The EPOC FAQ(ish)

How do I dismantle my Series 7/netBook?

http://www.symbcity.com/featureshow.php3?featureid=100015. Make sure you dismental them joints :o}
http://www.netwinder.org/~craign/netbook/insides/

Why does Atelier's Essential Disk Utilities throw errors when checking/formatting the Series 7/netBook C drive?

Don't panic. You've got the RAM upgrade module right? Your C drive is fine - CheckDisk wasn't written to deal with the extra RAM - nor does running it cause any damage.

The screen calibration is way off, even if I re-calibrate it?

Discussion between Colin Turner and Dan at the Psionplace forums has resulted in the following two suggestions:

When the synchronization (screen calibration drift) bug appears, press gently but firmly with a finger on the "Series 7" logo directly above the "6" and "7" keys on the keyboard. If it works on your machine, the screen will go back to normal operation immediately.
My S7 suffered from chronic screen drift until I had to take it apart to cure a Flash Card connection problem. The process involved disconnecting the ribbon cable from the motherboard to the screen. When I put it together again, all trace of screen drift had vanished.

From this it would seem that the major cause of screen drift is poor connection between the screen cable and the connector on the motherboard, which can be seen in between the RAM boards slots beneath the screen.

Also know to help is a hard reset. If this is ineffective, try a very hard reset.

Why do I get no sound when I record using the microphone in Sound Recorder?

The Series 7 microphone is not soldered to the motherboard; there are springy contacts that push up against it, and it is quite common for these to stop making a good contact.

You will see a small hole in the Series 7 case, just to the right of the right-hand-side Shift key. You can either push down on the plastic here, to squeeze the microphone down towards the motherboard to make a temporary connection, or dismantle the Psion and bend the contacts to make a better connection.

This suggestion comes from Michael Offord, posted at the psionplace.com Series 7 message board:

"I find I can temporarily fix my S7 without taking it apart by flexing the black plastic trim, with the microphone hole, back and forth. Push something thin between the black plastic and the grey case and lever it back and forth a few times and it should be good for a few weeks. I think the connections become oxidised, and moving them cleans them for a while."

I cannot add words to the spell-check dictionary

The User dictionary file 'C:\System\Data\User.dic' comes with the Read Only attribute set by default so that when you try to add a word to it the error message 'Personal dictionary is not available' appears and you cannot add the word. Simply find the 'User.dic' file and use Ctrl+P to remove the Read Only attribute.

I sometimes get a 'Not Found' error when opening files or at switch-on?

This relates to the method used by EPOC to associate file types with programs. I'll bet you have applications installed on your D drive right? No sweat, this is a very good way of keeping more main memory free for running stuff, but can have the following side-effect.

You'll find a \System\Recogs folder on both your C and D drives. The files contained therein help EPOC identify which application to use to open file types 'invented' by authors of third-party software. The problem is to do with access to the folder on the D drive. At switch-on, sometimes it cannot be accessed quickly enough, and at other times, changing the card in the CF drawer can confuse EPOC.

Enough blather - you came here for the solution right? Three suggestions:

If this error only occurs rarely, a simple soft reset will clear it.
For a permanent fix, simply copy all the files from D:\System\Recogs to C:\System\Recogs - EPOC will no longer need to access the folder on D and the problem goes away.
If you don't like the idea of moving system files about, then optimising your CF card (or Microdrive) will improve its access time, but of course you will need to own a copy of Atelier Software's Essential Disk Utilities to do this.

If some of your keys cause multiple characters, or you get water on your keyboard..

From Ralph at the Psionplace forums:

Membrane is not rubber. Membrane is three layers of very thin and fragile plastic. Plastic layers are coated with metallic PCB tracks as necessary, to make the keyboard switch contacts. Once water gets between the three layers of plastic, your best hope is to try drying our the keyboard over a longish period of time. Suggest using a de-humidifier if available.

Removing the keytabs and the blue rubber (really plastic) cones under each key will improve the chances of the water evaporating, I guess. Removing the keytab mechanisms is not too difficult once you get the 'knack':

With keyboard facing you 'as normal', push down bottom corners of each key with one thumb on each lower corner of the key.
Put index fingers on the top two corners but don't push the top of the key down.
Then give key a slight 'jiggly twist' anticlockwise and then clockwise. This should dislodge the top fixing pins of the key mechanism.
Then lift each lower corner in turn, to remove the lower fixing pins. Be *very* careful not to break any of the very small fixing mounts.

Although small, fixing pins are actually slightly stronger than they appear - I didn't break any on my Netbook. Will take you a long time to remove all of the keys.

Reassembly is marginly easier. Fix blue rubber cone in place. Hook in a single lower corner pin of a key mechanism (I used left hand lower pin). Line up the key. Then push key down, and you'll find the remaining three pins should then 'click' into place. Again this takes some practice, but seems to work OK. Hope this makes some sense.

Good luck.

Ralph

From Victor Marchand:

I once dropped a little tea in my series7 keyboard, with the same result as you decribe. 3 letters coming on screen, with one keypress and also wrong letters coming out. (consistently though) I carefully removed the tops of the keys. (they are clicked into the switch, like in many laptops) which allowed me to dry and carefully clean the stuff below. After some drying time, my keyboard became normal again. (whereas I was afraid I had shortcutted and damaged something) Be careful though, the keys are very delicate, and you need to remember very well how the folded legs are positioned as you take the top of the key off. good luck Victor Marchand

What other bugs or faults are known?

I maintain a netBook OS bug list. These two sites are the best source of other bug info (and of course loads else!):

Page last updated: June 10, 2003