Newton H1000 - dead as

[Byrd]

Hi all,

I picked up a "not working" Newton H1000 off eBay, which came with original pen and getting started PCMCIA card. Looks like it has always had a screen protector on too, and is in good condition. It is as described - I replaced the 4 x AA batteries with fresh jobbies, and the coin CR2032 3V battery inside - it doesn't turn on. Tried holding down the reset button for a minute, nothing.

Any tips on where to look next - the link below refers to poor ribbon contacts:

http://cs.gmu.edu/~sean/projects/newton/MP100Power.html

Thanks! This model Newton brings back some memories for me. In mid 90's, a friend and I sold a pile of Mac and PC crap as a computer market (and I mean crap); we were in high school and surprisingly sold everything, dirt cheap, as we didn't want to take it home. The couple of hundred dollars we made made us felt like kings; right at the very end of the market, my friend was looking at a nearby seller and spied a Newton 100 for $70. Not a bad buy at the time; I've never seen another once since, until now! The Newton my friend has was basically used for Tetris and for another friend to draw women with disproportionate ... anatomical parts

JB

[Byrd]

Success! Took the whole Newton apart, cleaned contacts, sprayed the PCB (front and back) with electronic solvent cleaning spray - fired up first time. Suspect it was either the sliding power switch that wasn't contacting well, or the LCD ribbon cable didn't seem overly snug on the motherboard. It's running NOS 1.10, good times!

JB

[beachycove]

All of which confirms the substance of the link cited.

Can the software in these be updated to v.1.3, do you know?

[macgreg]

Nice work - good to see another Newton alive and kicking.
Do you have the vinyl slip case for it?

[Byrd]

No - just the unit itself. The seller I bought the unit off was new to eBay, and seemingly didn't have their Paypal account set up. The money has been sitting there, unclaimed, for a couple of weeks. I've emailed the seller twice to let them know they've not been paid ... they left me glowing feedback ... can't do much else!

I believe NOS 1.10 can be upgraded to 1.11 and nothing higher. From what I've read, the OMP/H1000 Newton was sold almost as a "pre release" unit not long after Apple's Newton launch, with the official MP 100 following soon after. The OS does seem particularly slow to convert handwriting to text.

JB

[Concorde1993]

Success! Took the whole Newton apart, cleaned contacts, sprayed the PCB (front and back) with electronic solvent cleaning spray - fired up first time. Suspect it was either the sliding power switch that wasn't contacting well, or the LCD ribbon cable didn't seem overly snug on the motherboard. It's running NOS 1.10, good times!

So how exactly did you dismantle the H1000 without ruining any of its components? I own a H1000 as well, and the sound is very weak (I figure it's a bad cap). In addition, the card reader doesn't appear to work, so the contacts may require a good cleaning.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Byrd]

So how exactly did you dismantle the H1000 without ruining any of its components?

I've taken apart a lot of generic laptops, so it was fairly straightforward to do. Did end up finding a service manual (for the equivalent Newton model made by Sharp), but can't find it, will get back to here when I do.

Basically

- Remove all batteries - coin and AAA pack
- Remove all screws on back, including those behind the battery
- Don't forget to take off the piece of circular green tape on the top of the device, a tiny screw exists there
- Take off back shell
- Screws on the PCB are identified/marked with an "==>"; remove all of these.
- Clips also hold the PCB on the right hand side
- Gently pull out PCB, LCD ribbon cable needs to be disconnected outside. Remember where the speaker cables go when you put it back together!
- LCD slides out, one screw holds the bezel in.

Good luck!

JB