Zire 71 battery suddenly dying

[Ion Control]

My wife's Zire 71 is suddenly only able to hold a charge for 2 days before dying completely. According to her, this is with little or no use. I have a backup utility installed that automatically turns the Zire on at night to run a backup, but I can't imagine that it drains the battery that badly (I have it on my Clie and it works like a champ). Any clues as to what might be happening? She's only had it for a year, so I'm not inclined (yet) to blame the battery. Any tricks to get the battery meter to reset in case it's just become too sensitive?

[maceyr]

First, make sure that it is properly charging when she has it in the cradle (lightning bolt is on when charging). If not, there isn't a connection to the battery and the cradle (probably due to the dreaded internal cable problem caused by frequent opening and closing of the camera which breaks the cable). You may be able to get a connection by sliding out the camera a bit until you see the lightning bolt. But, if you are getting the connection and the battery isn't charging, it may be due to the battery.

Also, try opening up the camera so that you can access the reset hole at the back. Put the Z71 in the cradle, plug in the cradle and then, put a pin in the reset hole to reset the Z71 while charging. Some people have mentioned that it works to reset the battery.

If you're still under warranty, you may want to try contacting PalmOne and get a replacement battery.

If not, you may have to get a new battery.

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