Bizarre. I've had my Newton X-rayed multiple times. Never been an
issue at all. Of course, it *did* freak them out when they ran it through
X-ray and couldn't figure out what they were l looking at.
On 8 Apr 2002 at 12:15, Ed Kummel wrote:
>
> Well, my two weeks of "no technology" (except for my
> Newton) is over...I'm back in civilization! (and on
> Kauai, it's tough just getting a dial-up internet
> connection!)
> The bad news is I believe that the x-ray machine on
> Kauai damaged my Newton.
>
> Here's the story:
> Remembering that there was someone on this group who
> said that he believed that the magnets in the motors
> for the conveyor belts generated a strong enough
> magnetic field to damage his Newt, I asked the machine
> operators many, many times about damage to my Newt. I
> even talked to supervisors and was assured that the
> x-ray machines in no way will cause any damage to my
> "palm type device". I placed my Newt on an upside-down
> tray (to elevate it from the motors on the conveyor)
> and placed a second tray upside-down on top of it to
> keep the Newton in place.
> We flew from Dulles to Dallas to San Francisco to
> Honolulu then Kauai, Got x-rayed at all those airports
> without a problem except Kauai (since that was my
> destination). Then spent my week in Kauai and took
> notes on my Newt the whole time.
> We get to the Kauai airport, I take my Newt and place
> it on an upside-down tray again. One of the people at
> the machine tried to put it in the tray and I had to
> stop him and place it back on the upside-down tray
> again (where do they get those people?) When the
> Newton came out the other end, one of the machine
> flunky's asked me to turn the Newton on...it wouldn't
> turn on...I thought that perhaps the battery was dead.
> I fortunatly had the wall-wart and plugged it in...it
> still wouldn't turn on. I flipped the crystal switch
> thinking that a solder joint broke...no dice. I went
> with a security officer to their office to fill out a
> report and tried another outlet in that office...still
> no dice...one of the security officers even said that
> the "palm" wasn't even working before I placed it in
> the machine! I then said, "look, if this machine
> didn't work, why would I lug it around with me
> half-way around the world? That just doesn't make
> sense!" I wanted to say something else, but held my
> tongue.
>
> So, I filled out my report, took all power out of the
> Newt, removed the cards and packed it away. When I got
> home, I went to bed. I came to work, plugged the Newt
> in and it will not power up. It's been at least 24
> hours with no power so now I'm at a loss. Later on
> tonight I'm going to open it up and check my soldering
> to make sure that none of the crystal wires are
> loose...as it is, if it does come back, I'm probably
> going to loose all my notes I took in Hawaii!
>
> So, this is a word of warning...Newtons do not like
> those x-ray machines! If you have to place the Newt on
> one of those machines, be prepared. Create a statement
> that says that if the Newt fails to power up after
> going through their machine they will be fully
> responsible for the device. Find a supervisor, have
> him/her observe that the Newt is working correctly.
> Have them sign the document. Send the Newt through the
> machine and then turn it on afterwards. If it works,
> great...if not...well, then you have problems!
> Otherwise, you'll get the same stuff I got "oh, we've
> never had a problem x-raying palm type devices.
> Federal regulations require that we x-ray all
> computers. I don't know, perhaps disguise the Newt as
> a make-up case?
>
> I'll find out later on tonight if the newt has a loose
> wire or not. Otherwise...I'm going to leave the power
> off for 3 days...we'll see.
> Ed
> web/gadget guru
> http://newton.tek-ed.com (download Newton packages)
> http://npds.tek-ed.com (my NPDS server and it's new subdomain)
>
> =====
> Just because you're a genius, doesn't make you a smart guy!
> - The Powerpuff Girls -
>
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