Alarm Problems with Pocket PC 2003?

[Jason Dunn]

I received an email from someone this week that got me wondering:<br /><br />"There is a definite problem with the way alarms fire off in PPC2003 (Windows Mobile). I've seen both my 2215 and another 1940 exhibit the same behavior. I have an alarm set to go off at 5:15am every day. Yesterday it worked fine. Today it did NOT go off until I MANUALLY turned the device on. Not good."<br /><br />We know there were some strange quirks with the Pocket PC 2002 OS and alarms, and Microsoft never really admitted them. The question is, do we still have this problem? Or does this <a href="http://www.pocketpcaddict.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1482&mode=&order=0&thold=0">only affect 2215 users?</a>

[cyp]

Yup. There seems to be a problem with the alarm. This morning my alarm did not go off at the intended time. It's only when I switch on my iPaq that I am greeted with a solid blast of the alarm in my face.

This problem doesn't seem to plague the appointment reminders though.

BTW, my 3970 is upgraded to WM2003.

[beq]

I have Spb Pocket+ installed and have same prob, and just figured it's an Spb issue (w/ the repeating alarm component) that they will fix soon, guess I was wrong?

A few times when I'd turned on the 2210 it would immediately do the clock repeating alarm at max vol (per Spb), in those cases I don't believe it turned on when it was supposed to earlier (since I never heard it). A couple times I think hitting dismiss might've locked up or something (I'd just reset then). What's weirdest, afterward when I'd go back to the Clock -> Alarms settings to make changes, upon exiting it would warn that Notifications under Sounds & N. settings is turned off (which it is) so somehow it keeps getting turned off.

[Corn Bread]

A few times when I'd turned on the 2210 it would immediately do the clock repeating alarm at max vol (per Spb), in those cases I don't believe it turned on when it was supposed to earlier (since I never heard it). A couple times I think hitting dismiss might've locked up or something (I'd just reset then). What's weirdest, afterward when I'd go back to the Clock -> Alarms settings to make changes, upon exiting it would warn that Notifications under Sounds & N. settings is turned off (which it is) so somehow it keeps getting turned off.

Same problem as me and I also have Spb Pocket Plus installed. I also noticed that my 2210 would sometimes just freeze when an Alarm go off (I'm referring to the Alarm clock features not the calendar/task reminders)

[droppedd]

One thing known to cause messups with the alarms is the (built-in) iPaq Backup software, if you set it to scheduled backups. Turning off the scheduled backups may fix the problems some of you are having...

[Gavin Henriques]

I was having the alarm problem. A few days ago, I turned off my battery moniter and scheduled back-ups. Since then my alarms have been working without missing a beat!! :D

[beq]

Hmm I don't have any backups scheduled, but I do have both Omega Battery Pack and Spb Pocket+ (Today plugin) installed, I'll try disabling them...

[Jerry Raia]

I never schedule anything. :zzz:

[Ed Hansberry]

I think you have to uninstall Pocket Plus. I disabled the repeating alarm feature and my 2215 still locked up. Uninstalling did the trick. I suspect the rest of the problems are the battery monitor/scheduler in the iPAQ Backup software.

[DareDevilNZ]

There are alarm/job scheduling problems in PPC2003. When the scheduled time arrives, if the PPC is on battery power and "off" it can run whatever program is supposed to run, but it only seems to get a very small amount of time before power management stops things again.

If the unit is AC powered or is already "on" then you will not see a problem.

This problem has been fixed in Burr Oak's alarm software and Sprite Software are fixing it Pocket Backup too. The fix seems to be for the software to turn on the display in the small amount of processing time that it gets.

[huangzhinong]

I think you have to uninstall Pocket Plus. I disabled the repeating alarm feature and my 2215 still locked up. Uninstalling did the trick. I suspect the rest of the problems are the battery monitor/scheduler in the iPAQ Backup software.

You are absolutely correct here. I am wondering why HP included ipaq backup software in h2215 while even pocket pc backup 2.0 is not ready for PPC 2003?

[MultiMatt]

One thing known to cause messups with the alarms is the (built-in) iPaq Backup software, if you set it to scheduled backups. Turning off the scheduled backups may fix the problems some of you are having... I have not set up the Backup software, yet I am having constant issues with the Alarms making sound (and yes, I have everything set correctly!).
The interesting thing is, if I set an Alarm Note via Agenda Fusion, it will sound off EVERY time without fail, though sometimes the screen will not come on.
Absolutely NONE of my regular Calendar alarms make a sound when they come on (if the screen comes on at all).

It's definitely screwed up! This OS is buggier than any other previous Pocket PC I've owned! :evil:

Matt

[tekguru]

The problem exists here on my 5550, I've not set any scheduled software at all.

That plus the lowered sound volume make one very unimpressed with MS indeed. :evil:

Is there any program which gets around the problem?

[optronix]

This happens everytime!......Now I make sure I soft reset the damn thing nearly every nite before I sleep. This works most of the time...for me.

[BTS]

I'm using a Toshiba 755 with PPC 2003. All appointments and alarms work great (no missed) alarms. l also have no extra software (ie. Agenda Fusion) installed.

[HTK]

I remember we had a similar pool for the pocket 2002 about alarms, I fell like it was yesterday

Time goes fast! :(

[Corn Bread]

I also noticed this, whwenever I get a calendar/task reminder, fonts/wordings in the pop up bubble are cut off in half, anyone else experiencing this?

I'll remove Spb Pocket Plus on my iPAQ for now, hope they release a fix for this.

[g0097]

My 2215 always locks up after the alarms go off. To tell you the truth...I dont even know if they go off because usually I dont hear them....I only know that when I do wake up and turn on the 2215 all of the notices are there and I cant use the machine until I do a soft reset. It not a big deal right now because I am on vacation but it worries me because I will be returning to work soon and will need the alarms to work. :?

[gorkon280]

Appointment reminders work. Alarms don't unless I have it powered in the cradle. If it's on and in the cradle, it works fine.

One slightly off topic thing is that I loaded the F-Secure program on the CD that came with the 5555 and every once in a while I would have a Notification error pop up when I turn it on and it's complaining about fsfcard.exe (think thats it) and saying it can't load it. I stab the iTask button to make a setting change and it tells me it can't load iTask and that part of it is missing (nevermind it's in ROM!). I soft reset and that goes away. I unload the program (and use resco to encrypt stuff) and it seems to fix it.

I have added Radio Shack's GPS to my iPaq arsenal. Comes with cables and everything you need to do routing on a iPaq and it works fine on my 5555. Can't beat it for 50 bucks if your lucky enough to find one. Only beef I have is that the Desktop part of the software wants to load 12 MB maps into my ram! It's default way of loading the maps is the root cause of this....it just copies them to the My Documents sync folder on the PC. This is not a huge issue with the 5555 as it does have lots of ram. But remember to move them to a memory card or iPaq File store as your storage will deplete fast loading Xmap maps!

Anyway, I had already resolved that HP or even Microsoft will be making bug fixes to this release. Software wise, there's just alot of things that changed on WM2003. I knew there'd be issues. Would I take Pocket PC 2002 over this? Well, I dunno. Speed wise WM 2003 is good. Plus the new WiFi features are nice. I frankly don't think things could have gone any better. While I would not call WM 2003 the buggiest yet (CE 2.0 anyone??), it does have bugs! :D

[thanos255]

WEll same problem here, with a 5555. Thought it was the unit so I took it back to Compusa via TAP, but I have the same problem with this unit. Well I am somewhat happy to know it is just not me :)

I have unitsalled SBP Pocket Plus. I also don't have any scheduled backups. I have just shut off the battery monitoring part of Omega Ones Today plugin and will see if that helps things.

Will kepp everyone update on my results.

Thanks
Thanos

[timcourtney]

Here is a quick summary of the issues I have had.

* Reminders for appointments stop working after a few days (38,54,22 series). Temp fix is to change time to visiting then back to home.
* Alarm reminders all ways work.
* Finally have HP looking into problem, tech 2 support. Reported numerous times over the last 6 months.
* Sent HP image of device. They recreated the problem. They are looking into a registry issue. Should be contacting MS this week.

Regards

[T-Will]

As far as I know I haven't had any alarm problems, but I've had a minor problem where after I dismiss a task alarm it goes off again a minute later. I think it's only happened when my 2200 was docked though.

[Chairman Clench]

* Finally have HP looking into problem, tech 2 support. Reported numerous times over the last 6 months.
* Sent HP image of device. They recreated the problem. They are looking into a registry issue. Should be contacting MS this week.


I was in contact with the senior iPAQ product engineer (not tech support) about this issue back with the 3800's. He was able to re-create the issue on all PPC2K@ devices. He reported it to M$ and they refused to issue a patch for it. Instead they said they were going to fix it in PPC2K3.

No offense, but I've heard this before. I'll believe that they will fix it when I actually see it fixed. Meanwhile, I may stay with my 3970 (PPC2K2) and SuperAlert which makes the alarms and reminders reliable.

[Chairman Clench]

The problem exists here on my 5550, I've not set any scheduled software at all.

That plus the lowered sound volume make one very unimpressed with MS indeed. :evil:

Is there any program which gets around the problem?

The lowered sound has nothing to do with M$... that is an HP hardware issue.

Just helping to place blame in the correct "lap".

[Chairman Clench]

Anyway, I had already resolved that HP or even Microsoft will be making bug fixes to this release. Software wise, there's just alot of things that changed on WM2003. I knew there'd be issues. Would I take Pocket PC 2002 over this? Well, I dunno. Speed wise WM 2003 is good. Plus the new WiFi features are nice. I frankly don't think things could have gone any better. While I would not call WM 2003 the buggiest yet (CE 2.0 anyone??), it does have bugs! :D

I agree that it is fair to expect that there will be some bugs to squash. What is disturbing about this specific issue is that:

1. It has been around since PPC2K2 and has never been fixed.
2. It relates to one of the MOST BASIC of all PDA functions. We aren't talking about an advanced or "cutting edge" feature here. Reminders are one of the main reasons people purchase PDAs!!!
3. Companies have been producing handhelds with reliable reminders for years... why can't M$?

I would happily give up some of the more advanced features of the PPC OS in exchange for reminders and alarms that reliably work. I was really hoping it would be fixed in WM2K3, but I guess that is beyond M$'s ability. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is the type of thing that makes people go back to Palms.

[gorkon280]

3. Companies have been producing handhelds with reliable reminders for years... why can't M$?


And Microsoft has also. Most people have good luck with reminders. It's the alarms that give them trouble. You know, the ones that if these things had better speakers in would have a chance of waking us up?? Let's make this clear....I think most people's reminders work, but the alarms don't? Do I have this right? That's been my experience. Also, my EM-500 that I had exhibited NONE of the problems with alarms and none with reminders either (just one with no flash rom and MIPS instead of ARM CPU's).

[Chairman Clench]

3. Companies have been producing handhelds with reliable reminders for years... why can't M$?


And Microsoft has also. Most people have good luck with reminders. It's the alarms that give them trouble. You know, the ones that if these things had better speakers in would have a chance of waking us up?? Let's make this clear....I think most people's reminders work, but the alarms don't? Do I have this right? That's been my experience. Also, my EM-500 that I had exhibited NONE of the problems with alarms and none with reminders either (just one with no flash rom and MIPS instead of ARM CPU's).

You are correct that the original PPC OS didn't seem to have this problem. I should have said "Microsoft was able to produce an OS that sounded alarms/reminders correctly before... how did they lose this very simple, very basic, very crucial functionality?"

As for alarms vs reminders... people seem to be having trouble with both, although alarms seem somewhat more reliable. It could also be that people are referring to them by different terms. I was referring to appointment reminders... but some people probably call them alarms. By the way, there are a lot of people who have been having this problem all the way back since PPC2K2.

[MultiMatt]

Just to clarify for myself - anyplace I might have used the work Alarm, I meant Reminder...
I rarely use the Alarm feature. All of my 5555 issues revolve around the Reminder feature for Tasks and Appointments...

Matt

[Ed Hansberry]

work Alarm
Work alarm? Oh no. I've been using "Internet Alarms." This whole work/internet thing is confusing. :rotfl:

[Chairman Clench]

work Alarm
Work alarm? Oh no. I've been using "Internet Alarms." This whole work/internet thing is confusing. :rotfl:

&lt;slap across face> ED.. wake up... you aren't in the connection manager! I know it is easy to get lost in there, but you need to come back to us!

:lol:

[csterns]

I have reminders alarms go off on my 2215 without it powering up. I have no idea what it is alarming me for. I turn on the unit and all I see is the today screen. I have BugMe installed and the alarm goes off but does not power up as well. At least when I turn the unit on the BugMe screen is showing.

So are you telling me that with the Battery Monitor on I need to turn that function off and the alarms will work including powering up?

[thanos255]

Well I have uninstalled the battery monitors, PI, Spb Pocket Plus, and basically ANYTHING that gives me a reminder for anything. Still my alarms don't work on a consistent basis.

I am absolutely disgusted by this. I never even thought it was possible to screw something like this up!!! We have all put up with alot of stuff being the few who get the new models as they come out.

I can accept virtually any hardware problems, because that is just the way it goes. I even accept driver problems, especially for a new OS, but to have it where the most BASIC function of setting a alarm off doesn't work?? That to me should be criminal. If it was some new function that has not been used before, I can easily handle that, but simple ALARMS??!?!

I am embarrassed that I am still keeping a device that doesn't set off alarms. I was in Staples yesterday and bought my son a $5.95 little Rolodex planner, so he can stop grabbing my Ipaq (he is only 3) and it even has alarms....and they WORK!!!

I am actually stunned by this. I don't even know how to react. This just confuses me.

I think I need to go see a shrink!

Thanks
Thanos

[racerx]

I uninstalled Pocket Plus and that seemed to fix the problem with the reminder or alarm text being chopped off. Simply turning it off from the Today screen and disabling the repeating alarm function didn't have any affect, so I went ahead and uninstalled. I don't have any scheduled backups, so that's not a problem.

I was using AlarMe, but uninstalled that when I discovered that would only sound an alarm for about 5 seconds with no display before being shut down. It would sound again when I would power back up.

So I then decided I would use the built-in alarm function. That has been sporadic at best. One weird thing is that it will vibrate before the alarm goes off. And it only sounds one time, regardless of the fact that I have repeating alarms turned on under Notifications. It doesn't do this for appointment reminders. Scared the hell out of me the first time it went off on my nightstand 8O . It also doesn't seem to pay attention to the sound I choose, it only uses Alarm1.

Someone has to provide a fix for this! :evil: If its something that is affected by Pocket Plus, then spb has to fix it straight away. If not, this is spb's opportunity to shine - it would be required software on all WM2003 devices! But this is embarassing to me - I'm a Technology Specialist, advising clients on choosing hardware like this and I'm carrying around a handheld that can't even sound alarms when they're supposed to go off. Its bad enough that the 5555 has a weaker sound than my 3870 did, but its a mute point when the alarms don't even sound.

Someone, PLEASE FIX THIS FOR US!

[thanos255]

Has anyone even nailed down what is causing the problem yet??

Thanks
THanos

[Ed Hansberry]

Has anyone even nailed down what is causing the problem yet??
See if the iPAQ backup patch at http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15621 fixes it.

[thanos255]

Ed,

This solves the whole alarm problem? I don't think it does. I installed it this morning, and am still having alarm reminder problems.

Thanks
Thanos

[Ed Hansberry]

This solves the whole alarm problem?
No clue. pure speculation on my part. That's why I asked others experiencing the issue to see if it fixed it. :-)

[racerx]

Pocket Plus is at least partly responsible for the problems I was having with alarms. It was mangling the alarm notifications. I have installed the fix mentioned, but its not clear yet if its totally fixed. See my earlier posts. I think this is a problem SOMEBODY has to fix quickly - this is embarrassing! :oops:

[Ed Hansberry]

Uninstall Pocket Plus until they get it fixed.

[racerx]

Oh, I did. But I miss it!!!
I need it fixed :-)
But while spb needs to fix their piece, MS or HP needs to fix their part too! My posts are a call to arms - this needs to be fixed!

[kuyars]

I take it there hasn't been any fix for these alarm problems yet? That is sadly depressing...

Seeing how others have posted that this problem existed since ppc 2002, it kind of makes you wonder if they'll get around to fixing it in ppc 2003.

[Ed Hansberry]

Is anyone with problems not running any special alarm programs? I keep seeing issues then find out someone is running StopTime, BugMe, Pocket Plus or some other app that generates the alarm. Even having some of these installed affects the normal Calendar alarms.

[gai-jin]

After upgrading to 2003, I'm having no trouble with either reminders or alarms. (Alarms set in the standard clock control panel)

I installed the Pocket backup fix almost immediately after upgrading to 2003, so I can't say whether there were problems before the fix or not. Just ran a test alarm, 5 minutes into the future, turned the PDA off, it woke up right on time and alarmed me.

:)

Gai-jin

[szamot]

I remember we had a similar pool for the pocket 2002 about alarms, I fell like it was yesterday

Time goes fast! :(

I think it is more of a case of HP following Compaq in the poor quality control, now I see HP kept everything from the 38xx era. What a joke!

[petvas]

I own an iPaq H5555 and after three weeks of usage I am positive that Reminders work great and Alarms always work also. The only thing that is causing problems are Alarm Notes. If I set up an Alarm Note (via PI or AF) then the Alarm sounds ok, my device just doesn't power on and the led doesn't blink. This is a minor issue since the alarm DOES go off. Of course I hope HP fixes that in the next ROM...
I do not use any add on that interferes in any way with the Alarm function of WM2003.

[Ohayden]

I just wanted to let you know that ATAlarm has also solved this issue. We have a WM2003 version which works fine. ATAlarm was tested on an HP2215 and a Tosbiba both with WM2003. You can download it from handango.com.

Here is the direct link to download:

http://www.handango.com/PlatformTopSoftware.jsp?siteId=1&jid=E27E1FC97X5E544E7C8F6XC523XXE6BC&platformId=2&title=Alert+Technologies&authorId=398413

Or if you want more info, visit our website at: http://www.ATechware.com

Hope this helps!!

[petvas]

I just wanted to let you know that ATAlarm has also solved this issue. We have a WM2003 version which works fine. ATAlarm was tested on an HP2215 and a Tosbiba both with WM2003. You can download it from handango.com.

Here is the direct link to download:

http://www.handango.com/PlatformTopSoftware.jsp?siteId=1&jid=E27E1FC97X5E544E7C8F6XC523XXE6BC&platformId=2&title=Alert+Technologies&authorId=398413

Or if you want more info, visit our website at: http://www.ATechware.com

Hope this helps!!

The problem with this software is that is not transparent to the OS. I would like to be able to configure once and never see it again. Is that possible? I also do not want to start avoiding doing things through the OS; who knows what might break (other apps)... I have been following this tactic for years and I have never had any issues with the Pocket PCs I have had...

[Ohayden]

I'm sorry I don't quite understand what you mean by "transparent to the OS". Could you explain a bit more?

To answer you other questions:
ATAlarm uses APIs striaght from the OS to configure the alarms so it's integrated with the OS.

As of now we don't have "recurring alarms", though this is planned in future updates. Recurring alarms would allow you to setup once and then you wouldn't have to configure it again.

ATAlarm is designed specifically for a travel / bedside alarm, but it will grow into much more later on. As far as breaking other apps, we've haven't had one complaint as of yet and I assure you if we did, we would solve the issue immediately. We are very proactive with keeping our software 100% compatible and keeping our customers very happy.

I agree with you, if there is something already in the OS then I wouldn't use third party software. I too have followed this rule for many years, but if the OS doesn't do a very good job or doesn't have the functionality that I require then I wouldn't hesitate to use third party software. As a matter of fact, most third party software developers write much better code than the OS deveopers :twisted:. Why should you suffer if Microsoft doesn't do a very good job with alarms. Most integrated OS apps came from third party software. HP, DELL, and Toshiba all OEM the OS and add their software also :).

[petvas]

Well, I cannot argue with you!!!! 8) You certainly made a point and you also said that ATalarm is at the moment a travel / bedside alarm...
This is not what I am looking for; I am very happy of course that ATalarm and other apps around exist and give users the freedom of choice..
I will be watching for further developments of ATalarm... :wink:

[mmediaman]

@Ohayden, your solution doesn't seem to completly address the problem at hand. As mentioned in an earlier post, there is some mixing of terminology where some people are referring to Appointment and Task Reminders as Alarms.

So although your solution may solve part of the problem, I think that most have an issue with the appointment and task reminder.... I know I do ! It is a shame as someone else mentioned, that you can by a $10 organizer that has more reliable reminders than a $300 pPC.

I own an iPAC 1945 after returning an iPAC 1910 because I thought it was a hardware/firmware issue, but still have the problem with the iPAC 1945.

What I would like to know is if this problem is inherent only to the iPACs, or if other brands are experiencing the problem. I have a friend who has an HP Jornada 5x series running PocketPC 2002 and has no problem with reminders. He also syncs with Outlook as I do with this new iPAC 1945.

I am terribly disappointed as I average 4 meetings a day, not to mention tasks galore. Can anyone shed more light on this ?

[Ohayden]

mmediaman,

I indeed solve the issue BUT I solved the issue with my software "ATAlarm" and not with the OS. So if you need an Alarm solution, you could use our software. The next release will have unlimited alarms, recurring alarms, and popup notes.

Just to give you peace of mind, no the iPaqs are not the only PPC with the issue. It's an OS issue and not an OEM issue. I believe MS have solved the issue (or at least I know they are aware of the issue), but the OEMs will still need to impletement the fix.

That said, we are also working on a program you could run in order to fix the OS issue and use the normal alarms in the OS (as opposed to ATAlarm, which works fine). It's harder to solve the issue as we do not have access to the OS source code for obvious reasons. We are close to having a fix and once it's done I'll post a link here.

[mmediaman]

@Ohayden

Just so I understand you clearly. Are you saying that your product solves the problem for Alarms, and Reminders for Appointments and Tasks ???

[Ohayden]

ATAlarm is it's own alarm app and I solved it's issue which is the same issue you guys are having on with the built in Alarms and Reminders. ATAlarm doesn't fix the OS itself, only it's own alarms.

However, I'm working on another program to solve the issue with the built in Alarms and Reminders.

Can anyone recreate the issue on a HP2210 or 2215 all the time? If so, I would love to get hold of a complete backup file so I can re-create this issue in house. I can sometimes re-create the issue but not always and it's making it difficult to solve the issue. The first person to contact me and send me a back file that I can re-cerate the issue on, I will give them a copy of the program (once I get it working) for FREE that will fix the built in Alarms and Reminders.

[terrypin]

mmediaman,

That said, we are also working on a program you could run in order to fix the OS issue and use the normal alarms in the OS (as opposed to ATAlarm, which works fine). It's harder to solve the issue as we do not have access to the OS source code for obvious reasons. We are close to having a fix and once it's done I'll post a link here.

That's encouraging; I do hope you are soon able to come up with a fix. FWIW, I find it incredible that MS haven't already done so. IMO, alarms are one app that need no less than 100% reliability. Yesterday, Wed 3rd Sep, before finding this thread (one of many on this issue I've discovered over last day or two), I posted 'Serious bug with PPC 2003 alarms?' in several forums. That was a fairly detailed description of the latest alarm failure I'd had, earlier that morning - a wake up call that wouldn't have woken me up! For example, it's here:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=579033

I'd be very happy to help in any way, especially if I get to benefit from the results of your endeavours. This should probably be by e-mail? However, a newbie to this forum, I don't immediately see how I e-mail you, so...

What sort of backup file do you want? For example, I have one made from the built-in backup program. And yesterday I started atrial of Sprite Backup Service, and have a few made with that. Presumably it needs to be written directly after the problem occurrence? (Begging question as to how you define that!)

I sympathise with those like you trying to get to the bottom of this, as it seems fraught with inconsistencies - even on one product. I have just tried again, using the built-in Clock app, and this time it worked BUT instead of playing TimeToWakeUp.WAV (one I'd recorded myself), it played a sound subsequently identified as Alarm2! Nor, to my surprise, was that the one set in Settings > Sounds & Notofications > Notifications under the Reminders event. I have yet to track down the source of the Alarm2 setting.

Newcomer to PPC, using iPAQ 2210 (PPC 2003).

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

[Ohayden]

terrypin,

I just read your post at brighthand. It seems that the issue your running into has to deal with the screen not turning on. Is that the only issue your running into? There are currently several issues surrounding the alarms. The two symptons are:

1) The PPC will sound off but the screen is not turning on. The PPC will stop sounding after about 20 to 30 seconds.

2) The PPC will miss the alarm all together and will not sound off until you turn the PPC on youself.

It sounds like your falling into issue #1, am I correct? We are looking for people that can re-create issue #2. We beleive that #1 has to do with the recent changes in the APIs with WM2003. We initially had this issue with ATAlarm (our alarm clock app), but we solved it very quickly by changing the code to workaround the new APIs. You might want to download our app to see if it works for you. There is a version of it on handango.com and pocketgear.com. The new beta is about to released which will do recurring alarms, unlimited alarms, playists for MP3s, theme generator, and much more.

Does anyone fall into category #2? If so, we need your backup file :). Also, we need someone in category #2 to try our app to see if they have the issue. We haven't have any of our customers have the issue yet. So either we have a good workaround or are extremely lucky.

We also need people with issue #2 to test the OS fix that we are working on. If anyone wants to sign up, email me at [email protected]. Or visit us at http://ATechware.com/ and fill out our support form.

Thanks!

[mmediaman]

@Ohayden

I downloaded and tried your application. It appears to only be a timeclock alarm application. As I mentioned before and tried to clarify in my previous post, some of us are concerned with the problem of Reminder Alerts not working. (the ones associated with appointments and tasks)

I have confirmed that by simply choosing the visiting City and then back to the Home city in the standard time/date dialog of the OS, reminder alerts are put back in sync and begin working ok again for the day.

There also seems to be some information floating around forums about a cleanup task that happens at midnight, scheduled internally by the OS. Apparently this process does maintenance on the calendar database and affects all appointments, tasks etc. It can be seen by an application like SuperAlert. I don't want to assume that the problem of the reminders not working lies within this process.... but it seems obvious something could be going on there.

Does anyone know how to disable this midnight job or what ill effect that may cause ?

[Ohayden]

mmediaman,

Yes the current version is simple an alarm, but the next release (sometime next will) will be much more. It will have unlimited alarms, recurring alarms, and maybe the popup notes for reminders. If the notes aren't in the next release then they will definitly be in the following release.

Thanks for the visiting city trick. I'll put that in my knowledge base. As for the midnight task, well... we are currently writing a program that will more or less do what the midnight task already does plus clean up a bunch of things it does not. We are doing this becuase it tends to solve the missing alarms / reminders problems, which will make the internal alarms and reminders work. It will also automatically remove the midnight clean task. It will be ready either next wekk or early the week after that.

I'll post links here for both apps.

[mmediaman]

Thanks for your efforts. I am sure a lot of people will be grateful if you get it working reliably..... Microsoft should be grateful too... and ashamed.

[mmediaman]

@Ohayden

How are you coming with the fix ?? ....now that you know where the root cause probably lies.

[gejfay]

At this point ATAlarms and PC2003 alarms work only intermittently on my Ipaq 2215. I have also downloaded the fix for Ipaq backup.
Still no luck and waiting :(

[shawnc]

AMAZING! That's all I can say about this. First of all, I wish I had read this thread prior to missing a Monday morning appointment because my newly upgraded Axim did NOT wake me. After reading this thread I now know that there is one LESS thing I can rely on my PPC for.

I don't have pocketplus or any of the other bells and whistles that people are speculating may be causing this problem. My alarm function simply didn't work. Plain and simple.

This is not a problem of interacting with various BT devices, or connecting remotely to a corporate LAN or network. THIS IS AN ALARM FUNCTION FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! How is it that after, oh I don't know, 20 different releases of various handheld OS, Microsoft can't get alarm functionality right. Is there anything more basic AND essential to a PDA?

I would happily give up some of the more advanced features of the PPC OS in exchange for reminders and alarms that reliably work. I was really hoping it would be fixed in WM2K3, but I guess that is beyond M$'s ability. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is the type of thing that makes people go back to Palms.

I think you speak for a large number of PPC users.

[easycass]

I have been struggling with this problem with an H2210 for a month or so now. After switching recently from my old reliable Psion (never once did it need a soft reset or not give an alarm corectly in 5 years!), this alarm issue is not what I hoped for.

However, getting to the symptoms, in brief, UI have found the following:-
1) Time alarms, calendar reminders, all alarms are effected.
2) Usually affects first few alarms enablee after midnight.
3) Straight unit with no other software loaded has 5% unreliability.
4) Unit with bells and whistles, especially added Informant 4.6, Battery Pack, and memory crads like slow IBM microdrive, unreliability factor goes to about 20%.
5) Problem has been targetted by a program I found yesterday called PocketMax alarmToday. Developer says the problems are associated with Win Mobile 2003 power saving features, whereby unit just does not wake up properly.
6) From my experiments, the more there is going on during a power up from standby, like whizzing round microdrives, re-calling programs from SD memory, software looking through all drives for data file updates, etc, all hinder the wake-up process. At a guess, alarm event handler routines are not getting exclusive or high enough priority to get the machine properly woken up. This was the beauty of the EPOC operating system for Psion, which was time-centrix, in that time alarm processes always over-rode other running apps. It was t he core of the OS right from the start. I have a feelinf that the time management of Win Mobile 2003 just treats the time routines as 'just another app'... This is because it was perhaps not written from the ground up to be an always on operating system...
7) HP and MS are aware of the problem, however, the only contact I have had is with HP, who are waiting for an MS fix. MS has not replied to me, and it is difficult to find any threads in their support knowledge base that acknowledge the problem even exists.

So, what are we to do. I am tempted to buy one of the last remaining Psion Series 5Mx's on sale, and go with this reliable beast, albeit lacking bluetooth and colour screen, for two or three years. Second oprtion, maybe go the way of the Palm. Was never impressed woith them, but they have about caught up with the bells and whistles of PPC, and there's always someway of being able to sync to the Desktop products. And option 3... okay we can wait for MS to come up with a fix, but I also have an idea out there for any budding programmers....

Is it not possible to write a very simple (in terms of outward sinplicity), one that has no options and is just loaded as a background task. Not a task that is running all the time, but one that essentially is gear to respond to a 'wake-up' event. This routine needs to do the basics of what all these 3rd party alarm programs do, or even what the Sprite Backup patch does, which is to ensure the device wakes up properly. That's all it needs to do, and then just let all the normal processes, especially the one that caused the wake-up, to run normally. I am a programmer, but not for PPC, soe I don't know how this can be done, but if the actual wake-up problem has been solved by Sprite and PocketMax, why not just take the wak-up bit of their rutines and let the OS then do the rest.

Okay, that's my rant. Let us see who comes up with a solution first... MS, or some wonderful programmer out there...

Cheers. :wink:

[terrypin]

Very, very similar to my own experience so far, since buying my first PPC (and my first handheld since a Psion 3a!) in July.

Although I'm an end user, not a programmer, I'm participating in a discussion amongst developers and beta testers that directly addresses the approach suggested in your last paragraph. It's this TekGuru forum thread:

http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=308&sid=7c0976133dd863c6e2183dda0641f418

Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003, PI 4.6, PIToday 0.1.0.0913

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

[mmediaman]

@easycass
What about the workaround I posted earlier ? It is an even simpler development because all it needs to do is simulate changing the Date/Time option to Visiting City and then back to Home City.

I do this manually any morning of a day I need my reminders to work and as far as I can tell it works, but what lame thing to have to do .

I wonder if the PPC would have to wake up for the utility to execute and suffer the same fate ? Anyway, as I mentioned before, it is shameful of Microsoft to have this glaring problem and a glaring manual workaround, and not fix it.

[easycass]

Hi there again,

Yes, I reckon the day change thing would work, if it worke on everyone's machine, it could be the easiest approach. I went over to the guys at Tekguru, who have alternative approach to fixing this... it is all pretty exciting, and I can almost see that there may be a few ways we're gonna be able to solve it...

By the way, I am trying to cheer people up today with a reply I got from HP tech support today (which by the way, I believe everone should keep on nagging!)...

And I quote:

If the issue persists., we suggest you to wait for an ROM update for the iPAQ which will be available for download on our web site very soon.

The driver & download web link for the h2210 iPAQ is as follows.

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/handheldiPAQ/us/locate/105_5721.html

End quote...

Okay, who knows how long 'very soon' means, but soving this at source would be such a lovely way to go...

Anyway, in the meantime, lets keep bashing away at an elegant solution. Will write more if I get a few more findings...

Cheers,
Cass.

[rorithoughts]

I tried superalert, spb plus, etc. and have the same problem.

The program that seems to work OK is AlarmX from Mtux

:roll:

[asimek]

Finally took mine back. Alarms NEVER worked right, and NEVER will.

[mmediaman]

:| :cry: It's a crying shame. Just a shame.... not much more I can say. Well maybe one more thing I can say.... -> It's piss poor.

I think the avarage person doesn't use the reminder feature and so don't really notice the gravity of this problem. Lucky for Microsoft or HP as the case might be I suppose.

[asimek]

Ok, so I got fed up with my 5555 and took it back. I went back to the palm for like... three days. Finally, I can't take it anymore (yes, Palm sux) but my damned alarms didn't work right with the 5555.

Anyways, I broke down and bought a 4155 today. Loaded it with all of my suspect third party software, and wouldn't ya know it, alarms still work.

In fact, I have tested all of the situations that normally would fail on my with the 5555, and I swear, I can't get the alarms to fail.

So it's just my guess, but after numerous soft resets, and tests, I just can't get it to fail...so they must have fixed the problem.

[terrypin]

Ok, so I got fed up with my 5555 and took it back. I went back to the palm for like... three days. Finally, I can't take it anymore (yes, Palm sux) but my damned alarms didn't work right with the 5555.

Anyways, I broke down and bought a 4155 today. Loaded it with all of my suspect third party software, and wouldn't ya know it, alarms still work.

In fact, I have tested all of the situations that normally would fail on my with the 5555, and I swear, I can't get the alarms to fail.

So it's just my guess, but after numerous soft resets, and tests, I just can't get it to fail...so they must have fixed the problem.
Do you mean new hardware releases? I've certainly seen no mention of any new OS patch - which I'm anxiously hoping for, in a form I can use on my beleagured 2210. If so, why is it valid to compare those two different hardware products? Are you saying that recent 4155s (like your brand new one) do not suffer from the alarm issues, but older ones do?

Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

[Thinkingmandavid]

Howdy, I installed pocket plus on my toshiba around a week ago when i bought it and my alarms work great. I am using 2003, so I dont know why everyone elses isnt working.
I do agree this should even be an issue because manufacturers and software (MS) should have that fixed. it does defeat some of the purposes ofhaving a ppc if you can count onit when you need it.
I WONDER IF BILL GATES ACTUALLY USES HIS OWN PRODUCTD :?: :!: :evil:

[asimek]

HI Terry,

Sorry, I was so happy my alarms worked that I wasn't clear. The 4155 is a new offering. I never had any other version of the 4155. My 5555 was returned to the store.

As far as I can tell, the wm2003 "seems" to be newer. For example, it came with a current version of pocket backup. Also, it had leap support and other stuff that was current. Even my 5555 didn't have that out of box. Overall, this unit has been perfect! NO MISSED ALARMS. Seriously.

I can't make it fail no matter what I try, even setting alarms and turning it off immediately. This thing is rock solid. My other bugs went away too like how my 5155 would turn itself off right after being turned on, and how it would ask me for my pin even if 90 minutes hadn't gone by...

I am amazed here.



Ok, so I got fed up with my 5555 and took it back. I went back to the palm for like... three days. Finally, I can't take it anymore (yes, Palm sux) but my damned alarms didn't work right with the 5555.

Anyways, I broke down and bought a 4155 today. Loaded it with all of my suspect third party software, and wouldn't ya know it, alarms still work.

In fact, I have tested all of the situations that normally would fail on my with the 5555, and I swear, I can't get the alarms to fail.

So it's just my guess, but after numerous soft resets, and tests, I just can't get it to fail...so they must have fixed the problem.
Do you mean new hardware releases? I've certainly seen no mention of any new OS patch - which I'm anxiously hoping for, in a form I can use on my beleagured 2210. If so, why is it valid to compare those two different hardware products? Are you saying that recent 4155s (like your brand new one) do not suffer from the alarm issues, but older ones do?

Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

[daveaprc]

I have for approximately 3 weeks tried to nail down the problem on my Viewsonic V36. Same problem as everyone else. Sometimes alarm works, sometimes not. Seems to especially NOT work before 8:00am when I have alarms set- no idea why not except the pda wants to sleep in I guess. Other times I turn on the beast and I get multiple passed alarms going off.

I have gone from nothing installed, to lots installed, to Pocket Plus, to FixAlarm, to others. NOTHING works- noone has it right yet. I have had the pda with NOTHING installed except for contacts, appointments, etc. (i.e.- no 3rd party software), and the alarms are screwed up. It seems better, but still doesn't work right 100% of the time. I have tried the pda with 3rd party software installed, bingo- alarms still don't work, and seem even a little worse.

I have had both Pocket PC's and Palms, and have had this same problem with other Pocket PC's too, so it is not just my current model. I hate the operating system w/ Palms, talk about primitive- BUT THEY HAVE ALARMS THAT WORK. I AM EVER BECOMING JUST SO SLIGHTLY TEMPTED TO SWITCH. Sony has a nice Palm w/ a 2.0 megapixel digital camera..... someone save me...... :|

[ctmagnus]

I figured this out last night:

If you open ActiveSync then go to Tools menu -> Options -> Server tab -> Options button -> Rules tab and set "When connected to my PC Sync with the server" to anything but manually, do the alarms still not fire?

For the longest time, my iPaq would randomly turn on for no reason. I finally dug deep enough into ActiveSync and found the above setting. Setting it to manually resolved my issue and it no longer turns itself on.

In the cases mentioned in this thread, setting it to anything but manually may keep your Pocket PC(s) in a slighty lesser state of slumber, enabling the alarms to fire more accurately (or less inaccurately).