Tungsten T5 updater v.1.1

Last weekend I wrote about restoring my T5's ability to hold a charge. And ended by saying that I would look for updates. I needed to wait several days to cool down from the frustration of attempting to install an update for the T5 released by Palm in 2005.

The "easy" way to install the update requires 16.7 MB free space on the Palm. My Palm had 43 MB free space but I kept getting an error message that there was not enough free space. Evidently not an unusual problem with this updater based on a web search.

So I tried Plan B - Palm's alternate method for devices with less than 16.7 MB free space. This method involves a hard reset that erases everything on the Palm. The alternate method worked until the very end when the installer requested that the Palm be plugged into the charger. An odd request.... The Palm didn't come with a charger. After trying to get this method to work a few more times, I gave up.

Though the updater still on Palm's site, I decided not to update the T-5. Palm admitted that there were problems with the 1.1 updater. Evidently they're still working on fixing it.

v1.1 updater from Palm
Palm forum about the problem
BackupBuddy - if you want to try the updater, back up first. Backing up is a good idea in any event.

Palm Pilot batteries and hard reset

Try a hard reset on your Palm Pilot if the battery does not hold a (full) charge.

Last week I was away for 6 days with my Tungsten T5 running off its battery. Had my appointments, contacts, an alarm clock (World Clock) and played Suduku once a day. No problem -- returned home with a 50% battery charge.

Plugged the Palm into my computer and power strip when I got home to charge it up. Synchronized the Palm with the desktop without a problem. Then I downloaded the Daylight Savings Time Update for Palm OS. I didn't read down on the directions about resetting your device... at least the first time.

Later the Palm alerted me that the battery was dangerously low and should be plugged in to charge. It was plugged in - to my computer and power strip. Then I tried charging the Palm on the outlet in the bathroom – without any success.

I bought the extended 2 year warranty; it ended in January 2007. No comment. Not really relevant.

I called Palm tech support for help. I asked if there was anything I could try to get the battery to hold a charge. Sorry, no. Steve told me that it would cost $199 to replace the battery, and for that money I might want to buy a new Palm. Palm would give me 20% off the price of a Z22 ($99 USD), E2 ($199USD), T|X ($229 USD) or LifeDrive ($399 USD) from the Palm site. Steve gave me as special upgrade code.

Before replacing the T5, I had to do some troubleshooting on my own.

• A Soft Reset brought the Palm back to life. Excellent! But the battery would only charge 50%. Not satisfactory.
  
• I had synced the Palm with my desktop, so decided to try a Hard Reset. Erased everything and went back to the factory default settings. Synchronizing bought everything back to the Palm just like it had been. And the battery is now charged 100%.

Now that the battery is fully charged, I applied the DST updater. Seems fine.

Tomorrow I'll check to see if there are any other updates needed.

Resetting your device in a variety of ways:
http://www.palm.com/cgi-bin/cso_kbURL.cgi?ID=887
Palm DST updater:
http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/dst_palmos.html

shift happens: globalization & the information age

Interesting statistics.... The last part about computers computationally equivalent to the human brain seems quite speculative. At this point, researchers don't understand much about how the brain works. And as my favorite technical Yahoo pointed out, being able to compare/store numbers quickly (all a computer really does) doesn't equal coming up with something original.

Thanks to my new friend Richard for taking this movie as a reminder that "beneath and hidden from the facts, there is meaning that touches us in ways that demand we spin a new form of cloth around our ideas and ideals."