415x/435x Dead iPaq in the morning

[bdegroodt]

Anyone else having an issue with their 4xxx series iPaq coming up dead overnight (or any other time it's not in use for an extended period of time?).

In 2 weeks, I've had a dead iPaq in the morning if I leave the wireless (802.11b) on when I shut it off for the night. I have my email checked every 15 minutes so the iPaq does what it's supposed to do and goes out and checks the accounts while the screen stays off (and the unit itself stays off the other 14 minutes). Problem seems to be it's either not releasing the wireless session and powering back off or it's runs into problems and can't find the network and just keeps looking for it until it dies. I can't say which, because I'm sleeping. Unit gets very hot (as I'd expect after being on for hours straight).

[PetiteFlower]

Why wouldn't you EXPECT the battery to die after 8 hours with the wifi on?

[bdegroodt]

Why wouldn't you EXPECT the battery to die after 8 hours with the wifi on?

I knew that I didn't describe this right. It's not really "on." Basically it's off until you (or in this case the associated application requiring WiFi) turns the unit back on. So in essence, for 14 of every 15 minutes it's off. On the 15th minute Inbox tells it to wake up (without turning the screen on) and check for mail. After it does that, it should go right back to off for the next 14 minutes. Total use over an 8 hour nap should be 32 minutes or so.

[PetiteFlower]

Seems like it's not going off when it's done checking your email, but that doesn't seem that odd to me. I would expect the connection to keep the pda awake until it was turned off.....I don't know if there's a way to stop that from happening. Why do you need your ipaq to check your email every 15 minutes while you're sleeping anyway? Can't you just check it in the morning?

[bdegroodt]

Seems like it's not going off when it's done checking your email, but that doesn't seem that odd to me. I would expect the connection to keep the pda awake until it was turned off.....I don't know if there's a way to stop that from happening. Why do you need your ipaq to check your email every 15 minutes while you're sleeping anyway? Can't you just check it in the morning?

Couple of things. It's supposed to disconnect, so that seems odd to me. It isn't turning on in the most conventional sense of the word. It's supposed to wake (without turning the screen on), check email and go back to sleep.

On the check every 15 minutes, it's a critical email box that I have to monitor (if anything comes into it, I have to get out of bed and get to it.) and as you probably know, the check every X minutes setting isn't exactly something you adjust on a regular basis. It's buried pretty deep inside Inbox.

[Janak Parekh]

I don't have a 4xxx unit, as you know, so my suggestion is going to be lame -- but have you considered keeping the unit cradled at night? Although, it still won't help with the unit getting hot. :|

--janak

[PetiteFlower]

That was going to be my next suggestion too :)

[bdegroodt]

Not lame Janak. Just not possible since my cradle is at my office machine. Really it's more of a function of faulty software (?) or hardware (the age of the router may be causing some compatability issues?).

It's funny, but for years I've wanted an iPaq that would check email automatically wirelessly. Now I almost have it and I can't get that one critical area correct.

[Falstaff]

If you don't have a cradle at home, can you get a $10-15 USB sync/charging cradle? Or just a charging cable?

[bdegroodt]

of course adding a charger is always an option. I'm more interested in getting the problem solved. An ipaq that has to stay connected isn't much of a portable device to me.

[Sven Johannsen]

of course adding a charger is always an option. I'm more interested in getting the problem solved. An ipaq that has to stay connected isn't much of a portable device to me.

Agreed, but plugged in sitting on your headboard while you are sleeping shouldn't cause you that big a portability issue, except for the 2AM bathroom trip ;). You'd start the day off with a fully charged PPC that way too.

As far as the turning off thing, you don't per chance have a PC at home you sync with do you? I know that connecting with AS when AS is set for continuous will keep a unit on, even if the wireless sync is set to disconnect after syncing.

[bdegroodt]

That's a good one Sven (on the AS) but I don't set it to stay connected and it's rarely on in the evening since it would get the emails instead of the PPC getting them (laptop deletes from server).

Staying cradled over night is less the problem (it also runs dead when I'm at work if I don't watch it) and solving the disconnect/turn off issue is since that's the problem.

Does anyone think I might be onto something with the age of the wireless router? Is there some sort of hand off that needs to happen? I think not, but I figure that's an important piece of data as well.

[Janak Parekh]

Does anyone think I might be onto something with the age of the wireless router? Is there some sort of hand off that needs to happen? I think not, but I figure that's an important piece of data as well.
Maybe, but I'm skeptical. Disconnection from the network should be a client-side issue. And besides, don't you say this also happens at work?

--janak

[bdegroodt]

Does anyone think I might be onto something with the age of the wireless router? Is there some sort of hand off that needs to happen? I think not, but I figure that's an important piece of data as well.
Maybe, but I'm skeptical. Disconnection from the network should be a client-side issue. And besides, don't you say this also happens at work?

--janak

My thoughts as well. And yes it is happening at work, too.

[Janak Parekh]

Debugging suggestion, if you haven't done it already: turn off the Inbox's autochecking facility. Just turn the unit on, with Wi-Fi enabled. Does it time out and turn off then? If not, the problem has to do with the Wi-Fi driver (possibly purposely) keeping the iPAQ driver on, and less to do with Inbox itself. In that case, a call to HP may be in order... if one can explain the problem to them 8O

--janak

[bdegroodt]

Grrr! Damn you HP! OK...so this morning the thing was so dead that I had to hard reset to get it back to life. Of course, this means all data lost (other than the normal calendar/contacts/etc.).

For future reference sake, is there a file I can pull off the iPaq that contains all my wireless connection info? Specifically my dial up string for GPRS (and the Bluetooth connectivity stuff would be an added bonus).

[freitasm]

I've noticed that when I have a Bluetooth LAN connection to a AP or to my dekstop the h4150 does not sleep. I think the disconnection after check e-mail option is available for dial-up type of connections (like connecting to GPRS or to a RAS server), not to a LAN type of connection.

[__didi__]

Hi bdegroodt,

I have a two week old iPAQ 4150 and I have the same problem (ActiveSync via WLAN, check email every 15 minutes).
My iPAQ was dead two times. One time over night and one time after the iPAQ was off for maybe one hour.

First time I knew no help than a hard reset, which lead me to a new installation session :-(
The second time I just plugged it into my USB-cradle and the iPAQ was alive again.
Both times I looked if it was just a battery issue. I thougt it did not disconnect and the battery was low. But the battery was at 80%.

This means the problem is not the missing disconnect.
For me it seems that it is a Bug which causes that the screen stays turned off even if you push the On-Button.