My Treo 650 was pronounced dead last night by Palm Customer Support. It was the victim of a firmware update gone bad. The Treo 650 Firmware Updater 1.17 may be working for a lot of people, but it hasn't worked for me.

The approach Palm Customer Support took with my phone was to attempt to reinstall the Treo 650 Firmware Update 1.17. This didn't work because my Treo was having WSOD problems when I would connect it to the USB sync cable. They threw in the towel pretty quickly after that.

Palm referred me back to Cingular with a Service Request Number for warranty replacement. The Cingular rep I spoke with read me a really restrictive disclaimer, which basically said that if I had dropped my phone on the ground or into the water I could be liable for a charge of up to $425 if the Warranty Returns Department determined that this played a role in the demise of my Treo. I've dropped my Treo on the ground before and you can tell, but every aspect of the phone worked well before I ran the firmware update.

I admitted that the Treo had been dropped in the past, but that this handset was rock solid before the firmware update. She said the phone would not be rejected if it had only been subjected to normal wear and tear. We'll see where we end up with this.

I still love working with the Treo 650. I hope that the Treo that Cingular is sending me is as stable as my Treo was before the latest firmware update. I also hope that they accept my Treo as it is and don't hassle me over the dings that the phone has taken in 10 months of intense use.

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