iPAQ on the fritz

Question for hand held owners
I have an iPAQ 1710. Yesterday, I went to turn it on and got no response from it. Just black screen. I thought “hmmmm. battery must have gone flat” so I put it on the charger but it made no attempt to recharge. So I thought “time for a soft reboot” (there’s a little indented button at the bottom of the unit you press with a paper clip). When I did this, it showed the reboot screen, which began to flash off and on violently, making no attempt to reboot - just flashing on and off.

Does anyone have any idea what’s wrong with my darling little iPAQ? I have posted this question on the forum of Pocket PC magazine, but have 122 views to no replies! I figured with access to the smartest people on the planet, I was a mug for not trying SDMB first!

Any and all answers/advice greatly appreciated!

mm

I had a similar problem with mine (different model though). Oddly enough, what fixed mine was plugging it directly into the wall to charge.

According to the guys at HP, if you don’t regularly charge it overnight on the cradle, then it won’t stay properly charged. When it finally dies, it MUST be recharged from a wall socket. Essentially, tech support guy said use the cradle to information, and the wall socket for charging.

YMMV, but give it a shot.