Share this:

Some of you may not be aware that static electricity poses a great danger to electronics.  While this quick zap only creates pain in a human, it can destroy electronics.  Electrostatic discharge (ESD) may reach as high as 25,000 volts.  Whenever I work on computers, I wear an anti-static wrist strap like the one below.  Some guys won’t wear anti-static straps or they think the risk of discharge is minimal.  I prefer to play it safe.

Image from Wikipedia

 

Mine is identical to this $9 strap from CompUSA.  Surely it’s a high profit margin item, but I would rather spend $9 on an anti-static strap than spend $200 on a new processor.  Actually, I think I payed more like $6 when I bought my strap several years ago.  I was installing an ATI Radeon 9550 video card at the time.

With the weather warming up, I have gone back to taking my lunchtime walks.  I always carry a camera, my PocketPC, and my Bluetooth GPS receiver.  I use the PocketPC and the GPS receiver to sniff out WiFi hotspots and record their location.  I used to do this for Navizon, a WiFi positioning database provider.  Last fall, their app stopped working or they had server problems, and they quit counting my mapped hotspots correctly.  There was no sense in continuing data collection for them.  I switched to using WiFiFoFum to collect WiFi location data, and uploaded my data to WiGLE.  WiGLE is a non-commercial entity, I believe, that also collects WiFi location data.  Even though I was no longer being paid for my data, I still had fun contributing to this wealth of data.

Below are some GPS receivers I own, including the HP iPAQ hx4700 PocketPC and the Holux M-1000 Bluetooth GPSr.  I should take a new photo, as I have added three more GPSrs (one free) to my arsenal.

I got back from lunch today and took the PocketPC out of my pocket.  It was already powered off.  As I set it down on my desk, I felt a more-painful-than-usual static discharge.  Whenever I feel a discharge while holding any kind of electronics, I get nervous.  Usually I dismiss this nervousness, as I had never ruined anything before because of ESD.

My luck ran out today.  In addition to recording WiFi hotspot locations during lunch, I record this data when I’m driving my car or riding my bicycle.  I got into my car for the drive home and turned on my PocketPC.  The boot screen came up instead of the home screen, and everything was gibberish.  My immediate thought was the thing had reset itself because of the static discharge.  Once it booted, I noticed the time was wrong and I was hearing sound effects, which I usually have turned off.  The PocketPC had completely reset itself and its memory was wiped.  My data and programs were gone.  I wasn’t happy, but it was no big deal.  I’ve had the battery drain completely by accident, causing my stuff to be erased.  I just have to reinstall WiFiFoFum, which takes maybe one minute, then pair the Bluetooth GPSr with the PocketPC.

Well, I reinstalled WiFiFoFum easily.  The trouble came when I tried to pair the GPSr.  You tell the PocketPC to look for Bluetooth devices, then you do some stuff, and then you get a shortcut you can double-tap to pair with the Bluetooth GPSr.  The PocketPC could never find the Holux GPSr.  I changed some settings, and changed the sequence of turning on the Bluetooth and turning on the GPSr.  Still nothing.  I then decided to try to pair my cell phone with the PocketPC.  A while back, I found I could use the PocketPC to copy photos from my cameraphone’s memory.  The PocketPC couldn’t see my phone’s Bluetooth signal either.

I didn’t cuss at all, despite this disappointing news.  I had read a while back that the hx4700′s WiFi/Bluetooth hardware had a history of going bad over time.  The WiFi still works on mine, it’s the Bluetooth that is shot.  It may be a software problem, but given the static discharge and the PocketPC’s inability to pair with anything Bluetooth, I think it’s a hardware problem.  I may try to troubleshoot this again on the weekend.

I believe the hx4700 is 2004-vintage.  I bought mine used on eBay for $120-140 a couple of years ago.  It originally sold for $600+.  I made my money back on it through the Navizon payments.  Now I’m not sure what I will do with the thing, if it is indeed damaged.  My iPod touch 4 surpasses it in every way, except for the WiFi/GPS data collection.  I don’t really have a use for the PocketPC besides WiFi hotspot data collection.  The PocketPC is probably going to sit in its cradle on top of my computer, not doing anything, just like the old Palm IIIxe I had used for paperless geocaching.

There is a potentially happy ending.  I have an identical hx4700 that belongs to my office.  Nobody was using the thing, so I inherited it and initially did my WiFi hotspot data collection on it.  I felt uneasy about using work equipment to make money on the side, so I went and bought the now-damaged hx4700 to avoid any moral issues.  I may use that hx4700 from the office again to collect data for WiGLE.  Since I’m not getting paid, the moral issues aren’t as bad, though I am still using work equipment for personal purposes.  But like I said earlier, nobody was using the thing, and I don’t think anyone even knows I still have it.  In fact, I bet that PocketPC would have been thrown in the trash by now, if it wasn’t for me taking it (with permission).  I also rescued two HP Jornada 620LX palmtop computers from the office (with permission).  They were destined for the Dumpster.

Advertisement