Psion Frequently Asked Questions

In June 2005, Psion Digital ceased all repair activities for its legacy range of PDAs (Series 3, Series 5, Series 7, Revo & Siena).

This means that if you want your machine repaired, you'll have to look elsewhere - fortunately, POS Ltd in Streatham, South London, offers mail order or call-in repairs for most of the Psion range. Call 020-8677 9246 or visit www.posltd.com.

From Feb 2004, another firm started offering help with screen cable problems for the 5 and 5mx, and replacement batteries for the Revo. You can return your machine, or ask them to send you the parts so you can repair-it-yourself. See www.psionflexi.co.uk for details

If the cost of repair is too prohibitive, it may be worth looking around for a new machine (check out Pricerunner, BuyCentral or Kelkoo). Consider a reconditioned machine from POS (as above), or look on eBay.co.uk , eBay.com or Preloved Classifieds for a bargain.

Psion Alternative? Looking for a more modern Psion alternative? Consider the ASUS Eee PC

• Amazon - Psion machines, accessories and software. Their Marketplace often contains second-hand bargain machines, and a couple of vendors such as PsionEx
• Pricerunner, BuyCentral and Kelkoo. - UK price comparison sites that can be used to identify companies still selling new Psion hardware.
• eBay.co.uk - Bid for new or used Psion machines and accessories, and sell your unwanted Psion stuff
• POS - Psion repairs and reconditioned machines.
  

Psion Alternative? Looking for a more modern Psion alternative? Consider the ASUS Eee PC

If you're looking for Psion accessories, such as leads, modems and cases, try the following:

• eBay.co.uk - Bid for accessories... probably the cheapest way to obtain spares like serial leads, cases and styli
• Amazon - Surprisingly, this is still a good option for accessories, especially via their Expansys shop.
• Partmaster Direct - For a good range of Psion spares and accessories, we recommend you try Partmaster - Spare styli, cases, the Travel Modem, Memory cards, serial leads and docking stations can all be found on the Partmaster site for to-the-door delivery.
• Try the two specialist stockists Clove and Widget.
  
  

• If you're looking for a standard connector, such as a PsiWin lead, printer lead or a 3link cable, try Amazon's Psion accessories. For harder-to-find leads and accessories, try eBay.co.uk
• If it's for connecting to a mobile phone, try Carphone Warehouse online
• Sadly, two companies Serialleads and Psionleads were very useful for Psion leads, but they're no longer operating. If the above links don't help, you could also try Maplin, Dabs.com orAmazon.

What do you do if you no longer have access to a Psion, but need to access some data from an old Psion backup on your PC? Native Psion files can't be read on a PC, but fortunately, there are some solutions:

• Use the PsiWin PC connectivity suite to convert the Psion-format files to a format that can be read on the PC.
• Download and install the Psion ER5 emulator - this gives you a Psion machine on your PC, and will allow you to access your old data on a PC - See our emulator setup page. From the emulator, you may be able to print or export your data to a text file, or use a third -party Psion converter
• Consider borrowing or buying an old Psion machine, loading the files onto the Psion, then printing the documents or data as a text file
• Find another friendly Psion user that may be able to convert the file into a format that can be read by a PC for you. If you don't know of another user, try asking for help in our Psion forum

Data conversion for the Psion can be quite complicated, due to the file formats used by Psion / Symbian. You should find that the PsiWin program supplied on CD with your Psion machine can help you with most of your conversion needs. If your PC is connected to your Psion, dragging files from "My Psion" to the PC should prompt you to convert to a PC format, otherwise you can convert files that are stored on the PC, using the Psion File Converter. This program is installed with PsiWin and is located in c:\program files\Psion\PsiWin - the application filename is Cpycnv.exe

For more help on file conversion, see our dedicated conversion page.

Agenda and Contacts databases: Note that these can't be converted using the Psion File Converter - PsiWin supports synchronisation of these files, but not direct conversion. See our suggestions in our Backup FAQ. The most common solution is to load up the files in the Psion Emulator, and either use Print to save the data as a plain text file, or use a Psion-based converter, as detailed on our Conversion page

Got your stylus stuck in your Series 5 / 5mx? This is a fairly common fault, with a really easy fix. Open the serial port on the back of the machine, and with your thumbnail, pull down gently on the curved plastic directly under the RS232 port (as per the picture below). You'll hear a 'click' and all should be well.

If you suddenly find that your Psion screen's packed up, there are a few things to check before sending the machine off for repair:

• Horizontal/vertical lines on the screen? This is a sign that the ribbon flexi cable that connects the base to the screen is damaged. This will need to go for repair
• If the screen is blank, It's important to work out if it's the screen that's packed up, or the machine itself is dead - check the dead machine guidance
• Double-check that the contrast isn't down so low that you can't see the screen
• Try a soft reset, then a hard reset just in case some rogue software is causing a problem
• If you've tried everything else, and you have a live machine with a dead screen, one of the more common causes is a break in the screen flexi - the cable that runs from the main PCB to the screen. This can be damaged by the continual opening and closing of clamshell machines like the Psion. Unless you're a dab hand with electronics repairs, you'll probably need to send the machine off for repair. See our notes on backing-up with a dead screen

If your Series 5 or 5mx is not responding to screen taps, before returning it for repair, there are a few software tricks to try:

• Try recalibrating the screen. Here's how to do that without being able to use the screen... Perform a software soft-reset (see below) to get to the System screen. Then press 'Menu | Tools | Control panel'. Scroll to "Screen", and select 'Calibrate' using the Ctrl-C hotkey.
• If this doesn't work, the next option is to try a hardware soft-reset.(see below)
• If you still have problems, a hardware hard-reset should be tried.(see below)

If you still have a problem, you may have a fault with the screen that can't be fixed through software. The machine will need to be sent away for repair.

It's also worth looking at Eric Lindsay's list of keyboard shortcuts for ways to access things without a touchscreen on an ER5 machine

If your Psion won't start up, it's most likely to be the batteries. If it's a Revo, try a full charge, if it's a 3 or 5, try new batteries. You can also try powering the machine via a mains adapter, in case there's a problem with the battery. If there's still no joy, check that it's not just a dead screen, or that the contrast isn't down so you can't tell the machine's on. A tip here is to hold the machine up to an AM radio and see if it interferes with the signal - a way of telling if the machine has power, but the screen's dead. If it is a dead screen, see our solution here.
If the machine still shows no sign of life, you can try a reset - first a soft reset, then a hard reset. With a hard reset, you'll lose all data, and will have to restore from a recent backup.
If that doesn't work, you've probably got a dead machine, and it will need to go for repair.
Note that if your machine's batteries go completely flat (including Series 3 / 5 backup batteries), your data is completely lost, as the internal memory is battery powered.

Before sending your machine off for repair, you need to back your machine up... something that you can't do if the screen is out-of-order or blank. Here's how to switch the link on without seeing the screen:

• You must be in 'System' for the Ctrl-L keypress to work
• If you've set a password, you need to enter that first
• You may have got the machine in a mode where the Ctrl-L keypress doesn't work. Try a soft-reset, which will at least get the software to it's default state. After entering the password, you'll be at the System screen, and Ctrl-L. After a soft-reset, the link is 'Off', so Ctrl-L + one right keypress, then Enter gets the cable connection running at 115200 baud.

There are three types of reset that can be performed on an ER5 machine. Here are the methods for a Psion Series 5 / 5mx, and a Revo:

• Software soft-reset. This will terminal all running programs and restart the machine, and go to System. To do this, with the machine switched on, close any open files (to protect against data loss), and then hold down Shift-Ctrl-Fn and K keys together.
• Hardware soft-reset. This is slightly more aggressive, as it forces a shutdown of the operating system, killing all running applications. Again, it's important to shut down files, as unsaved data will be lost). To do this, open the 5 backup compartment, and with a paperclip, press the reset hole, then switch on as normal. On a Revo, use an opened paperclip and gently press it into the (1) reset hole briefly - the machine will beep twice when you next switch on.
• Hard-reset. Note that this will format the entire drive, removing all data and all the software you've installed. It resets back to the state that the machine was in when it left the factory (i.e. with the operating system and the built-in apps). It's VITAL to make sure you've backed up all files on your machine before doing a hard-reset. To do a hard-reset on a Series 5, press the paperclip into the reset hole, as per a soft-reset, then hold down both 'Shift' keys and press Esc to switch it on. On a Revo, you'll need to insert a paperclip into (1) and (2) reset holes at the same time, then press the 'On' key twice. When you switch on, you should hear a single beep.

One site visitor asked us if we could help to solve a problem with an Agenda file that was reporting "Unexpected end of file" when it was opened. We tried our best, and could do anything with it. The user was also having a similar problem with a contacts.cdb file and a Jotter file. It would seem that these files became corrupt as a result of performing a backup. A Google search revealed that if you've used PsiWin on a Windows NT machine, a hardware problem may have resulted in the backup being unexpectedly terminated, resulting in a file corruption. If you've used PsiWin, some users have reported that the original file may be saved on your PC (see the thread here). We tried repairing the user's file, but had no luck trying the following tricks (you may have more luck):

• Opening with an ER5 emulator
• Merging into an existing Agenda file
• Using PsiWin's file converter

The best we were able to do, was to open the file in a text editor (such as Windows Notepad), and finding that much of the original text appeared to be there. In this case, although it's a pain, it's at least possible to recover the text and paste it into another application. Not ideal, but we couldn't do anything else! If anyone out there has more luck, or can add anything to this, please let us know...

PsiWin (mentioned above) allows for conversion of BMP and WAV PC formats to EPOC (Psion) file formats. Additionally, two small DOS applications have been released, but these are not on the current PsiWin CDs:

• wav2wve2.zip / wve2wav.zip - convert from the Series 3 wve sound format to PC WAV (available from here or here)
• bmconv.exe - converts from EPOC's MBM (Multi bitmap format) to PC BMP format (available from here or here)

Here's how to install software from a Psion SSD memory card onto your Psion Series 3a / 3c:

1. Insert the card into one of the drive slots
2. Go to the System screen and scroll to the far right
3. From the menu, go to Apps > Install application
4. Scroll to the 'Disk' line, and change to the appropriate driver (A or B)
5. Go to the File line and use left/right to find the name of the app you want to install
6. Press Enter
7. This should install the program's icon

Hotmail and AOL use proprietary systems that you can't access with an out-of-the-box Psion machine's Email application. You can, however, access your account using the Opera web browser, which supports SSL and Javascript. Click here for details of Opera.

Unless you're a whizz with c++ on a PC, then the quickest, easiest and cheapest way is to use OPL (Organiser Programming Language). It's built-in to most Psion machines and is a basic-like interpreted language. For some OPL basics and tutorials, see the 3lib programming section at 3lib.ukonline.co.uk/progindex.htm
For programming on a Psion Revo, you need the OPL Editor, which is available for free at www.psion.com in the downloads area.
If you're keen to do more serious programming (in Java or c++), invest in the Professional Symbian Programming, or join the Symbian Developers Network (where you can get a Software Development Kit). Membership's free

Owners of the Series 3c / 3mx: PDF versions of the programming manual are available here

• To convert EPOC's MBM (Multi bitmap format) to PC BMP format, use the DOS application bmconv.exe - (available from here or here)
• Winpic allows viewing of Psion MBM files on a Windows PC. Supports grayscale MBM files only. You can find this free application on Tucows
  
• Note that a "Not supported" error message appears if an MBM file containing colour icons is run on an ER3 machine, such as a Series 5