I’ve repaired my share of iPhones over the years, but this was my first Palm device project. I had one of the early Palm Pilots back in 1999. That and my Rio mp3 player held sacred space in my messenger bag during my time in NYC. I recently picked up a Palm Tungsten E from a local Facebook freecycle-type group — which I highly recommend lurking in if you like to find free vintage stuff. In this post, I’ll show you how I brought it back to working condition. Then broke it. Then fixed it again.

What’s a Palm Tungsten E?

The Palm Tungsten E was a business-class Palm Pilot. In 2005, it was the height of sophistication in the PDA category. Not only could you store contacts and manage your calendar, you could play games, listen to music, write notes, work on a spreadsheet, and of course, sync it with your computer via cable, modem, or Bluetooth. It even had an optional SD card slot where you could store even more data. It wasn’t quite as functional as a Blackberry, but it was much cheaper and you didn’t have to pay for a service.

Inspecting the device

The one I picked up was well-worn and definitely used. But the person who gave it to me also had the original manual and charger. No HotSync cable, but this Palm version didn’t use the official, weird-looking HotSync cable it used an ordinary mini USB cable, much like a digital camera. I had a few of those lying around.

I plugged it in and played around with it, but I noticed that if I nudged the power cable too far, it shut down. Soon I realized that the battery wasn’t holding a charge. I did some research and found some sources for a new battery, but unlike many other devices I’ve repaired, the battery doesn’t click in or connect with a plug. It’s soldered in. That’s not a deal breaker for me, just an extra step. So I bought the battery and that $31 — although pricey — was the only money I spent on this device. First, I had to desolder the old battery.

Replacing the battery

They really glopped on the solder at the Palm factory. I had to use my solder sucker to remove the excess so I could make a good connection with the new battery wires. And prying out the old lithium battery without busting it (very dangerous, always wear eye protection) was stressful. But in the end it worked!

The joy of cracking open a Palm Pilot

One thing I enjoy the least when repairing older devices is cracking them apart. First, when the plastic ages it gets weak, so it’s easier to break a clip than with a newer device. And I managed to break a few clips on this one. The other issue is that you can’t tell right away what’s underneath the plastic when you slide whatever tool you’re using to pry apart the case. As I was putting it back together, a little piece of something fell off. Hey, no biggie, it’s just the…. power switch.

That time I broke off the power switch

Yup, the power switch was lurking right where I was prying open the case. So I managed to pry that loose, too. Oops. It’s what’s called a surface mount, which means there are no convenient holes in the circuit board to push them through — just connector pads. I soldered it back on as best I could, but when I screwed the case back on I discovered that the switch did not work at all.

Since the battery is soldered in place and can’t be disconnected easily, that meant the device was always on. But it worked, so I adjusted the settings so it would automatically go into sleep mode after 1 minute. But that switch still bothered me. So about a week later I pried it open again, de-soldered the switch and re-soldered it. This time, success! Except it still didn’t quite shut off, it only went to sleep. It was only as I was writing this post that I learned that the Palm Pilot Tungsten E cannot be fully powered off in the way modern devices are. Instead, it enters a sleep mode which acts as its “off” state. To “shut down” the device, you simply let it go to sleep, or you can remove the battery to fully cut power. Sigh. So it’s working correctly. But I’m still glad I went back and fixed the switch.

What’s next for this Palm Pilot?

But what to do with it? Well, it’s amazing what you can find online. There’s downloadable desktop apps for syncing, and tons of games and other apps you can get for free. I’ve synced it with my Windows machine, but I’m currently working through some challenges with the SD card formatting. I’ll get there eventually with help. I definitely want to try listening to mp3s.

This Palm Tungsten E rescue was a fun little project. Next, I think I’ll work on fixing my Rio mp3 player.