Screwdriver in Hand

Tab and the boys went out this morning looking for yard sales. I took advantage of the quiet house to perform minor surgery on my Palm handheld. A few weeks ago, I noticed a slight problem with the display. Sometimes pixels were activating when they shouldn't, giving each character a blotchy look. At other times, they weren't activating when they should, creating incomplete characters. By experimenting, I discovered a temporary workaround: if I pressed the ON button long enough to activate the backlight, then turned the Palm off and then on again, the display would return to normal. I needed to find a permanent solution, however.

I researched the problem on the archives of the comp.sys.palmtops.pilot newsgroup and discovered that it was probably caused by the loosening of a ribbon cable inside the Palm. Other Palm owners have reported a similar problem and stated that it could be fixed simply by taking off the back of the Palm and tightening the cable.

Fortunately, opening up machines does not scare me. When I worked for a small documentary editing project at Princeton University, I became the de facto computer geek simply because I was the only person in the office unintimidated by computers. I was the one who was always called upon to set up new machines and install cards or peripherals.

Of course, the Palm is much smaller than any of the computers I've opened up. Before he left this morning, Tab provided me with his set of jeweler-sized tools. I needed the size-0 Phillips head to remove the four screws on the back. One of the screws was very tight and I almost despaired of being able to loosen it. Finally, it gave a little and I was able to unscrew it the rest of the rest of the way. I picked up the tiny screw and placed with the other three in a little bowl so I wouldn't lose them.

I pried off the back of the Palm, and voila! There was the white ribbon cable I'd read about. The cable seemed lodged firmly, but the two little clips on either side had loosened. I poked them into place, flipped over the backless Palm, and turned it on. Success! The display was back to normal.

I replaced the Palm's back and inserted the four screws, tightening each as much as I could. My fingers felt thick and clumsy dealing with such tiny hardware. Give me a good old tower case and thumb screws.

I turned my Palm on and off several times to be sure the problem was truly solved. I'm glad to say it is back to normal. I take a lot of satisfaction in performing small jobs like this. All it took was some knowledge, a little skill, and the right tools. I wish everything that goes wrong in life were so easily fixed.

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