04-22-2006, 02:40 AM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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My Device Died... And Resurrected!
'Twas a dark and stormy Friday night. Okay, maybe not stormy, but it's all about setting the mood, you know.  My Phone Edition (E-TEN M600) was sitting in its cradle for a sync and charge. I had just updated an appointment in Outlook, so as you'd expect, the changes were being mirrored on my device via ActiveSync. However, unlike the other million synchronisations I had gone through in the past, this one didn't work out too well. Long story short, it froze midway, a white screen appeared, and so it was time for a soft-reset. Following the soft-reset, the device appeared to boot up as normal, except when I reached the Today screen, something had gone horribly wrong. Other than 'Owner Information' and 'Pocket MSN', all my Today plug-ins had vanished off the face of the earth. In addition, the 'Start' menu only displayed two entries: 'Today' and 'coldinit'. This was great. Really great. Because I had an arrangement that night, I had no other option other than to let it be and deal with it when I get back.
I returned home a little after midnight on Saturday (which was just a few hours ago), and I thought I'd get the hard reset over and done with, just so I could have a working phone for the weekend. So I hard-reset the device (with SD card and SIM card removed), and was in the process of setting up my personal information, when all of a sudden, it froze again. Something clearly wasn't right here, and I was suspecting a little problem with the device's innards. It was time for a soft-reset, and this is where my device reached the point of no return. After soft-resetting, it simply did not want to get past the boot screen. I exhausted all other possibilities in trying to get it to work, from further soft-resets, hard-resets, and removing the battery, to strange dance rituals, and the waving of magic wands. None of them worked. My device had officially gone to the gadget graveyard up in the sky.
At the moment, I'm using an old Nokia 6610i as a replacement. With a hint of sarcasm (obviously), I can tell you now that the experience is amazing. I have a 128 x 128, 4K-colour display with no Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and an infrared port capable of only one-way transfer. I'm a lost soul without my converged Windows Mobile-based device, and I sit here now pondering what to do next.
Anyone else have similar tales to tell - happy ending or not?
Update: So, there's always a bright side to a sad story, right? Well, apparently so. One word: bootloader. For those of you who aren't aware of what this is (and I'm going to keep it a little non-technical here), it's a special "program" built into the device that allows you to attempt a local read and re-flash of the ROM (via memory card) with the hope of a successful boot of the operating system. I had already tried this earlier in the day, and it yielded an unsuccessful result. Well, just a couple of hours ago, I sat back down, picked up my 6610i, and yawned all over Bounce. Somehow, that inspired me to try the bootloader again - not once, twice, or three times. Instead, an additional twelve times! I kid you not. After the twelfth attempt at flashing the ROM, my device started working. Up came the blue Windows Mobile screen, and down went a beer in celebration. Despite this feat, I don't place great faith in the integrity of the ROM. Twelve flash attempts just to get it working? That shouldn't be the case.
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04-22-2006, 02:52 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 10,981
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Re: My Device Died...
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Originally Posted by Darius Wey
At the moment, I'm using an old Nokia 6610i as a replacement.
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Say it ain't so! Intervention time! We can't let this go on any longer. It's just too tragic. :mecry:
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"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein |
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04-22-2006, 02:54 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
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That stinks, Darius. I just got my HTC Uni back from the shop and spent a day reloading it. To prevent this from happening again, I bought a backup unit. It's really a sensible thing to do when you rely on these devices so much.
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04-22-2006, 02:58 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 275
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Well, think of it this way... you have now full justification to buy a brand new toy... Uhmmm, I mean, device.
I'm wondering when my trustee ol i-mate sp3i and asus a730w will mysteriously freeze at the same time? Hmmmm...
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John Cruz
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04-22-2006, 03:33 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 65
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Have you tried smacking it on a hard surface? (no more than a dozen times though) :evil:
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Dilbertism: I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception problem.
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04-22-2006, 03:36 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 28
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Happened to me by the end of march.
The hardware test mode said it was NANDflash ROM FAIL.
Went back to dealer, device replaced, now I have a brand new one.
Good luck!
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04-22-2006, 03:41 AM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Johnny Bravo RJ
Went back to dealer, device replaced, now I have a brand new one.
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I have contacted E-TEN. Hopefully, they can give me some good news when the working week starts.
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04-22-2006, 03:51 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 349
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It's the worst when it happens right before a weekend.
My Qtek 9000's mini-USB port started to feel a little loose only a month into it, until one day, it simply broke when I went to charge the battery. The mini-USB port simply fell into the chassis, and I was stuck on remaining battery power. Had to have the device sent in for warranty repair. Going from playing a variety of full-color QVGA/VGA games to barely tolerating Snake II, Space Impact, Bumper, and Nokia Sugar Bowl on my Nokia 6590. 8O It was hell.
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04-22-2006, 03:56 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 165
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04-22-2006, 04:32 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 800
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Johnny Bravo RJ
Happened to me by the end of march.
The hardware test mode said it was NANDflash ROM FAIL.
Went back to dealer, device replaced, now I have a brand new one.
Good luck!
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This seems to be a common problem with WM5 device for some reason. TONS of x51v and WM5 x50v owners encountered the same problem and replacing the unit was the only solution.
Anyway, I hope everything will be good in the end for you, Darius.
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