Palm IIIxe Troubleshooting

The Palm IIIxe is a personal digital assistant that was released by Palm in February 2000.

A common problem is that the batteries are not working. Replace them and try again.

Fatal errors can be caused by a variety of things, internally or externally. When the device goes into a fatal error it means that your device has encountered an error running the current program and needs to be reset to get it back to normal.

There are a number of common reasons for the device to have a fatal error: third-party software, conflicts between applications, physical shock, electrostatic discharge*, buttons accidentally being pushed, or unexpected DRAM issues.

To solve this problem one can attempt to delete any recently installed applications that could have conflicts with the device.

If this does not work, there are three basic methods one can use to fix these problems. The first way is the onscreen reset button. The second option is to manually perform a soft reset which should not affect the memory of the device. If neither of these work, the third option is to perform a system reset. The system reset allows you to remove any third party applications recently installed on the device.

This problem makes it look like the entire device is broken because nothing appears on the screen. Luckily, if it is a broken screen, replacement parts are readily available and it is easy to switch out. The screen is commonly broken by dropping the device, sitting on it, or by pressing it too hard.

If the glass on top of the screen is cracked that is almost a sure sign that the screen needs to be replaced.

If the screen is unresponsive, even after a hard reset, the screen may be broken.

Turn it on. If you don't hear the normal humming noise then the entire device is broken. If you do hear the humming, then it is just the screen.

There is not much you can do about this problem except for two basic things:

Unplug the device and plug it back in again. This will clean the contacts and hopefully reset the sync process.

Try reinstalling the Hot Sync software or rebooting the computer.

There is the off chance that your cable is broken, but if it worked once before then that is not the case.