Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)
I have owned a Tungsten E since December 2004. I knew about the common
failures with the speaker, the high-pitched whine of the screen, etc.
It's still the Palm with the right feature set that I wanted.
The screen Does whine, and it has gotten a little louder over the
months, but I will ignore it. (In fact, sometimes it's a good way to
tell if your palm is ON without being able to see the screen.)
In March, the speaker started to cut out a little, so I opened the
case and spread solder on the motherboard contacts where the speaker
makes contact. This seemed to help -- The spring loaded contacts on
the speaker now had some soft solder to "dig into".
Well, Today the speaker started to cut out again - big time. I opened
the case again and found a small hair blocking the speaker contacts. I
decided once and for all to solve this problem.
I hardwired the speaker to the motherboard using very thin, enamel
coated wire.... The kind that they use to wrap transformers. I cut two
pieces of wire, about 3 inches each, and scraped a little length of
enamel from each end. The contacts on the motherboard are shaped like
a little bullseye (or target). I'll try to draw it:
******
**********
*** ***
** ** **
** ** **
*** ***
**********
******
Try to imagine it more perfectly round. 
One of the contacts from the speaker is just a bent piece of metal
that touches the center point of the target. The other speaker contact
is a piece of metal shaped like a "Y", and the two points of the Y
touch the outer ring of the target. On the metal contacts, there is a
sharp point where the contact touches the target. Those are the points
that were digging into the solder.
It takes a steady hand, and a sharp soldering iron to secure the wire
to the target. Do not overheat the target for too long, or the solder
pads may lift and break away from the motherboard, and then you will
be screwed.
I checked the wires with an ohm meter to make sure they were not
soldered together. I then soldered the other ends of the wire to the
speaker. The speaker is tiny and of course is made up of a permanent
magnet and a coil of thin wire. The ends of the speaker coil are
soldered to a circuit board, and the spring contacts are also soldered
to the circuit board. I soldered my wire to the circuit board where
the spring contacts were soldered to the circuit board. That way, I
would have less chance of the speaker coil becoming unsoldered and
disconnected while I was connecting my wire.
Another tip, The enamel coated wire is made of copper, which conducts
heat very well. Hold it with a tweezers, not your fingers, while
soldering.
My first attempt to reassemble and test got me these results: The
speaker worked, I could hear the key clicks, but if I triggered too
many key clicks too quickly, or tried to play some music, there would
be a rapid clicking sound, that would quicken. (Like dropping a
ping-pong ball.) I turned the palm off before the clicks got too
quick.
I surmized that the metal speaker contacts were shorting out my
imperfectly soldered target. I re-opened the case and completely
covered the target with black electrical tape. This should keep my
soldering from interfering with the contacts.
I reassembled the case, and noticed that the top of the palm didn't
quite close all the way. It looked like there was a little gap right
where the speaker was. I tried to play some audio and the sound was
VERY quiet. I figured that the wires were getting in the way of the
case closure, and maybe pressing against the speaker, causing it to
sound muffled.
I opened the case again, routed the wires a little more towards the
battery, and away from the speaker. I re-assembled the case, and the
speaker was at full volume. Only time will tell if this fix will hold.
BTW: In March, the power jack on the palm was causing intermittent
contact. I would plug in the charger, the lightning bolt would appear,
but as soon as I set the palm down and let go of the cord, the
lightning bolt would disappear.
I re-soldered the connections on the power jack at that time (end of
March), and the charging has been working great ever since.
Remove the BALONEY from my email address.
-----------------------------------------------------
Matthew Fries Minneapolis, MN USA
freeze@baloneyvisi.com
"Quit eating all my *STUFF*!" - The Tick
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