Handy Board FAQ Answers: “closet”
I left my Handy Board in the closet for a few months, and now when I try to use it I can't get it to work!
Don't worry, nothing bad happened to your Handy Board while you were ignoring it.
First, the battery needs to be charged, and then the pcode_hb.s19 program needs to be reloaded. The Handy Board's nicad cells will preserve the contents of the memory for about a month. After that, the pcode program (which is in RAM) will be lost.
You can use Zap Mode to quickly put enough juice into the Handy Board that its red “Low Batt” light will go out. (Just make sure to put it into Normal Charge mode as soon as the battery begins to get warm, in about 3 hours.)
Then, use your downloader to put the pcode_hb.s19 program back into the Handy Board.
If the downloader isn't working, make sure that you are using the same cable set-up you had when you last successfully used your board. Check that you have a standard modem cable, and that you have a four-wire, telephone-style RJ11 cable.
Other things that can go wrong when your Handy Board is in the closet is your serial line configuration. Make sure that the Handy Board's red “BATT” and green “PWR” LEDs are off before the download sequence, and that the green LED turns on and starts flashing during download. If this doesn't happen, it's typically a cabling or serial driver problem.
(Last updated 2000-09-27)