Toshiba e740 Recall

[mfa]

Toshiba has issued a voluntary recall of their Toshibe e740 Pocket PCs with serial numbers 72014641L through 92041620L. The recall is due to problems with the battery which could potentially result in a loss of data.

Toshiba has issued statements saying that e740 Pocket PCs in the affected range may experience a loss of data if the battery is allowed to fully discharge. Data may also be lost if the battery is disconnected from the device for any reason.

If your device is in the affected range you are asked to please contact Toshiba at 800-788-1653. A customer care representative will make the proper arrangements for the exchange.

If your device is affected and you would prefer not to return the device Toshiba recommends that you make regular backups of your data. They also say that you shouldn't fully drain the battery and that you should connect the device to an external power supply before disconnecting the battery.

[billii]

Thanks for the information. It was painless to take care of the recall. Their procedure is for them to send a prepaid Fed Ex box to ship the unit for repair (remove any memory cards and stylus and backup the unit). According to Toshiba, you should receive the repaired unit in 3 to 5 working days. Not the best solution, but acceptable to me.

[xraymind]

just got off the phone with them... the woman on the other end also stated that in addition to the battery fix, they will be performing a firmware update to the e740... she wasn't sure about any fixes that were included in the firmware, but new firmware can't be a bad thing...

guess we'll find out..


xraymind

[Gloria]

Could I download the firmware image and upgrade by myself? I'm not in US and probably don't want to send my PDA back to Toshiba

[ctitanic]

Originally posted by xraymind
just got off the phone with them... the woman on the other end also stated that in addition to the battery fix, they will be performing a firmware update to the e740... she wasn't sure about any fixes that were included in the firmware, but new firmware can't be a bad thing...

guess we'll find out..


xraymind

It's confirmed. The new ROM is installed during the recall process.

www.pc-counselor.com/e740.htm

[sschwar4]

The power problem may be nothing compared to the other problems mine has returned with.

1st - resets intermittenly when put into craddle for sync. Never did this before.

2nd - fonts on Today screen should be black. Some are black, some are white, some are mixed. It moves around. I thought this was related to other apps loaded, but just does it now and then.

3rd - Bluetooth (Socket) used to work at the same time as WiFi. Feature or not, it did. Not any more. I get about 4 messages about initializing a driver.

4th - Went to change to high cap battery, moved slider down, replaced battery, turned on, reboot, everything gone...

5th - Strange popup, Title: Wendy, RI didn't occur, OK. Just be clicking around, nothing other that the ROM load, and this appears.

6th - I give up, it may be fast (haven't seen that yet), it may have lots of storage (Toshiba does not support the use of 3rd party software, so what good is that), it may have WiFi (very under powered), it may have the expansion pack... well that seems to work, if it could find my files on the storage card, it may need to sit on the charger everyday to prevent data loss (according to the sheet that it came with it from the recall center), maybe it is good for watching movies with the new Media Player 8.5, naaa, my notebook has a bigger screen and running the battery down on the notebook doen't loose data.

I wish I had never sent it!!

[pcorbett]

I may never buy a Toshiba product again, I’m trying to figure out how I can get rid of this e740 without losing the $600 I paid for it!

I purchased my Pocket PC 9/20/02. I used it successfully for about 3 weeks with only minor problems (see below), then weird stuff started happening regarding the charging of the battery. The first major problem was after charging it overnight (at least 8 hours), I drove to work with it (not in use or turned on for about 45 minutes). I turned it on when I got to work and got this warning:

"Main Battery Very Low
To prevent possible data loss, replace or recharge your battery according to the owner's manual."

When I looked in the power settings, it showed 1% battery remaining... After quickly putting it on the charger, it went to 90+% after about 5 minutes. I called Toshiba this time and they didn't know anything. Then I think it worked trouble free for a few days, and then this whole thing happened again, only now it wouldn't charge at all. Tried hard resetting which did nothing to improve the situation. Called Toshiba again, gee they didn't know but I might have to send it in. I lamented about that for close to a week, talked to the store where I bought it (CompUSA) to see about exchanging it there - no luck so far. Finally, I called Toshiba back and low and behold, now they have a recall about a problem that sounds related (since they're giving us such vague information about the problem). They said I would have to send it in. I asked them what they would be doing, they said a software upgrade and replacing the battery - I got this answer from two techs that day. So, 11/2/02 about a week later (did I mention that they don't do any pre-shipping of a replacement secured by a credit card, like most other computer related companies?) I got my e740 back. I had been rather diligent about writing down information such as my serial numbers, part/model numbers (battery and pocket pc). I also noted some Windows information such as the number that it shows when you do a reset (I'm guessing this is the ROM version), version/build of Pocket PC, MAC address and version information for the wireless NIC, etc.

When I got the e740 back, it was the exact same battery; the ROM version was changed (new: 1.0618.0409,old: 1.0203.0409), the wireless utility version (new: 1.0.14, old: 1.0.11) was changed as well as the MAC address. The next day, after I charged it for over 12 hours (before using it), I started trying to use it (fully charged). After about 2 to 3 minutes, I got the infamous warning above and it showed 1% battery. I put it back on the charger and it wouldn’t charge (yellow light I believe, that indicates the temperature is not right and it won’t charge – the temperature where it charges is always 69-70). I was furious and called Toshiba. The first person (customer service recall people) was sorry but he couldn’t do anything, he transferred me to technical support to troubleshoot the problem. Tech support finally (after about 40 minutes) agreed to send a battery, I even convinced them that maybe they should ship it overnight instead of the ‘ground’ they were insisting on. He also created a second case number and escalated that to the ATS group, for whatever that’s worth – nothing so far. I received a new battery 11/5. It worked fine until today 11/9. After it charged all night, I turned it on and before I even selected the application I was going to use, I got the battery warning. I called Toshiba, the ATS group apparently doesn’t work on Saturday and the regular guy in technical support said “I don’t know what I can do for you until Monday”, I asked to speak to a supervisor and got voicemail (not even a name, just an extension). I’ll be calling back soon after I post this on as many bulletin boards as possible.


Minor problems referenced above:
Constant soft resets necessary, action buttons work almost never. Strange power button action, like it won't turn off, sometimes it will just turn off the backlight when you hit the power button, etc.