Another win for percussive maintenance
I was at the gym tonight and accidentally dropped my Portable Media Center on the ground. Now, this shouldn't be a problem - the device appears to be pretty rugged, and I've been told by a coworker that his continues to work with no issues, even when his children "perform handstands" with it. So I wasn't worried.
Eventually, I got on the stairclimber and wanted to use my PMC, so I hit the power button - like you do - and ... nothing happened.
"Huh." I said.
Again, I hit the power button. No response.
I removed the battery and reinserted it. No response. I pushed all the buttons on the device to see if any of them had any effect. There was none.
"Huh." I said.
I climbed down from the stair climber, gathered my belongings, and went to the front desk where I requisitioned a paperclip to soft-reset the device. In a furor of activity, the screen illuminated, and the "Whoopty Fuck Windows Mobile" screen came on. (I would pay good money for a ROM hack that would let me make the screen actually say that...)
Satisfied that my investment was sound, I pressed the power button to turn the device off. It didn't.
"Huh." I said.
Again, I pressed all the buttons on the gadget, but there was no love. All of them were unresponsive.
Time passed, and I came home with the intention of taking the device apart to see what screw had come loose. As I was loostening the first screw, it occured to me that I had yet to try the golden rule of tech support - the Soap Opera Special - Percussive Maintenance.
Realizing that the original problem was caused by the device whacking itself on the floor, I soft reset it, waited for it to boot, and tested the buttons again. No response. So I whacked the little bastard against wall a few times.
Lo, and behold, the buttons work.
"Huh." I said.