HP iPaq 54xx Volume Patch Released

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/handhelds/us/download/17473.html' target='_blank'>http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/f...load/17473.html</a><br /><br /></div>Finally, HP has released a fix to one of the most nagging problems of the 54xx units: the anemic volume control. Has anyone installed this fix, and if so, does it work?

[pepemosca]

Yes!! Works!!

(only with the headphones, as the patch title says)

OK.. it's not the most powerfull device on the history... but it's a loot better.

Well done HP! :D

[Chris Spera]

I've noticed that it made the iPAQ speaker play the hi-ends a little bit more. The sound is much "tinnier" than before.

However, it makes a HUGE difference with my headphones. One word: Ouch! I wasn't expecting it to be THAT loud!

Christopher Spera

[paris]

indeed it makes a diference, now i can tleave my headphone on max :lol:

one question thought, which is the right place to check for updates???

i have this page bookmarked which does not include this update
http://www3.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewreferencelibrary.asp?countrycode=1000&catid=702&famid=1998&prodid=5689|iPAQ+H5400+Series+Pocket+PC

[Cliffbrooks]

I no longer own an iPAQ, but I just wanted to note that Thoughts has been an invaluable resource for finding out about the latest patches and upgrades. I don't understand why companies like Compaq don't send their registered users an email notifying them of the patch. Isn't that why we register?

[beyondallcom]

paris,

you have the "reference libarary" bookedmark, and you still should have it bookmarked. Its ment for notifications/documents/guides and things of that sort. The acctual downloadable updates are here:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/handheldiPAQ/us/locate/71_5553.html

best regards,
Kevin

[beyondallcom]

Cliffbrooks,

They do :) its called product notification, and I just got an email from them a few minutes ago with updates for my laptop and iPAQ:

Please do not reply to this email. The HP Product Change Notification (PCN) website will shutdown on March 7, 2003. Proactive delivery of Product Change Notifications (PCNs) and Customer Advisories (CAs) by the PCN website is moving to HP's Subscriber's Choice. As part of this transition your account information has been migrated to the new location. We encourage you to begin taking advantage of the feature-rich notifications delivered from HP's Subscriber's Choice at http://www.hp.com/united-states/subscribe/

Regards,
Kevin

[Paul P]

What a difference!

Now they may need a patch to make the volume lower. Just kidding. :)

[pepemosca]

What a difference!

Now they may need a patch to make the volume lower. Just kidding. :)


Yes.. could be necesary. :D

[that_kid]

Finally, good sound from the headphones. I did notice that the sound is a bit thin but that's ok, at least I can hear the thinnest now :lol:

[Pony99CA]

one question thought, which is the right place to check for updates???

i have this page bookmarked which does not include this update
http://www3.compaq.com/support/reference_library/&lt;...truncated...>
That's a Compaq page, and the 5450 is technically an HP product. The Compaq domain will probably work for a while (maybe forever), but I'd suggeest using an HP Web site.

Steve

P.S. My usual rant. Please don't post long links "naked". The board software doesn't wrap them, and it resets the margins for the whole page, forcing horizontal scrolling. Use the URL tags, like this:


[url=http://www3.compaq.com/support/reference_library/&lt;truncated>]
iPAQ 5450 Updates
[/url]

The above looks like the following when posted:

iPAQ 5450 Updates
(http://www3.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewreferencelibrary.asp?countrycode=1000&amp;catid=702&amp;famid=1998&amp;prodid=5689&amp;#124;iPAQ+H5400+Series+Pocket+PC)
See how much nicer that is? :-)

Also, if you Previewed your post, you'd notice that your link wasn't formatted properly -- the link ended at the "|". The board software apparently thinks certain characters end a URL. To fix that, you have to use the HTML equivalent of "&amp; #124;" (but without the space). I did that in the quoted text, and it worked, but this post ended up on a new page, so I had to remove the change to avoid the horizontal scrolling problem. :-(.

[xCyJ]

finally hp bothers to hear us

or we have bothered and pestered them too much abt the problems :lol:

[sponge]

They couldn't hear us because they were too busy testing the patch at full volume :P

[Steven Cedrone]

Also, if you Previewed your post, you'd notice that your link wasn't formatted properly -- the link ended at the "|". The board software apparently thinks certain characters end a URL. To fix that, you have to use the HTML equivalent of "& #124"; (but without the space). I did that in the quoted text, and you'll notice the link now is complete.

Yes, but...

Your link is broken too!!! :wink:

You wanted to do this... (http://www3.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewreferencelibrary.asp?countrycode=1000&catid=702&famid=1998&prodid=5689|iPAQ+H5400+Series+Pocket+PC)

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Also, if you Previewed your post, you'd notice that your link wasn't formatted properly -- the link ended at the "|". The board software apparently thinks certain characters end a URL. To fix that, you have to use the HTML equivalent of "& #124"; (but without the space). I did that in the quoted text, and you'll notice the link now is complete.Yes, but...

Your link is broken too!!! :wink:

You wanted to do this... (http://www3.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewreferencelibrary.asp?countrycode=1000&catid=702&famid=1998&prodid=5689|iPAQ+H5400+Series+Pocket+PC)

Steve
Actually, my link isn't broken. The "HP 5450 Updates" link works fine and takes you to the same page your link does.

UPDATE: I guess I spoke too soon. My link works fine in Mozilla, which is what I use, but not in Internet Explorer. #$#^@! cross-browser issues! :bad-words: What did you do to get it to work in both browsers?

Steve

P.S. Speaking of broken links, I was curious what the "Team Pocket PC" link in your signature was about. I clicked on it, and got a 404 error. :lol:

[MultiMatt]

Glad to see this update!
NOW, hopefully with this one out of the way, they can get busy on the memory leak caused by the WiFi app....

Matt

[dhoward]

Note to Pepemosca and Sponge,

I echo your observations about the increased Headphone Volume Level. Wow, it is loud to the level of distortion on full setting.

I took the chance to reply to the HP link on the page for the Headphone Volume update. I wanted them to know about the disappointment from Day One re: the speaker volume, as compared to the excellent 3955.

By Joe, they did write back quickly, but with a typical stock answer.

"Thank you for your comments. The speaker volume is limited due to the
physical size of the speaker. The speaker in the h54xx Series is smaller
than the speaker in previous models. Because of this, the level of audio
output is reduced when making the same comparison.

With that said, there is no easy solution to the low speaker volume you
mention. I hope this information helps you understand the situation.

Thank you for your continued interest in the iPAQ Pocket PC.

Sincerely,
[email protected]
-
I wrote him back and told him I would have gladly accepted the larger top size in the 3955, in order to have maintained the speaker quality and volume in the 5400 series.

While I was at it, I reminded him of the poor performance of the removable battery, the corrupt data failure of the BioMetric Fingerprint Scanner (had to do a hard reset), and the more narrow field of view and negative tilt of the LCD screen.

Why is it that an increase in price means a decrease in performance in several areas?

Except for the built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the 3955 is a much more reliable machine and now, $200 cheaper. You could buy a Socket WLAN and Bluetooth and have a much better machine.

By the way, if you would like to write and rant to HP, here is the address:
&lt;[email protected]>

laters,
david

[Pony99CA]

I took the chance to reply to the HP link on the page for the Headphone Volume update. I wanted them to know about the disappointment from Day One re: the speaker volume, as compared to the excellent 3955.

By Joe, they did write back quickly, but with a typical stock answer.

"Thank you for your comments. The speaker volume is limited due to the
physical size of the speaker. The speaker in the h54xx Series is smaller
than the speaker in previous models. Because of this, the level of audio
output is reduced when making the same comparison.

With that said, there is no easy solution to the low speaker volume you
mention. I hope this information helps you understand the situation.

[...]"

Well, at least they explained why the fix doesn't apply to the speaker. I didn't realize the speaker was smaller.

Why is it that an increase in price means a decrease in performance in several areas?

If you compare apples to apples, the price didn't really increase. When the 3970, which had Bluetooth (hence more apple-like :-)), came out, it cost $750 while the 5450 only cost $700.

Of course, that doesn't excuse the problems, but remember that there are several new (to the iPAQ) features which can have bugs -- the removable battery and the fingerprint scanner, for example. I hope HP will resolve them.

Steve

[Steven Cedrone]

UPDATE: I guess I spoke too soon. My link works fine in Mozilla, which is what I use, but not in Internet Explorer. #$#^@! cross-browser issues! :bad-words: What did you do to get it to work in both browsers?


It appears to work correctly unless you go and edit your post, then it breaks again...


P.S. Speaking of broken links, I was curious what the "Team Pocket PC" link in your signature was about. I clicked on it, and got a 404 error. :lol:

Doh!!! :oops:

It's fixed now. They must have updated the web pages...

Steve

[Bill Gunn]

Does anyone else have a problem with the headphone jack on the 54xx? If I push the plug all of the way in I only get sound in one ear. I have to pull it out about 1/8 of an inch to get both sides, and their is a definite click when I push it in all the way. I read somewhere that these devices also support a microphone on the headset so maybe that has something to do with it. :?

[Steven Cedrone]

Does anyone else have a problem with the headphone jack on the 54xx? If I push the plug all of the way in I only get sound in one ear. I have to pull it out about 1/8 of an inch to get both sides, and their is a definite click when I push it in all the way. I read somewhere that these devices also support a microphone on the headset so maybe that has something to do with it. :?

Have you tried a different set of headphones?

Steve

[gadfly]

I read somewhere that these devices also support a microphone on the headset so maybe that has something to do with it. :?
I was going to ask about that. Everywhere I have seen the 545x sold I have read that it has a headphone/microphone jack. This is even true for HP's own product spec sheet. http://hpshopping.speedera.net/www.shopping.hp.com/shopping/pdf/264493.pdf (Sorry Steve I couldn't get this truncated based on your example. If you could provide some examples I could paste into my comments I would be more than happy to oblige.) I also found a thread that mentioned it http://forum.mypdacafe.com/viewtopic.php?t=265 so I am really hoping it's true. I want to use it for TeleSym's SymPhone (which is excellent BTW) or another VoIP solution. If anyone knows anything about this please post.