>> Does NewtTests report the same battery type in both Newtons, i. e.
>> NiMH rechargeable pack? Does it report approximately the same
>> discharge current?
> Yes: and approx. 0.056 amperes discharge,
> approximately ±0.001 difference between the
This is a perfectly normal value.
> "Brain wipe" -- I've never really been sure which of the 4 kinds
> of resets (as listed on your site) this refers to.
The last one I describe, which is the most brutal one. It will set
the Newton back to factory condition, apart from the OS upgrades that
are installed (which can't be reset any "normal" way).
> I assume it's what you call the "Hard Reset" where the Newton is
> given an e-enema and even loses things like installed software
> and the like.
Correct.
> My lame excuse is, my laziness is a disguise for my ignorance.
Weird. In my case it's usually the other way round ;-)
> and then I will have to pull back my Newtons into one place
> so I can have a go at them all without travelling round to do
> it.
This might of course save your problem, but as a matter of fact
you shouldn't be having this problem in the first place.
> Incidental question: is there any possibility that a communications
> card, e.g., a modem in one machine but not the other, can
significantly
> interfere with all this? Newt #1 has a modem in it more often than
not.
Yes. Very much so. All cards suck current, some more, some less.
Communications cards have a tendency to suck more current than e. g.
memory
cards. Some can discharge a fully discharged battery within hours.
There
are some other ways to waste current, by the way, like e. g. having
set
"Receive beams automatically" in the Prefs.
> While we're on the subject, the Hard Reset, that's the one where the
only
> safe software and data (other than factory installed software and
the
> updates) are things I move to a data card first, right?
Yep...
Some things you should know...
1) It sometimes takes a while before a Newton that has just been
switched on
updates its battery capacity value. I've had Newtons that took almost
a
minute to do this. So if your "charger" Newton reports 100% although
the
battery has been charged days or weeks before, this might actually not
be correct if you check this value immediately after powering it up.
2) The Newton is somewhat dumb if you change the date during a charge
cycle. It sometimes draws the conclusion that the cycle should have
finished long ago and simply stops it. Although 100% might be
reported,
the cycle might not be finished, because after reaching 100% the
Newton
charges happily on until the cells' temperature exceed a certain
value.
3) If you do not want to use the sledgehammer yet, try *almost* using
it
on both Newtons before you swap a battery. You should start with Reset
#4
as described on my site, but press "No" when the Newton asks its
"Do you really want blabla..." questions. After that you should wait a
minute and then check the reported capacity.
Do this BEFORE you remove the battery from the charger Newton and
AFTER you plugged it in the other Newton.
Frank
-- Newton software and hardware at http://www.pda-soft.de
====================================================================
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====================================================================
Received on Sun Sep 2 14:07:49 2007
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