2008/2/6, Stuart Mingay <stuartmingay@mac.com>:
> ... However, after using the backlight a few times, swicthing it on and off with the power switch, it now refuses to come on. The batteries are basically at full charge, the light just won't come on now. Any ideas what has caused this, and how I can fix it?
The worst what I could imagine is, that the HV-generator circuitry
stopped working. The reason therefore is not easy to tell from the
far. If you've unpacked the unit in cold state, let's say with about
5...10 deg C temperature as is usual in the winter or cellars in EU/GB
and walked with it into a warm room with probably high humidity then
it might have resulted in dew inside, causing a short circuit. It's
about 110V peak to peak for the display driver (see e.g.:
http://www.newted.dyndns.org/users/mmailand/www/Newton.html ) which
may cause overload to the power oscillator for the "HV" generator. It
could also be bad contact of the HV-wire, but then you should still
hear the 400...500Hz whining noise of the HV transformer. The
frequency of the whining noise changes with load and input voltage,
which would confirm bad contacts and the like.
> With the 2100, things are a bit more complicated. The machine has always worked when plugged into a power supply (not the original as I can't get a US to UK adapter, but one that outputs similar, slightly lower figures).
I've got some spare US-UK adaptors for the 9W Newton adaptor of which
I would be willing to trade or sell one to you. We need here the
Germany type in most countries.
>The original battery pack was dead and I had it refurbished by Frank
(is that right?) at PDA-soft.de. However, although the pack passed the
PDA-soft testing, when I put it into the 2100 and plug in the power,
the newton says that the pack cannot take a charge and should be
replaced. How can I check if (a) the pack's OK, and (b) the Newton is
sending charge into the pack correctly?
Certainly did Frank cycle the accus some times to detect early dead of
one of the cells. However, it might easily happen that an accu cell
dies after the 5th cycle or even later.
To proof that the accu is getting charge is harder. The easiest might
be to install e.g. Avi's Backdrop which comprises a nice accu charging
state display - actually even two different displays. They should tell
you a charging current of more than 600mA with your off-the-shelf
charger and more then 1A current with the original 9W adaptor. Also
does charging only start if the temperature of the accu is above 45
deg C. The temperature is given by the two separate contact pads at
the bottom of the accu pack. If those contacts are bad then the Newton
might assume that no accu or an overheated accu is inside and thus not
start charging. You may find that out by the Battery stats of Avi's BD
too. The temperatures of accu and display should be in the same range,
some 23 deg C or whatsoever you actually have in GB ;-)
(some additional infos are here:
http://www.newted.dyndns.org/users/mmailand/www/Npages/Naccu/Naccu.html
)
> Finally, I've noticed that the 2100's digitizer is never aligned correctly. After running the Align Pen utility, writing appears 2-3mm below where the pen is. Any way to correct this?
A very simple and effective way is to try at first is to not click
exactly inside the three cross markings but a little bit offset.
Should you observe a jumping ink spot while writing then you might
have the jaggies phenomenon. I found the cure for it and could repair
your unit. But I don't have a webpage to describe what happens and how
to treat it.
BTW, I plan to travel to southern GB around August 1st this year. I
don't have plenty of time but a jaggies repair might fit-in, depending
on spousal justification, haha.
Best Regards
Marco Mailand
Switzerland
mailto:Newton2k1@gmail.com
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Received on Wed Feb 6 08:13:14 2008
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