Toshiba e800 locks up while loading programs

[skydiveaff]

I've recently started using an e800 and although the screen alone makes this PDA worth it, I've been having some problems with the PDA locking up while loading programs I've installed on it. I've got both an SD and a CF card installed (512M 'Dane' something brand and 1G SanDisk respectively), with most of the programs installed to the SD card. *Side note: Are access times really faster with SD cards over CF (basically, given both options of SD and CF, which one is best to install programs on)?

Back to the case at hand-I frequently use two programs (one installed to the SD card and one to the CF) and about 1/2 the time I try to open either one of them, the progress indicator (ie spinning pie chart thing that supposedly means the PDA is working) appears and the PDA locks up. The only thing that still works is the automatic backlight. The power button is non-functional as are any other buttons or screen taps. After resetting the device, the programs will typically work once or twice, but then the same problem arises. I have removed and reinstalled both programs several times, but the problem remains. Any ideas??

Additional notes: I am also using Spb 2.0, but that is the only system related application installed on the device. Personally, I might lean towards the 'generic' SD card as a possible problem, but the program launched from the CF card has similar problems.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[skydiveaff]

I've recently started using an e800 and although the screen alone makes this PDA worth it, I've been having some problems with the PDA locking up while loading programs I've installed on it. I've got both an SD and a CF card installed (512M 'Dane' something brand and 1G SanDisk respectively), with most of the programs installed to the SD card. *Side note: Are access times really faster with SD cards over CF (basically, given both options of SD and CF, which one is best to install programs on)?

Back to the case at hand-I frequently use two programs (one installed to the SD card and one to the CF) and about 1/2 the time I try to open either one of them, the progress indicator (ie spinning pie chart thing that supposedly means the PDA is working) appears and the PDA locks up. The only thing that still works is the automatic backlight. The power button is non-functional as are any other buttons or screen taps. After resetting the device, the programs will typically work once or twice, but then the same problem arises. I have removed and reinstalled both programs several times, but the problem remains. Any ideas??

Additional notes: I am also using Spb 2.0, but that is the only system related application installed on the device. Personally, I might lean towards the 'generic' SD card as a possible problem, but the program launched from the CF card has similar problems.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Janak Parekh]

I have not had the problems you've experienced, but all of my e805's apps are running out of main memory - you might want to try doing that as a debugging step, and with 128MB, it's not too hard to fit more things in main memory. (I'm running WM2003 First Edition, BTW.)

--janak

[skydiveaff]

I've got that on my list to debug this problem further. One of the issues I deal with though is many of the programs I use (mostly medical references) are ~10M a pop, so I've adopted the practice of putting anything and everything on memory cards to maintain as much of the built-in memory as possible.

I previously had a Toshiba e755 running the same programs (and memory cards) and never had this particular problem, so I'm curious if it's not something on the e800, or possibly Spb? On my e755 I used WisBar and only since switching to the e800 have I used Spb. Either way, it seems odd that I can typicaly use the programs once or twice after a reset without problem, but the 3rd+ time these problems surface. Is Spb (2.0) really good at completely shutting down programs? Other than changing from the e755 to the e800 and adding Spb, I can't think of anything different from the working setup I had earlier.



Thank you (esp Janak for being 1st) for everyone's help. Manufacturer product support has tanked in the last several years and it's forums like this that make personal computing still possible!

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by skydiveaff

I've got that on my list to debug this problem further. One of the issues I deal with though is many of the programs I use (mostly medical references) are ~10M a pop, so I've adopted the practice of putting anything and everything on memory cards to maintain as much of the built-in memory as possible.

Understood - and it should work fine, but we need to isolate what's causing the problem before we go any further.

Incidentally, the e805 can store an amazing amount of applications without removable storage. You've essentially got 96MB+ of storage space between the main memory and the NAND flash disk, and you can probably keep about 110MB+ without too much hassle. So unless you have a ton of big medical applications, you'd be surprised how much you can throw at this beast.

I previously had a Toshiba e755 running the same programs (and memory cards) and never had this particular problem, so I'm curious if it's not something on the e800, or possibly Spb?

I doubt it, but you never know, and that's why one needs to go through the process of elimination. Another alternative would be to try uninstalling Pocket Plus for a few days. I use Pocket Plus (1.x) on my e805 running WM2003FE without issues; haven't tried 2.x yet.

Thank you (esp Janak for being 1st) for everyone's help. Manufacturer product support has tanked in the last several years and it's forums like this that make personal computing still possible!

You're welcome. Good luck!

--janak