Settings will not stay on 900c

I thought that if I removed the main battery for some reason, that the backup battery would save the settings/configuration of the unit. I have two batteries and I was trying to charge them both to see their status (just got the 900c). After I set my preferences, I removed the one battery and when I put in the other, the unit performed a hard reset. The backup battery is brand new and the status shows good.

Or am I wrong about this?

Don't assume anything with a 900c!

Just today, my screen goes completely black, everytime I touch my stylus to the screen and goes right back to normal when I remove it. This only happens when I have my 900c plugged into my AC adapter, even though the adapter works just fine when charging the main battery. Screen is fine if I use a mouse or if I tap on the screen when not plugged into the adapter.

I've had terrible luck with my 900c....not one of NECs best products.

I have two 900's. Both have developed the same problem. Both have at various times been 900 (hPC 2000), 900C's (CE.NET 4.2) and Cmonex 1.0 and 2.0.

I was wondering if this was a result uf my upgrading (and downgrading). Kept meaning to post about it, but now seems like I'm not the only one.

Any ideas on the problem would be appreciated. Like the bikereff, I have new bkup batteries--have tried several. Basically, if I switch battery packs without being plugged in to AC, , I get a hard reset.

Help us both--anyone else having this problem?

Any solutions?

I'm not a novice at HPCs--but I'm no hacker either. I figured it was some software issue, but can't be sure.

H2OGuru

Bikereff, sounds like you bought a bad 900C, one where the backup battery connections are not good, because it should do as you said...keep the settings when the main battery is pulled.

John, you been playing with TCPMP or Resco Photo again?

H20Guru, I've flashed my 900C with the HPC2000 flash at least 10 times, the factory default CE.NET at least 10 times, and CMonex v1 and v2 several times as well. Never had any problems result from flashing. My batteries all work fine, never lose a bit of data. Sounds like you have a hardware problem just like Bikerff.

Probably both of you need to pull the unit apart and trace line continuity from the coin holder to the motherboard and measure voltages as well against ground.

Thanks, Rich.

I thought that too, when it was one of the MP900s. But then when I saw it both of them, I felt it might be more than hardware. I work a lot on chemical instrumentation troubleshooting and rarely see two devices develop the exact same problem like this at the same time. I fel the common denominator was the reflashing. Just my hunch--probably wrong. Both worked fine till the reflash.

But I will trace the lines like you said to be sure--you never know.

HG

A large number of these devices have sat in storage for years doing nothing, probably in the cold and damp with coin cells in them. There are probably rafts of devices in circulation from the same pallet with the same problem, sadly.

Thanks for all the info. My thought was if the unit keeps reporting that the battery was good, then possibly the connections were good as well. Since I am an electrician by trade, a connection is a connection. If there was a break, I would think that the battery would be reported as bad.

As to the flash of the rom issue, this problem occurred before I started playing with the rom. I haven't tried to remove the main again, since I have now flashed with cmonex's V2.0 (btw is a fantastic rom) and have loaded some programs, I just hate to mess with it again.

If I do have to remove the battery, which is now an extended capacity one (from usedhandhelds.com), I will let all know if the settings go away.

Thanks.

bikereff,

Not necessarily so, it would depend where in the system the meter is compared to the lines going to the RAM chip. If the circuit is parallel in nature then a break in one isn't necessarily going to be present in the other - particuarly as the power lines run from the main call pack.

Oops. Of course, C:Amie is right on that. If the system is tapping the battery level prior to any break, then the RAM might not see the power source.

Like I said, I've got it running pretty good so I hate to take it apart and start again.

I don't think it is the result of flashes. how long did you have the devices in your possession before the problem started?

I just bought the unit, used, off of eBay and received it about 2 weeks ago. I had to wait for a small CF card (<1GB) to come in before I could play with the rom. When I intitially charged the battery and turned it on, the backup battery was being reported as dead. So I replaced it and the software reported it good.

I then played with some settings and received the extra capacity battery a couple of days later. When I changed the batteries out to charge the new one is when the unit lost the initial settings that I had performed.

Well Bikereff, If you leave the a/c adapter plugged in while changing out the main battery, and everything stays as it should, that is good.

Now unplug the a/c adapter and do it again. If you lose everything, then you know for sure there is something wrong with the backup battery connection somewhere.

But you can never tell with a used unit. I've actually gotten units where someone soldered jumpers from the main battery to where the backup battery feeds, just so the unit wouldn't report anything wrong...fooling the buyer, even though the backup circuitry was kaput.

I have had both of my MPs for a 2-3 years. Both were working fine and sitting statonary in my office pretty much exclusively. (I carry my Jornada 720 around all the time--but rarely the MPs.)

I have no educated reason to believe it was the reflash etc--but the failure seemed strange that it happened to two different units (bought at different times) that were in the same room, but not same place. The re-flash was the only common denominator I could think of.

Since I don't use either that much on a daily basis (but keep them plugged in) I just didn't delve into the problem. When I saw the post, it triggered the memory that I hd this problem too.

HG

What other software am I not suppose play with on my 900c?