Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

Alrighty, last night I installed a small program on my Palm Zire 31 called Mirror+ which is a small application that allows me to use my palm as a flashlight (i.e. it greatly increases the palm's light output) by simply displaying black. Now, the eejit who programmed this actually managed to make a program as simple as this, to crash. What was left was a black splodge on my screen instead of the neatly laid out rows it was before, and there was nothing I could do about it. The reset button wouldn't work for some reason, I couldnt turn it off so I only had one choice: Leave it on so it could drain its power. So in the morning I stuck the charger in, and after five minutes after charging the little setup thing came up asking about the time and digitizer etc. However, I noticed lines coming down my screen. Its hard to describe, but basicly spread across the screen are lines that sort of make the underneath graphics seem much lighter and it just makes the screen look very very ugly. However, I cannot see any damage or burns when the palm is off.

I can live with this, but I only just got it for christmas, which isnt a good start. So how do I deal with this? Just leave it off for a day? Keep using it? Any help would be nice =) thanks

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Dani AI

Generated

A short expert note on what happened and what to try next.

This thread looks like a classic case of LCD image retention rather than literal "burn" of phosphor. 's report of substantial recovery (with faint residual lines) fits the usual pattern: prolonged display of a static, high-contrast image can leave the liquid‑crystal layer temporarily biased so some structure shows as ghosting while powered. That is usually reversible; permanent failure is less common and shows as dead rows, black spots, or damage visible even with the unit powered off.

Practical diagnostic checklist (safe, low-risk steps):

  • Document the problem: photograph the screen powered on and powered off in the same light to confirm whether the artifact appears only when on.
  • Try an active refresh: run a short, looping test that rapidly fills the whole screen with alternating full-screen colors or moving content for a few hours (this moves pixels and helps release trapped states).
  • Back up data before any reset. Use a soft reset first; only perform a factory/hard reset after syncing and backing up.
  • Avoid mechanical stress, strong magnets, or disassembly while under warranty — those can cause further damage.
  • If symptoms persist after sensible refresh attempts, contact the manufacturer or an authorized repair shop; for older low-cost devices, compare repair cost to replacement.

Context and prevention: rightly highlighted power/disconnect options for diagnostics, and warned about risky low-level utilities — both points are relevant. Preventive habits include avoiding long static images at full brightness, using automatic screen timeout/savers, and keeping regular backups so a hard reset or service call can be done without data loss.

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Member Avatar for gazaaq

Your palm should have a button located at the back which allows you to turn it completely off, thus disconnecting it completely from the battery, and resetting it. Its possible that the data is still on your handheld and causing this. I doubt the program damaged anything, as the lights and screen should be able to withstand a slight increase in power. Programs like this don't sound very "safe" so just look for that button which allows you to disconnect the memory from the battery turning the PDA completely off. If its still there, its either corrupted the memory, or has done slight damage to the screen.

Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

All I have is the reset button which is probably what you are talking about. I tried resetting dozens of times, and it simply wouldnt work -.-

But whats important now is the screen does seem to be damaged. Do you know any way to help reverse the effects?

Member Avatar for gazaaq

All I have is the reset button which is probably what you are talking about. I tried resetting dozens of times, and it simply wouldnt work -.-

But whats important now is the screen does seem to be damaged. Do you know any way to help reverse the effects?

As like any screen, they are not designed to have more power forced into them, the reset button is not what I am talking about, this just resets the pda, but doesn't cause any memory loss as such, which is what you want.

As pictured below on the example PDA there should be a button similar as such, turn that to the "off" position. If this doesn't help your PDA is probably damaged.

[IMG][/IMG]

However if that doesn't work, you can try holding a magnet up to the screen, maybe it can rearrange the LCD crystals? But be carefull to do it only for a very short period, and use this as a last resort.

Good luck man.

Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

No I definitly dont have one of those :]

I tried the magnet but it gave no effects whatsoever. I have been advised to leave the screen on displaying a completely white picture which seems to help with LCD screens, so I'm leaving it for several hours on charge to see what happens :)

Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

SUCCESS!

It works, my screen looks much better now. There are still faint signs of the lines but im sure that will go away :D

So, in short, if you need to get rid of internal damage to your LCD screen (i.e. not cracks in the screen etc) then just leave a white image showing overnight (or as long as the picture that burned it was showing) and you will see major reversal =D

Member Avatar for suRoot

the lesson is don't install software that fiddles with voltages atall!! impo that was a really bad thing to do......

Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

Lesson learnt :>

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