Zire 71 known problems

[PalmZire71]

imo, zire71 is a damn cool pda especially with the new screen, it totally beats all other pda. However, i have found several problems with the zire.

out of 5 zire that i have purchased, only 2 is working fine and these are the problems that i hve found out from the 3 non working ones.

1) buzzing sound when connected with a highly sensitivity headphone, you wont get the buzzing sound if you plug in less sensitive headphone

2) somebody mentioned about the scratch on the silver sliding, and i have it too. it is kind of inevitable unless you put some grease on it.

3) 5-way navigation joystick is not at the center position

4) if you havent noticed aready, there is a very tiny SCRATCH on the camera, above the lens. I have seen it in every zire71 and i believe it is a mark to show that it is a opened unit (might be made purposely by palm when you slide of the silver slider)

serious problem *

*5) I am not sure if you guys have had this problem, but 3 out of the 5 zire that i have give me the buzzing sound, 1 zire has no sound after installing some application (i believe), you can only hear it when u plug in the headphone. Another zire has no sound too, and worse still, i can only hear sound from one channel when i plug in my headphone.

Palm replies that it is maybe caused by the loose connector inside the jack.

i am really pissed with those zires and i believe futureshop n staples is pissed of me for returning so many zires :p

please add your problems into this thread so that everybody can share and access.

[Sparticus Caine]

Hey PZ71...

I work at the local Staples and we've had a few problems with people coming in with the slide scratches and some with the camera mark. We've sold about 6 of them and about 4 of them have come back with problems. Not one TT has come back with a complaint, but thats not the issue here. The Z71 is a fantastic unit, but I kind of wish that Palm had thought out the design just a smidge more. Besides, who wants to grease up thier new Z71? lol :)

[Nannylou]

That "scratch" above the camera appears to be more of a seam to me. It is perfectly straight and vertical. Can't imagine why there would be a seam mark in the plastic there, but I certainly don't mind it since it is not on the lens area.

My 5-position joystick is perfectly centered. I have had no sound problems (yet). I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm not really crazy about the way it sits perched in the cradle. Doesn't seem too stable to me. (My Palm Pro and my VIIx had solid connections with their respective cradles and also the hotsync cable I bought for my laptop.) The Zire 71 cradle works perfectly fine, however. I did find that the after market Belkin cable I bought does not hold a connection though, so it is going back.

Nancy

[Kev82@]

I;ve got a scratch at the back of the slider!!
don't know where it came from!!but other than that it's working fine for me, the sound doesn't seem to give me any problem!!

Keeping my fingers crossed to!!!

Kev@

[cherrylin1219]

I just bought my zire 71 a week ago. I didn't have any problems for the first few days but just today, i learned that there is something wrong with the screen. When I tapped the screen to click a certain button, it didn't work well. I tried aligning the screen by tapping the center of the square but when i reach to the 2nd "tapping alignment," i kept on tapping the center point to no avail. Now, I can't use my zire 71 unless i use the joystick. i dont know what went wrong....

[Kev82@]

:confused: I've heard of people having problems about the screen too! maybe it's a defect?? well u can send it abck to the shop though!!!

anyway all the best cherrylin1219

[sheldon]

I've had my Zire 71 for 3 weeks and have been enthusiastic about it until today (had an m105 and m125 before). I was reading an ebook with AcrobatReader and then turned it off.When I turned it on again about an hour later it did not respond. No sort of reset (soft,warm, hard,extended hard reset) would help so I guess I will have to send it back.
Of the other problems I only had the "clicking" sound from time to time but I could have lived with that.

[KaribOS]

Originally posted by sheldon
I've had my Zire 71 for 3 weeks and have been enthusiastic about it until today (had an m105 and m125 before). I was reading an ebook with AcrobatReader and then turned it off.When I turned it on again about an hour later it did not respond. No sort of reset (soft,warm, hard,extended hard reset) would help so I guess I will have to send it back.
Of the other problems I only had the "clicking" sound from time to time but I could have lived with that.

Are you system sound off?

The defalut sound setting causes the clicking when you tap the screen.

[MZephyr]

Greetings all,

I've had my Zire 71 about a month now. Actually, this is my second one. The first on had a "pop/speaker exploding" sound every few random taps. And it had slight darkening (just slight) at the bottom of the screen about 1/2 inch square, 1 inch from the left. So I returned my Zire 71.

I got a new one and it has the exact same items I explained above.

Thus, I question Palm's Quality Control procedure. Yes, this is a wonderful unit. But I think Palm realeased it too soon. Good news tho, Palm has identified the "POP" sound that a number of other Zire 71 users are complaining about.

I'd love to see Palm do a voluntary recall on their problemed Zire 71 units. I really feel they owe is that.

Yes, when docking my unit on the cradle, this model has been the most difficult to dock...agreed, it doesn't seem secure.

MZ

[sheldon]

Yes, I had the system sounds turned off.

My palm still does not work. I checked the invoice and it arrived exactly two weeks ago today. The online shop from which I ordered it said I should contact Palm support. I did and they told me that it will take "a few weeks" to repair. The shop would not take it back. And Palm told me I would probably not get my Palm back but another one they have fixed. For € 300,-- I do not want a used one. :(

[spark]

I have also been having major problems with my Zire 71 and posted the following message on another forum website:

Is anyone else having problems with their Zire 71 zreezing/blank screen bespite the battery being fully charged?

Typically, I add an entry to my date book one night or similar action as all is fine, and the next morning I try to turn the palm back on but it won't start. I iind that I have to place the palm on the cradle for a while and do a forced reset which wipes all information.

I have had to return 3 units to the shop for replacement but the same or similar problems keep occuring. One of the palms would turn on ok but would not register the stylus.

I thought it might be 3rd party software or non OS 5 software, but the latest freeze occured with only Paalm software installed plus the latest version of Fasttrack Schedule for Palm. I have searched the web far and wide for reports of technical bugs/troubleshooting for the Zire 71 but everyone seems to rave about it with no complaints.

Any feedback/suggestions would be appreciated.

Spark (using Mac OS 10.2.6, Palm Desktop 4.1 + Entourage 10.1.3 conduit)

[Stardust]

I've had my Zire 71 for 11 days now. So far, I have not encountered any hardware-related problem. I did notice two tiny scratches at the back of the slider, but what harm could that possibly do? A bit more irritating is the cradle: the slightest movement of the unit could cut off the connection to the charger and/or the USB port. But what the heck, this is still a fantastic gadget overall.

[madkins007]

Camera mark- this does somehow seem to be a manufacturing issue- the mark seems to point at the center of the lense. I can't 'feel' it, so I wonder if it is on the back side of the plastic? Interesting, but it is not affecting anything as far as I can tell.

Buzzing in a sensitive headphone- this is a common phenomena with a lot of sound devices and is a good example of matching the speakers to the device- there is no reason to put high-quality speakers on a lower-quality device. You just get really good reproduction of mediocre sounds. By definition, sensitive headphones will pick up all distortions and interferences, etc. Part of the cost of good quality sound devices is the minimization of these issues. If I try to use my good headphones that I use with my stereo system with my cheapo boombox, I get the same thing- a low background buzz that becomes exponentially louder as you increase the volume.

Released too soon/too many defective units- I looked at several forums and sites before I got my 71 and did not see anything to lead me to believe that there is an excessive number of defective units out there- certainly no more so than I saw in the Clie forums or Handspring forums (back when Handspring was hot). You always take a bit of risk with new products- both as a manufacturer and as a buyer!

It WOULD be nice if companies would stop releasing buggy versions of products, but THAT ain't gonna happen. It would also be nice if they had better customer service/return policies, but that ain't likely, neither!

Send in your unit, get a different unit back- this is a pretty common practice in electronics. With things like this, you'll never know how long it will take to really repair it- it might be something simple and take a minute, it might take a week just to get it to duplicate the problem and you -still- won't know what is really wrong. Most companies also employ a lot fewer techs doing this than you might think (often rather inexperienced people doing the testing and routine repairs, passing more complicated stuff off to the 'real' techs.)

Solution? As soon as a unit comes in, check it over and ship out another unit that has been repaired and tested*. Theoretically, it is nearly identical to the original unit, and is often a better deal for the owner since the replacement usually has the latest stuff (often a new battery, new shell, etc.)

*- the downside is that sometimes a bad unit slips through. It tests OK, so they just clean it up and stick it on the shelf to send out to the next person. Sometimes, they even manage to ship back your original unit without fixing the problem- as long as it seems OK to them. On the other hand, there is usually a grace period on these devices, so if you DO get a lemon, you can usually ship it back.

[donorcyclist]

I'm still pretty happy with this thing, shortcomings aside. I would have gone for a Sony unit (my last Clie was head and shoulders above other units, at the time, but they've decided to have the integrated keyboard on the upper end units, and I don't like that at all!), but the Palm had everything my heart desired. I have, however, had a problem with getting fatal errors. That's something my Clie almost never did, but I've had it randomly happen 4 times now in just over a week. Nothing lost, yet, but it could happen. I'm still within my one-month for return, and will be looking at this critically...

I, too, have the vertical scratch, and believe it may be a knit line in the lens (probably polycarbonate lens, made by the lowest bidder). Doesn't affect the camera, though, because I believe that the true lens is the little square in the lower left of the "lens area". As for other scratches; well, you have moving parts. This is what happens when something slides over another...

[JAY8533]

Oh man, I should stop reading these. You guys are worrying me. I havent had any problems with my Zire in the 3 or 4 weeks that I have had it. By now my old Sony Clie would be being hurled across the room(and indeed it was at one point after only a few weeks...but into a nice soft pillow)

[Stardust]

Right, Jay833. All this could be the start of Zirephobia!

[Sparticus Caine]

In the past month and a half, I've sold about a dozen Zire 71's to customers that have come in looking for a basic digicam and a decent palm... so far no complaints or problems. From what I can tell its a very stable unit with nothing but a standard learning curve for the first time user, and alot of joy from the more experienced users who purchase one. I'm not saying there aren't going to be problems... heck, they're electronic. Its almost a given. I always keep my eye out just in case something does happen to a customers unit. Palm is really good about repairing the products we sell, and the customer ends up being happy. After all, the customer needs to be taken care of... one way or another.

[Stardust]

When a problem occurs, many people presume it's hardware-related when in fact it is the result of third-party software causing bugs in the OS. It's easy to blame the Zire 71 and/or its manufacturer in a moment of frustration and anger.

[chichille8]

Got my Zire 71 in the first week Palm launched it: I had to replace my stolen M500.

No big problem with, but some irritants:

- fatal error: it occurs roughly one time by week. I just slide the camera to open it, as it acts as a reset.

- Avant Go: some medias seem not like the Palm OS 5.

- Mobipocket: after contacting the house by e-mail, still doesn't download enews files. I guess it's have to see with OS 5.

Up to now, I can not use my Citipack keyboard from my M500. I still hope Citipack will lauch update allowing use of their keyboard with my Zire 71.

All in all, I love my Zire 71. I don't think to go back to M500 serie.

[Sparticus Caine]

You're right Stardust... most often its software related. Just like a PC :) Its easy to blame hardware, (not that sometimes it isn't the problem) but taking the time to do a thorough diagnostic will always reveal the true source of the occurance.

[ralphie]

Interesting reading so far.

Here's a bug in the Zire 71.

1. Schedule a meeting alert for the next few minutes.
2. Do a "find" and see the results returned.
3. Wait for the meeting alert to pop-up, then dismiss the meeting reminder.
4. The "find" results screen is corrupted. All I see is some checkboxes where the found items should be listed. The screen is otherwise blank.

[XeonRebel]

tough a little bit older i was just curious about this thread:


"2) somebody mentioned about the scratch on the silver sliding, and i have it too. it is kind of inevitable unless you put some grease on it."

humm, i have a scratch in the left side (next to the zire 71 logo on top of the pda) of the s.sliding, a small one (2 cm) and i dont know how the hell it was made. is that what you were talking about of? by the way, i was thinking of painting it with my some sort of paint, but i dont know if it would be a good idea. no big deal anyway.

"3) 5-way navigation joystick is not at the center position"

now, when you say that, where is the joystick pointing to or where is it located? does it works abnormally in the palm os?

that's all folkss

[mobipocket]

Originally posted by chichille8
- Mobipocket: after contacting the house by e-mail, still doesn't download enews files. I guess it's have to see with OS 5.


Nothing related with Palm OS 5. Did you have a look at the FAQ in the Knowledge Base (Mobipocket website) ?

Does the Mobipocket conduit appear in Hot Sync conduit list ? If no, close Hot Sync and launch it again.