black screen - beep

[rlarne]

My Psion 5 died just when I was getting ready to back it up for the first time in many months. It worked fine an hour earlier but all of a sudden the screen wouldn’t come on. I have tried SOFT RESET and HARD RESET as well as removed both main and backup batteries for 24 hours without any luck. I suspect it’s a hardware issue and am planning to take it apart since I’ve got nothing to loose but wanted to see if anyone has a comment on the fact that when I press the ESC (ON) button I hear a beep.

[diem]

There's one thing I can think of before you dismantle it. Try using Fn - N or M (or whatever the keys are) to change the screen contrast - if this maxes out then the screen can become unreadable. In truth I'd have thought a hard reset would reset contrast, but worth a go..

If not, then the usual reason for a screen failure is that the screen flexi-cable gets cracked. The only reason I doubt this in your case is that this usually manifests first as the occasional horizontal black line(s) on the display - I've not heard of it happening so rapidly.

Any road up, there's advice about repair options (and dismantling guides ;)) in my FAQ at the URL below.

[Donal]

Sorry to hear about your screen failure. Could well be a cracked or LOOSE cable. I had a problem with a loose cable on my S5. The problem manifested itself quite suddenly, none of the "horizontal lines" that so many others have experienced, just like you described, I got a flickering/blank screen too. I was able to do a homemade repair (see my post).
Might also be worth having a look at www.portal-pda.com/graveyard You have got nothing to lose by taking it carefully apart anyway as a repair will cost £90!