From: Frank Gruendel (newtontalk_at_pda-soft.de)
Date: Mon Jun 07 2004 - 13:09:54 PDT
Hi folks,
last weeks I had a Newton defect that you might be interested
in.
The machine powered up fine (Extras was the backdrop), but as
soon as you tapped ANYTHING it chimed, most of the upper half
of the display became white and the bottom end of an error
message popped up. The message itself couldn't be read because
it was in the white upper half of the screen.
Amazingly this behavior persisted after a brain wipe. So I
replaced the ROM board, but the defect didn't go away. Since both
the Newton and the display worked fine during the setup that
usually follows the brainwipe, I assumed that somehow the OS
update must have become corrupted.
Obviously it was not possible to install the newest OS since
the first click in Extras locked the machine.
I dimly remembered that Newtons are supposed to revert to
factory settings if they sense that someone has messed with
the ROM, for example by plugging in one with a different
language.
I then put in an eMate ROM. The Newton did not power up at
all (which I didn't expect), but after a brainwipe with the
eMate ROM installed it came to life. It was of course not
usable (the display was nearly black and no content
recognizable).
After putting the original ROM back in, the Newton had reverted
to OS version 717006. At least I assumed it had reverted, of
course I didn't know the patch level it had before this
unconventional repair attempt. The good news is that the Newton
has been working fine since then.
Life is full of surprises.
Frank
-- Newton Software and Hardware at http://www.pda-soft.de
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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