[NTLK] Notephone and OMP/MP100 issues

[Paul Curtis]

Yes, Frank, you built mine and it’s impeccable, probably why it would take a cool grand to temp me...

Paul

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 15, 2020, at 2:28 PM, Chris Rupnik <chris.rupnik at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> There is  a wonderful YouTube video that I followed to repair both the
> screen lines issue and the sound issue That was plaguing my OMP
> 
> https://youtu.be/zlKInvlquGk
> 
> 
> Chris
> 
>> On Sun, Nov 15, 2020 at 4:13 PM NewtonTalk <newtontalk at pda-soft.de> wrote:
>> 
>> I own seven or eight Notephones, most of them complete and in their
>> original
>> packaging, and over time I've had three or four from other people on my
>> workbench. They all have the same problem: They don't "hang up" when you
>> put
>> the receiver back on the cradle. So the toll office out there thinks your
>> phone call isn't yet finished. That's why you'll never get a dial tone for
>> your next phone call unless you temporarily unplug the phone. This problem
>> hides in the base unit's mainboard, and it is to a certain degree
>> temperature-related. Most, but not all, Notephones will work fine for a
>> short time if you put them in your fridge for an hour before making the
>> call.
>> 
>> Don't waste your time adding the cradle switch to your suspect list. The
>> switch is perfectly OK.
>> 
>> At one time I thought I had fixed this problem by replacing some capacitors
>> that had leaked, but I was mistaken. This Notephone is now in Sonny's
>> possession, and eventually the problem came back.
>> 
>> The Notephone's Newton will quite happily do faxes when you furnish it with
>> the correct cable. The problem is that even in Germany a standard German
>> phone cable will not work because Siemens did their own thing cable-wise.
>> You'll have to reverse two wires to make it work. I dimly remember there's
>> a
>> further cable change required if you want to make the Notephone run in the
>> US, but off the top of my head I'm not sure.
>> 
>> The Notephone was never sold with an English OS Newton. Those that are out
>> there were all modified by yours truly. They DO look genuine, though,
>> because I not only replaced the mainboards, but also the touchscreens (to
>> get English silk screen buttons) and all decals that are visible to the
>> naked eye. I'm glad to hear that people won't part with their English
>> Notephone for less than a thousand bucks. Always nice to have one's work
>> appreciated :-)
>> 
>> The problem with the silent Newton is a completely different cup of tea.
>> This is an problem that eventually befalls every Notephone Newton, OMP, or
>> MP100. Normally the Newton only appears to be silent, but isn't. If you set
>> the Newton to maximum volume and hold it close to your ear, you normally
>> still hear the sound, albeit very faintly.
>> 
>> The reason is a 100uF 4V capacitor that has leaked. If you remove the back
>> part of the case, you will (assuming you look at the Newton with the
>> battery
>> compartment pointing towards you) find it at the bottom left-hand corner to
>> the left of the white fuse. That's close to where the speaker wires are
>> soldered to the board. The capacitor is silver, cylinder-shaped and has a
>> black rectangular "housing" around it. Replace it, and the sound will be
>> like new. Make sure to clean the area around the capacitor with some
>> cleaning fluid after removing the old capacitor and before putting the new
>> one in.
>> 
>> You'll probably have a hard time getting a 4V capacitor. Higher voltages
>> are
>> OK, but make sure the capacitor isn't bigger than the original, otherwise
>> you wouldn't be able to reassemble the bottom case part correctly.
>> 
>> While your Newton is open, you should also replace C51 (3.3uF 35V). This
>> capacitor is known to cause display problems that make the Newton
>> impossible
>> to use, as Erik Johnson found out about two years ago. This component is on
>> the "wrong" side of the mainboard, so you'll need to remove it for the
>> replacement.
>> 
>> Taking an OMP/MP100 apart and putting it back together isn't for the faint
>> at heart. Some time ago I wrote instructions how to do this. However, since
>> these instructions are still missing the required DoPa approval, which is
>> entirely my fault because I'm so darn busy taking care of other issues at
>> the moment, they're not yet available on my website. If you want to have a
>> look at the ugly and incomplete draft version, be my guest:
>> 
>> 
>> <
>> https://www.pda-soft.de/scratch/How%20to%20take%20apart%20an%20OMP%20or%20N
>> ewton%20MessagePad%20100.docx>
>> 
>> Cheers
>> 
>> Frank
>> 
>> -- Newton software and hardware at http://www.pda-soft.de
>> 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> http://newtontalk.net/
>> http://twitter.com/newtontalk
>> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> http://newtontalk.net/
> http://twitter.com/newtontalk