Series 5 problem with power and display

[Jimbo]

I dropped my series 5 a couple of weeks ago and a quarter of the screen on the right hand side went blank! I am not sure if Donal's matchsticks would cure this !
Also, today, the screen went totally blank and putting new batteries in it made no difference. I tried connecting it to my PC via the cable to see if this would help, but it would not connect. This would suggest there may be no power to the machine rather than a blank display.
Can anyone help please??

[MikeMcC]

This would suggest there may be no power to the machine rather than a blank display. Can anyone help please?? Help to do what exactly? I think you need to send the device in for repair either to Psion (per instructions on their website www.psion.com/MyPsion/Login.asp ) or to Pinnock.

Pinnock Organiser Services Ltd.,
143 Streatham High Road
London SW16 6EG

Tel: 020 8677 9246
Web: www.posltd.com
Email: sales@posltd.com

[Jimbo]

Thanks Mike.
I suspect too that it needs a repair but I read some replies about similar problems and they talked about doing a "soft" reset. Do you know what this does and would I lose any data?
I checked to see if it was the contrast and it was not.
I wondered if connecting it to the computer might power it up as this used to work with my 3C but this was a failure too.
I need to see my agenda and I had not backed it up for a couple of weeks (I know - what a dork!) and so cannot see the latest appointments via my PC back up file.
Any other ideas apart from spending £90 and waiting 2-3 weeks to get it repaired?
Thanks again
Jimbo.

[MikeMcC]

A "soft" reset is the equivalent of rebooting the PC. Provided the operating system isn't corrupt or unstable, a soft reset shouldn't result in the loss of any data other than that in open unsaved files.

The procedure for performing a soft reset is to open the backup battery compartment and press something like an unbent paperclip into the little reset hole beside the backup battery. Then without touching any other keys, switch on by pressing the [Esc] key.

If you want to try backing up to the PC "blind" follow these steps. Press:

[Esc] to switch the machine on
[System] tap the System icon to be sure you are in the System screen
[Ctrl-L] to open the Link dialog box
[C] to select cable
[Down Arrow] to move to the baud rate line
[5] to select 57600
[Enter] to enable the link and close the dialog box

Use [5] for a speed of 57600 because [1] might set either 19200 or 115200. You may have to set PsiWin properties to 57600 also.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for replying.
I did a soft reset and switched on, it beeped twice and the systems screen came on.Great!
I went to Agenda and this came on too but as soon as I tried to go to different days the Psion locked up and pressing the keys made no difference.
I then did another soft reset and it came on as before but when I went to Agenda this time, it said the file was corrupted.It then locked up again.
I then tried to connect to my PC as you suggested and after a few goes it worked but when I try to access Agenda, there is no associated file to load it to on the PC.
For instance, I managed to load the data file info as this was converted to an Excel file on the PC.
Where do I go from here?
If the file is corrupted, I would imagine I'm stuffed anyway.
If I can get a connection to the PC, can I get the Agenda data out of the Psion to view it on the PC and if so , how?
Accessing the Agenda data is my main priority but I would appreciate help on how to do this.
Thanks again.
Jimbo.

[MikeMcC]

If the file is corrupted, I would imagine I'm stuffed anyway.
If I can get a connection to the PC, can I get the Agenda data out of the Psion to view it on the PC and if so , how?
Accessing the Agenda data is my main priority but I would appreciate help on how to do this.
If the file is corrupt, you are unlikely to get anything out of it even if you can transfer it to PC, unless you are a whizz with a hex editor but that's way over my head!

Really the only thing you can try is to open a new blank Agenda file and try to merge in the original file in the hope that you might salvage most of it. If that doesn't work then I think you have lost the data :(

[Jimbo]

Thanks once again Mike.
I have called it a day and gone back to using my 3C.
One last thing - I had some names and numbers in the data file which I managed to retrieve from the Psion 5 and this was converted to an excel file via my PC and this data is fine.
However,there are no converters I know of for the agenda file as when I take the Agenda data from the Psion 5 via the PC link, it tells me it cannot convert this data to a file that my PC can use.
My question is, do you know if a converter file exists and where can I access it to try and retrieve the data from the agenda file in able to view it on my PC?

[diem]

unfortunately there is no actual convertor for this file - its format is entirely proprietary and I don't think there is a platform-independent format it could be converted to.

The one thing you could do is use 'Print to File', which would at least give you a text file version of the Agenda that you could open on the PC.

[Jimbo]

Sorry to take so long to reply but have been abroad with my job.
I have tried to power the Psion up and have managed it but straight away it says"corrupt" and so I reckon this printing would have worked but it's had it I reckon.
It also eats batteries now since even though you switch it off, they still run down.
I'm managing with my 3C until I can afford something better.
Thanks for all the support - I really appreciated it!

[diem]

last chance - if you're prepared to lose all the data on it - would be to take out bot hte main and backup batteries for 10 minutes or so. Replace the batteries (ideally with new ones ;)) and see how you go.

[Jimbo]

Once again, thanks very much for your help.
I did this but it is well and truly broken as it fires up but nothing at all will run on it. I then did a soft reset and it remained dead.
Meanwhile the 3C is working fine and I am getting by with this.
You all have been really helpful - I appreciate it.
Jimbo