Hey I was cleaning my room and found a Palm IIIxe. I know the warranty expired on it and it doesn’t seem to power up even after changing the batteries. Anyone know where I can find a guide to let me troublshoot this? Maybe one of the internal connectors came lose over time.
Make sure the battery contacts are clean and corrosion free. Press (gently but firmly) into the reset hole with the end of a paperclip while holding down the on/off switch then release it and see if powers up
at last. something I know about.
There’s very little you can do, but what you can do is easy. Get a little screwdriver and remove the 4 screws on the back. The case will come apart with some careful prying. (You can’t hurt it; it’s broken anyway.)
You’ll see a flat, white cable inserted into a flat connector. The cable is held by a little sliding clamp that can be pushed open with the previously menitoned screwdriver. Wiggle the white cable (no point in pulling it out, but it you do, it slides in with some aggrivation.) Push the little clamp back in. (I didn’t do this once. My palm didn’t turn on until I did push the clamp in.)
Examine battery springs for green crud or corrosion. Snap things together and hope for the best.
Your odds of success are slim and none. But what the heck…
in my excitement, I should not have assumed you have already reset the palm, changed the battery, cleaned the connections, and turned to contract knob.
It’s been my experience that you never truly know when a Palm is dead.
My IIIxe just “died” on me one day. Nothing would help. I changed the batteries, did a hard reset, etc. Nada. I put the thing in my drawer and forgot about it.
About a year later I came across it again and decided “what the hell, why not?” I got a fresh pair of batteries, turned it on, and voila! it worked. Mind you, I tried this a year ago and it didn’t work.
Go figure!
Zev Steinhardt
When you replaced the batteries, you did look at the near-impossible-to-see polarity marks? They’re not intuitive.
Yep Positive on the left for the top one
Positive on the right for the bottom one
DDG thank you. I joined and posted there.