Simpad screen issue

Hi.
I recently got myself a Simpad and it seems there is a problem with the screen. It seems to calibrate fine, but is very inaccurate when i try to use it. I ran the transcriber program and traced all over the screen and there are two crescent shapes on the right and left of the screen that dont accept any input. They are the full height of the screen and intrude about 2 icon widths in from the edge. I have tried all the different kinds of reset to try and fix it. The d-pad also seems unusual in that the left and right buttons operate as esc and enter buttons.

I have no serial cable with the unit and so cannot flash a clean rom onto it. I had also read that replacement of two capacitors might correct this but the post wasnt very detailed.

Any help anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated!

The digitiser could be damaged, there could be a lose connector or there could be dust and debris around the edges of the digitiser that are causing poor sensitivity. It's really a case of pulling it apart, cleaning it and checking it out.

Thanks, i will give that a go later today!

I took the case off and cleaned all around the digitiser, and made sure its connector was in properly. it all seemed good. i did a factory reset, recalibrated and still have the same problem.

Are any of the outer calibration marks within the cresent shaped regions that don't accept input? If not, then you most likely have a bad digitizer....

The corner calibration crosses are right at the edge of the crescents. Looks like im probably going to have to wait for a replacement part to come up on ebay. Could be a long wait!

Thanks for your help guys

Seems to me there've been other threads on this issue with the SIMpad. It may not be an uncommon problem for the device, unfortunately. However, IIRC it may be a problem with the ROM image. As such, it may be curable by a reflash, so I'd suggest keeping your eyes peeled for a serial cable. You might not have to replace any hardware. Which SIMpad model is it, and which CE version does it have on it?

Sorry if i am repeating threads, i just thought that none of the others quite fitted my problem.

Yeah a reflash would be a much more preferable option, im open to the cheapest solution! Its frustrating that you can only reflash with the serial cable. Didnt siemens have a way they could reflash over the internet?

Its an SL4 with CE 4.0.

Edited by mrbeardy 2010-04-11 9:15 AM

Others have had similar problems with the SL4:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=12953

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=13841

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=14884

- and even the CL4:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=11676

The evidence from these threads, however, suggests that reflashing the ROM might help.