Opening Palm Screen [Zire 72 and now T|C]

Hi guys,
I did use this instruction, trying to repair the screen of my Sony SJ20.
But I could not. I separated LCD screen and plastic, put on the edges the very narrow paper lines. When I put the plastic very right way, it doesn't work at all. If I hardly turn the plastic around, the screen starts to work, it feels when I touch it. But I cann't get the center if the target. It looks like screen works wrong way. If I turn the plastic to keep it right way, it diesn't work again.
Does anybody have any ideas about this case?

I don't normally do this sort of thing. This is my first post. The 72 battery ran out all the time (this 72 is a refurb). Bought a replacement battery. Followed directions on this forum for other 72 repair. All went well until I tried to put it back together. The top is blocked at the headphone jack area. It seems I should start at the bottom getting the hinges in place and work my way up to snapping together at the top. Can't see how I can get this to fit at top. Looks like the grooves at each side of the black plastic cover fit under the silver back case at sides, but the headphone hole in the black plastic doesn't line up with the headphone jack and something is blocking it in that area... I'm about ready to give up and send it for repair, if anyone will repair it. I managed to crack the glass over the camera lens in the process. Thanks for any suggestion.

Need some help to figure out what is wrong with my zire 72...

Here is a picture what it looks like now...



I don't quite know to attach images... Hope it works?

Any help is appreciated!!

Hi,
I too am having the same screen problem with my palm having opened it to repair a broken power connector. Does anyone know what the problem may be and how I would go about fixing it?

Many thanks

Qwiched

zire 72 motherboard wanted, please emailme if you have any.

same problem.....
it's the motherboard!!!!!!!!!

Like everyone else, I'll start by saying a big thank you for your post. I wouldn't have had the confidence to try replacing my Zire 72 battery without it. I've got one problem though. I've managed to get the new battery in, re-connected the screen, which seems to be working and the Zire is now holding a charge. But it doesn't respond to stylus taps, although the buttons seem to work OK. Is there something I've missed, or is there something else wrong with the machine?

Any help gratefully received! Many thanks.

Thank you for the take apart instructions it was very helpful. knowing what to expect and possible problems that could be encountered.

I was able to open the unit with great difficulty and was able to put it all back together again after the battery replacement. since it's a bit difficult to get a zire 72 battery in my country i was able to convert a Treo 680 battery for use with the zire 72. i just got it working today (Jan 6, 2008) and it went thru the 1st full charge without problem.

was not able to stop the screen noise with teh masking tape instruction here. it did not help much or i may have got misunderstood the instruction. i can post my successful battery convertion later in a few hours after i get some sleep since i documented it with pictures and plan to post it so that it can help others should they have dificulty finding a battery replacement. they can convert one instead.

see you later for now. thanks again for the informative instructions i could not have been able to replace the 3 yr old battery without the post here. thanks again (really greatful)

Hi everybody.

I would like to share my experience to the community of converting a treo680 battery for Zire 72 battery pack replacement. Since i have benefited in one way or another learning new things from the internet community and how some people's genuis in one way or another impressed me the things they have tried. Success or failure the community chip-in to share what they learned and in turn kept us moving forward (well the geeky guys & gals of the world).

Since getting a zire 72 battery replacement here (in our country) is a bit hard to come by, after finally found a forum that showed pictures and what to expect on a zire 72 take apart. After a few days of thinking about it, took all my courage to attempt to replace the battery which is about 3yrs old already on my bro's zire 72. Since battery life is noticably short (about 2hrs turn-on usage more or less). After a few hours of attempts in opening the case... success but not without battle scars, one of the hook on the tab was broken due to heavy strain in the attempts to seperate both screen and back case.

WARNING: The following instructions are of my personal experience. If you plan to proceed ahead you should realize should anything go wrong during your replacement you cannot blame me for the information provided. i post this to let everybody know that it's possible to convert a Treo 680 into a Zire 72 battery. I dont know if there will be future problems that will occur only time can tell. When you open your unit you will also void your warranty. I'm not a technician but i will provide information as much as i can to by ability only. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.


Before i discuss the steps it's wise to have protective gear since i done this without any i was a bit concerned about possible eye injury should things go wrong.

Here it goes... after i was able to successfully open the zire 72 case and successfully removed the battery. i then proceed in search for a replacement after 1 afternoon of searching can't find a shop that sell this pda battery replacement. After that saw my old nokia battery (left lying around but it's typically junk already) they both appear to be of the same size except the nokia battery is housed in a plastic casing. Since the nokia battery if of no use dismantling is in order to check for a compatible size battery. To my surprize it's almost the same size, which made me proceed to look for a higher capacity cell battery but to no avail. Most nokia replacement battery are only rated at 870mAH at the most which is less than the 920mAH original stock battery of the Zire 72.

Since i have a Treo 650, i checked the size of the battery which is more or less of the same size but the Treo 650 is too thick. Then i wondered about the Treo 680 which i know is a thinner battery compare to the Treo 650 battery because palm want to improve on the form factor of the next Treo compared to the fat Treo 650. To my surprize both battery (Zire 72 and Treo 680) are roughly the same size except the TTreo 680 battery is thicker by a few millimeter (later on this).

After purchasing a new Treo 680 battery, dismantling is no problem since it's like a printed sticker paper stuck on it not some metal housing (like AA batteries) removed.



Both battery are almost identical in size (Treo 680 on the label is rated to be 1200mAH Li-Ion battery) i chose Treo 680 battery since it's Li-Ion was afraid of Li-Polymer seen too many videos of Li-Polyer exploding into fire at one the popular video sites.

(part 2)

After opening both. before removing any component use a multi-meter to check the voltage just to see if it's working also it would be nice if the NEW battery has some charge left for checking if the contacts are connected properly. the negative side of the battery is located at the small PCB board of the battery (zire 72) while the entire body is positive side. If you notice the cell battery is not insulated only the small area where the negative side is insulated with something that looks like paper to me. removing the metal strip using a screw driver is no problem on the positive side but on the negative side you should be careful. Late last night i was too excited to assemble the new battery while attempting to remove the negative side of the metal strip the screw driver touch the body and there was a yellow-red spark which to my surprize i suddenly lift the screw driver to prevent damage to the small PCD board of the battery. With that incident, i decided to retire for the night and try again in the morning since thats enough for the night with that scarry thing happening to me (here i wished i had some protective gear for the eyes to insure safety).





The next morning since i proceeded with caution. taping the battery body with masking tape instead of electrical tape because the thickness of the electrical tape would push the battery thickness over the limit. Since the battery is already thick there could be a problem putting it back together if i chose the electrical tape. Taped the body except both ends of positive and negative sides. With last night sparky incident i decided to use fingers instead of screw driver to rip the metal strip away from the battery cell which is electric-welded. Carefull not to damage the battery pcb board we need it.



Then i made a mock up assembly of the battery by only taping the ends (positive and negative) checked the battery first with a multi-meter to insure there is electrical flow and made sure everythign is on the correct sides (positive is red, negative is black) just around here i touch the multi-meter on the terminal of the wires connecting to the board there was no response (no voltage) i got worried for a moment since i did everything correctly there should be some voltage response on the terminals. After trying a few times it appears the voltage did not show on the terminals of the pbc board where the plug with wires is connected but when i use the negative side and touch the metal strip it worked fine. After rechecking to insure there wont be a short-circuit, i proceed to connect the battery to the motherboard. PLUG-IN... the famous palm logo greeted me it was a success, since i plug the battery while the unit was at my bed when i lift the unit and wanted it to place it on the table the screen died down. Frantically attempted to press the power button after placing the unit on the table to turn it on, but to no avail. then i removed the plug then plug it again. tadaaa palm logo again wheewww what a relief this would only mean i should do some soldering to permanently connect the metal strip to the battery cell.

Reopened the battery cell, soldered the metal contacts of the pcb board to the battery cell then recheck. retape. recheck (for shortcircuit possiblity). then plug-in. Its' aaalivvveeeee !!! after than the unit showed me a low battery warning. i had to try the plug-in charger to see if it works. Before i try to plug in i kept some distance since i was afraid of it exploding or something. No problem so far. the unit showed that it's charging. after 1-2mins i removed the charger to see if the battery retained the charge. It did, so far so good.



Now time to reassemble everything. After 2 attempts to close the unit i discovered the battery thinkness is almost at the limit already. the unit wont close properly. I decided to open the battery taping package and retape it again this time more minimum to reduce the precious milimeter thickness i need in order the unit will close. Reused the old treo 680 label so that in the future i know what battery to buy should i attempt to change the battery for the 2nd time.




After several attemps i finally able to close the unit with a slight bulge on the bottom side due to the battery thickness taking care not to press to hard since the battery is pressing against the LCD at the back. also i removed 2 small plactic that is suppose to hold the battery in place. Removed it made possible to close the unit since its not blocked by the new battery. which is tightly fitted back to the battery compartment.



Then i made a bold step to fully charge the unit. Since it's the first time to charge i kept a watch on it, on how long it was charging since the battery is more like frankenstein it might go BESERK so careful watch is needed.

Right now am doing a drain test to see how long the battery life is (for the new battery). Since the original stock battery of the zire 72 is rated at 920mAH while the Treo 680 is rated 1200mAH (minimum as indicated on the label) That's 280mAH more battery power translate to 30.4% more power (from 920mAH). wondered if the power performance would be the same (meaning it should last longer, or longer usage)

So far so good it's working ok. but i will keep an eye on it everytime i try to charge it so as to avoid posible over charge. it does not mean the convertion did not work it's just to be on the safe side since the battery is a convert instead of the usualy battery purchased at the store.

Good luck for those who want to try to convert the battery. i would recomend you to purchase one if possible. my reason of converting a new battery for the zire 72 is purchasing one is a bit hard to come by here (in my country) and i want a bigger capacity battery anything above 1000mAH for longer usage.

Other related photos can be found here
http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg225/netpower8

(part 3)

Now time to reassemble everything. After 2 attempts to close the unit i discovered the battery thinkness is almost at the limit already. the unit wont close properly. I decided to open the battery taping package and retape it again this time more minimum to reduce the precious milimeter thickness i need in order the unit will close. Reused the old treo 680 label so that in the future i know what battery to buy should i attempt to change the battery for the 2nd time.




After several attemps i finally able to close the unit with a slight bulge on the bottom side due to the battery thickness taking care not to press to hard since the battery is pressing against the LCD at the back. also i removed 2 small plactic that is suppose to hold the battery in place. Removed it made possible to close the unit since its not blocked by the new battery. which is tightly fitted back to the battery compartment.



Then i made a bold step to fully charge the unit. Since it's the first time to charge i kept a watch on it, on how long it was charging since the battery is more like frankenstein it might go BESERK so careful watch is needed.

Right now am doing a drain test to see how long the battery life is (for the new battery). Since the original stock battery of the zire 72 is rated at 920mAH while the Treo 680 is rated 1200mAH (minimum as indicated on the label) That's 280mAH more battery power translate to 30.4% more power (from 920mAH). wondered if the power performance would be the same (meaning it should last longer, or longer usage)

So far so good it's working ok. but i will keep an eye on it everytime i try to charge it so as to avoid posible over charge. it does not mean the convertion did not work it's just to be on the safe side since the battery is a convert instead of the usualy battery purchased at the store.

Good luck for those who want to try to convert the battery. i would recomend you to purchase one if possible. my reason of converting a new battery for the zire 72 is purchasing one is a bit hard to come by here (in my country) and i want a bigger capacity battery anything above 1000mAH for longer usage.

Other related photos can be found here
http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg225/netpower8

First off, thanks to all of the posts. They've been a big help! Legodude has been unbelievably helpful.

Now, I've got a problem. The Zire 72 case came apart relatively easily and I replaced the battery. I had all my ducks lined up, put it back together, and plugged it into the charger. Nothing happened, no green light, and it won't come on with the unit plugged in.

I've taken it apart several times, and made sure everything was hooked up, including plugging in the screen before attaching the battery.

However, if I keep the unit open, being careful not to touch or short anything, I *can* plug it in and have the green light come on. In addition, I can hear the unit reboot. It sounds like a short somewhere, but I'm not quite sure what I should be looking for.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I need to kill the screen whine and it needs a new battery, where do i find a battery that fits and what type of paper would i use to kill that sound. I can't use my palm around my husband because he is sensitive to high pitched sounds.

Plz! help, i love my palm and don't want to get rid of it i use it a lot even though i have to keep it plugged into the wall most of the time just to use it.

I opened my Z 72 S and changed the LCD (that crash after a fall).
After the replacement, when I select the camera, the screen goes blank; all the buttons becomes inactives and I need to reset the machine.
Does somebody knows what happened?

Good pics and good, concise instructions....
Dig Bands