My old 41CX beeps when I try to resuscitate it

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My old 41CX beeps when I try to resuscitate it

Postby robenroute » Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:37 am

Hi there all,

Unpacking a box I hadn't touched for donkey's ears (must have been close to 15 years...) revealed a once sincerely loved tool: my old 41CX. My heart immediately started racing like I'd just found a true treasure (which was absolutely true, in a certain sense). Although there were no batteries in there, the contacts inside showed a bit of corrosion and other wear and tear. I decided to clean the contacts and order four new LR1s. Well, batteries arrived, but once inserted, the display briefly showed a row of what looked like inverted @-signs, and my old love started to cry: a continuous (non-intermittent) beep. I took out the battery compartment and checked polarity. All okay. Re-inserted the batteries and this time no sound, no characters in the display. I hit the On button, and it started beeping again, but still no characters. Now, it just beeps as soon as the batteries are inserted and I switch it on. I checked the batteries, and they seem fine: 1.5 volts each.

Anyone out there with an idea of what might be causing this? I'd really like to get my old love to smile at me again ;-) All tips and hint are most welcome!

Many thanks in advance & Kind regards,
Rob
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Re: My old 41CX beeps when I try to resuscitate it

Postby Garth » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:02 am

Hopefully there's no hardware damage and a good reset will get it going (although I'm not so sure). Try pressing and holding the backspace key while turning it on. If that doesn't work, try removing the battery holder and shorting out the two outside battery contacts in the calculator with aluminum foil or paper clip or similar while trying the reset, then put the batteries back in and try again. I haven't ever seen this problem myself, so I'm only repeating what I've read. Do you have any modules in it?
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Re: My old 41CX beeps when I try to resuscitate it

Postby Cindercruz » Fri Jan 17, 2025 6:26 pm

I know this is an old post but the same thing happened to my old 41C after repairing the battery contacts and inserting some new batteries. Buzzing, beeping, screen all over the pace, inverted @@@ symbols and so on - I thought I'd lost her. But I followed Garth's advice and she came back to life, top tip Garth!
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Re: My old 41CX beeps when I try to resuscitate it

Postby Garth » Fri Jan 17, 2025 6:42 pm

I'm glad to hear of the success!  I always want to keep as many of these working as possible.  It's a great little machine, and has not been made in about 33 years.  I'm sure glad for SwissMicros presence and success; but so far, they have not put HP-IL on their DM41x or any other model.  (It wouldn't necessarily have to be HP-IL, but something else with comparable function, which USB fails at.)  I'm also very glad for new modules and hardware being introduced even today, by great programmers and engineers who have a great interest in the 41.
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