WP 34S will not turn on

[brettpim]

I have PL2303 USB-Serial Port adapter which I used to flash the WP 34S originally. I am powering the calculator with a fixed voltage power external supply at 3V. I have used the reset procedure on page 150 of the manual to erase the firmware and have then tried flashing many times but with no success. I am using

wp34sflashcmd calc_xtal_full.bin /dev/ttyUSB0

with read/write permissions for ttyUSB0

The calculator draws 130 mA as soon as I attach the power supply and pressing the on button does not change this, nor does resetting the calculator. When I short the Vcc and the Erase terminals from the 6 pads the calculator then draws around 730 mA and again this does not change when I press rest nor when I press the on button. Is it correct that the amperage does not change whether the calculator is on or off?

Is there some way to verify if my PL2303 is functioning?

Is there some way to determine the internal state of the calculator?