Any Gizmondo owners? Help needed.

[MF_Luder]

I recently bought a Gizmondo on ebay. Like most of the few Gizmondos on ebay, it came with no battery. Apparently batteries for these things are nearly impossible to find. As a result, I bought a Gizmondo AC adapter, thinking that it would work fine plugged into the wall. Unfortunately, when I tried this method, it does not power on. I emailed the seller and he claims that a battery must be installed for it to work, even when using the charger.

So here's what I'm wondering:

1. First, is the seller correct? Does a battery need to be in it for it to work with the AC adapter? I'm, of course, trying to rule out the possibility that the handheld itself is defective. I'm hoping that a fellow member might have a Gizmondo on hand and could test it out plugged into the wall without a battery installed.

2. Second, I'm wondering if anyone knows where to find an extra battery or any alternatives to the Gizmondo battery? There wasn't much on google-just one or two possible ideas that aren't ideal to say the least. None for sale anywhere. (In addition, if anyone has any for sale, please let me know or PM me.)

Thanks in advance if anyone knows anything.

[MF_Luder]

Alright, follow up time guys. I've found some answers, so I've decided to post a follow up here, because there is so little information about the Gizmondo online that I think it's important that I relay what I found out. Considering that the Gizmondo is a fairly modern portable, released well into the internet era and even receiving a semi-mainstream release (despite its complete failure), I was truly amazed by the total lack of information that I found out there for the system. But so few retro gamers care to own them, and all the old online message board communities that supported it have since disappeared and the sites are gone. Ultimately, it was a lucky connection with Sylvester706, a Gizmondo seller on eBay (perhaps the only one left), that got me the answers I was looking for (I highly recommend him if anyone on here decides to look into Gizmondo games and consoles). So, on the off chance that it helps someone in the future, here's what I discovered after several hours of research:

Yes, the system does require a battery in it for it to work. The battery CAN BE a dead battery. Basically, a battery (dead or alive) just needs to be in there to complete the circuit. Of course, with a dead battery you will need to keep it plugged in with the AC charger at all times. And good luck finding a working battery--they were notorious for failure and I did not see any for sale on eBay, Amazon, or anywhere else on the internet. Not even generic replacements. Not even from China. In fact, good luck even finding a dead battery. Those weren't for sale anywhere either (but they should be, I would have easily paid $20+ for a dead battery just to get the headache over with and use the charger).

There is a way to convert a Sanyo cell phone battery to work with it, but it looks pretty complicated, and only worth doing as a last resort. For the details, see: http://gizguides.wikidot.com/how-to-...in-the-gizmond AND www.scrameta.net/gizmondo/gizmondobattery.doc .

Hope this helps someone, someday.

[Steve W]

I'm honestly surprised they bothered to have a custom battery built for the Gizmondo instead of using a type that was already in production.

I've always liked the Gizmondo. It was an interesting little handheld. I picked mine up right after it's extremely limited launch (they sold them in mall kiosks in a few locations in the US, and for the entire middle America region there was only one single store not on the coastlines, and it just so happened to be a few miles away). I even bought a Gizmondo T-shirt that I'm sure I wouldn't be able to fit into if I knew where I put it. The people who were working to make interesting games for it were being tripped up by the assholes who were trying to siphon off funds from the company. I know that Atari were considering licensing it and branding it as their own, it would have been interesting to see what it would have turned into if the design work was offered to Atari in the first place rather than going through the Swedish mafia. Pretty much any potential outcome would have been better than how it really played out.