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View Full Version : iPAQ 3900 series flaws


marlof
08-09-2002, 07:34 AM
<a href="http://www.pocketpc-club.nl/nieuws.php?action=1&amp;id=548">http://www.pocketpc-club.nl/nieuws.php?action=1&amp;id=548</a><br /><br />Roel Martens of the Dutch PocketPC-Club.nl found two customer advisories that concern iPAQ 3900. One deals with the <a href="http://wwss1pro.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?dt=3&source=MH020725_CW01.xml">recent programs</a> in the start menu, that does not work too good when you have screen taps enabled. The solution: tap "confidently"...<br /><br />The other explains that the 3900 series iPAQ (or 3800 series with ROM 1.20 or 2.20) may <a href="http://wwss1pro.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?dt=3&source=MH020719_CW02.xml">automatically power on</a> after synchronization. The temporarily solution: disable the synchronized server sync. HP is looking into a permanent solution for this problem.

Leon
08-09-2002, 07:58 AM
Huh? I always tap confidently :) so I must say I never experienced the problem. No, just kidding, it is probably because I have Screen Taps switched off.

It surprises me that the problem is only related to such a small part of the screen while the rest of the screen doesn't have this problem. I mean, for the hardware it doesn't matter where you tap. It looks like they specifically coded the software to require a stronger tap in the launch area 8O And this is what surprises me most - they even admit it:
HP Engineering has tested the iPAQ H3900 Series Pocket PC and concluded that it is working as designed.

BTW, has anyone found out why some programs appear in the Recent Programs list while others do not?

szamot
08-09-2002, 08:11 AM
Damn I thought I was seeing things, I don't know about tapping by my, let's count them 5th, Ipaq - you'd think I would learn by now, is powering on after synch, not always but is does and it does not turn off by itself. 2 days ago it drained my battery dead flat - I was really impressed.

Marc Zimmermann
08-09-2002, 10:59 AM
Since my xda is also powering up after sync, it seems like an HTC issue rather than only iPAQ specific.

Mark (NL)
08-09-2002, 12:14 PM
What about powering on when I turn main computer off, when iPAQ is still in cradle? Is that suppossed to be normal?

Pony99CA
08-09-2002, 12:16 PM
Roel Martens of the Dutch PocketPC-Club.nl found two customer advisories that concern iPAQ 3900 and 3800 users with the latest ROM. One deals with the recent programs (http://wwss1pro.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?dt=3&source=MH020725_CW01.xml) in the start menu, that does not work too good when you have screen taps enabled. The solution: tap "confidently"...

According to the link provided, this problem only applies to the 3900 series. I checked the page twice, and there was no mention of the 3800 series.


The other explains that the iPAQ may automatically power on (http://wwss1pro.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?dt=3&source=MH020719_CW02.xml) after synchronization. The temporarily solution: disable the synchronized server sync. HP is looking into a permanent solution for this problem.
I've had this problem, and that was before I upgraded my iPAQ 3870 to the 2.20 ROM, which Compaq/HP claims is required.

Specifically, I would remove my iPAQ from the sync cradle, turn it off, and, a few minutes later, it would turn itself on for no reason. I'll try their workaround to see if it stops my iPAQ from powering up.

Steve

marlof
08-09-2002, 12:26 PM
According to the link provided, this problem only applies to the 3900 series. I checked the page twice, and there was no mention of the 3800 series.

Quite right! Post edited. :)

rodh
08-09-2002, 01:14 PM
I have the power on after sync problem with my updated 3650. Can't recall seeing the problem before the update. It has only occurred after removal from the cradle. Strangely enough, it does not seem to do it if I make sure it plays the disconnect sound before I power off the iPaq.

Fattizzi
08-09-2002, 01:45 PM
Hey, two minor flaws is much better than the 20 or so by the 3600 series and the 10 by the 3700 series and the 5 in the 3800 series. They are getting there. I must say, my 3900 is the best of the ipaq line. I have had a 3650, 3670, 3750, and a 3870 and I can accept some minor issues.

Jason Lee
08-09-2002, 03:18 PM
yes, but we're just getting started... ;)

JF in Detroit
08-09-2002, 03:23 PM
I upgraded my 3835 to 1.20 and immediatly began to notice this problem. Thanks for the post, and I have unchecked the box as instructed. Seems to have solved the undesired powering on events.

I love my machine. It has some problems, but they don't annoy me. Instead, I can still marvel at the power of this tool and the increase in the quality of life it has afforded me. :D

Grey
08-09-2002, 04:00 PM
Huh? I always tap confidently :) so I must say I never experienced the problem. No, just kidding, it is probably because I have Screen Taps switched off.


BTW, has anyone found out why some programs appear in the Recent Programs list while others do not?

By any chance are you using a today screen launcher? I noticed this, and I have found that with tdLaunch if you go directly to the program, it will not show in the Recent Programs list. If instead you go to a shortcut it will show in the Recent Programs list.

HTH

Leon
08-09-2002, 04:55 PM
By any chance are you using a today screen launcher?
Yes, that must be it! Thanks.

Grey
08-09-2002, 05:06 PM
Hey, two minor flaws is much better than the 20 or so by the 3600 series and the 10 by the 3700 series and the 5 in the 3800 series. They are getting there. I must say, my 3900 is the best of the ipaq line. I have had a 3650, 3670, 3750, and a 3870 and I can accept some minor issues.

Just two??? Get real, the fact that the 3900 can not send data to the Palm is hardly minor, if you need to do it. The Audio problem is not so minor if you want to listen to music. The SD slot still appears to be just 1 bit, we're still not getting anywhere near the speed we should when writting to the SD card. Two is just what HpCompaq has chosen to comment on.

Grey

sweetpete
08-09-2002, 05:11 PM
As mentioned in my rant on the IPAQ petition post a couple days a go, I have had the power-on after sync issue with my 3870 from the start (ROM 2.15) and more specifically, after I do a BT sync with my laptop.
I can't say with confidence that I've seen it after a cradle sync, but I rarely ever do those since I use BT most of the time :D

Anyway, I'm glad to see they have finally posted a PCN and are looking to address this. I guess the people that use MIS won't be able to sync given what the immediate resoultion is.

AZMark
08-09-2002, 05:21 PM
Yes just a poor slob that can't affort to buy a new iPaq each time one is released just to get to new ROMs.

Still have a 3600. Upgraded to 2002, and all of a sudden I can't go 1/2 a day with out recharging. Yet, I can play 3 hours of MP3's and still have 80% battery. And, every once in awhile I open my case and see my iPaq on?

And I thought it was little green men! Buy a Jornada?

Oh well maybe the 4100 will get everything right?

Nikhil
08-09-2002, 06:39 PM
Just two??? Get real, the fact that the 3900 can not send data to the Palm is hardly minor, if you need to do it. The Audio problem is not so minor if you want to listen to music. The SD slot still appears to be just 1 bit, we're still not getting anywhere near the speed we should when writting to the SD card. Two is just what HpCompaq has chosen to comment on.

Grey

I see no real flaws here...I can beam between my 3970 and my CLIE NR70V perfectly; what audio problem? The 39xx definately has the best sound quality of any PPC I've ever owned (granted the 3835 sounded the same..except it had speaker pops). The SD slot performs very well, much better than on the 3835...It even loads files on my 512MB SD card in File Explorer about 2x faster than it does on my e740, so if SD speed is limited on the iPAQ, then it is limited on Toshba units as well. I can play music off my card without skips, and videos play smoothly (have yet to drop more than 5 frames in PocketDivx). Writing to my SD card is barely slower than writing to my SanDisk CF card.

I have had the power-on issue once, but I disabled the Server option and haven't seen it since...hopefully it'll stay that way (it's only been a week).

As for the screen taps, I've noticed this on the 36xx, 38xx, and the 39xx, in addition to on my e740. It's only happened when I'm doing something processor intensive in the background (such as loading a web page)...When I try tapping on something in the recent programs menu, it will stall for a moment and then highlight the last program in the list. I then need to tap slightly harder to get what I want open. If there's nothing going on in the background, then this is issue doesn't happen. But it has happened with my e740, my 3970, my 3835, and my 3650 as well. This does make more sense than a screen with a tap issue in one small portion of the screen on different series units?

harry
08-11-2002, 09:57 PM
I've had the switching on problem on my 3855 that I had to return for another reason. I've got a 3955 now and haven't had it reoccur...yet. :wink:

Gerard
08-12-2002, 03:46 AM
My device now is an iPAQ 3870. My chosen ROM version is UK English 2.20. (I'm Canadian, and finally having access to proper 'ou' and other non-US elements of the language in Spellcheck and Word Completion is very nice.) My update went well, and then I did the recommended EUU1-version 2 update. I have since done 4 'scratch' rebuilds, using none of the old registry and only the Contacts and Categories databases. Here are a few of my remaining and a new problem;
~ File Explorer locks up during copy/paste operations.
~Certain softwares installed to the iPAQ File Store directory cause device lockups, slowdowns, and in three cases hard resets. I think that I've narrowed it down to just one program being responsible: PHM's version .65 registry editor. It's smallish, so I've settled for the main memory install. I also susected Pocket Artist v2.03 a little, and Dashboard v1.5.001a a lot, so those much bigger programs are now in main memory as well. Gigabar is in the File Store, alongside about 30 other programs, and all seems good with the hard reset/lockup problem, where everything had just stopped working and a soft reset had not been able to complete. This 'unresolved reset' was a known issue for Compaq, and supposedly part of the ROM update fix-list, but it seems there are leaks in it prohibiting certain installation practices.
~ A new problem is interesting. This is that after a soft reset, the device will power off after between 10 and 30 seconds. On two occassions it has powered off a second time after I hit the power button.

Besides these, there are a few sluggishness issues remaining (though overall it seems improved quite a lot). Jimmysoft's Overclock software is now usually able to keep the 221Mhz setting through a reset, where on this unit before update and on my 3835 it never could. I use this little app only about 20% of the time, but find it handy for watching video or just in getting s bunch of pages open in PIE while doing a few emails and otherwise overtaxing the device. AltTab is helping to stress the poor thing too, but I'd say this ROM is making me a happier user. Sure would like to have a way of pretesting which apps cannot be installed to SD or the File Store though. I don't like the interruption of having to select components from various Pocket Backup files too often. It takes less than ten minutes to restore from two ot three backups, but who wants the hassle?
As for the after-sync power on stuff, I wouldn't know. Don't really connect to the PC all that often.