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| I have a Siemens SIMPad SL4 with WinCE 4.1 on it, and nothing else much really. The SIMPad is only used as a portable picture viewer for photos on a CF card, but I figured it could make a nice desktop photo frame, maybe even installing Linux on it.
Unfortunately, it seems that the pad has decided it will not leave the calibration screen, no matter what I try. I have tried the reset hole in the back, but it just reboots and enters the calibration screen, never to leave it again.
Does anyone know what I can do about this? |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,184 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
| I don't know anything about a simpad, but on my hpcs, I can just hit escape and bypass the calibration...even when the digitizer is broken and causes my hpc to stay in the calibration loop.
Does the simpad have a keyboard or can you plug one in?
Rich
Edited by Rich Hawley 2008-09-03 7:42 PM
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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,623 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| The SIMpad doesn't have a keyboard.  |
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| It does have an onscreen keyboard with a hardkey to activate it, but that doesn't help. If I tap the ESC key to bypass calibration, the dumb thing thinks I've tapped the first calibration cross.
I do have a Newton keyboard, but I don't have the cable to connect it -- yet -- and I wasn't planning on doing lots of hardware modding on this pad anymore anyway.
Edit: Not with my Pandora almost on its way, that is.
Edited by Jazz 2008-09-04 8:42 AM
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| Polite bump? |
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H/PC Oracle Posts: | 16,175 |
Location: | Budapest, Hungary | Status: | |
| so, are you sure it is running 4.1 and not a 4.2 copied off someone else's simpad.
that would have the same symptoms 
but if yours just won't calibrate, then the touch screen may be faulty |
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| Quote cmonex - 2008-09-07 6:56 PM
so, are you sure it is running 4.1 and not a 4.2 copied off someone else's simpad.
that would have the same symptoms
but if yours just won't calibrate, then the touch screen may be faulty
Definitely 4.1. In fact, it came with 4.1 installed and I haven't touched the firmware. I tend to agree that the touchscreen might be on the fritz, if I have the time I'll try to install Linux on it; see if that helps. |
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| I have the same Problem with my SIMpad SL4.
@Jazz Is your SIMpad now okay? |
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| Quote Daniel79 - 2008-09-22 5:11 PM
I have the same Problem with my SIMpad SL4.
@Jazz Is your SIMpad now okay?
Nope. I'm afraid this will mark the end of my short foray into WinCE land. |
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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,623 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| Don't give up yet. It doesn't look like you've tried a factory reset yet (press and hold the button to the right of the power button, and while holding this button press and release the reset button in the hole in the back ). Let us know if that helps.  |
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| Quote CE Geek - 2008-09-23 11:15 PM
Don't give up yet. It doesn't look like you've tried a factory reset yet (press and hold the button to the right of the power button, and while holding this button press and release the reset button in the hole in the back ). Let us know if that helps.
Same thing: "please touch the screen", upon which the calibration screen comes up and keeps cycling, no matter what I press.
I wouldn't mind so much that the touchscreen is toast (as it seems to be ), but rather that there is no way in Wince to get the OS going without it (the calibration loop ). Seems like braindead design to me... |
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H/PC Oracle Posts: | 16,175 |
Location: | Budapest, Hungary | Status: | |
| you can ... reflash it with a ROM that does not run the calibration program - simply remove startup.exe from the ROM and rebuild it. very easy, using dumpromx you do not need to do anything special. well one special thing is, there is a checksum32 of the ROM image in the header, so you need to modify that too. if you need more details I can help.
but make sure you can use some keyboard or mouse then...otherwise not such a braindead design on a tablet without hw keyboard Edited by cmonex 2008-09-30 8:00 PM
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H/PC Sensei Posts: | 1,278 |
Location: | Silicon Valley, USA | Status: | |
| To try my luck, I acquired a second SIMpad SL4 with CE 4.2. I encountered the dead calibration loop too. I was able to use a good backup from another pad to restore settings that allowed me to go to the desktop. Now, the problem is I could not reach 'Calibrate' tab as the first tab 'Double-click' was ready as default thru the wobble plate (5-way button ). Of course, a hard reset would bring that dead loop back again. 
BTW, I could not find a manual or user's guide though I got the technical reference from opensimpad. I was trying to find out how to press 'Escape' during calibration as the pad does not have such a hard key.
If anybody needs such a backup file (70k after compression ), I can provide it to help you reach the desktop at least.  Edited by CAuser 2009-12-24 3:53 PM
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H/PC Sensei Posts: | 1,278 |
Location: | Silicon Valley, USA | Status: | |
| Oops! The user's guide is right here.  Edited by CAuser 2009-12-25 1:10 AM
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H/PC Sensei Posts: | 1,278 |
Location: | Silicon Valley, USA | Status: | |
| After a hard reset (right mouse button+keyboard button+reset button ), SIMpad returned to the dead calibration loop. The only way I found to get out of the loop is to restore settings from a good pad. I did manage to reach the ' Recalibrate' button, but dead loop again. Oh, how can we press 'Esc' while the pad does not have such a physical key? Edited by CAuser 2009-12-25 8:59 PM
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