[NTLK] MessagePad 2000 brought back to life…with the help of a List Friend

[Rob Moody]

Hi to all on the Green List!

Just thought I’d update you with what happened to my newly acquired Newt 2000….
Just a recap…COVID-19 = 3 Lockdowns  = let go from job with no furlough = unemployment from March 2020 - July 2021 = sold car + Mac stuff + Newt stuff + other stuff = 😔
Not a very fun equation to work through!!!
Anyway, now slowly getting back on track and trying to rebuild those bits of life one previously enjoyed, I acquired a MP 2000 which just wouldn’t turn on by any means…so after opening it up and stopping out of lack of electronics skill and knowledge, I put out a question on the List for any advice.
And low and behold, PCBman responded that he might be of some help.
And after a round trip, the MP 2000 was up and running!!!

Now for the tech report…

Me: Doesn’t switch on…not from the slider power switch…nor from the Reset button…not on power supply…nor battery sled!

PCBman: It was a short on the power supply and a blown fuse. Replaced the fuse and some power related components. Replaced the corroded battery connections. It looks like there was a battery leak at one point and it was much worse after I disassembled everything. Cleaned it all up and made good.


Me: (How in the blazes did he do all that?!) Brilliant! But I noticed some long lines running horizontally from icons and dialog boxes, like the contrast is set incorrectly.

PCBman:  The “lines” you see I saw too. Possibly the LCD showing it’s age. Quite apart from its actual age, the display technology is old too. Twisted-Nematic displays tend to suffer from a memory effect that stops the liquid crystals from returning fully to their untwisted condition. This will show when there is a fast transition from off to on or on to off of the pixels such as the edge of an icon.
Changing the contrast simply changes the amount the crystals have to move and so, mitigates the problem but doesn’t fully remove it.
(How in the blazes did he know all that?!)

As you can see, the man knows his stuff and obviously accomplished something that if I attempted would have ended up a pile of loose bits, broken wires and one less Newt in the world!!!

Now thanks to PCBman’s extremely generous help not only do I have a working Newt to replace the one I had had for years and had to sell off but also one more Newt that probably had been languishing for who knows how long joining the ranks keeping the Green Dream alive!!!

If the List had some kind of Awards system, then PCBman should certainly be granted a Golden Newt!

Thanks again to PCBman…and thanks to the List for making it happen!

Rob



Sent from my iPhone