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Can anyone help?

12 replies · 1,388 views · Started 09 May 2006

kraj_418 09 May 2006, 00:36

A while ago...about this time last year, i think, there was a thread on this forum with detailed instructions on how to fix your X if the microphone breaks...

the microphone on my X broke about last june/july, but i ignored the thread, as it would void my warranty.. instead i spent about two weeks researching where/how to have my X fixed by Sendo, but my mother refused to pay to fix it, and i couldnt, since at the time i was only just 16, and had no job...[alas, now i'm just 17, and still have no job :frown: ]

And then, by the time i convinced mother to pay, i found Sendo had gone out of business :frown:

So i went for a while without a phone, and in september i got a Sony Ericsson k750i, which i tolerated, and have been tolerating since...

bu now i really miss my old X ..i miss having a smartphone, i miss the reassuring weight of it in my pocket [i've not been able to find another phone quite as heavy]..i miss the seemingly endless amount of storage - being able to store every text i received over the 8 months i had the X...In short, i miss everything about my beloved X

So, what i'd like, if anyone can help, Is either instructions on how to fix the microphone [and i hope that was the only thing that went wrong with it, i seem to recall something else..:S], Or somewhere to buy a new [ or secondhand, provided it works and is in good condition] Sendo X - preferably at a reasonable price, considering there is no support or chance of updates for the phone, and it is now quite outdated. [I should note that i live in the UK - Hertfordshire, England, to be precise]

I will check ebay promptly, and try to think of anywhere else... i checked Expansysy Uk, and despite having lots of accessories still in stock, they dont seem to have any handsets [though maybe i was looking in the wrong place? i couldnt find any sendo handsets on expansys, and it's entirely possible i've gone wrong somewhere - there's always been something about the navigation of that site which confuses me :frown: ]

Anyway, Sorry for making such a long post, out of what is essentially a simple request, and my thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

Craig.

stuclark 09 May 2006, 10:37

Craig - have you not found the Sendo Smartphones website?

Not only do we have instructions on how to dismantle the phone to resolve the microphone issue, but we also have replacement microphones for sale (at a very reasonable price) which do not suffer from the same dust problem the originalls did.

If you've got any other problems, please post them in the Support forums on the Sendo Smartphones website.

trimakassi 09 May 2006, 15:06

I'd like to confirm that. I had the same problem as you (like may others) and ordered the new mic from Stu. After having it replaced people told me the reception was way better than before. If you do a search on this or the Sendo smartphones forum you'll find a how to for dismantling your X. Good luck😊

kraj_418 09 May 2006, 15:08

Thanks guys 😊

i must admit, i didnt do a lot of looking after posting yesterday, since i realised how late it was, but thanks for the help, i'll make sure i get my X fixed soon..cant wait to have it back in use 😊

fig7 09 May 2006, 22:39

I'd also recommend that while you are at it you forcibly remove the two infra red leds at the top left of the phone (I used a small and very sharp pair of scissors to cut away the metal surround and then lever them off). Either that or make sure that you never, ever use the infra red function. Since I changed the microphone and got rid of those power stealing leds my X has been perfect (Ok, not quite perfect, I'd like to have longer battery life but it's not a big deal)

...and you should make sure you encode all your music in Ogg format and use OggPlay to listen to it. You'll also need a headphone adapter: the MP35A from pc-mobile.net works on the Sendo 😊

kraj_418 09 May 2006, 22:53

Is the IR really that bad? ...i dont remember having any problems with it while my phone worked... I dont suppose it matters, anyway - i dont use it that much [only when i cant use bluetooth]

thanks for the suggestions, but my music has all been Ogg vorbis for a long time... i thinks it's much better than mp3, considering the quality can be about the same for only two thirds of the filesize, or less.... i'm just dissapointed i cant get a good sized [20GB or more] portable ogg vorbis player [it would take much too long to make mp3 copies of all my music files]

fig7 10 May 2006, 00:36

If you haven't noticed your battery sometimes going from fully charged to flat in less than 4 hours then you can probably leave the leds alone. The last straw for me was when I switched the phone off and charged it up fully one evening because I was travelling the next day and I really needed my phone to work, only to find that after turning it on in the morning the battery was flat by lunchtime. 😡

fig7 10 May 2006, 00:46

Just a thought, have you heard of rock box? It's a replacement firmware for mp3 players. In principle you can buy an ordinary 20+ GB MP3 player, put Rock box on it and it will then play oggs as well as mp3s, and let you play Doom as well apparently! I haven't tried using it myself (I'm happy with the Sendo and OggPlay) so I don't know if it's any good. Has anyone else here tried using it with their iPods or some other mp3 player?

kraj_418 10 May 2006, 15:15

No, i hadn't heard of Rock box...i'll have to look into that, thanks! 😊

i know a friend of mine put a linux distribution ono their ipod, allowing them to play ogg files etc, but i didnt look into it that much, since he went about it in such a strange way, it didnt seem appealing.... it was a 2nd generation ipod, bought for �10 off of ebay because the hard drive didnt work...he spent about two weeks playing around with the hardware, and eventually hooked it up to a 40Gb external laptop hard drive...

i've never noticed any problems with the battery life or IR on my sendo, but i'll check it out...it's been charging all day today, and i'll be taaking it into school tomorrow to try to fix the mic [i have 2 hours in the middle of the day without any lessons, so i figure i can hang out in the Control Systems department for a while and see if i can fix it..] anyway...if the battery dies durig school time, i'll look into solutions for the IR problemm [i'd prefer not to remove the leds, if there's another option]

..what exactly is wrong with the infrared? ..is it a hardware problem, as with the microphone issues, which seemed to effect quite a few X owners, or is a problem with the firmware? [i'm sure i read about it on the sendosmartphones website, but i dont remember..] If so, which firmware? ..and how do i find out which firmware is currently on my X? [i know it can be done fairly simply, i just dont remember how..]

One final question, which i'm likely to also post on the sendosmartphones support forums - are there any Sendo X owners out there who run Linux on their home computer? because i've been running gentoo linux for a while now [even though i'm currently on Suse], and i dont want to have to install an illegal copy of windows or VMware [no way am i paying �70 for Windows just so i can use pc sync with my X]...is there a way to get it running with wine? ..or should i just use my sisters laptop for pc sync?

stuclark 10 May 2006, 22:11

The IR problem doesn't affect every handset, so if you're not experiencing it, don't worry. (you'll soon know if you are experiencing it - my guess is that you aren't)

The issue is that IRDA permanently stays on, no matter what you try doing with the handset. It is firmware related (somehow) - people have reported it in a couple of firmwares and upgrades / downgrades don't seem to fix the issue once it's started.

As for syncing with Linux, I remember someone on here trying to get it working, but I didn't follow the progress too closely. Ultimately, you might be better off just using your sister's laptop.

kraj_418 10 May 2006, 22:26

Thanks for the help, guys.

I guess i'm not afflicted with the IR problem, since it's been ok so far.

I'll play about with wine on Linux, but if its too much trouble, i'll just hope my sister's feelign generous. [or if she's not, i'll have to steal her laptop while she's sleeping :P ...she relies on me to keep it working anyway, she cant complain...]

one other thing, more wishful thinking than anything else - what was the last firmware version released by Sendo, and are there plans for people to release unofficial firmware? Like i said, it's really just wishful thinking - i'd like to see the X continue to improve, but i know there cant be that many people still interested in the X, and i doubt very much that many of them have the skills required to reverse engineer the current firmware and then improve on it...

Anyway, like i said, i'll take my X to school tomorrow, see if i can fix the microphone, and post here to tell you how i get on 😊

stuclark 11 May 2006, 12:17

The last official build released by Sendo was 1.198.8.2 (available now on the Sendo Smartphones) website - in fact, the version now available to download is the second release of that firmware, after a GPRS bug was found in the original. It was completed by Sendo *literally* on the day they announced their insolvency.

It's very, very, very unlikely there will ever be any new firmwares for the X. No one has had access to the source code (not even the Sendo guys) since they got bought by Motorola.

There was another, unreleased, version though - build 92 if I remember correctly. (the last official build is 78F++) Whether that build ever even made it out of Sendo is not known.