The Honeywell VM1 / VM2 is a great portable computer system for your bar code scanning setup. This terminal can be mounted and removed, and importantly, the touchscreen can be replaced. That’s a handy feature for those really heavy-use, tough situations where things get broken a lot. This model has several awesome features such Bluetooth, WLAN, GPS connectivity, a stylus pen, and a power supply that offers battery and wired options. But with all of these features, it means any one of them can break and slow your operation. We’ve put together a quick reference guide to help you try some easy repairs to fix common issues. If it gets too complicated or you just don’t want to accidentally break something, give us a call and we’ll let our expert repair technicians get back to working for you.
Honeywell VM1 / VM2 Thor Repair
Common Repair Issues
If your VM1 / VM2 stops working, there are a few things you should check first before you call a technician.
- Power Supply. One of the first things that may seem obvious but can easily be overlooked is the power supply. Most of our clients leave their Thor plugged in, and so the main issue here is that the connecting cables get bent, worn, or loose. Wires bent for long periods of time can get broken, work loose, get dirt and grime in them, or their rubber hosing can crack and leave the wires exposed to the elements. One of the first things to do is to check and see what your cables look like. Notice if there is any pressure or pull on the connecting cables. If so, this strain can affect the power. Make sure that all the strain relief clamps are in place and secure. These help connect the audio, power, and I / O. While batteries are important to check as well, most of our clients only use this for a backup system since it only lasts about 30 minutes max. But it doesn’t hurt to replace these as well.
- Broken Touchscreen. One of the most common issues we see is that the touch screen gets broken or just stops working properly. It’s possible you may ignore minor issues until it stops working completely. Keep an eye on the screen becomes unresponsive, flickers on and off, is cracked, was dropped, or other similar types of issues. Again, your first thing to check is the power supply (#1), but if that does fix the situation, take a closer look at the screen to see if there’s any damage. You may also see scratches and decide you need to order new protective films for the touchscreen to extend its life. While repairing the screen itself isn’t incredibly complicated, it’s best to let a professional make this repair. Give us a call if this is the case.
- Memory / Storage. What happens if your machine doesn’t seem to be able to store information, or the drive seems to not be registering the data? It’s possible that you’ve run out of storage space. The typical Thor has 2GB of internal storage, and that can be supplemented with a compact flash memory card or an SD memory card. Check to make sure there’s plenty of room on your device so it’s running at full capacity. If you’re running low, you can us the SD card as an expansion card to give yourself some more memory.
- Bluetooth/WLAN Problems. Sometimes the connectivity of the VM1/VM2 doesn’t work just right. In terms of the Bluetooth, the first and best advice we can give is to make sure your Operating System and Bluetooth Drivers are up to date. You can download software fixes at Honeywell’s website: https://hsmftp.honeywell.com/, which
requires an account and login credentials. Additionally, sometimes we’ve heard of complaints where the VM1 will power down in the presence of 2-way radios. There’s also a fix for this, but it’s a bit more technical and requires a pro technician to apply Honeywell’s solution.
These are some of the most common issues we see, and several of them you can check yourself before you get a technician to repair your unit. It may be something simple like a battery or even a screen repair, and many people can do this themselves. But if you don’t want to risk it, or you have something more complicated like a connectivity issue and you’ve tried to download all the drivers—it may be time to let a pro get your device up and running. If it’s any of these issues, or you just prefer to not worry about messing your computer up, give us a call and we can let our expert technicians help get your Thor VM1/VM2 back up and running.