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Eliud Wanyo
Q. I have a Nokia 3110c with 1GB (gigabyte) memory card. I can receive images, but not music files. I have no problem sending both though.
Nelson Moranga, Narok
A. It could be that your phone’s software is messed up. I would advise you to go for a software upgrade, but this is a very delicate affair and one needs to approach it with caution. Should there be any network or power interruptions during the upgrade, then you lose everything and your handset turns into little more than junk.
If the process is successful, however, it will make your phone better than ever before, by introducing key upgrades that eliminate the very bugs that caused the older version in your phone to fail.
This is important, especially if you use the Internet a lot. Software developers are always striving to make their products better, faster and easier to use. With the increasing need for mobile Internet, smart phone sales are growing, albeit slowly, fitted with more tools for accessing the web.
The more you use your phone on the Internet, the more likely it is that you will spot the software failings. Most of the mainstream brands have websites that list the appropriate software upgrades for your phone. Even the best software has basic weaknesses that manifest with usage.
Q. My Motorola L7 can only be charged through the USB port, but not the charging port. What could be the cause of this problem?
Salum Daudi, Shinyanga
A. There are several possible causes, one of them being poor handling. The charging port may have developed what is called dry joints. This is when the solder joints that attach the port to the main circuit board are put under a lot of strain, and start cracking.
These joints are supposed to allow the electric current to pass from charger to battery. However, if they have completely cracked, then there can be no complete circuit. The good news is that this problem is easy to diagnose, as the charging port will appear loose, forcing you to hold it still for the phone to charge.
The other likely cause is that a coating of dust and moisture has built up in the port due to overusing a USB port to charge your phone, rather than the regular charger.
When this happens, the contact between the charging pin and the port is lost, and the current cannot flow through to the phone’s battery.
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A temporary solution is to scratch the inside of the charging port gently, to remove the coating, and allow enough contact to be created for the electric current to flow to the battery.
The writer is an electronics technician. eliwayo@yahoo.com
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