It's too late to track down batteries at the moment, but my trusty 42S for the last 15 years or so, had a horizontal line halfway across the screen and was unresponsive. Took the batteries out and put back in. Now it only lightly beeps when I press ON (descending frequency each time). Does this sound like failing batteries? Hopefully after 15 years it's just batteries and not a complete meltdown.
CHUCK
I've known other things to make a descending beep when the voltage was getting low. Try the obvious solution first.
It was the batteries and I'm back in business. I guess every 10-15 years one needs a fresh set of batteries. After that long you kind of forget and think the worst when something out of the ordinary happens.
C
I'm glad to hear things are well there.
Hi.
A few days ago I heard what sounded like a faint digital clock alarm coming from a small pile of Pioneers (two HP42S, two HP17BII and one HP27S). I took one by one till I found an HP42S thinking it was a watch. I took the batteries off and found one of them with -0.24Vcc (reversed polarity, yep!). After replacing them for new, fresh ones, a [Memory Clear] announced it was back to its very own nature.
Good to know yours is OK, too.
Cheers.
Edited: 20 Feb 2012, 4:56 p.m.