515 is Dead - Any ideas why?

[harryb23]

Dear Group,

Can someone give me some advice on why my 515 is dead? I replaced the old battery (which was working ok but didn't hold a charge very well) with a new battery. All was fine for 1 week, but now the Palm won't charge, won't turn on, won't do anything with either a hard or soft reset. I've tried charging the Palm in the cradle, and also with an independent, portable charger. I even put the old battery back in, but still all I have is a completely lifeless Palm 515.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Harry

[Jim Cooke]

It sounds like you may have loosened up the ribbon cable that goes from the screen to the keyboard. Open up the Palm again and check that the ribbon cable is securely seated and the little levers are in in the up position.

[harryb23]

Hi Jim,

I checked the ribbon cable, and it appears ok.

And I may be wrong, but that wouldn't explain why the Palm 515 worked ok for 1 week with the new battery installed before going suddenly dead...or would it?

Harry

[Jim Cooke]

Yes, it would, if the ribbon cable was loose but still making contact. As you used your Palm, it could have lost contact over the course of a week.

You should remove the ribbon cable from the connector, check to make sure all the pins look good, and then firmly reseat the cable and clamp the connector. If your 515 still doesn't work, you probably have a hardware failure, perhaps in the battery circuit if the new battery either wasn't the right specs or something got broken when you changed batteries. Of course, this could all be a coincidence and your motherboard could have failed at just the same time period that you changed the battery. If it's not the ribbon cable, it's not likely to be anything you can easily repair yourself. You can put it on e-bay for parts and then get a new Palm.:(