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 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 range ofd netbooks and handhelds

With Psion
now out of the PDA business, finding new Psion machines can be tricky,
but there are still new machines around.

If you’re looking to buy a Psion machine or accessories, including
an Organiser II,
Series 3 / 3mx, or a newer machine, such as a Series 5mx or Revo,
try one of the following links:

• Amazon –
  Psion machines, accessories and software. Their Marketplace
  often contains second-hand bargain machines, and a couple of vendors such as PsionEx
• 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 specialist
  stockists Clove

• 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 or Amazon.

There are some questions over maximum supported CF size. Reports
are that most makes of cards up to 128MB work fine in Psion machines.
Thanks to Phil Harvey for emailing us with the following: "I’ve
installed a Sandisk 512Mb CF into a Series 7 using a Sandisk PC
Card Adapter. It works fine, straight out of the box. Performance
is impeccable. I bought the CF from Picstop for less than £100,
the cheapest I could find. The Adapter was bought from Jessops for
£8.99".

A word of warning. Writing to CF drains memory faster than storing
files to the C drive. Avoid writing data to a CF if your batteries
are low, to reduce the risk of data loss.

Availability: CF cards can be purchased from Amazon , Dabs.com and
PC
World. See our dedicated Memory
Card page

For more on how CF cards work, see Pscience
5’s CF page

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 Data 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 soft-reset.
• If you still have problems,
  a hardware hard-reset should be tried.

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: Dead Psion Screen.

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.

Note that if your machine’s batteries go completely flat, you’ll lose all of the data held in the internal memory of your machine. The Psion machines use a volatile memory that requires power to hold the data (lots of 0s and 1s) in the correct place – take away the power, and the memory blanks, losing your data forever. Psion machines have a backup battery (the
Series 3 / 5 have separate backup batteries, the Revo sections off part of the main battery as a reservoir).

If you have valuable data on your machine, you must ensure that this is backed up – either onto a PC, or onto non-volatile memory such as an SSD card (Series 3 family), or CF card (Series 5/7 family), as without this, there’s a risk you could lose the lot at any time.

Annoying and frustrating as it is to lose all your data, we’ve all been there, and all learnt a valuable lesson – Back it up, before it’s too late

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 terminate all running programs, restart the machine,
  and start up into 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.
  On a Series 5/5mx, open the backup battery compartment, and with an opened paperclip,
  press it into 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.

As the 7650 runs the Symbian OS and has features more commonly found
on a PDA than a phone, you could be making the assumption that you
can exchange files/software/photos between the two – if that’s the
case, then the answer is less positive. File transfer over IR between
a Psion and a 7650 doesn’t happen, and, short of synching via a
PC or emailing files from a Psion to yourself then retrieving with
the 7650 email, then the two devices aren’t compatible as such.

The PsiWin CD contains an application called Romload (extras/Romload
directory) that allows you copy an OS image onto a CF
card, using a PsiWin cable connected to your 5mx Pro. The file needed to boot from a CF card is called SYS$ROM.BIN and needs to be in the root directory of the CF card.

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.
We’ve also had users contact us to report problems with other files, showing the error message "Information: Corrupt. <application> will close.

Handling file corruption is always a tricky thing, as sometimes, messing with files can do more harm than good. Here are a few suggestions that you can try at your own risk:

• If the file is open, or can be opened, try a "File > Save as" or an "Export", which is a non-destructive way of taking a copy.
• Try closing the file, then copying to a different drive
• Try using PsiWin to back up the file to a PC
• If the file is on a Compact Flash, try exiting the application, then reading the file with a PC Card Reader. If it can be read, you may be able to convert it using PsiWin.
• If you can plug your CF card into a PC, you could try a Scandisk or a file recovery tool like "Undelete Plus" to see if anything can be recovered, but this may make things worse.
• If you’re running out of options – try a soft-reset of the machine
• Do you have any backup copies anywhere?

Handling an Agenda file: 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

Last resort: You may have to resort to opening the file in a text editor (such as Windows
Notepad), and seeing if the data is in there in a raw text format. 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 any magic tips, or if you’re looking for more help, try posting in our Psion Support forum.

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)
• 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.

Want a Psion replacement? Consider the Asus Eee range. Pictured here is the Eee PC 701 – It’s a little bigger than a Psion 5mx, and half the size of an average laptop. It has wi-fi, 3 USB ports, and is pretty powerful. There are ASUS models that run Windows 7, Windows XP, Linux and Google Android. More on our Asus Eee PC Page

• Contacts and Agenda synchronisation
  with MS Outlook, Schedule+ and Lotus Organiser
• Document conversion with
  MS Office, Word, Excel, Works, Foxpro, 1-2-3, ccMail, WordPerfect,
  Quattro, dBase, plus CSV, DOS and RTF
• Backup and restore of
  data.

PsiWin is available for download from www.mypsionsupport.com/mypsion/downloads.asp free of charge.

Download size is around 24Meg, and the current version is 2.3.3. This version runs on Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows XP.

If your PC or laptop has
no serial port, it may be a struggle to get PsiWin to connect. Here are a few suggestions that may help:

• If your PC/laptop has
  a USB port, it may be possible to connect to PsiWin with a USB-to-Serial
  adapter (sometimes known as a "Serial Port Replicator"), as long
  as the adapter can create a com port between com1 and com4. Reports
  are that the Northstar and Belkin adapters work with PsiWin over
  USB, we’ve also had it confirmed to us that the Keyspan
  USB High Speed Serial Adapter. USB-to-Serial adapters are
  available from Dabs.com and Maplin
  Electronics.
• If your PC is a desktop, not a laptop, consider adding a serial port – you can get these cheaply from Maplin Electronics (Cat XT21X)
• If your PC/laptop has
  an infrared (IR) port, then this can be used to transfer data. If
  your computer doesn’t have infrared,
  consider a ‘USB-IRDA Adaptor’ from Maplin Electronics (Cat no: RV88V), but note that we’ve not been able to check whether this works with a Psion. Psion users may want to
  check out PsiLoc’s pIBeam,
  which is an application that allows data exchange over IR.

Failing that, if you have a Psion Series 5 or 5mx, another
option is to use CF cards to exchange data with your PC. You’ll
need a CF card reader for the
PC.

If you’re having problems
connecting between your Psion and PC using PsiWin, the following
suggestions may be of use:

1. Check the obvious – are
   you plugged into the com (serial) port? Is the Psion plugged in
   correctly? Have you configured PsiWin to connect to the same com
   port as you’re plugged in to?
2. Make sure the Psion link
   is turned on and set to ‘Cable’. Baud rates must be the same on
   the PC and Psion ends.
3. Perhaps try dropping
   the baud rate down from 115kbps to something lower (at both ends)
   – this can make for a more reliable connection.
4. Make sure no other software
   is running that may be accessing the com port (such as a mobile
   phone/Palm/Pocket PC connectivity app)
5. Check the port settings
   on the PC (Control Panel, System, Device Manager). Try setting
   flow control to "Hardware", check the bits per second
   is high enough and check there are no resource conflicts
6. May be worth performing
   a soft reset on the Psion – it’s possible the serial port software
   has locked.
7. Got the latest version
   of PsiWin? As far as we know, the last version released was 2.3.3
   (Build 149). An up-to-date version can be downloaded from Psion’s
   website
8. Using an older Psion
   machine (such as a Series 3mx) with a new version of PsiWin? You
   may need to make a registry change (see
   below)

If you’re trying to use
PsiWin on an older SIBO machine, such as a Psion 3, 3a, 3c, 3mx
or Siena, note that later versions of PsiWin had a restriction to
stop it being used with older hardware. This can be overcome,however,
with a simply edit to the Windows Registry, as follows:

1. Open the Windows Registry
   with RegEdit (Windows Start button > Run > REGEDIT >
   OK)
2. Go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   \ SOFTWARE \ PSION \ TASKSCHEDULER entry
3. Change the value of the
   EC_EXTRA key from "0" to "36dd".
4. Close the registry.

Note that editing the registry
can be dangerous. If in doubt, don’t! Also note that connection speed
of older machines is slower, so check the baud rates on Psion and
PC match and are low enough.

If you’re having problems
using PsiWin’s Synchronizer, troubleshooting can be tricky. A few
things to try:

1. Double-check your sync
   settings to make sure all events are being copied (are they marked
   as private, or outside the date range?
2. When a sync completes,
   you get the option to view a log file – Take a look at the log,
   to see if that gives you any clues
3. Do you have more than
   one Outlook PST file, or multiple Contact folders in Outlook?
4. Have you got any filters
   on Outlook, or are you looking at the wrong view (Calendar ? View
   > Current view)
5. Have you got the latest
   version of PsiWin, and tried the general
   PsiWin advice above?
6. Try a full uninstall-reinstall
   of PsiWin

If you’re still having problems,
it may be worth backing up your machine (as a precaution), then
starting the sync from scratch, after a full reinstall.

"PsiWin Problem Report.
There was a problem creating the main backup folder for the Psion
drive because the file has been opened on the Psion. Please try again."

You may get this message whilst performing a backup. Thanks to Gary
Brocks for reporting the solution, as follows: The folder selected
in PsiWin Backup options on the PC as the backup folder must have
a name that does not exceed 8 characters. If it does, the problem
may occur, depending on which version of Windows is being used. To
make things easy, always use a folder named with the default name
"EPOC"as the current backup folder. If you decide to take
that folder out of use, change the name, and create a new folder named
"EPOC" and designate that as the current back up folder
in PsiWin Backup options so that the current backup folder is always
named EPOC (or whatever name that you decide to use that is 8 characters
or less).

Here’s a quick summary of
how to copy a file from a PC to a Psion using PsiWin 2.3.3. Copying
a file to a PC follows the same procedure:

1. Enable cable connection
   from the Psion (Ctrl-L)
2. Start
   PsiWin using the "My Psion". Psiwin should connect,
   and you should get a wiggly line appearing in the PC system tray
   (bottom-right)
3. With "My Psion"
   open, double-click on the "Internal (C)" icon, and then
   double-click on the "Documents" folder.
4. Go to your Windows desktop,
   and using "My computer", find the folder containing
   the file you want to copy
5. Now select the file by
   single-clicking on it.
6. Hold down the left mouse
   key, and drag the file to the Documents folder "My Psion"
7. Let go of the mouse key,
   and the file should copy

If you’re still
having problems, check the other advice offered in this section
to make sure you can make a connection. Other things to try, include:
A re-install of PsiWin, a soft-reset of your machine, or using
another PC to make the connection. If you have a Series 5, you
could try copying from your PC onto a CF card using a PC
CF card reader. As a last resort, you could always try cutting
the PC out of the loop, and emailing the file to your Psion (see
our Psion Online page)

It should be possible to
connect a Psion (the later models, e.g. the 5mx and Revo – and not
the series 3 range) to a PC with PsiWin over infrared. Setting this
up is slightly fiddly. For help with this, see the Pscience
5 IR page. This includes help with Windows 95, 98, Windows ME,
Windows XP and Windows 2000. It’s a little fiddly to set up, requiring
IRCOMM drivers to be installed, and then setting up a virtual comm
port that PsiWin can recognise. Awkward – but possible

Deleting users on PsiWin

When installing PsiWin on a Windows XP machine, you may see an error: "16 bit windows subsystem:
‘C:\windows\system32\Autexec.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose ‘close’ to terminate the application".

This appears to be seen if you’ve upgraded to XP Service Pack 2, and the upgrade has trashed some key files. There’s a Microsoft Knowledgebase article on how to resolve this at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=324767

• PsionLink

Unless

the 3lib programming section at 3lib.ukonline.co.uk/progindex.htm

in the downloads area.

If you’re keen to do more serious programming (in Java

Development Kit). Membership’s free

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

How can I program on OPL on the Revo?

The

EPOC OPL programs to run.

Unlike the Series 5 family, the OPL editor

your Revo. If the file is not available from the Psion site, you can download a copy here: Program.sis

do I work with EPOC MBM files?

• 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