HI!

New member here. I have a TI-84 plus that's around 16 years old. I just put new batteries in it. I have two possibly related problems. To use any of the buttons I have to hold them down 4-5 seconds to get them to work, which is, of course, inconvenient. Also, if I go to any menu where there is a list along the top of the screen(for example if I go to stat, there is edit, calc, tests on top) I cannot use the right arrow to go to tests. If I press the right arrow it will go to calc but it stops there).

One further question: I live in Manhattan and if I cannot fix my calculator I might want to take it for repair. Does anyone know a good repair place near the Upper West Side?

THANKS!

Larry

These sound like hardware problems, but just to be sure, does the right arrow key work in other situations? If so, a simple OS update should do the trick. If not, your calculator probably isn't near salvation without cracking it open and messing with its innards. Tell us if you need to know how to do that safely.

Feel free to talk to us in the sidebar SAX client as well! Someone is usually online at whatever time you need.

Thanks, how does one do an OS update?

Install ti connect, then plug in your calc. Download the OS from TI's website, education.ti.com, iirc. Drag os to the calculator explorer tab in ti connect, allow it to send. If you don't understand this, look up "sending ti84 os" on Google or you tube...

This doesn't sound like the kind of issue that would be caused by an outdated OS. It is almost certainly a hardware problem. My guess would be a gunked up keypad (possibly because of the batteries leaking onto the keypad since they were presumably left inside for all that time), which would not be very surprising coming from a calculator that is over a decade old. Also, the age of your ti-84 can't be more than 14 years, since the ti-84 plus was released in 2004. Fixing a gunked up keypad is just a matter of opening up your calc and gently cleaning the affected areas with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and either a paper towel or a cotton swab. Of course, this is not guaranteed to fix your problems, because the extent of the damage cause by a battery leak varies greatly.

It just sounds like you might have something stuck in the round link port at the top of the calculator, such as a piece of pencil graphite. Just clean that out and things should work fine again.