On Friday 05 November 2010 at 18:13, SJSD . wrote:

Folks:

Any suggestions to reset the E3?

I have a nasty suspicion that if the machine has already been used, the Primary Boot Loader will have been updated to 5.1 (the machines were generally sold with 4.9 installed, but connecting them to a phone line prompts an automatic update).

See http://www.earth.li/~noodles/hardware-e3.html for the comment you don't want to read: "Note that only PBL 4.9 will work at present; PBL 5.1 is known to have made changes preventing this mode from being entered. If you allow your E3 to receive updates from Amstrad then it's highly likely it will be upgraded to PBL 5.1"

I don't know how to find out the PBL version from the machine itself (unless it's unused, when you can press Setup on the pull-out keyboard as described at http://inputplus.co.uk/ralph/emailer/e3.html - unfortunately yours is clearly used), except by connecting a serial cable and talking to it.

That's not hard, though - see http://inputplus.co.uk/ralph/emailer/pbl.html

Hope this helps,

Antony.

From: sjsdoherty@hotmail.co.uk To: jason.barsby@tiscali.co.uk Subject: Factory reset of e3 emailer Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 16:07:17 +0000

Jason:

I found your question on the E3 forum: http://www.mail-archive.com/e3-hacking@earth.li/msg00028.html

I just bought three of the E3 machines from e-bay and I'm having no joy trying to reset them back to factory state.

I seem to be stuck with the usernames and accounts from the previous owners.

Your reply would oblige.

Many thanks,

James Doherty County Tyrone

Folks:

I think I've cracked it - basically by guessing which buttons they were likely to use for reset - I knew the two required for E2 reset so I thought that three wouldn't be beyond them for the E3.

1. Remove power cord from E3 2. Hold down: DELETE, STOP and HANDSFREE together 3. Keep holding all three and insert power cord 4. Keep holding all three - E3 boots as normal but after about 15/20 seconds displays message "Initialising system" (I can't remember the exact wording) 5. Keep holding until you have your final screen which prompts you to register as a new user (you may let go now) 6. Old address book entries and other previously stored information is gone. 7. Have a cup of tea.

Best regards

James

From: sjsdoherty@hotmail.co.uk To: e3-hacking@earth.li Subject: FW: Factory reset of e3 emailer Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 17:13:08 +0000

Folks:

Any suggestions to reset the E3?

Many thanks

James

From: sjsdoherty@hotmail.co.uk To: jason.barsby@tiscali.co.uk Subject: Factory reset of e3 emailer Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 16:07:17 +0000

Jason:

I found your question on the E3 forum: http://www.mail-archive.com/e3-hacking@earth.li/msg00028.html

I just bought three of the E3 machines from e-bay and I'm having no joy trying to reset them back to factory state.

I seem to be stuck with the usernames and accounts from the previous owners.

Your reply would oblige.

Many thanks,

James Doherty County Tyrone