now this has happened. It would be a nightmare to 
> lose all the information on my Psion as I don't know how much can 
> be restored from my old laptop/back-ups. If anyone has an idea of 
> what the problem could be and if I can do anything or I need to 
> send it away for repair without losing my information, I would be 
> very grateful.

> Many thanks,
> Anne Parry, London

Date: 19 Jul 2007 08:32:25 +0100
From: Philip Carlisle <address truncated>
Subject: Screen Lines

Dear Anne

Your problem looks like a failure of the screen cable - this is a well known problem feature of the original equipment.
You could send it to POS - www.POSltd.com or, and this would be my choice, www.psionflexi.co.uk, as they specialise in a stronger replacement for the original cable.
The cost will be about £45, from memory, but you may wish to have other work done at the same time (new screen if the present one has been scratched, replacement keys etc.).

Kind regards
Philip Carlisle

Date: 19 Jul 2007 09:03:21 +0100
From: Stéphane Sage <address truncated>
Subject: 5mx with faulty screen

Hello all

Answer to Anne Parry : no, you should not have lost your data. The problem is the faulty cable between central unit and screen (I just had it myself, for the 2nd time...). Get in touch with www.psionflexi.uk (Paul Wright) : they will be able to help you (also resolving other minor defects if any)

Best regards.

Stephane (Grenoble, France)

Date: 19 Jul 2007 09:27:06 +0100
From: Chris Cooper
Subject: Re: Problem with 5mx _ The Digest V1 # 1114

Anne wrote:

> there were now a series of
horizontal lines running across the screen when I switched on.

This is the unfailing sign of the eternal scourge of the 5mx: imminent failure of the screen cable (which connects the motherboard to the screen). I've had it several times over the years.

The bad news is that it will not go away - it will get worse and is not cheap to repair.

But there's lots of good news:

- it doesn't affect any data, so there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to back up your data pending a repair

- it's often intermittent, so if you can't read your screen now, you might be able to next time you switch on, and then you can back up

- also try holding the screen partly closed - often the lines disappear at certain angles, so this again gives you a chance to back up

You don't mention whether you have a CF (compact flash) memory card. If you do, copy the contents of your C drive to it, while the screen is still partly or intermittently readable. If you don't - they're pretty cheap to buy! Or wait for the laptop to come back from repair and back up to that. In the meantime, the less you can open and close your 5mx (that's what stresses the cable), the more slowly the screen view will deteriorate.

When you've backed up, send the 5mx off for repair. (If you can't back up, get the repairers to do it for you - for an extra charge, of course.)

I recommend PsionFlexi (http://www.psionflexi.co.uk/,)who replace the screen cable with their personally improved versions, less vulnerable to this fault. My present 5mx has one of their cables, and is surviving well.

POS (http://www.posltd.com/service.htm)are in Croydon and offer a while-you-wait repair service (as well as a postal one) - but presumably with the old unimproved cables? And check the prices against PsionFlexi - I think they're a lot more expensive.

Good luck!

- - -
Original message:

Date: 17 Jul 2007 16:57:30 +0100
From: Anne Parry <address truncated>
Subject: Problem with 5mx?

I am hopeful that someone can help me or may have experienced a similar problem
and will be able to offer me some advice.

I used my 5mx this morning and it was fine, it has reasonably new batteries and
I had no problem inputting information, switching off and on etc. I went back
to look something up a couple of hours later and there were now a series of
horizontal lines running across the screen when I switched on. I have replaced
the batteries but it is still the same.

The very bad news for me is that due to my laptop crashing a couple of months
ago I have not been able to back up the 5mx since then. I have been waiting for
the hard drive to be replaced and it's return was iminent and now this has
happened. It would be a nightmare to lose all the information on my Psion as I
don't know how much can be restored from my old laptop/back-ups. If anyone has
an idea of what the problem could be and if I can do anything or I need to send
it away for repair without losing my information, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks,
Anne Parry, London

Date: 19 Jul 2007 11:02:12 +0100
From: Vlad A <address truncated>
Subject: Problem with 5mx? # 1114

> Anne Parry wrote on 19.07.2007 9:17:

> could be and if I can do anything or I need to send it away for repair without > losing my information, I would be very grateful.

Sorry to say, but it looks like the "dreaded screen-cable problem". Your
data are not (yet!) lost and you can send (or bring!) your Psion in for
repair to POS and ask them to back it up. Contact them for instructions.

Keep good batteries in the machine! Never remove both AA and
backup-batteries at the same time, of course... And don't try anything
creative unless you're sure you know what you do...

There are keyboard commands for many tasks, so you can do things even if the screen is unusable, I guess someone here will know how this works.

And you can try to move and hold the screen in a position where it may
function for a while, enough to save your data to a CF.

Hope this helps a bit... Good luck!

vlad a

Date: 19 Jul 2007 15:37:50 +0100
From: Keith Giles <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Problem with 5mx?

For Anne Parry - I had the same thing happen while on a tour in Europe. The screen cable had developed a hole - the dreaded cable problem. I'm sure you'll have to get it repaired. I'm not acquainted with British repair outfits, but have the following in my bookmarks:

http://parts4pdas.de/http://www.posltd.com/  From other postings I think this outfit is expensive.
http://www.ka-flex.de/
I vaguely recall, but can't find a reference, that there's somebody in the UK who makes an improved cable. Maybe someone else on the Digest will know.

One thing you might try is to turn on the Psion, tap "Fn+L then "C" (that should activate the cable link); connect the Psion to your PC and backup. I have no idea if this'll work. If it does, you're home free regarding backups. then it's a question of getting your Psion a new cable.

FYI, At home I backup to the PC almost every day. On tour, I use Ralph Spenger's backup program sent to automatically backup the C drive to the D drive each night. You can use any automatic backup program - FastBackup is very good but needs CronTab to run automatically - Ralph's timing is built in.

Because of that I was able to recover everything on both drives -
after getting a new cable/screen installed.

A long time ago I learned to Backup, Backup, Backup. :-)

Good luck, Anne.

Happy Cycling,
Keith
Sunnyvale, CA

http://ohsix827.home.comcast.net
Thought For The Day: I am not young enough to know everything.