How to Restart a Palm Device That Has Crashed

You've been tooling around with your Palm and, all of a sudden, you get a fatal error. Or you replace your batteries, and your device doesn't wake up. What to do? There's a simple fix that allows you to get back up and running ' usually without losing any of your data.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Palm Handheld Organizers
• Paper And Binder Clips

1. Take the stylus that came with your device, and unscrew the top part (away from the point).

2. Straighten out a paper clip if you don't have the stylus or your device is earlier than a Palm III.

3. Turn your device over. On the right side you should see a pinhole with the word Reset next to it. This is the reset switch.

4. Gently press the reset switch with the reset tool or paper clip. Your Palm device should power up.

5. Depress the reset switch twice in quick succession if pressing once didn't restart your Palm.

6. Perform a Hard Reset if you want to get rid of all the data on your handheld. To do this, press and hold the Power button while you are performing a reset.

Tips & Warnings

• Removing the batteries for a few minutes will have the same effect as performing a Hard Reset.
• If you are having problems with your Palm, perform a HotSync operation as soon as your device is up and running. Backing your device up frequently will help prevent data loss.
• Try the program Backup Buddy if you want to back up your third-party programs every time you perform a HotSync operation.
• A Hard Reset will erase all data on your handheld device. A standard HotSync will only replace your data files, not your third-party programs, so use caution.

on 11/22/2005 If your Palm Pilot has crashed and does not respond to a soft (regular) reset, you do not have to do a hard reset. Instead, hold down on the arrow buttons, and then press reset. This is called a warm reset.