Zaurus Bricked While Using Rc9 Options

[gromituk]

As far as I can remember, I was using XMMS to listen to an MP3 on a CF card in my 860, with the screen blanked. I hadn't done this before. I closed the lid and pressed the power button, and now my Z is bricked. It will charge (yellow LED comes on and goes out after a while) but that is all. I have left the battery out overnight, and tried OK and D+M while inserting the battery, pressing the power button, etc., but nothing.

I might have a hardware fault, but I am worried that something in the ROM has caused this. Is it possible? It'll cost me a fortune to send it back to Japan for a repair they surely won't do under warranty.

[pgas]

hey something similar happened to me today :-) (not with xmms)

I unlock the battery
I removed the battery.
putt the battery
keep d m pressed
put the external power
lock the battery
press the power button (without depressing d m )

This exact sequence (in think the key is to have the d and m keys pressed when you lock the battery) bring you in the service menu.
I 've done extra menu ->reset.

And everything was ok

[gromituk]

Thanks pgas - I hope that's a useful reference, but as I suspected, as soon as I posted about my Z being bricked it would wake up again! When it died I was about 3 days into a 2 week sailing holiday in Croatia, where I had intended to review pictures on the Z (my camera can copy its pics to 640x480 quite easily). Perhaps it got seasick, but it came alive again after a good old mains charge (rather than from my home made 12V charger!). I'm very relieved, and looking forward to trying rc10.

[ScottYelich]

I really haven't seen aoyne "brick" their devices (in a long time).
I'm not saying it can't happen, but I think the normal flashing
mechanism is pretty safe.

Whenever I had a dead device -- it was always because the battery
was completely drained... so, like one time, I replaced the drained
battery with one that was charged and the device was still dead!
Ah, but the battery I *thought* was charged, was really also drained.
Now I know to plug in, let a battery charge for 10 minutes, then
give it a try. I've also forgotten to put the battery switch back to
lock... easy enough if you go through the steps, and notice that
you can't unlock, because it's already unlocked -- and finally,
you CAN put the batter in upside down...

I think my pda finally died, somehow -- it was up for close to
30 days... I came in and found it off, and when I pressed a
key to wake up, I had a battery notice... strange, since it
was plugged in.

Scott

[speculatrix]

I really haven't seen aoyne "brick" their devices (in a long time).
I'm not saying it can't happen, but I think the normal flashing
mechanism is pretty safe.

I think my pda finally died, somehow -- it was up for close to
30 days... I came in and found it off, and when I pressed a
key to wake up, I had a battery notice... strange, since it
was plugged in.

Scott

I think people now only brick their Z through a hardware fault or re-flashing when the battery isn't totally full and there's a glitch?

I also notice that the Z's power circuits are not very good, in that it seems you can charge the Z *or* leave it running, but it struggles to do both at the same time... I can take mine to work, plug it in to a USB sync/charge cable and it will appear to be charging but if it's active, it barely increases the charge level over four hours or so.

Sharp could learn a few lessons from Sony about LiIon batteries and charger circuitry.

[kahm]

I think people now only brick their Z through a hardware fault or re-flashing when the battery isn't totally full and there's a glitch?

I also notice that the Z's power circuits are not very good, in that it seems you can charge the Z *or* leave it running, but it struggles to do both at the same time... I can take mine to work, plug it in to a USB sync/charge cable and it will appear to be charging but if it's active, it barely increases the charge level over four hours or so.

Sharp could learn a few lessons from Sony about LiIon batteries and charger circuitry.

That might be beacause USB only supplies .5 amps of power. The supply that came with the clamshell Zs is 1 amp. There's just not a lot of power left over from running the Z to charge the battery.

[ScottYelich]

I have not had any issues charging while using... my 700/760.

I've had my 760 on for a month or so, straight...

I can't speak for the 5600, etc.

Scott