Alarm Problems on Pocket PC 2003 Devices [Archive]

Ed Hansberry

12-12-2003, 08:00 PM

I'm trying to collect as many data points as possible on alarm issues with Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC. Is it in the OS itself? Is it in particular ROM builds from OEMs? Is it a software conflict? Is it addon hardware and/or their drivers on the device? Is it a combination of two or more of these issues? I feel like Batman trying to figure out the combination of personal hygiene products the Joker has contaminated and striking fear in the heart of Gotham! <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2003/20031212-alarm.gif" /> So, you set your alarm on your Pocket PC and the alarm doesn't wake the device up. When you turn it on manually, it does go off, which of course, is no good. If this has happened to you, please respond in the thread with as much details as you can give. 1) What brand and model is your Pocket PC? I am assuming any 2002 devices listed like the iPAQ 3970 have been upgraded to WM2003. 2) Was the device off when the alarm was supposed to fire? If not, were you using the device? How were you using it? 3) What software is installed? Remember to include things like drivers for hardware, soft input panels, task switchers and other apps we tend to forget about because they blend into the device so well. 4) What peripherals are attached to the device (Such as a CF card in an IPAQ sleeve, modem in a CF slot, etc.) when this happens? 5) Are any other device functions on? For example, do you routinely leave your devices Bluetooth or WiFi radio on all of the time? 6) How often does this happen? Try to give a reasonable percentage range. Let's keep this as on topic as possible. Rants will be deleted. We know there is something going on. Telling us louder isn't going to do any good. :wink: To make this easier, don't worry about inline quoting. Just number your responses to coincide with the questions above.

guinness

12-12-2003, 08:28 PM

1) Dell Axim X5 A05
2) The device was off
3) Wisbar Adv., PHM Powertools, ActiveSync (those are the only programs that run all the time)
4) an SD card
5) No
6) It only happened once

ebrandwein

12-12-2003, 08:37 PM

Axim x5
upgraded to WM2003
cf
sd
spb pocket plus
ambicom wifi

alarms intermittent

Mojo Jojo

12-12-2003, 08:38 PM

1. Toshiba eGenio 550g, OS 2002 (Would have been nice to have an upgrade :wink: )

2. At times of failure the device would be off. Using the Alarm fuction as an alarm clock while on the road traveling. When the device was on, the alarms seemed to function correctly all the time.

3. SPB Picture Viewer, Microsoft Money, Avantgo

4. A 64meg SD card is the only expansion item. Always installed.

5. No bluetooth, no Wifi. All applications closed manually through the built in Toshiba task closer or left to the OS to close.

6. In my experience it would seem like 1 in 15 or 1 in 20 times it would fail to go off. (Of course turning the machine on after the fact would greet you with a reminder and an overdue)

ecard

12-12-2003, 08:58 PM

1) ipaq 2210
2) Off
3) Wisbar adv., PocketInformant, PocketPlus
4) only mem cards, CF ad SD
5) bluetooth off
6) 1 in 10 times. But when you turn the unit on the alarm goes on.

I also have a 5455 upgraded to 2003 that as the same behaviour.

1) ipaq 5455
2) Off
3) Wisbar adv., PocketInformant, PocketPlus
4) only mem cards, SD
5) bluetooth off, wi-fi off
6) 1 in 10 times. But when you turn the unit on the alarm goes on.

Good luck in your survey.

mace

12-12-2003, 09:00 PM

1) HP 2215
2) Device is off
3) eWallet,Scrabble,Pocket Bible,Fitaly,ListPro, SPB Pocket Plus, Resco Explorer, Pocket Informant, Voice Command
4) SD Slot and CF Slot have cards in always
5) Bluetooth is off
6) It used to happen at least twice a week. I have turned off the repeating alarms function on SPB Pocket Plus and for the last few weeks I have not had any problems with alarms firing.

jsachs

12-12-2003, 09:04 PM

This topic has been discussed on TekGuru at:

http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=308
http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=975#975

Cypher

12-12-2003, 09:48 PM

Hopefully, this will help as a counter-example. I've never had any problems with alarms functioning -- ever.

1) a) HP iPAQ 2215
b) Toshiba e805
2) Alarms have fired on schedule whether either unit was on or off.
3) a) Sprite Software's Pocket Backup fix for iPAQ Backup
wm03hotfix
hp 2200 BlueTooth Update
Foldable Keyboard driver
AmbiCom WL1100C-CF WiFi card driver
Visual Basic RunTime
Tweaks2k2
FITALY
Pocket Informant 4.6.0
Journal Bar
Pocket MVP
Pocket Streets
Pocket Bible (Laridian)
IAAlbum
Pocket Artist
Pocket Stars
TextMaker
PalmReader
b) Scary Bear's ClearNotify
Deez' RezFix1
AmbiCom BT2000-cf BlueTooth card driver
eVB_XLR8Rplus Enhance Visual Basic RunTime from NSBasic
Tweaks2k2
FITALY
Pocket Informant 4.6.0
Pocket Controller
Journal Bar
NetFront 3.1 (for Toshiba e800)
MpegTV PocketTV Pro
Pocket Streets
Pocket Bible (Laridian)
IAAlbum
Pocket Artist
Pocket Stars
Money for Pocket PC
TextMaker
PalmReader

4) Allways present: Lexar 512MB SD card
Present when not using WiFi/BlueTooth card: Lexar 512MB CF card
a) iPAQ Foldable Keyboard
AmbiCom WL1100C-CF WiFi card
b) AmbiCom BT2000-CF BlueTooth card
5) I alway turn off BlueTooth and WiFi when not using them. I also aggressively shut down programs so only the ones I want running are running. (Usually Pocket Informant).
6) It's never happened.

Johannes

12-12-2003, 10:02 PM

1 - Ipaq 5550 :mrgreen:
2 - Alarms only go off when the device is on :evil:
3 - Nothing new or unusual
I have a sandisk 128 mb SD card installed

Dave Beauvais

12-12-2003, 10:20 PM

HP iPAQ h5455 upgraded to Windows Mobile 2003 Device is off and running on battery. (Haven't tried leaving if off but on AC power.) I generally close all apps when I'm done using them, so about the only thing running is software that integrates with the OS:[list:a90a24be53] Spb Pocket Plus v1.3.0 Build 59. Repeating reminders option is NOT on Think Outside Stowaway Keyboard driver v2.0 Complete list of software here (http://www.beauvais1.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=6) SanDisk 512 MB SD card I always turn Wi-Fi off before turning the iPAQ off. I don't currently have any Bluetooth devices, so that radio is never on and the Bluetooth Tray Icon app is removed from the Startup folder I would estimate about 10%-15% of the time. Very sporadic and damn-near impossible to troubleshoot as a result.[/list:o:a90a24be53]

jngold_me

12-12-2003, 10:54 PM

I have an Ipaq 4150. I also run superalert for repeating alarms.

I was experiencing the same problems as listed by the thread starter. After I installed clear_notify.exe (scarybear software) into my start-up folder every alarm and task that I set operates properly. I run check_notification (also by scarybear) once in awhile to see if there are indeed any dupes in the notification database and it confirms the check_notification works as advertised.

I also have Pocket Plus 1.3. The repeating alarms and 2003 Start-up fix never seems to work properly. I had those two options on originally before implementing the above solutions and my alarms were unreliable.

HTH!

brianchris

12-12-2003, 10:56 PM

Couldn't be happier to contribute to this thread, as this Alarm problem *must* be fixed by someone....towards that end, kudos Ed in attempting to discern patterns from the chaos. Here are my answers:

1) iPaq 5455 (upgraded to WM2003 of course)
2) Yes, the device was off
3) Latest version of Pocket Plus was not only installed, but seemed to be the root of the problem. Un-selected the repeating alarm function in Pocket Plus, configured the naitive repeating alarm function in WM2003, and haven't seen this problem since.
4) No peripherals attatched.
5) I leave my Bluetooth on all the time, but not WiFi. No other device functions I can think of.
6) When the latest version of Pocket Plus was configured to repeat alarms, the problem happened 100% of the time (not joking). Now, that repeating alarms have been configured naitively, it never happens.

HTH,

-Brian

arnage2

12-12-2003, 11:07 PM

1. ipaq 4155
2. yes it was off.
3. games and bettery pack 2003, spb benchmark, hp printing, and pocket tv and mvp.
4. 1 256 sd
5. 802.11 is on 50% of the time.
6. 40% of the time. (80% on my 2215) the device doesnt sound the alarm untill i power on the unit. (even hours later)

CoreyJF

12-12-2003, 11:16 PM

ipaq 5455 with wm 2003
pocket plus
wifi on some times
sd card
sometime bluetooth on
Alarm does not usualy go off if ac power is unplugged and device off. Occasionaly wil do a short vibrate...

gorkon280

12-12-2003, 11:16 PM

1) What brand and model is your Pocket PC?
HP h5555

2) Was the device off when the alarm was supposed to fire? If not, were you using the device? How were you using it?

When device is off, it's random whether alarms work or not. It seem to be getting better as the xip updates come out.
When device is on they always fire.

3) What software is installed? Remember to include things like drivers for hardware, soft input panels, task switchers and other apps we tend to forget about because they blend into the device so well.

Wis. Adv
Resco Explorer
Resco Regedit
Regking 2003
Streets and Trips
Journal Bar
Anthelion
Gamebox Classics
Pocket Winc
Delorme xMap
Olivetree Biblereader
HanDBase
Worldmate

4) What peripherals are attached to the device (Such as a CF card in an IPAQ sleeve, modem in a CF slot, etc.) when this happens?

Nothing but teh CFplus sleeve and a 128MB Impactt (by Lexar) mem card.

5) Are any other device functions on? For example, do you routinely leave your devices Bluetooth or WiFi radio on all of the time?

WiFi both on and off BT usually off.

6) How often does this happen? Try to give a reasonable percentage range.

50-60 percent of the time, the alarm does not ring.

Skoobouy

12-12-2003, 11:31 PM

Counter example

1) What brand and model is your Pocket PC?
iPaq h1935

2) Was the device off when the alarm was supposed to fire? If not, were you using the device? How were you using it?

I set all four alarms to go off at different times in the morning (I'm a persistent sleeper). Works fine each morning, although I _do_ have two other alarm clocks which also go off... just in case.

3) What software is installed? Remember to include things like drivers for hardware, soft input panels, task switchers and other apps we tend to forget about because they blend into the device so well.

On main memory
Wisbar Adv
Pocket Backup Plus
WM2k3 Stowaway drivers
Nyditot Virtual Display
Sandisk WiFi SD drivers
PHM Regedit
Windows Media Control for PIE
Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX
PIEPlus

On storage card
TextMaker
Bust'Em 1 and 2
Pocket Nester
uBook
Lextionary
OliveTree BibleReader
Acrobat Reader
Westek iPaq Image Viewer

4) What peripherals are attached to the device (Such as a CF card in an IPAQ sleeve, modem in a CF slot, etc.) when this happens?

Either a Sandisk 256MB SD card or Sandisk WiFi card

5) Are any other device functions on? For example, do you routinely leave your devices Bluetooth or WiFi radio on all of the time?

No.

6) How often does this happen? Try to give a reasonable percentage range.

Doesn't.

corphack

12-12-2003, 11:51 PM

1) HP iPAQ 5455 WM 2K3 upgraded
2) Device was off
3) Doesn't matter; applications loaded varies as I'm constantly testing different products.
4) SD Card
5) Nope
6) 100%

huangzhinong

12-12-2003, 11:51 PM

1) What brand and model is your Pocket PC?
HP h2210, HP h1945

2) Was the device off when the alarm was supposed to fire? If not, were you using the device? How were you using it?
OFF and ON, doesn't matter

3) What software is installed? Remember to include things like drivers for hardware, soft input panels, task switchers and other apps we tend to forget about because they blend into the device so well.
WM2003Fix
PocketPlus 1.3
Ipaq backup patch(daily schedularing at 1:30am)

4) What peripherals are attached to the device (Such as a CF card in an IPAQ sleeve, modem in a CF slot, etc.) when this happens?
512mb CF in h2210 and 256sd in H1945

5) Are any other device functions on? For example, do you routinely leave your devices Bluetooth or WiFi radio on all of the time?
Bluetooth always off

6) How often does this happen? Try to give a reasonable percentage range.

Never happen, never. Perfect.

Notes: Don't turn off your PDA with 20 sec you set the alarm.

neema

12-12-2003, 11:55 PM

I have a ipaq 2215 with about 3 or 4 apps installed (AIM 2.0, PocketStreets 2002, MSMoney, and PocketNester), I have NO calendar/contact replacements or enhancements, NO crazy 3rd party apps that mess with the OS, I never turn the bluetooth on, and use no I/O cards. I DO have a 128mb SD card and thats about it.

I would say that my Alarms WORK about 2-5% of the time MAX.. Lets get this thing fixed already

entropy1980

12-13-2003, 12:28 AM

1.HP iPaq 4155
2. Device Off running on battery
3. Software Installed:

AIM
iPaq MicroKeyaboard
Resco File Explorer
Pocket Bible
SPB Pocket Plus
MS Entertainment Pack
Omega One Journal Bar
4. SD card installed
5. Behaves the same if BT, Wifi, are left on or off doesn't matter
6. Alarms never sound....ever... :?

Tracy Daubenspeck

12-13-2003, 01:35 AM

1) Dell Axim X5 Factory WM2003.
2) Device was off, on battery and Password protected, My Info Screen on
3) Dlink 650 drivers, SPB Pocket Plus (with repeating alarms on), Olive Tree Bible, FreeCell, DTSysView, Total Commander, Pocket Streets, RegKing2003, PC-cillin, Upgraded MSReader,
4) SD Card
5) No devices running
6) 10% Before and after SPB Pocket Plus. Very intermittant.

gonzo

12-13-2003, 01:52 AM

) Compaq IPAQ 2210
2) It was off, was last on before I went to sleep reading a book in palm reader
3) Only apps as you state are pocket informant and tdlaunch

4) SD Card...but would happen without as well

5)It's never been used

6)Every time an alarms set.

Bladefree21

12-13-2003, 01:58 AM

1) What brand and model is your Pocket PC? I am assuming any 2002 devices listed like the iPAQ 3970 have been upgraded to WM2003.

HP iPAQ 5555

2) Was the device off when the alarm was supposed to fire? If not, were you using the device? How were you using it?

These problems occur only when the device is off.

3) What software is installed? Remember to include things like drivers for hardware, soft input panels, task switchers and other apps we tend to forget about because they blend into the device so well.

Currently installed on the device, in no particular order:

Expose MySport Training
Expose MstFood
Microsoft Voice Command
Microsoft Remote Display Control
Sprite Software Pocket Backup, Pocket Mon, Space Detective
Pharos Ostia
WebIS Pocket Informant 4.6
Resco Explorer 2003
Microsoft Money
Ilium Software eWallet
Ilium Software Listpro
Omega One Journal Bar & Journal Bar Expansion Pack
Omega One Battery Pack
Audible, Inc. Audible Player
enVision NotesToday
Pocket PC Addict Achieve-IT!
Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX
HP Mobile Printing
Age of Empires Gold
Astraware GTS Racing
Frontier Darxide EMP
PDAmill Anthelion
Doom PDA
Superscape Chesscapade
PDAmill Snails
Pelmar WisBar
Nomad Electronics Pocket Stars
Display Research Laboratory PhonTuner
Two Peaks Personal Vehicle Manager
SiPix Pocket Printer driver
SRSSoft TodayPlus
HP Slim Keyboard
Stowaway Keyboard Driver

4) What peripherals are attached to the device (Such as a CF card in an IPAQ sleeve, modem in a CF slot, etc.) when this happens?

>Directly connected< to the device: CF256MB Sandisk SD Card, iPAQ (VGA Power Point) sleeve, Possibly and rarely a iPAQ CF Sleeve,

5) Are any other device functions on? For example, do you routinely leave your devices Bluetooth or WiFi radio on all of the time?

Bluetooth is on about 25% of the time, and WiFi around 50%

6) How often does this happen? Try to give a reasonable percentage range.

Failure to give alarm notification occurs about 10% of the time. A relatively important part of the PPC OS! :devilboy:

QYV

12-13-2003, 02:17 AM

Hmmm...anyone notice a pattern here? 8O

mhowie

12-13-2003, 02:35 AM

1) 2215 and 3970 (upgraded to WM2003)
2) Device off
3) Wisbar Advanced, PI, Tomeraider, jCalc, Dictionary, Codewallet Pro, Pocket Money, Pocket Streets, Bible Reader, Resco File Explorer, ClearTemp
4) SD card
5) No other devices are on
6) 100% of the time... unit will not wake itself up and sound alarm. If I manually turn on machine, the alarm will then sound...well after the fact! I installed Pocket Backup and utilized that band-aid for awhile, but became tired of having to run a scheduled unattended backup nightly just so the alarms would function properly. I am now using my Ironman Datalink USB watch as my alarm clock in the morning...

Shrink

12-13-2003, 04:01 AM

1) Dell Axim X3i and X5 Advanced

2) Device was off overnight - alarm set to wake me up in the a.m.

3) SPB Pocket Plus, Gigatask, uBook, Pocketop Keyboard drivers

4) No peripherals attached

5) All device functions off

6) 100% of the time when device is left off overnight

seeker

12-13-2003, 04:37 AM

HP (Compaq) 3955 with WM2003 OS

Device was off at night. "appointment" set for 4:30 am next morning.

Cerience RepliGo
CoPilot Live
Handmark Monoply
Handmark Scrabble
Laridian PocketBible
Laridian Daily Reader
Ilium ListPro
Conduits Pocket Watch
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Pocket PC Addict Achieve-IT
Microsoft SQLCE
Microsoft SWL Client
Microsoft .NET Compact Framework
WebIS Pocket Informant Icon Pack
WebIS Pocket Informant 4

1Gb Viking CF
128 Mb Sandisk SD

All device functions turned off when going to bed at 1000pm

Never goes off until I turn the device on in the morning. Does not go off.

huangzhinong

12-13-2003, 05:27 AM

There are many posts covered this problem in Pocket PC thoughts.

It's almost established that there is alarm problem in wm2003, the basic problem has been identified too, which include below two reasons:

1: The mulitiple identical records during every reset, which can be removed by wm2003fix. Up to now, although there are many companies provide this utility free, I found only wm2003fix works without alarm problem.

2. The unit must be waked up after 12:01am every night. In PPC2002, the device can wake itself up at 12:00am, but In PPC 2003, this function stops working. Setting your backup utilities to wake up your PPC in deep night is the most convient method. H2215, H1945's ipaq backup has a bug, a patch is required.

We have more than 20 PPC in my class. Most of them had alarm problem before, but after applied the patch, setting the schedularing and putting wm2003fix in startup folder, not anymore alarm bugs.

For these unbeliever, try it, better than hopeless waiting.

dma1965

12-13-2003, 06:36 AM

I had an iPaq 2210 and alarms were a nightmare. They were so unrealiable I just stopped using them, relying on my Sony/Ericsson T616 instead for alarms (that always works). Well, I switched to an iPaq 4155, and was, of course, prepared to deal with this as well, and, lo and behold, no problems at all for weeks. Every alarm went off without a hitch until last weekend, when alarms stopped going off one evening. I ran the recreate alarms option of Pocket Informant, and now everything is working peachy. The problem is, of course, since it did fail once, and only once, I have no idea when it will happen again. An alarm clock has to be 100% reliable to be used for an alarm clock. 99% does not cut it. My old Westclox wind up alarm clock is 100% reliable, and cost all of $10. My $450 Pocket PC should be able to match that.

terrypin

12-13-2003, 11:21 AM

Hopefully, this will help as a counter-example. I've never had any problems with alarms functioning -- ever.

Cypher: Maybe that's the answer: install two copies of all software <g>.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

terrypin

12-13-2003, 11:51 AM

1. iPAQ 2210

2. Sometimes, sometimes not.

3. Varies a bit, as I experiment with different trials and diffreent combinations of Today plug-ins. And most/all of it's irrelevant, as I had alarm problems out-of-the-box. But here's a list:

Software installed as of 13 Dec 2003
-------------------------------------
Adobe Acrobat Reader 1.0
AeonigmaSoft PocketShortcut
BEIKS BDicty
BEIKS English-German Talking Phrasebook
Burr Oak Software Conversions In Hand
Burr Oak Software pTravelAlarm
Burr Oak Software ScrapPanel
Burr Oak Software WakeupTweak
Cambridge vxShortCut
Cerience RepliGo
codeking My Shopping List
Conduits Pocket Player
Creative Engineering CEPlaylist
Creative Engineering CEPlaylistHelp
DC & Co. iSilo
Developer One, Inc. Agenda Fusion
Developer One, Inc. Sample Icons
enVision Software NotesToday
Eppen Software AlarMe
FJVG QuickUnits
Flow Simulation Calc98
GowerPoint µBook
GregSoft TaskPlus
Haali Reader
Handmark Official SCRABBLE Player
Handmark SCRABBLE
IA Style - IA Album
Jonathan Sachs Ephemeris
Jonathan Sachs Eval
Jonathan Sachs StopTime
Kenny Soft dbView
Lang Software. ChessGenius
Lokasoft Pocket ChessPartner
Microsoft Activation
Microsoft Reader
Microsoft Today Screen Image Tool
MobiPocket.com Reader
Octopus Studio MDict
PhatWare PhatPad
PhatWare Pocket dbExplorer
PHM Pocket PC PowerToys
pocketMax alarmToday
PocketMind CrazyBubbles
PocketMind PM Feature Pack
PPCLINK eDictionary Reader 3.15
PPX3k PPX Application Navigator
Proporta Ltd TomeRaider
RBS Taiyoukei
Resco Explorer 2003
Resco Picture Viewer Sync Module
Revolutionary Software Front Lextionary
RPS RPSFract
ScaryBear Software Check Notificatition
ScaryBear Software ClearNotify
ScaryBear Software WordSearch
Scott Seligman Phyllis
Scott Seligman Seligman's Launcher
sdmventures PocketShop
Spb Pocket Plus
Sprite Software Pocket Backup
Sprite Software PocketMon
Sprite Software Space Detective
SRSSoft TodayPlus
Systemix Software PocketDraw
Team One Reader
Tillanosoft PocketNotepad
Tillanosoft SmallMenu
Tillanosoft tGetFile.dll
Tinyware PocketChess
TranCreative Magic Button
Visual IT The Pad
Visual IT Tube
WordLogic Keyboard Trial
=================================
In Startup:
--------------
BTTrayCE
clear_notify.exe
ClearTemp.exe
fe_wa
Pocket Plus
poutlook
pTravelAlarm Start
SmallMe u
wm03hotfix.exe

Drivers
----------
How would I determine?

4. 1 GB CF card, 128 MB SD card. (But irrelevant: I had alarm problems before either were installed.)

5. No

6. Depends what alarms you're talking about, but overall 1 in 15 nowadays. Was more frequent. I've since dropped PI in favour of AF, but used to get highest rate of failure with PI Alarm Notes.

=================================

Have you studied the thread at http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=20

It's a bit ragged, but earlier sections should give you some useful insights and several other user inputs.

Seems to me to be a preponderance of iPAQ problems. Is HP now actively on the case, as per thread:

Subject: ipaq 55550 PPC 2003 notification - fails consistently!
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 19:34:50 -0800
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.pocketpc

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

EvgenQa

12-13-2003, 01:26 PM

1. Cassiopeia E-115, PocketPC 2000, MIPS
2. only when off
3. Haali reader, language input driver
4. no periferals attached
5. no communications
6. approx. once a week or two weeks (aprox. 8% - 15%)

Good luck!

gtmtnbiker98

12-13-2003, 03:32 PM

1. H2215 and H4155
2. Alarms are reliable (knock on wood).
3. Drivers installed: D-Link PPC 2003 Beta drivers.
4. D-Link 660w Wireless CF
5. Alarms work reliably

I have the following software installed on both handhelds:

Adobe Acrobat Reader 1.0
Resco File Explorer
F-Secure File Crypto
Pocket Quicken
HP Bluetooth Update for the H2215
MSN Messenger update.
Peacemaker

Again, my alarms are reliable, they successfully wake up the device when needed. Now watch, as soon as I tell you this they will stop working. With the exception of Pocket Quicken, all of the applications that I have installed are from the OEM CD's.

cyclwestks

12-13-2003, 05:45 PM

On my iPAQ 1940 I just did a hard reset about a week ago, unintentonally; but every alarm I've set has fired. I seemed to have some problems before, & I had wisbar & several other today programs installed.

Now I only have Handbase,Flexwallet, & Pocket Informant installed. I frequently hook up to my desktop using bluetooth.

hactar

12-13-2003, 06:12 PM

Shrink

12-13-2003, 06:49 PM

This used to happen to me a lot. Finally tracked down the cause.

Do not turn your PocketPC off manually - let it go to sleep.

If I press the off button to turn it off before I go to sleep, chances are that it won't wake up. So I leave it on, and let it turn itself off. Now I never have this problem anymore. Of course, this won't help for alarms for appointments, but at least I wake up on time!

Thanks! I'll give that a try tonight. As I mentioned before, this problem is 100% reproduceable and has affected both Axims I have had, in addition to an HP2215 I was using for a couple of weeks. Those of you saying that you don't have the problem, do the following:

1. Prior to midnight, manually shut off the device making sure you have an alarm set for the morning.

2. Do not turn on the pocket pc manually prior to the morning alarm.

3. Notice if the reminder goes off at the scheduled time.

Please post back your results. The key factor is the manual shut off prior to midnight and not turning the device back on before the next scheduled reminder.

dma1965

12-13-2003, 10:05 PM

Dar

12-13-2003, 10:22 PM

1) HP 5450
2) Off
3) Std software, plus Mapoplis, spb Plus
4) SDIO Card
5) Bluetooth
6) 70%

Shrink

12-13-2003, 10:39 PM

ikesler

12-14-2003, 02:00 AM

1.Ipaq 4155 2003 Version 4.20.1081 (Build 13100)
2. Alarms have missed alerting me with the device on and off..... mostly off however.
3. WisBar Adv., PI, Journal Bar, are the only things always running on my device...
4. Sandisk SD card 256 in all the time.
5. Nothing left on all the time
6. It happens off and on.... when it is working it will be fine for a long time and then I will miss all alarms for like 1 or 2 days. Everyonce in a while it will just not fire. I soft reset and occasionally it fixes it. But oftten I just turn on the devcie and it goes off.

jeremyweisser

12-14-2003, 04:13 AM

1. iPAQ 4350 ROM Revision 1.00.07ENG
2. Alarms do not go off while unit is powered off but appear when unit is on.
3. Performed hard reset but results are exactly the same as when additional software is installed.
4. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi both off.
5. In cradle and out.

buckyg

12-14-2003, 05:28 AM

1) iPAQ 5555
2) Alarms do not work when unit is off. When unit is powered on, then the alarms will sound. If unit is on, all alarms seem to work fine.
3) Dashboard & its Enhanced Mail, Pocket Plus, Pocket Backup Plus, Stocks & Weather Today (more software installed, these always are running)
4) SD card always installed
5) Nothing left on: Wifi & Bluetooth turned on/off manually as needed.
6) 100%
Unit on = working alarms
Unit off = alarms wait until you turn it on.

Thanks for the thread, hope it helps someone find the definitive answer!

vargon

12-14-2003, 05:40 AM

1) iPAQ 5550
2) Device is always off when the alarms fail to fire. When turned on, the alarm notification will fire. If the device is left on, alarms will sound normally.
3) I thought maybe it was something I had installed, so I hard reset to the base ROM image and still had the problem.
4) 256 MB Sandisk SD card always present.
5) Generally leave WiFi on all the time. Bluetooth is always off. I do shut WiFi off sometimes to save battery power when not near any APs. I've never seen an alarm or reminder wake up my device when it was in the off state, so I don't think wifi state affects it.
6) 100%. I have yet to see an alarm or reminder fire when the device is off.

mhowie

12-14-2003, 02:55 PM

buckyg

12-14-2003, 05:29 PM

Nope, not a duplicate post. In my previous post, forgot to add that my wife's PPC gives the same results, but it's a different model...

1) iPAQ 5455
2) Alarms do not work when unit is off. When unit is powered on, then the alarms will sound. If unit is on, all alarms seem to work fine.
3) Dashboard (without Enhanced Mail), Pocket Plus, Pocket Backup Plus, Stocks & Weather Today (more software installed, these always are running)
4) SD card always installed
5) Nothing left on: Wifi & Bluetooth turned on/off manually as needed.
6) 100%
Unit on = working alarms
Unit off = alarms wait until you turn it on.

Shrink

12-14-2003, 06:21 PM

By allowing the device to shut itself off last night, the reminder woke the device up this morning for the first time in a LONG time.

Gypsy63

12-15-2003, 12:00 AM

1) iPAQ 1945
2) Alarms do not work when unit is off (intermittent). When unit is powered on, then the alarms will sound. If unit is on, all alarms seem to work fine. Backlight does not always turn on.
3) Clear Notify
Check Notifications
Clear Temp
Handy Menu
Handy Launcher
MS Reader
MS Reader Activation
eWallet
Agenda Fusion
List Pro
NeoTiles
Manzingo
Resco Explorer 2003
Calendar+
WisBar Advance
OneMail
Acrobat Reader
Wakeup Tweak
4) SD card always installed
5) Nothing left on: Bluetooth not used
6) 70-80%
Unit on = working alarms
Unit off = alarms wait until you turn it on.

mattchapin

12-15-2003, 07:32 AM

1) Toshiba e755, ppc2003

2) I have only noticed the problem of alarms not firing when the device is off.

3)
Software currently installed:
Various Astraware games, Isilo, Handmark Scrabble, PDAWin Personal Secure Notes, Calligrapher, Resco picture viewer, Scarybear ClearNotify, Vindigo, PocketInformant

Software that's been installed in the past and didn't solve the problem:
OmegaOne battery Pack (I've tried every version since July '03), SPB Pocket Plus (most recent version as of Nov. '03), Agenda Fusion (Tried in July '03)

Note: Installed software doesn't seem to be the issue. I have confirmed my suspicions that this is an OS issue by doing a hard reset, entering an appointment, turning the device off and observing as the alarm failed to sound.

4) 1GB CF Card in internal slot

5) I generally keep my Wifi radio turned off via the hardware switch.

6) 10-15% of alarms fail to go off until I turn on the device.[/b]

Shrink

12-15-2003, 02:30 PM

Second morning in a row where my wake-up reminder actually went off! Woohooo! :D

Letting the device power itself off at night really does appear to work. Thanks!

hdsalinas

12-15-2003, 03:39 PM

Sometimes before falling asleep I turned on the ipaq to see what time it was (about three seconds) and then turned it off. Next morning the alarms would not go off.

Then I tried something I read somehere, that before you turn your PPC off, you need to keep it on for at least 6 seconds or so. It has to do with something on the OS but I am not sure what it was. Ther fact is that it works for me.

hubermd

12-15-2003, 05:31 PM

5455 upgraded to 2003

always turn of bluetooth and wifi
running on battery.
never failed before upgrade.
it is random and the alarms always go off when the device is turned on.

I have tried a soft reset just before going to bed. Still didn't wake me up.
I tried a soft reset and then running check notifications and clearing the bogus ones. Still didn't wake me up.
Last night I did not go to bed until after midnight. Did not soft reset, just turned the unit off. Alarm went off as scheduled.

This is one of those good news bad news things. with 2002 I couldn't have repeating reminders without buying third party software but it always woke me up. Now I get repeating reminders and the alarms don't work.

MadBison

12-16-2003, 04:38 AM

I have iPAQ 5550, And it works fine, the alarm sounds.

Would be interested in seeing the final results of this study.

Thanks
David

i700SoCalGuy

12-16-2003, 11:50 AM

1) iPAQ 5455 Brand New 2002 - then Upgraded to 2003 before installing any other software.

2) When device is off the alarms don't wake it up. But then when I turn it on, they all go off and half the time they vie for memory with the Bluetooth Manager locating available Bluetooth and with my WLAN Mgr locating available networks and they lock up the system requiring soft reset, but I did download from HP a Bluetooth driver fix which has helped that to about only 20% lockup if alarm went off while PPC is off. All alarms work fine when I'm using it or it is otherwise on.

3) Ready? Here we go:
Pocket Backup
Pocket Mon
Decuma On Spot Handwriting Recognition
SPB Pocket Plus
Slovo Ed Dictionary Driver
Paragon French/English English French Bi-Directional Dictionary
Menuman
Agenda Fusion 5.3
Resco Utility Package (Explorer and Pic Viewer only - not task mgr)
Runic Software - Solitaire Engine (best card game ever!)
T-Counter - Countdown to a date
Nevo - Remote Control Software (Manuf installed)
Audible Player
Fonix VoiceCentral 2.0
HP Mobile Printing (drivers and software)
ListTree
NoPlugins (love this little freeware!)
Optimized Wi-Fi Sites - Microsoft
Tranparent Language Before You Know It - French
Valksoft Space Reclaimer
Then all of the standard MS software - Word, Excel, Reader, etc.

4) Always have the Expansion Pack on with CF card slot and extra extended battery. CF card is usually in, but doesn't seem to affect alarms whether in or not. Always have a 256 MB SD card (just memory)also with music and e-books on it

5) I do generally leave both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on - seldomly turn off manually - so I don't know how that affects the issues

6) After Bluetooth driver update from HP down from 50% of turning on device from off state to 20%

I hope this helps you out - it is ridiculous to have alarms if they don't warn you of something! Thanx and the best of luck to you and to everyone posting here........

Peace, Michael

racerx

12-16-2003, 05:52 PM

I am sorry, but not being able to use my Pocket PC after midnight is NOT an acceptable solution.

"Doctor, my hand hurts if I hold it like this."

"Well, says the doctor, don't hold it like that!"

That wasn't intended to be a solution but a means of replicating the bug. If you regularly use your PPC after midnight you will never run into the problem.

I actually thought that would be a solution as well, so for 1 week, I made sure I turned on my unit for at least a minute after midnight. It didn't make any difference as to alarm reliability. Getting around 85-95% of alarms sounding, but that 5-15% is what kills me.

I should add though that it is only the first alarm of the morning that I have an issue with. All interday alarms work for me without exception.

hubermd

12-16-2003, 08:06 PM

5455

so, last night at 11:45pm I let the device shut itself off and this morning the alarm sounded as it was suppose to.

Shrink

12-17-2003, 02:30 PM

Well, after a couple of mornings of haivng the alarm go off successfully, the last 2 mornings it has not, in spite of having let the device power off by itself the night before. Arggghhh.....

hubermd

12-17-2003, 11:59 PM

same here. Let the device power itself off and it didn't sound the alarm this morning.

StuartM

12-18-2003, 01:45 AM

Shrink

12-18-2003, 03:20 AM

StuartM - thanks for the update!

Chairman Clench

12-18-2003, 05:19 PM

As of 12/16/03, I spoke with a gentleman from HP who said he is as high as you can get in the Executive office regarding Customer Service issues. I have spoken to tier 2 techs prior. He is waiting for me to submit additional info to him. He claimed that based on my complaints he had spent almost the entire day on the phone with engineers and they have concluded that this is an MS issue, and although they are attempting to work with Micrslop, oops I mean Microsoft, it is difficult to say if or when it will EVER be resolved. I am on my second 5555 and it is pathetic that you are unable to depend on a device that costs over $600.00 for the most basic of functions - notifications!!! I asked him how companies such as HP can KNOWINGLY continue to sell a defective product - and received no comment. From what I have seen and the research I have done I am told it is estimated that about 70% of these devices are problematic. I am curious to know if the Dell handhelds have this issue.
It is like purchasing an automobile that only starts randomly once and a while. That would be totally unacceptable. I think we need to group together and inform potential PDA purchasing consumers that we may never see this resolved. I will update this, should I hear anything different.
If we don't get the word out there, informing EVERYONE of this problem, the complete lack of Q/C will be a continued and acceptable business practice. I don't know about you, but I need a handheld that I can trust, this isn't a toy, executives rely on such tools.
Happy Holidays to all!

This has been going on since PPC 2002. I had 2 different model iPAQs (3835 and 3970) and at least 3 of each model (due to poor QC). Every single one had this problem to some degree. I was going to buy a WM2003 device, but when I started to read that people were STILL having this problem, I gave up and bought a Palm.

Folks on this site can dis Palms all they want, but EVERY single alarm/reminder has sounded perfectly and Hot Sync works flawlessly every single time for me. That's something that I could never say about any of the iPAQs I owned. Sure, there are things I miss about the PPC, but the most important use of a PDA to me is my calendar and alarms reminding me where to go. That was the overriding element of my decision to abandon the PPC platform.

If they ever get this issue fixed, I will probably come back to the PPC camp. Meanwhile I have been on time for every meeting since switching to Palm.

andyclap

12-19-2003, 02:12 PM

O2 XDA II

Fair amount of software, only Nyditot Virtual Display and Calendar+ run continuously

Alarms not working 50% of the time, almost missed a flight because of this.
Exactly the same situation on the XDA I

But -
Installed software: Burr Oak Software WakeupTweak, 60s wakup timeout.

And... Alarms working 100% of time

brianbar

12-19-2003, 07:53 PM

1. hp2215
2. Device off
3. Pocket Informant, Sprint DB, Worldmate
4. SD and CF cards always in
5. Bluetooth off
6. About once a week. Seems to be more often with Alarm Clock alarm first thing in morning.

jjerez

12-20-2003, 03:34 AM

H5555
Unit off, no alarm when turn on, previos (passed) alarm go off.
Tried as each on 3th party software is installed, tehy all in the bigining worked, then sudden start with the problem, not right after installation of sofware so, unable to determine if any or which software will create problem, I did this 3 times after "hard reset" and different combinations so ???

Have installed:
alarm me
agenda fusion
acrobat reader
AT alarm
Audio recorder (RASCO)
Code Wallet
Cool CAlc
HandBase
HPC Notes
HPC Spell
Picture Perfect 5.1
Pocket Informant
Pocket Loan Calc
Pocket Quicken
Pocket Streets
Pocket music
Resco file exploter
Text Maker
Unit converter
Windows Midia
Pocket Bible Laridian
Bible Handmark
Picture viewer
Fullhand casino
Freecell
calligrapher
VD Virual display

Have 256 SD card

Happen almost every night then as far I can tell, after the first turn on, and the alarm that was schedule but was late, then the rest of the alarms appears to be go, till next morning.

The worst pocket I ever had, I owned Casio and the 3800 series, they worked as adverised this, the only reason I keep it is becasue I need the 128RAM and the speed.

StuartM

12-20-2003, 06:41 AM

jjerez:

Don't you feel totally ripped off? I feel ripped off? I somehow doubt that PPC users sit there and drool as we write checks for yet another product that doesn't work. Come on guys - we pay a bit for these PPCs - and it DOES not do what they claim it can do. Again, can you imagine if this was a car that intermittently stopped working? Why would HP KNOWINGLY continue to sell these? This is unacceptable. It is a shame that this topic isn't plastered on the front page of this site. It appears once again MS is giving us garbage for our money or is it HP - doesn't this upset anyone enough to do something about it? MS is saying that the end users DO NOT matter - just keep writing those checks for a product that doesn't work! Apparently HP agrees with that philosophy. Low quality such as this explains why Redhat Stock is going through the ceiling! People in Corp America are fed up with Microsoft - I see it every day.

jjerez

12-20-2003, 07:12 AM

Yes, called hp many, many times. some times the response is that the 3th party software is the problem, but also many times some tech their response is that should not be the problem, they agree that why you will buy a unit so expensive and be only tie to use the "build-in" included software? when there are tons of more usefull software that "need" to be so we can do production specially with a unit that I was told was disign for the "bussiness" market (h5555).
I agree 100% with this concept, I need to be able to load any software I need to make it productive and efficient, if not possible because will conflict then I can continue with my "paper planner" and then I know that that is all I have.

You might "sense" our frustation and despointment on what supost to be great, productive, better unit. I which to return it and get something more usefull, the problem I see almost all the other units are also win 2003 and I see report kind of the same problem, This means I probably will get the some problem right?
Hope someone find a solution .
Jaime

Shrink

12-20-2003, 04:17 PM

O2 XDA II

But -
Installed software: Burr Oak Software WakeupTweak, 60s wakup timeout.

And... Alarms working 100% of time

Thanks for the tip about WakeupTweak! It worked this morning! I'll keep my fingers crossed for the next few days, try it every morning, and report back.

StuartM

12-20-2003, 04:26 PM

Just so everyone knows here regarding the alarm problem. Firstly, I have had this occur on two 5555s with ABSOLULTELY no third party applications installed. This is on two 5555s so I have little doubt that it is caused by a third party application. At least in my testing - with a complete reset - wiping out the OS etc., and adding NOTHING to the 5555 - it is still a problem. I have some info I have to get to this high level cust service mgr (which I will by the end of the weekend). But I am being told again (at least that is HPs story) that this is an MS issue - and you know how they take responsibility for what they do. As consumers this is in fact incorrect. Back to the automobile scenario. If you purchase a brand new automobile and it just cuts out while you are driving, and lets say this affects 50-60% of all "units", lets go further and say it is caused by a chipset on the on board computer. It would not be the end-users responsibility to resolve this with the chip manufacturer!!!! Although I do like the PPC platform - I am doubtful unless someone or a group goes after HP on a high level - nothing will be done anytime soon. Although I much rather stay with this platform perhaps it is worth looking at two that are far more stable. One being Palm (rather not though), or Microsofts biggest fear (rightfully so), which is Linux. I just saw another 140,000 desktops (thats right - desktops) move to linux in Europe. Why? Because it just works. I am starting to see it all over data centers in my area. I mean high end machines from IBM with 32 + processors doing virtualization. Servers that stay up for years without requiring a reboot, and even if security updates surface, so far the Open Source Community has been more responsive than MS ever has.

moaske

12-20-2003, 07:08 PM

To StuartM: i'm afraid HP can't do much about this one, cause this is defenitly a bug in the OS by M$... so start bashing M$ instead ;)

My findings:
Device: iPaq 4150
Software: changes a lot, but SPB with the fix is on there
Bluetooth and WiFi off unless i use it
In the beginning every alarm sounded just fine, but since a few days they stopped working for the full 100%; device on or off doesn't matter :evil:
Checked all settings, uninstalled every 3rd party PIM-app....nothing helps.
Strangely enough a task reminder DID just go off (device off)... But ALL appointments FAIL!
I also noticed that compared to 2000 and 2002 devices the 2003 devices do not wake up at midnight and so do not update their notification database.
My guess is that the problem resides in this lack of waking up as well as the duplicate notifications in the events database bug.

I must say that this is an unacceptable bug in the OS, since the notifactions are THE ONE THING you buy a pocketpc for: to replace my failing memory ! 8O
Without 100% reliability on this, my pocketpc gets degraded to a way too expensive game-boy / mail terminal. :evil:
I hope M$ will fix this rather sooner than later, and it BETTER BE a ROM-update !

andyclap

12-21-2003, 12:25 AM

Just to follow up on the "wakeup tweak" program - it's worth having a look at the site as it gives a good explaination of the cause of the alarm failure (here http://www.burroak.on.ca/wm2k3tweaks.html and discussed on TekGuru http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=20): Basically when the PPC is off, every few minutes it does a soft wake-up that allows programs to run for 10 seconds or so, before returning to full suspension. If you have a lot of programs running, the 10 seconds doesn't give the system enough time to check alarms and calendar norifications, and so they are missed. The tweak alters a registry setting that extends the time that processes are allowed to wake up for (probably at the expense of battery life). It also verifies the notification event queue that often gets corrupted by third party applications (e.g. just about everything on the XDAII/PPC 2003).

As you mentioned in your initial introduction to this topic, this is not the place for rants, but I really have to say Microsoft can't presently call the PocketPC platform devices personal digital assistants if they are incapable of performing the simplest alarm functionality reliably. MS have spent too much time concentrating on satellite functionality such as Media Player, and Compact Framework, letting the PDA core functionallty fall into disrepair. They really need some good usability testing on their PPC platform. </rant>

ctmagnus

12-21-2003, 07:15 AM

Shrink

12-21-2003, 07:17 AM

Basically when the PPC is off, every few minutes it does a soft wake-up that allows programs to run for 10 seconds or so, before returning to full suspension. If you have a lot of programs running, the 10 seconds doesn't give the system enough time to check alarms and calendar norifications, and so they are missed.

I rarely have more than a few programs running at a time and I always shut all of them down before I turn the unit off for the night. I have never had an alarm issue with PPC2003. Coincidence?

If that's the case, try this: before midnight, turn your pocket pc off manually while having a reminder set to wake you up in the morning. Don't power on the device manually and see if the reminder goes off when it should. If the reminder goes off, please report back the specs of your device. Thanks!

ctmagnus

12-21-2003, 07:26 AM

The last alarm I set worked but I haven't used any for several weeks, so I just set an alarm for tomorrow AM.

iPaq 5550 with all MS patches to date applied
Pocket Informant 4.6.0
ListPro 3.0.2T, completely ignoring the alarm feature
Spb Pocket Plus 1.3.0, build 59 with 2003 startup fix enabled
Startup folder contents:
- Battey Monitor.lnk
- BioDetect.lnk
- BTTrayCE.lnk
- DM_k.lnk
- GigaTask.lnk
- PIMAgent.lnk
- Pocket Plus.lnk
- poutlook.lnk
- romupdnote.lnk

ctmagnus

12-21-2003, 04:18 PM

Shrink

12-21-2003, 05:11 PM

8:00 AM: Bing-bong, bing-bong, bing-bong...

(This alarm was set via Date on tha Today screen -> Alarms ... / Start -> Settings -> System -> Clock -> Alarms, not via any PIM apps or anything else)

Now excuse me as I roll over and go back to sleep; I am really not a morning person ;)

LOL - thanks for trying that. What I actually meant for you to try was settting a reminder in your calendar, rather than using the alarm function. However, it is interesting that the alarm function worked okay.

Hope your remaining sleep was restful :-)

For others, the Wakeuptweak program mentioned continues to work. I manually turned off the pocket pc last night and it woke up with a reminder this morning the way it should have.

i700SoCalGuy

12-21-2003, 05:43 PM

Chairman Clench wrote:

This has been going on since PPC 2002. I had 2 different model iPAQs (3835 and 3970) and at least 3 of each model (due to poor QC).

This is opposite of my findings. I owned a 3765 (excellent work horse) and a 3835 (wonderful upgrade at the time) and neither had this issue. I had always used my iPAQ's (and my Philips Nino 500 prior to those dating back to 1999 and the very early MS OS) as my alarm clock whether at home or traveling and none of those ever once failed me! And as for customer service, I found Compaq near the top of the ladder and HP a rung above them!

I understand we all have different experiences to go on, but truly this is not an iPAQ or HP issue, but a WinMobile 2003 issue that I did wish I knew about previous to upgrading my brand new 5455 to the OS, I would have left it with the reliable 2002.

I also want to mention a Thanx out to:

andyclap

Just to follow up on the "wakeup tweak" program - it's worth having a look at the site as it gives a good explaination of the cause of the alarm failure (here http://www.burroak.on.ca/wm2k3tweaks.html and discussed on TekGuru http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=20 ):

for sharing that with us.... I am going to go immediately to those links and see what further I can discover. Hopefully we all get the satisfication each of us seeks in this matter! Keep up the great posts everyone.... I definitely appreciate them........

Peace - Michael

StuartM

12-21-2003, 06:41 PM

moaske – in response to your response, that I should be bashing M$ and not HP. I don’t believe I was bashing but I honestly feel that HP should be held accountable. How can they continue to sell these expensive handhelds KNOWINGLY that there is a serious problem with them? I have missed a meeting with a CIO with a large company, someone else posted that they missed a flight, Yet HP will willing take your $$$$ and they are not telling anyone before they buy this toy, that it in fact doesn’t perform the most basic functions. Instead, once they have your $$$ they blame MS. A legitimate business should put their foot down and contact M$ and say, we are pulling this from the market (M$ - you will not receive licensing fees for your untested OS), until it is in fact fixed – then we will start sales again. This sends a strong statement. Short term it may affect them financially, long term – consumers will be VERY loyal knowing that HP is looking out for consumers. I am fond of my 5555 it is attractive looking but what is the point if it doesn’t work.
andyclap – in response to what you posted, I couldn’t agree more. Microsoft is in the habit of beta testing after the sale. As long as we allow it – it will continue. There are several other issues with the 5555, I am not sure if it is OS specific. The 5555 appears to NEVER go to sleep in the cradle even though you have it set to do so. I have tested 2 5555s side by side with 3835s, which are running 2002. The processor in the 3835 is 200 or 206Mhz. The processor in the 5555 is 400Mhz. Try it side by side after a soft reset. Watch how the start menu responds and “pops” on the 206 MHz 3835, take a look at how fast the programs open on 3835. Then check them on the $650.00 400Mhz 5555. For the most part (again without any third party programs installed, after a reset), the 206Mhz processor blows away the 5555. On some tests – the 5555 is almost as fast. HPs response – oh, that has to do with the OS. I could be wrong, but I don’t think any of us want to hear that – it is for HP to work out with MS. I very well may have to move back to the Palm or to a Linux PDA – I do need something that works. One company I do work for is planning on buying 15 or so PDAs. I absolutely cannot recommend PPCs with an OS from a company that doesn’t care what they put out untested prior to the sale.

ctmagnus

12-21-2003, 10:09 PM

LOL - thanks for trying that. What I actually meant for you to try was settting a reminder in your calendar, rather than using the alarm function.

I was going to try that tomorrow ;) I'll report back with any issues then.

StuartM

12-22-2003, 06:01 AM

Just to clarify, I have actually never used the alarms but only the notifications in the calendar - and that is what has been failing consistently for me.
I hope you have better luck. About 30-40% of the time they work. On occasion, I would say 60%. Anything less than 100% isn't really acceptable for this function - do you agree?

Have a good day!

easycass

12-22-2003, 06:18 AM

Hi,

Have had a bit of involvement in the testing of this. What a pain it has been. Just to add me to the stats, here is a rundown of my symptoms:-

1) HP 2210 (Bought from Singapore for Australian market).
2) When switched on, alarms and notifications fire fine. When switched off, have approximately 5 to 20% failure rate.
3) Get 5% unreliability straight out of the box. 20% unreliability with Pocket Informant 4.6, and BatteryPack 5.1.1.
4) With no peripherals attached, I can get up to the 20% unreliability mark. However, right now I do have 512 SD card and 1GB CF card. Found more problems (slower startup time) with 1GB IBM Microdrive... at times getting up to 30% unreliability.
5) No device settings on.
6) Percentages as noted above... 5 to 20%.

Am running Cam's Burr Oak PwerStateOn (original version), have set a 60 second battery power-up timeout registry value and now get 100% alarms. If I remove either of these two, I start getting unreliable alarms again.

By the way, have heard this is currently the official line from MS:-

"We've been alerted of unforeseen functionality regarding alarms on some Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC devices and Microsoft is currently in the process of investigating this issue."

Cheers and good luck with furthering the fix of this annoying problem!

Cass.

StuartM

12-22-2003, 01:47 PM

easycass:

I have a question for you. Last night I installed WakeupTweak - and even though I had absolutely nothing scheduled to go off (Reminders in Calendar) @ 6:00 am 3 went off at that time. When I verified the times of the reminders set, none were before 8:00am.
I haven't installed Cam's Burr Oak PwerStateOn - because I was unable to find it. It appears the link I have found doesn't point toward it. Was it pulled? In my first attempt to use WakeupTweak - I found it would totally throw my screen calibration out of alignment randomly - to the point where if I ran the self test - it would fail. I would have to recalibrate 7-8 times per day. Mind you, I enter most of my data using the block recognizer on screen. Do you know where I might find PwrStateOn? Have you had any issues with it? As for the official word from MS - I heard they were looking into since 2002. So umm I guess that means we are going on 2 years now. No ETA whatsoever of a possible fix!

Shrink

12-22-2003, 02:43 PM

Another morning using Wakeuptweak and my Axim woke up as it should have to remind me to get up for another day of hell on earth. :D BTW, I have set the idle time outs to 60s/60s and have "Always wake up PPC to full power mode" enabled. Install this little bit of freeware and see if it helps you!

StuartM

12-22-2003, 06:58 PM

Does anyone know where I can find the installer for Pwerstate on? The link on tekguru's site no longer points to it.

Thanks!

ctmagnus

12-23-2003, 12:52 AM

My appointment alarm went off this morning. So both appointment alarms (which I rarely use) and clock settings alarms (which I use less rarely but still very rarely) both work on my setup.

I've developed a different issue in recent weeks, though: the iPaq will randomly turn iteslf on, always within two minutes of being shut off. It's not an alarm issue but it's related to the iPaq waking up.

easycass

12-23-2003, 06:34 AM

Hi StuartM,

Sorry to hear about your screen alignment problems. Since this is the first time I have heard about this problem in association with alarm problems, my only guess is that there might be some software conflict between the WakeupTweak program and something else you have installed, or else it is something else 'coincidental'... always difficult to know what to suggest in situataions when the installation history of a amchine is not totally known. I ran all my tests from a 'clean machine', ie: after a hard reset. another thing I do, prior to any installation of any new peice of software, is a full system back-up in case I need to reload in the older configuration.

Anyway, to your question, the PowerStateOn bit of software does not seem to be available now using the link. It was written by the same dude, Cam, from Burr Oak Software. It is essentially the same as the latest version WakeupTweak, except the latter makes changing all the options easier, and therefore, the effect should be the same using either software package, so long as you have the WakupTweak software set to a 60 second timeout value and the 'always wakeup PPC' option checked.

With regard to the otehr problems you are experiencing, since they are unusual, in order to assess actually 'what' software is causing the alignment problems, one way is by process of elimination, either deleting packages one at a time, or doing a hard reset and adding packages til things go wrong. The latter is the preferable way if possible...

Hope that helps,
Cass.

MikeInDallas

12-23-2003, 10:48 AM

1) iPAQ 2210
2) Yes
3) I _am_ running Pocket Plus, which some have suggested might be at fault. However, I used to run it on PPC2002 and the alarm worked, so I really don't think that's to blame. Otherwise, nothing that should affect hardware in any way. No external hardware drivers, nothing else that loads at reset time.
4) 512MB CF, 256MB SD, always installed.
5) Bluetooth off
6) 90%-100% not exactly sure

Note: The alarm is a big feature for me as I use it to wake up in the morning. I've done this with my old iPAQ 3650 and later iPAQ 3765 and it worked 99.9% of the time on both units.

As such, I have found that if I reset the device just before I go to bed, the alarm will fire off with 100% reliability in the morning. Sometimes I'll reset, wait for it to load, then turn it off. Reset works whether it's plugged in or not.

This also affects calendar. It's a hideous, unacceptable bug and Microsoft should be ashamed for releasing a defect of this magnitude. I've missed meetings because I was so used to being able to depend on my PPC to blip at me when it was time.

StuartM

12-29-2003, 04:44 AM

Mike:

I finally had a moment to send the requested info to the senior cust serv contact at HP. I expect a response shortly. Unfortunately, from my initial conversation with him, he told me it has been determined that it is an MS issue and they are in no hurry to resolve it - or may never resolve it. I totally agree with you. How a company could release a product in this condition is totally unacceptable and HP is just as guilty for knowing pushing a product that doesn't work. I just stumbled across the Law Firm that is pursuing a class action against MS for junk software with security vulnerabilities - based on my response from HP, I will attempt to reach a human there. I missed another 10 reminders on Friday and a few very important meetings -thanks Microslop!!! This is why Redhat stock is up over 200% this year. People are fed up with low quality untested, software that the company that licenses it - takes zero responsibility for!!!!
Read the fine print on any MS software - they take no responsibility - and they have the right to slam Open Source - which blows away anything coming from Redmond to date? Cute!!!
I will keep you posted on the response I receive from HP. Meanwhile - I must say the new Palms are killer - and they actually work and rarely ever crash! One company I do work for was about to purchase 15-20 PDAs but they must have the Reminders working, Oh well, sorry wm2003 and HP - It appears that Palm scored a small win!

Ed Hansberry

12-29-2003, 01:56 PM

Unfortunately, from my initial conversation with him, he told me it has been determined that it is an MS issue and they are in no hurry to resolve it - or may never resolve it.
There are three false statements in that sentence.

StuartM

12-30-2003, 02:29 AM

Hello Ed:
Please see below. Thanks!
>>StuartM wrote:
>>Unfortunately, from my initial conversation with him, he told me it has >>been determined that it is an MS issue and they are in no hurry to >>resolve it - or may never resolve it.

>>>There are three false statements in that sentence.

Ed:
For the record, I did not fabricate any of my former posts here. I am simply and honestly repeating what I have been told. I just called HP support as well as Dell support and spoke with three Axim users (2 of which are techies as well).

Here is what I was told by HP and this was posted in their Internal Knowledgebase: The alarm and notification issue affects the following models 1900, 2200, 3100, 3600, 3700, 3800, 3900 & 5400 - the tech then added that it also does affect the 4150 and 5500s. As per HP -they say it is an MS issue. The tech I spoke with said he just got off the phone with a call about the Reminder problem but he did state that he hasn't had a lot of calls on it, perhaps many of the users don't rely that heavily on the alarms.

Dell Support:
- Tech had 1 yr experience (HP had 6 months - tier 1), The Dell Tech said that he nor another tech he works with, nor their intranet knowledgebase - had any record whatsoever or any alarm or reminder issues since the release of the first Axim.

If it is in fact an MS issue one would think it would also be prevalent among the Axims. Does anyone out there have this problem with Axims?

Ed, I have one goal (as a consultant with 14+ yrs experience in multiple platforms Novell, Windows, Cisco, Apple, Solaris, AIX), to get this resolved, and to make other users aware. If there are three false statements and you know of a pending fix - do share. I would happily keep my 5555- I just need it to work!

HP was not provided an ETA to a resolution, and I think I need to confirm for myself about the Axims - unless someone else here is able to.

Regards,
Stuartm

Ed Hansberry

12-30-2003, 02:37 AM

easycass

12-30-2003, 03:39 AM

Hi there,

Just for your info, here are some comments from HP and MS from my investigations so far...

1. Comments from HP Asia/Pacific Customer Support...

"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"

2. Comments I have from HP USA Technical Support...

"We understand your concern and truly regret the inconvenience.

Please note that the Microsoft is aware of this issue and they are working on a resolution for it.

We thank you for your patience and co-operation in this regard."

3. I also prompted PC Pro Magazine to write a story on it. A journalist from their team contacted me with MS's response to him, as follows...

"We've been alerted of unforeseen functionality regarding alarms on some Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC devices and Microsoft is currently in the process of investigating this issue. As with every release, the goal of Microsoft and our partners is to provide the best experience to our customers. Overall, feedback from product reviewers, enthusiasts and customers has been positive around the quality and performance of the Windows Mobile software"

PC Pro will be publishing the article in the near future. I believe this is some of what we need. MS and HP need to see some bad publicity on this issue. Whilst these forums are useful for trying to ascertain and possibly find a way around the problem ourselves, it would be great if all of us could write more letters to magazines etc to get the story out there. Publicity is a powerful way to get some attention and get this fixed sooner...

Just a thought. Cheers,
Cass.

StuartM

12-30-2003, 04:01 AM

Cass:

Excellent work getting the word out. I am not entirely sure it is in fact an MS issue. I have been told that the Dell Axims - simply work flawlessly by 3 users and Tech Support had no record of Reminder issues. I couldn't agree with you more. Whether a 1900or a 5555 this function should work and should have been tested prior to release. As per the gentleman I spoke with from HP there is absolutely no ETA as of yet for a patch to be available. I don't know who is more accurate. I would keep the 5555 but it needs to work - and soon. If it is in fact true that all of the Dell Axims are fine when it comes to reminders - then I don't see how it is the code of the OS, unless HP does write the equivalent of drivers to talk to chipsets on their PDAs. What have you heard on the Dells?

Thanks!
Stu

easycass

12-30-2003, 06:04 AM

Stu,

I have basically found that the majority of alarm problems reported over the internet affect the IPAQs, but have seen some threads for other brands, such as Dell, Toshiba etc. Here's one I just found doing a quick search for the Axim...

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=aximgensw&message.id=3348&highlight=alarm#M3348

If it does affect the HP IPAQs more than others, it could be a simple compatibility problem between MS's OS, HP's firmware, and whatever hardware is being used. I do not see how either MS or HP can discount the possibility of a flaw in each of their own software/firmware code without further investigation. Afterall, it could be sloppy MS code that brings out flaws in HP's code, since HP of course are expecting non-sloppy OS code; or maybe visa versa, with HP's firmware not being robust enough to handle MS's code; all in a nice little vicious circle. So, it's the chicken and the egg thing... So, yes, one or the other's fixed code might solve the problem, but I certainly believe they should 'both' be working on fixing the problem.

From many of the forums I have seen on this issue, there are many reasons why MS, HP, Toshiba and/or Dell don't see this alarm-problem as widespread. Firstly, it may only be niticeable to people that actually 'rely' on the alarms to work. Secondly, those people have to have the problem enough to actually do something about it. Thirdly, those people affected by it still can choose to report it, or do nothing. Some people may just return their unit to the store. Also, maybe the pronblem is only reported on a forum such as this, not to the manufacturer. Forthly, those people that do get in touch with the maunfacturer must be persistent in their efforts to report the problem, and be effective in their communication. This means, they must not be deterred by a support tech who tries to convince them it is either a feature of the machine, user-error or finger problems. And lastly, the reported problem must remain 'unresolved' from the support tech point-of-view for it to be properly logged as an outstanding problem that then 'might' go on to 'maybe' get some investigation. A company will only investigate a problem if reported by enough people.

So what the final figure is of the number of people actually pursuing the problem effectively all the way to the end of the process, I don't know...

The problem is there, as confirmed by the existence of this thread, and if everyone who writes to thes forums would also write to their manufacturers, we might get closer to pushing for an earlier fix. Just swapping to Palm won't solve it... although I'm tempted...

That's my rant for today (didn't mean for this response to grow this large, but there you go...)

Cheers and good luck with furthering the fixing of this problem,
Cass.

StuartM

12-31-2003, 11:00 PM

Cass:

>>>The problem is there, as confirmed by the existence of this thread, >>>and if everyone who writes to thes forums would also write to their >>>manufacturers, we might get closer to pushing for an earlier fix. Just >>>swapping to Palm won't solve it... although I'm tempted...

>>>That's my rant for today (didn't mean for this response to grow this >>>large, but there you go...)

>>>Cheers and good luck with furthering the fixing of this problem,
>>>Cass.

You are of course not ranting -I do agree with you. I found the Law firm that has filed a class action against MS - care to attempt to contact them along with me? I honestly feel that HP and other sellers of PDAs -that Knowingly sell a product that does not in fact work as advertised should be held liable as well. I am not sure if we can reach them and what good it will do - but at the cost of these handhelds - this is totally unacceptible.
HPs response was that they won't refund $$$ even though they know the product they continue to sell - does not work. That being said, all hardware recommendations we make to our clients Servers/Desktops/PDAs - will be Dell. PDAs - not sure yet but may move to Palm or Sharp (which runs Linux), a far superior OS to Winblows.

Would you like the info for the law firm? Perhaps I should post it here - and people will make some noise - but that may require approval of the guys responsible for this wonderful site.

Stu

shawnc

01-01-2004, 01:09 AM

HP 4155 - Alarms don't work.

StuartM

01-02-2004, 02:01 AM

ctmagnus

01-02-2004, 04:58 AM

Tell me, how pissed off are you that you paid in the neighborhood of about 400.00 for something that HP sold KNOWING that it in fact does not work? Do you intend to do anything about it? I think MS is pathetic! Where is the fix!!! I also think HP is just as pathetic - why are they selling devices that do not work?
Doesn't anyone else out there want to do anything about this?

Stu

Are you saying that you paid $400 for an alarm clock? You don't use your Pocket PC to read on? You don't listen to music on it? Watch a video on it? Surf the web? Play a game or two or three? Go wardriving (do not connect to any access points you find!)? Telnet into your WinXP Pro Box? God forbid, use PIM apps without alarm functionality, as people did with paper-based planners for millennia upon millennia before PDAs were invented?

Pocket PCs are not designed to be alarm clocks first and Pocket PCs second; it is far more than probable they were intended to be the other way around. If you want functioning alarms, I suggest you go out and buy a $7 digital watch whose battery may last three months before it dies. Or spend more and get a better quality watch. It will probably be much cheaper than a lawsuit that you may or may not win. Or if you absolutely must have one device, get a freaking Palm! But I cannot guarantee that the alarms on those work either, as I have never used one. One of the few things I know for sure is the alarms on my device function as advertised and I have done very little tweaking in that area on it. Which reminds me of this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22577).

andyclap

01-02-2004, 10:16 AM

Are you saying that you paid $400 for an alarm clock
No, most of us paid around $400 for a personal digital assistant.

personal digital assistant
n. Abbr. PDA
A lightweight, hand-held, usually pen-based computer used as a personal organizer.
Source: dictionary.com

So we're miffed that we've bought an organizer that doesn't organize us.

easycass

01-02-2004, 10:38 AM

To all,

Alarm clock, PDA, music-machine... whatever it is, if we are led to believe that some function works and it does not, we are entitled to either have it fixed or our money refunded. I guess the problem with most users that do rely on the alarms, rather than just use it as a jukebox, is that we cannot neither return ourt unit or have it fixed, which is rather unsatisfactory.

Anyway, as an aside, I just posted a polite request for an update on the problem on HP's technical website forum. My message, which in fact was very polite and factual, was bumped from their site within 4 hours of my posting.

I am fed up with this... Guess I just better go spend my $7 for an alarm clock afterall.

Hmmmm...
Cass.

shawnc

01-02-2004, 01:34 PM

Shawn:

Do you use reminders and or alarms often? Tell me, how pissed off are you that you paid in the neighborhood of about 400.00 for something that HP sold KNOWING that it in fact does not work? Do you intend to do anything about it? I think MS is pathetic! Where is the fix!!! I also think HP is just as pathetic - why are they selling devices that do not work?
Doesn't anyone else out there want to do anything about this?

Stu

Stu,

Surprisingly I'm not that pissed about this since the alarms are a VERY small part of what I use the PPC for. Having said that, I certainly understand your frustration and thoroughly disagree with any suggestion that a PPC was not intended as an alarm clock. If the functionality is included, IT SHOULD WORK! If alarms are not intended to be a part of the tool, then don't put them on the PPC. I don't feel that strongly one way or the other about it, but if it's on my machine then I have EVERY right and expectation that it will work. Additionally, how can notifications NOT be a part of the PPC functionality. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, whatever. It's not only important, it's CRITICAL to the functionality of what a PPC is supposed to be all about. It just so happens that in my situation, I don't use it that often.

I never really looked at it as HP knowlingly selling me something that doesnt work.......NOW I'm pissed :wink: .

I'm discovering so many new things with this PPC (just got my wireless to work yesterday, playing video, reading ebooks, etc) that the alarm issue is not that big a deal to me personally. But it is a BIG deal, and I agree totally with your sentiments.

StuartM

01-02-2004, 02:02 PM

Firstly
CTMAGNUS - when you do work for over 20 different companies and you have to track appointments, call backs, critical deadlines like remembering to reserve/renew domain names, so no one else reserves them when they expire, or meeting with a CIO before he goes overseas for a month, or how about missing a flight! Then you release that this PDA (not an alarm clock) is a critical tool that you rely on. Please don't misunderstand - I use it far more than for notifications - I rely on it for EVERYTHING. The advertised functionality should work, you are out of line - sorry. I already wear 1 cell phone 3 pagers, and a PDA. I would expect at the cost of a PDA that it should absolutely without a doubt work as advertised. If reminders do not in fact work - it is not a PDA. Anyone who is satisfied with a purchase they made that does not work and has paid their hard-earned dollars for it - should be pissed as well and feel ripped off.

CTMAGNUS - I guess you would be ok with purchasing an automobile that randomly just turns itself off and will not restart. However, this is unacceptable to most. As for Palm - I used to do development for the platform - The OS was quite solid and it worked as advertised!! Not only that for you PPC users that have not worked with the Palm platform, I used to enter about 90% of the text by writing directly on the screen, and many of the PPC users that haven't had any experience with Palms should know this. The screens were FAR more durable!! I would pound away writing on this thing constantly - I NEVER after even 5+ yrs of use with daily use of Palms did I have to concern myself with a single scratch on the screen!!! PPC users are being taken for a ride with low quality all around. I love the ability to do multi-tasking and if MS tested their product - they really could have something, they just are not in the habit of releasing software that isn't in beta.

Shawn/Easycass - yes, that is how I see it - HP is knowingly selling something - and some of the handhelds are as high as 600.00+ that in fact DO NOT work as advertised. Everyone should be pissed - and take action.
It is the individuals that look the other way that indirectly support companies such as Microslop in putting out low quality products. How about taking responsibility for a product you put out? Anything else is unacceptable!

Ed Hansberry

01-02-2004, 03:59 PM

Everyone should be pissed - and take action.
It is the individuals that look the other way that indirectly support companies such as Microslop in putting out low quality products. How about taking responsibility for a product you put out? Anything else is unacceptable!
Stuart, if you don't like it and it is failing you in what you consider its prime or at least key functinality, take it back. MS is aware of it and so it HP. They are trying to fix it but first they have to figure out why it is working for some people and not for others and why some devices are more susceptible to the problem. If they knew how to fix it, they would.

You are telling everyone to be pissed and take action. What action do you propose? Marching in front of MS's Mobile Device division with protest signs? :roll:

lbabus

01-02-2004, 06:41 PM

I have a Dell axim and just upgraded to Mobile 2003. I have not had any alarm issues - the clock alarms and all my pocket informant alarms work fine, the snoozes work fine and this is even if I have the machine off.

Glad to hear I am not the only Axim user without this problem. I was beginning to think I had done something wrong!

Lauren

gamboagarcia

01-02-2004, 07:39 PM

1) iPaq 4150
2) Off,
3) Apps: Resco Explorer, Acrobat Reader, Z4Soft Ptab, SPB Pocket Plus, Inesoft Cash Organizer, HP Mobile Printing, Mindjet MindManager Mobile, Burr Oak Software pTravel Alarm, PepeSoft Calendar+, Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX. Games: AIM Molecule, AIM Done in 50 Minutes, AIM Brainstorm, Synctel Pocket Chess, AnyWare Backgammon, Priebesoft Hot Death Uno, Pocket Slay, Interactive e Books,
4) None
5) Bluetooth and WiFi always OFF
6) 90% of the time. I can't trust reminders any more. Got to say that I use it as my main waking device for this I use Burr Oak Software pTravel Alarm wich is not working as it did with my older ppcs. I will work over it and report later. :roll:

UPDATE:
Found this tweak form Burr Oak Software
http://www.burroak.on.ca/wm2k3tweaks.html

StuartM

01-04-2004, 08:56 AM

Ed:

>>You are telling everyone to be pissed and take action. What action do >>you propose? Marching in front of MS's Mobile Device division with >>protest signs?

As for what action Ed - to contact Microsoft, and or HP. Make some noise about it, send e-mails, call support, escalate the issues, let other potential PPC consumers know BEFORE they open their wallets what they are getting themselves into PRIOR to making a purchase. If people do not speak up - it is less likely to see improvements in quality in a product. I realize that there are of course going to be bugs, no one is perfect. But for a function like Reminders not to work? I would be embarrassed and working to resolve it right away. I read approximately 20 Tech Industry pubs per month - and the pubs that have the most value (at least to me), are the ones that inform. If there is a problem - I want to know about it. I have been subscribing to Pocket PC Mag for about 2 years now. I love it! But, not once have I seen a blurb discussing dust issues when HP had a serious problem (I believe it was the 568 - model), or that blue-tooth universal keyboards are slow, or about reminders not working.
To just look the other way as you hand them a check for something that does not work the way it is claimed to - makes me feel like I was taken advantage of. By not doing a thing about it sends a strong message that it ok if you put out a product of low quality.

easycass

01-04-2004, 09:34 AM

Hi there gang,

Good to see the debate is as lively as ever! Just as a bit of an intro, I have been involved for quite a long while on looking into the HP IPAQ problems, and despite my also having had good success with the very original Burr Oak PowerStateOn patch and 60 second timeout value, I still feel strongly that HP/MS need to get this fixed.

I understand those users who perhaps don't see this as a big problem, since they are most likely users that don't rely on the PPC as a tool for important reminders. I also understand those users who are quite pissed off, since they may be quite reliant on the reminder functions. It is my opinion that as the primary function advertised for these devices is as PDA's and organisers, and that scheduling is an important part of what people buy these devices for, we should expect the alarms to work correctly.

So, what can we do if they don't, well, even though MS and HP may be working on the problem, we need to give them feedback and data to help them know how widespread the problem is and what might be causing it.

So, if I may suggest, for those that do rely on alarms and they are not working for you, send your comments at the very least to HP. Here is their US support email address that you can get to on the web:-

http://atwnt947.external.hp.com/fd2/email_form.cfm?countrycode=US&langcode=en&sni=314903

I hope more people do contact them with details similiar to what was originally requested for this forum thread. Give them as much detail as possible, and tell them what you feel about it. Remeber to be polite! The more people that give them the info, the quicker we'll get a fix...

Cheers,
Cass.

StuartM

01-04-2004, 05:14 PM

easycass

Well said!

http://atwnt947.external.hp.com/fd2/email_form.cfm?countrycode=US&langcode=en&sni=314903

I agree with Easycass! Everyone who has had this problem, and hell, even those who have not but love their PPC - why not drop a note to HP about the problem - make it heard (for what it is worth). Silenence is acceptance and if you say nothing, going forward expect low quality.

Stuart

sobk

01-06-2004, 12:45 PM

Does the same problem prevent new email notifications from appearing?

Sometimes they work, most of the time not, have been told it's a problem in WM2003 (Phone Edition) that Microsoft are fixing, just wondering if it's the same one.

--
3850>XDA II

sobk

01-08-2004, 05:15 PM

Does the same problem prevent new email notifications from appearing?

Seems not, Seems to be a different problem, fingers crossed it's fixed soon!

MikeInDallas

01-31-2004, 01:16 AM

After having the cursor (the big) button just fall out of my 2210, I paid $100 for a CarePaq that would allow them to cross ship me a replacement so I don't have to do without it. I guess the company attitude is that it's a toy that nobody takes seriously anyway, I don't know. I was hoping the "new" replacement (a refurb as it turns out) would solve the need to reset my device so much, and fix the alarm and reminder problems, but it has not.

My experience with the CarePaq is indicitive of problems at HP, where HP isn't talking to Compaq, and vise-versa. The CarePaq was shipped to me overnight, but in it was a card I was supposed to fill out to register the service VIA SNAIL MAIL. I contacted support instead, and over the course of 10 business days, realized that technical support was expecting pre-HP registration numbers that had been changed with the HP takeover...9 months ago. Nobody in support knew this, and I spent a lot of time helping the two divisions (product registration and tech support) communicate so they know what to expect.

After all of this, my replacement arrived a few days ago, and it still has version 1.0 ROM, when there's a newer version available now. To top it off, elsewhere on this site I think, you'll find that they finally did release a flash update for the 2200 series, but the update contains none of the 9 or so bug fixes that are available as a RAM upgrade (read: reduces your available memory). Instead, it only contains one fix, and that is to support the extended battery that they've already been selling.

I think HP should spend more time field testing their products before releasing them. I also think they should fix the ones they have released before releasing newer models. They're only going to anger and frustrate customers handling things the way they're handling them.

It's the same problem I'm seeing IT-industry wide, and that is nobody wants to wait for returns. Everything is measured by the quarter, and some things just cannot be done right in a single quarter, or even two. I'm also seeing IT companies put more burdeons on the customer (such as finding bugs in products as we all have), rather than spending the time and money to properly field test the product with a selected group of customers before wide release.

Mike
Dallas