M130 dead after charging??? Help please!

[Spclk1981]

OK, I lent my M130 to a friend...I got it back last night, the battery was REAL low, but it turned on OK - I didn't enter any applications.

I plugged the cradle into the wall, didn't plug the USB in, and set the palm on it to charge. I turned it on while it was on the cradle to make sure it was charging (to see the little lightning bolt) - I do this all the time.

Anyways, 45 mins-1 hour later I looked over and the screen was flashing from this wierd blue color to black. I pulled the PDA off the cradle, and it was really warm to the touch.

Now it won't turn on at all. It's just totally dead.

Any ideas as to what happened? Is something fixable? Did I maybe fry the battery or something?

I looked at the charger to make sure he didn't switch them. I don't recall the brand, but it was a 12v output charger (for the house wall, not car). Is this correct? Or did he give me the wrong charger, which fried the palm?

[JohnKes]

He gave you the wrong charger and fried your Palm :(

If you are lucky, you can Soft or Hard Reset and get it back. If that doesn't work, it is toast.

[Spclk1981]

that's what I was afraid of. I hit the reset button in the back, didn't do anything. I didn't have a lot of time this morning/last night when it happened. I am going to play around with it as soon as I get home tonight.

Damn the man, I was looking forward to having it back. I have a really cool automotive diagnostic tool for it (www.autotap.com) and haven't had it for like 3 weeks! I want to tune my car a little. He was using it to tune his car.

Thanks for the info. I am going to check that power unit as soon as I get home.

[Jim Cooke]

If the charger output is really 12 volts then John is right - your M130 is toast. The correct voltage is between 4 and 6 volts. The Palm will tolerate voltages up to about 9 volts but anything over that will fry the battery and charging circuit in about three minutes.

The only good thing is that you can buy refurbished M130's for around $100 of you want to replace your dead unit with another M130. Maybe your friend ought to buy you a new one. :mad:

[Spclk1981]

Well, the verdict is in.

What do you think 12V, 7.2A would do to a palm? The answer is to turn it into a big paperweight. :(

I'm sure he'll step up to the plate and pick me up a replacement.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll have to talk to him about it.

[JohnKes]

I started marking all of my power cubes (adapters) the last time I reconfigured my computer area. Amazing how many I found! I almost switched two! Luckily there voltage markings on the devices, so I was able to tell which adapter went with which device.

[Jim Cooke]

That's a great idea, John. I'm suprised I haven't fried anything yet either since I've got about 10 wall warts for various pieces of electronics. I just marked all the 6 volt and under adaptors with a bit of green tape, the 9 volts ones with yellow tape, and the 12 volt ones with red tape. At least I can tell at a glance now that I need to be careful of what gets plugged into the red units without doing contortions under my work station to read the voltages when I change things around. :)

[Spclk1981]

Wow, that's a good idea. I never thought to.

He thought the 5V was for his g/f's digital camera, and mine was the 12v. I think he mixed them up ;)

He feels really bad, he told me to pick one up and he'll reimburse me. It's cool, stuff happens.

Luckily I have that 64 mb card, I didn't lose much. It's all on my PC anyways, but it'll be nice to just put the card in and have 90% of my apps there :).

[JohnKes]

I think tut1 has a IIIc looking for a home:
http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=51900
Hopefully the battery is still good.

[Spclk1981]

Ah, thanks JohnKes...

...got an M130 off Ebay, my friend's pickin' up the tab. :)