Palm death update (boring).

[go_team]

I skip one day of LJ, and I get all out of control, I tell you! Although I did write a nice long paper journal entry yesterday, which was fun (and some of it has spilled out here, of course).

Ok, so the latest on my Palm is that when I plug it into its cradle I get the Palm Computing Platform startup screen, but nothing else happens. Also I can't get it to respond to any button-pressing, either on screen or the physical buttons on the Palm itself, including the power on-off switch. I do not appear to be able to synch up, either. Drat. It would've been pretty great if I could've just downloaded everything onto Soy and kept it there until I had a new Palm to back it up onto. Oh well.

On to my adventures in Palm tech support. Hoping to get to talk to an actual human being, I went to Palm.com (not actually the correct URL) and found a phone number. Said phone number, after some fun and games with pressing buttons for the automated system, eventually told me that if I'd had my Palm for longer than 90 days, I'd be charged $25 or more for the privilege of tech support, and could I please get my credit card number ready for the operator? I cursed (not sure whether I was being recorded for quality control purposes yet) and hung up.

Next stop was Palm's online support, a big maze of menus and stuff that I'm sure are very informative if you know your Palm inside-out, like the bastards who designed the site, I'm sure. My complaint about the latter stems from the fact that the form I ended up filling out expected me to know all kinds of stuff about my Palm that I only know when the damn thing is operational and I can ask it what system it's running and what software I've installed. Grumblegrump. The following is more or less directly from the email support page I filled out, just for my reference:

(personal information omitted because I think I can remember it by now)

Which version of the Palm OS® software are you using? I told them Palm OS 3.0.x but really I have no idea because, like I mentioned before, the Palm is dead to the world.

Which desktop application are you using?
I got to this menu by telling them I was using a Mac running OS X because Debian wasn't an option. Bastards. Anyway, I said "none of the above" here.

What kind of a processor do you have in your Macintosh?
Other/don't know.

How much RAM does your computer have?
Other/don't know.

How is your handheld connected to your computer?
Other/don't know. I'm actually pretty sure it's by serial or maybe USB, but those are separate options on their form so I figured I'd better keep playing dumb.

Have you performed a successful HotSync operation with your current system?
No

If not, what changes have you made to your desktop setup and Palm organizer since your last successful HotSync operation?
I haven't gotten the adapter needed to connect my OS X computer to the Palm. Previously I've used Linux programs to download my memo pad notes onto a computer running Debian.

List any third-party applications (utilities, hacks, games, etc) you have loaded onto your handheld, as well as any third-party applications installed on the desktop computer that you are using with your Palm handheld.
THIS ISN'T A SOFTWARE PROBLEM! I'm not sure what's on the Palm because it's dead. I hadn't been using it much recently, except as an address book, because I hadn't gotten it set up to synch with my OS X iBook yet. I know I've installed a version of the game Lines, as well as the listmaker program Handy Shopper 2. Also some software for the Palm Portable Keyboard, though this isn't a software problem.

Please provide a DETAILED description of the problem, including any error messages and log information you may have. If possible, describe the steps taken to reproduce the problem.
THIS IS NOT A SOFTWARE PROBLEM! I put my Palm through the wash by mistake. When I put it in its cradle, it starts up the Palm Computing Platform screen, but doesn't respond to pressing any buttons, either on the screen or physically on the device itself, including the on-off switch. What I want to know is: can it be fixed, is there any way to recover any of the data on it, or should I just give up, throw it out, and start again from scratch (probably on paper, since I can't really afford a new Palm right now)? I would prefer not to pay $25 for this service; that would buy me a lot of pens and notepads. And just for the record, I'm not sure what version of Palm OS I was running; I just picked something random from the above menus because it wouldn't let me submit this otherwise. Not including an "I don't know" option in that menu is a pretty crappy design if you ask me. This was definitely my favorite question. Steps taken to reproduce the problem? Um, I'm not putting the damn thing through the wash again, you fuckers. Sigh.

I should probably check my email to see if I've heard from Palm yet. Sigh.

Comments

[bagoffarts.livejournal.com]

Nothing at all to do with this entry, but I just saw this and thought you may be entertained.

Sesame Street Disco

[goteam.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic. I'd seen pictures of Disco Grover before, but never found out so much about Super Seventies Sesame Street. Woo!

[cubetime.livejournal.com]

They were pretty competent when I submitted something via their webform. First I got the brush off, but they asked the "did this solve your problem? if not resubmit" question. So I did, and the second time through, someone with more brains paid more attention to it and said what I feared:

Yup, you're pretty much right, you're screwed. We know of no way to recover the info from your Palm V. You are welcome to perform a hard reset and restore from the most recent backup.

For reference, my Palm V is in a coma. After about 4 months of not making backups, it got the digitizer out of synch so badly that I can't type in the password. It now sits on life support (its cradle), locked and forever unwilling to give up those 4 months of info.

I've thought about taking it to DefCon and saying "I'll give N dollars to anyone who can recover all data off this Palm." Ah, well.

Good luck to you. Did you let it dry out for a good long while? (I hope it didn't go through the dryer, too.)

[goteam.livejournal.com]

My Palm's been drying out (insofar as it can dry out, seeing as the insides don't get exposed to much air) for about 24 hours. It's been plugged into the cradle for about 3 hours maybe, and to my surprise there's been no smoke or burning or anything, just total non-responsiveness besides the startup screen appearing. Frankly I'm amazed the screen is still alive after 23 minutes of heavy-duty hot wash (that'll teach me to check my pockets more carefully --- I'm good about pants, but it didn't occur to me to check my sweaters). Sigh....