Slider crashes inspire MacGyver solution 71
A number of Palm Pre phones seem to be afflicted with an unsettling issue: closing or opening the slider causes the Pre to reset. Considering that the slider is a fairly major component of the phone, this is a big problem. Several users on our forum reported this issue and we’re happy to report that both cause and solution have been discovered. The battery on some Pre phones is loose/slightly too small, and any sudden jars (such as snapping the slider shut) cause it to disconnect for that millisecond of time it takes to kill the phone and force a restart.
Obviously, that’s a problem, but the solution is surprisingly simple and just shines with MacGyver brilliance (ToolkiT, you rock!): make the battery fit more snuggly by sticking a tiny bit of paper (only a few layers are necessary) in along the top of the battery compartment. Several users have tested this solution with resounding success, and now knowing the solution can head off to their local Sprint store and demand a replacement battery, instead of the much harder to find replacement Pre.
71 Comments
wow, I'm glad I'm not affected by this. That would suck.
Had this same problem w/ Treo 650. Had phone replaced once, but still kept re-booting if phone jostled in case or pocket. Finally figured out loose battery issue and McTreo'd it with a piece of paper too.
Its the blackberry storm all over again.
exactly! Man, the Storm caught so much bad press because of the business card between the door and battery solution!
Let's see how the Pre fares!
Really? I follow gadget news very closely, and I hadn't even heard about the problem with the Storm.
He was being sarcastic. This is nothing like the Storm. The guy making the comparison is a dolt who's probably bitter over Apple's anemic iPhone upgrade.
I took the battery out-put darkfall gold back in-NOTHING! After 1/2 hour it finally turned on. Everything came back except my aion kinah, memo's and calendar.
What about me where i can't open a new cart and is telling me to close carts to free up memory, but i only have one open
That is a memory leak that has to do with apps not closing properly. I blame it mostly on the Sprint Navigation app. I would restart the Pre after using that app for the time being.
It works great, but you cant really multi task while its open. Usually when its open though, you are driving. It needs some optimization/contacts support though.
A coworker had this very problem earlier today. Hold down the power button and slide the ringer switch back-and-forth three times. When the Pre powers back up, all should be fine.
Reminds me of the adhesive tape we used to use to keep our Pilot styli from sliding out of their slots. I'd actually use something non-flammable for this rather than paper; paper + spark = non good. {ProfJonathan}
why would your phone spark? idiot..
It's the Treo 650 solution all over again - business card in the battery compartment to stop the squeaks. That's the way you know its a Palm. Seriously, this will always be a problem with moving parts. That's why some companies go out of their way to design their devices without them.
Exchange your battery and make sure you keep your old one ;-). Cool!
Maybe that's why Apple hardwires their battery in place... still won't buy an Apple though.
If afflicted, use easy workaround until getting a new battery.
Thanks at least for the solution. I was about to post a question on this same problem because it's happened to me several times since Saturday.
I have not had this problem at all. I would like to go from a 1150 mA to a 3000 mA considering how power intensive the processor and device is! Anyone know why the Treo's 1300 mA battery is "not recommended", even though it fits?
Yeah, good thing the Pre has the removable battery that you are all over the iPhone about. Jam some paper in to wedge it like it was a rickety table leg? What a laugh.
I haven't had the problem. 1% of the Pre's have this problem. So b/c of this you are convinced a non-removable/replaceable battery is better? When your iPhone battery charge is only 1/2 the capacity it was at purchase and you want to replace it, luckily for Apple you will just buy another iPhone! You won't be laughing then.
Smaller is one of the nicest things about the pre. Compared to some other phones of a larger, more rectangular design, the pre fits nicely in your hand... the size is perfect! the screen resolution is great... I don't see a need for a larger one.
No, Apple charges a fixed fee to replace the battery - you do not purchase a new phone. You get the phone back in three business days. Yes, that is a hassle. But honestly - who keeps the same smartphone long enough where the battery is unusable? Will you be on the original Pre 3 years from now when the Pre 2 or Pre 3 is here?
I'm not saying a non-removable battery is better. It is certainly more reliable as you don't have any springs holding it in place, connectors that keep getting stressed, creaky battery doors that break, extra seams, etc.
The point is that you'd hope that Palm has learned by now to make a tight, reliable battery connector and seating compartment.
Of course they have "learned by now"! Palm has been making mobile devices a whole lot longer than 95% of american cell phone companies! If 1% of a batch of units are defective in this manner, this by no way means that Palm can't make a good product. I mean you don't even have a Pre, you are only making comments because you have an iPhone and want to make negative of the competition. The Apple way: "Hi I'm a Mac, and a I'm a p.o.s. PC! Everyone believe that PCs suck and Macs are better!" The Apple way.
What if the Pre was 5% bigger? Yes/no?
Adjust your screen resolution to 1280 by 800. Adjust your browser to 100% scale and look at this life-size pic of the pre, 5% larger! http://twitpic.com/6ziae/full
Do you like it the way it is or larger?
I use a folded electrical tape instead of paper wedge to keep the battery firm on contacts. Call Palm help support so they can fix this defect.
I see some recommendations of getting a new battery but keeping the old one. Is sprint allowing this? Has anyone tried to get another battery yet?
"McPrever!...fixing manufacuring defects out of household materials...McPrever!...proving 15 years of experience won't make a battery fit right."
og god, now thats stuck in my head....
"McPrever!...fixing manufacuring defects out of household materials...McPrever!...proving 15 years of experience won't make a battery fit right."
ok cant resist
iphone-- iMcPrever, iWe iOnly iHave i15iseconds iuntil ithe ibomb igoes ioff.
mcprever-- iphone did you just prephrase everything withy i?
iphone-- i... I mean no what are you italking about
mcprever-- you just did it again
iphone--10 seconds mcprever... ino ididnt
mcprever-- yes you just did it again
iphone-- i5 iseconds imcprever, and I dont know what you are italking about.
mcprever--see you just .....
**BAM**
"McPrever!...Releasing faulty pre phones with discolored screens...McPrever!...kicking iphone in the nuts until it starts to weez... McPrever!!"
Wait, so this is just a QA problem on the battery size rather than a problem with the size of the battery compartment? In other words, are we saying that a replacement battery will/should be larger enough to take up the space? I don't know if that's weirder than the battery compartments having enough variability to cause this problem in some Pres...but...hunh. Both seem a little funny, I guess.
Are we sure that replacement batteries tend to be bigger and take up the extra space?
I macgruber-ed my phone last night (boom!) ... And so far so good. I still want palm/sprint to fix this permanently (I.e. Replace affected phones). But I am happy that my beloved pre seems to finally be usable again.
doublepost
It has to be the battery compartment, I don't see switching the battery fixing the problem.
I would probably do it on any phone until they give us a cause or a list of effected serial numbers. It might never happen until that one day when you want to show someone your phone that it crashes from this and they walk away.... Better save then sorry. I would though as someone suggested either use electrical tape or a piece of foam rubber. That way it doesnt catch fire (those of you who are getting hot devices) or fall apart etc.
I can't believe many of you are having this problem. I am not, others that I know that bought the Pre are not either. I bet 1% of the Pre's have this issue. Sorry.
Well you can ignore it like I said and if/when it does happen then you can be pissed over it. If it turns out that you have a good device, sn is clear from the defect list then just pull it out. Its not a big deal, just preventative. Sorry if you cant handle it.
Can't handle what? What the phuck are you talking about? I simply said I was sorry that others on the thread were having problems because I wasn't. Don't be a dick just to feel cool or something.
Go phuck yourself idiot...
I was simply posting a suggestion until we can get a deffective device/part sn list. If you disagree, dont write a large paragraph about how you think one thing, when clearly this is happening to alot of people.
I think it's too early to speculate about the percentage of Pre phones that have this problem. This issue occurred with my phone, and there have been a significant number of postings on this and other forums about it.
I'm just glad that the fix is so easy! Something almost everyone can do for themselves. Thank you PreCentral!
seriously, eco. are you suffering from excessive loyalty disorder (ELD)?
yeah that makes sense. I make a comment that I am not having the same problem, and that i am sorry that the rest of you are, that must mean that I am "excessively loyal".
Oh wait, that makes absolutely no sense.
It comes down to the wording in this post. I think it was a misunderstanding of what you ment to say.
"I can't believe many of you are having this problem. I am not, others that I know that bought the Pre are not either. I bet 1% of the Pre's have this issue. Sorry." ~ Eco
I have this problem also. Glad to hear that it appears to be something we can fix ourselves for now until Palm addresses this. I wondered why sometimes using the slider caused the screen to go blank and I had to power back on the device.
Just be careful about the paper as someone already mentioned above. I think the electrical tape may be the safer option. I read on this forum somewhere that they used infared heat sensors and found the battery area on some phones was getting over 100 degrees!
I'm glad I don't have any problems with my pre (knocking on wood)...
Wow this is awesome. I got my Pre on Saturday morning and the problem of shutting off didn't start till yesterday. I put the piece of paper and it's working fine now! I am still planning to call stores during the week to see if anyone is getting shipments so I can do an exchange though. I am thinking it's a defective battery compartment, not the battery, although I think I will stop by a local store tomorrow and see if I can get a replacement battery anyway.
Go back to to sprint and request for a replacement when they come in.
Yep I exchanged our phones today and one of them is fine and the other is having the same problem! Originally I had the problem and my husband's screen was going dark when he would make a call and put the phone up to his face (was told by rep that it's a faulty proximity sensor). Now my new one is fine and his has the problem my old one did! Guess I will have to do yet another exchange...this is pretty frustrating.
Umm, the phone is supposed to go dark when on a call and you have it against your face. The Pre does this in order to conserve battery and so your cheek doesn't unintentionally hit a button. The iPhone also has this feature. It's not a defect.
Bought two pre's. My wife's turned off when closing the slider - mine was ok. So, I switched the battery in her pre with mine and now mine turns off when closing the slider! My wife's pre if fine. Must be the battery.
Follow Up:
On my fourth battery. If this one doesn't work, sprint rep told me they will do a hard restart. If that doesn't work, they will swap out with a new pre.
After five batteries, no more crashes!
I live in Australia so don't have a Pre YET! but I am so glad that it was not a more serious problem that needed experts to fix
When I read the solution I laughed with relief for all you folks that it wasn't something fundamentally complicated that would require a whole new engineering process to be enacted. We know how long they take to make happen !
I am so glad that it is just the slight difference in size of the battery. What a wonderful find by toolKit (you do rock indeed)
PALM GIVE THIS MAN A NEW PRE FOR FREE AND MARK HIM AS PALM PRE HERO OF THE MONTH!!!
i have this problem on my phone but the paper trick worked. will contact sprint about it though... love the pre so far otherwise
Okay. SO I just turned mine in and got a new one. Five hours later the same problem happened. Can not be 1-5% of the Palms. For me to get two, screw that.
I like the Pre. It is a good phone. I want it to work. So I will do the fix (which is working for me right now.), then return to the store (once again), to get a new battery.
It would appear that this is more related to battery configuration. I did not have a problem with the battery that originally came with the Pre, but had the shutdown problem when I replaced the original battery with a Seidio battery. The paper trick works for now, but it does appear that some slight design differences exist between the two batteries. The original battery fit quite snugly in the compartment, while the Sedio was much easier to remove. Food for thought.
I bought my first Pre and it started this the first day. Exchanged for a second, put the paper in as listed above and that fixed it for about a week. Started doing it again, went for an exchange. He handed me a brand new one, I got my stuff synced up right in front of the tech, I closed it and it shut off. He went to the back and got another one, exact same problem. I complained until they gave me a Tour which I am very happy with now. Point is 4/4 same problem from 3 different stores...might be over 1%.
HELP NEEDED: How do I get my contacts back? After 2 phones had mechanical failures I got the Pre 3 days ago. Wanted to make sure I knew how to sync it correctly since it didn't come with software or an instruction book. (There is more to this story,as the software that came with the first phone caused a FATAL ERROR in my computer so I have to bring it in for repair.)Joined this forum for the info to do this yesterday afternoon. Last night (when I was stuck behind a bad accident and highway looked like a parking lot) I went to call my husband to tell him why I would be a few hours late and the phone DIED. Just died. No lights, sound, nothing. Since I didn't know the procedure for a soft reset, I did what I did with my old Palm and my BB. I took the battery out-put it back in-NOTHING! After 1/2 hour it finally turned on. Everything came back except my contacts, memo's and calendar. They are not listed in Palm support, hidden in phone ( I got a different phone today.) My 4th in less than a month. Will they be listed in Palm dot something, in Sprint dot something or are they in Contacts Heaven? I have 5 years worth of numbers, addresses, Holiday card addresses, e-mails. This is a nightmare!!!
My issue with this is,why should i have to do anything on a new phone, that is suppose to be a iphone killer!I should not have to to anything with a new phone.I think it is time for Sprint to release a newer pre, with this problem being fixed.Makes no sense to release a highly anticipated phone,that has stupid problems such as the battery powering down!Apple released a newer model Iphone soon after the first one had so many problems.
After owning my Pre for less than three months, it has been powering down when the keyboard is closed with any force at all. Very frustrating and disappointing. I will not put paper inside the battery or whatever else needs to be done. I will ask for a replacement. Don't know if there is still a waiting list.
Glad I found this post. I have had this phone for 6 - 7 weeks. Just started having this problem two days ago. The fix seems to be working. I have been using the Seidio 1350mAh battery for 4 weeks and it was fine until yesterday. This is an issue that Palm needs to fix!!
I am on my second Pre after getting a replacement for the "auto-shutoff feature". My new phone did it right in the store in front of the clerk. I took the phone with me, and it does not do it as much, but it still does shut off by itself from time to time.
I did try the paper trick in my first phone, but it did not stop the problem. When I got the new phone, Sprint swapped the battery from the old phone to the new phone. Maybe a new battery will solve the problem on the 2nd phone. I may go back to Sprint to get a new battery.
Anyway, Palm needs to fix this issue. This is not a small problem!
i love this fix...makes you feel like the real macguyver :)....and it absolutely solves the problem
This just started happening to me. I am so upset. I've had my Pre since day one and am relatively happy. I am a little concerned about what the Sprint customer service is going to be like when I take my phone that randomly shuts down (i think it's when I get a text message) to the store.
I do not want a refurb. Has anyone else had a positive or negative experience at the Sprint store?
Just got a Verizon Palm Pre plus and it just started doing the same thing.
I just got my Pre last week, and this problem was one of the first things I ran into. I did some research and found it's a somewhat common problem, and then I found the fix here.
THANKS!
Just ran into this problem...thanks for the fix!!!
THK
it's solve the problem very well
my pre isn't shutdown again when i slide the keyboard
THK
it's solve the problem very well
my pre isn't shutdown again when i slide the keyboard
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Glad I found this post. I have had this phone for 6 - 7 weeks. Just started having this problem two days ago. The fix seems to be working. I have been using the Seidio 1350mAh battery for 4 weeks and it was fine until yesterday. This is an issue that Palm needs to fix!!
????? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ??? - ????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ????? - ????? ????? ????? ????? ???????? ????? ????? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ???? - ??????? ??????? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? - ????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ? ????? ?????? - ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?????? - ????? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ??? - ???? ????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ???? ????? - ???? ????? ????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ????? ???
على الانترنت توجد اشياء كثيرة حلوه وتوجد اشياء كثيرة غير ذلك ولكن هنا نحاول
ان نقدم لكم الكثير من العاب
تتميز بالتحديث والتجديد بشكل يومي فعند البحث عن
العاب تلبيس بنات
جديدة لن تجد اجمل ولا افضل على الانترنت من الدخول إلى موقع
العاب سبونج بوب
وتحميل كل ما تريد من الالعاب وتستمتع على الانترنت كل ما تبحث عنه من
العاب طبخ و كثير
كثير من لعبة المزرعة
السعيدة وغيرها في عالم الالعاب في عالم الالعاب على
العاب بن تن تمتع معنى
دائماً واحصل على برنامج جديد دائماً وفريد
العاب سيارات اكثر
من رائع من العاب ماريو
على الانترنت توجد اشياء كثيرة حلوه وتوجد اشياء كثيرة غير ذلك ولكن هنا نحاول
ان نقدم لكم الكثير من العاب
تتميز بالتحديث والتجديد بشكل يومي فعند البحث عن
العاب تلبيس بنات
جديدة لن تجد اجمل ولا افضل على الانترنت من الدخول إلى موقع
العاب سبونج بوب
وتحميل كل ما تريد من الالعاب وتستمتع على الانترنت كل ما تبحث عنه من
العاب طبخ و كثير
كثير من لعبة المزرعة
السعيدة وغيرها في عالم الالعاب في عالم الالعاب على
العاب بن تن تمتع معنى
دائماً واحصل على برنامج جديد دائماً وفريد
العاب سيارات اكثر
من رائع من العاب ماريو
على الانترنت توجد اشياء كثيرة حلوه وتوجد اشياء كثيرة غير ذلك ولكن هنا نحاول
ان نقدم لكم الكثير من العاب
تتميز بالتحديث والتجديد بشكل يومي فعند البحث عن
العاب تلبيس بنات
جديدة لن تجد اجمل ولا افضل على الانترنت من الدخول إلى موقع
العاب سبونج بوب
وتحميل كل ما تريد من الالعاب وتستمتع على الانترنت كل ما تبحث عنه من
العاب طبخ و كثير
كثير من لعبة المزرعة
السعيدة وغيرها في عالم الالعاب في عالم الالعاب على
العاب بن تن تمتع معنى
دائماً واحصل على برنامج جديد دائماً وفريد
العاب سيارات اكثر
من رائع من العاب ماريو