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View Full Version : IPAQ 5450 is terrible


connoleg
03-25-2003, 03:58 PM
I have had an IPAQ 3850 and then a 3870 for the last 2 years and been very happy with them. Found them very stable with only an occasional lockup/reset.

I use my IPAQ everyday at home and work for email, writing documents, calender, news using Avantgo, SMS and GPS using TomTom.

I decided to upgrade to a 5450 as I like to move with the technology and have a wireless LAN at home.

Having used the 5450 for two weeks I regret my decision to upgrade. I am on my second 5450 as I thought the first was faulty. It turns out the all seem to be flaky. I am having to soft reset about 6 times per day due to it freezing. I have carried out 4 hard resets and rebuilt trying to eliminate the problems none have worked.

The majority of the freezing seems to be when using Bluetooth and or WLAN but not limited to them.

I am wondering what problems others are experiencing and perhaps if significant we can lobby HP to get the thing sorted.

Gary

Janak Parekh
03-25-2003, 04:46 PM
I believe HP is aware of the driver issues with respect to WLAN and Bluetooth.

From what I've heard, removing "hh_dm.exe" from the StartUp (only needed if you use Expansion Packs) noticeably improves the speed and the stability of the 5450.

--janak

GSibble
03-25-2003, 11:11 PM
I have to reset about 2-3 times daily on my 5450. None of them are due to freezing, but to the WLan having to be turned on and off (which it usually wants a reset for because I run bluetooth at the same time). I don't think this is bad, its just the price you pay for having it all integrated until they make a ROM update.

-George

dhettel
03-26-2003, 05:29 AM
I have had an IPAQ 3850 and then a 3870 for the last 2 years and been very happy with them. Found them very stable with only an occasional lockup/reset.

I use my IPAQ everyday at home and work for email, writing documents, calender, news using Avantgo, SMS and GPS using TomTom.

I decided to upgrade to a 5450 as I like to move with the technology and have a wireless LAN at home.

Having used the 5450 for two weeks I regret my decision to upgrade. I am on my second 5450 as I thought the first was faulty. It turns out the all seem to be flaky. I am having to soft reset about 6 times per day due to it freezing. I have carried out 4 hard resets and rebuilt trying to eliminate the problems none have worked.

The majority of the freezing seems to be when using Bluetooth and or WLAN but not limited to them.

I am wondering what problems others are experiencing and perhaps if significant we can lobby HP to get the thing sorted.

Gary
Having gone form a 3870 to a 3970 to a 5455, I find your comments somewhat interesting to say the least. One question for you, do you by any chance have a SanDisk SD card you are using with your 5455?

David

surfaday
03-26-2003, 09:46 AM
Good call David! I was wondering if he was using a Sandisk SD card too. What a waste of money and piece of junk that Sandisk card is! Blech! I don't even want to plug mine back in to retrieve the information I have stored on it.

(BTW I have a 3835, not a 5450 but I had to vent about the card).

Walt

connoleg
03-26-2003, 09:57 AM
I have an 256 Meg SD card made by a company called Integral.
Not heard of any problems with these.

www.integralmemory.com

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-26-2003, 10:01 AM
I have an 256 Meg SD card made by a company called Integral.
Not heard of any problems with these.

www.integralmemory.com
You may want to try operating the unit without the SD card for a day or so and see if you have the same issues.

Personally, I try to stay away from SanDisk or small companies that I've never heard of. That's just a personal viewpoint though.

connoleg
03-26-2003, 10:35 AM
You may want to try operating the unit without the SD card for a day or so and see if you have the same issues.

Personally, I try to stay away from SanDisk or small companies that I've never heard of. That's just a personal viewpoint though.

I will give it a try and let you know

thanks
Gary

FredMurphy
03-26-2003, 01:03 PM
One question for you, do you by any chance have a SanDisk SD card you are using with your 5455?
Hmmm... I'm using a 256MB SanDisk card in mine. I'll try it without the SanDisk card.

The 5450 is really unstable compared to my beloved Jornada 568 (RIP). It's really just a stop-gap until the new phase of Pocket PC 2003 devices come out. (A £500 stop gap. :roll: Damn my technophilia!!!)

I might start a poll on home many times you need to swipe to get a valid fingerprint. I usually have to give up and use the PIN. :(

piperpilot
03-26-2003, 01:29 PM
I have been using a 256MB Sandisk SD card in my 5455 (and previously in my 3850) for several months. I have never had a problem with it. What specific problems do you all suspect are being caused by the SD card?

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-26-2003, 02:08 PM
I have been using a 256MB Sandisk SD card in my 5455 (and previously in my 3850) for several months. I have never had a problem with it. What specific problems do you all suspect are being caused by the SD card?
If you're having no issues, then you have nothing to worry about.

Most SanDisk cards work perfectly fine, BUT there are a number of us on the board who have experienced quality issues with SanDisk media before and steer clear of their brand of cards.

So the suggestion was only that "if you have SanDisk media and you're experiencing issues with your unit, check to see if the issue is not with the card itself first".

The original poster does not use SanDisk but another brand of which I've never heard, so the suggestion still stands.

Of course, his issue may be with the iPaq54xx after all is said and done.

piperpilot
03-26-2003, 02:11 PM
I've been looking to buy a 512MB SD card and want to avoid any potential problems with Sandisk. What brand would you recommend? I know that Panasonic, Lexar and, I think, Kingston, all sell 512MB SD cards but I have no idea which are good and which are junk.

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-26-2003, 03:49 PM
I've been looking to buy a 512MB SD card and want to avoid any potential problems with Sandisk. What brand would you recommend? I know that Panasonic, Lexar and, I think, Kingston, all sell 512MB SD cards but I have no idea which are good and which are junk.
I don't know a lot of people that use Panasonic as they are mostly sold in Japan (or at least overseas from the US), but I'd imagine they'd be good cards.

Lexar has a rock-solid rep on the board and seems to be the "default" alternative for those that don't want SanDisk. I've yet to hear a single person complain about Lexar SD cards (or Lexar CF cards for that matter).

I have two 512MB SD cards from Lexar myself with no problems.

prototype
03-26-2003, 04:08 PM
I have a 5455 with a 256meg SD Sandisk card in it. I have to reset several times a day also, but I don't have any issues accessing the data on my SD.

Is this thread indicating that the Sandisk SD might be causing a general instability in my 5455, unrelated to data access on the card???

I posted the same sort of question a few days ago regarding having to reset several times a day ... and was it that my IPAQ 5455 sucks or that the OS is buggy and ALL PocketPC users experienced numerous resets. I only got 1 reply so I didn't get a clear answer.

SassKwatch
03-26-2003, 04:11 PM
FWIW.....,

I've had a 5455 for about a month now and overall am very pleased with the device.

The one aspect that I do find somewhat annoying is that the touch screen doesn't seem quite as sensitive as was my old 38xx device. I.e., it seems to take a little bit more deliberate 'tap' or 'tap and hold' for those functions to activate.

I do have to perform occasional soft resets, but it doesn't seem any more frequent than with the '38 (which some folks complained about as well though I didn't think it was all that often). And have yet to have to perform a hard reset (he sez with fingers crossed :)).

piperpilot
03-26-2003, 04:15 PM
With my 5455, I seem to have to reset a lot when I'm trying to use the WLAN, but that's generally the only time I have to do it. I also do a soft reset after backing up to the SD card, but that is something that I'm prompted to do, so I don't consider that to be a problem. I will say, however, that I have begun to experience problems with the backlight not turning on after the device has been asleep for a while. This just started happening in the last couple of days for no apparent reason, as I have not loaded any new software or patches onto it. My experience with the 5455 and before that, the 3850 has been that they are somewhat tempermental and often get "gummed up" (sorry for the highly untechnological phraseology).

piperpilot
03-26-2003, 04:18 PM
I should add that I had a hard reset "happen" when the 5455 came in contact with some synthetic clothes that I was taking out of the dryer a while back. That was not fun!

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-26-2003, 04:36 PM
Is this thread indicating that the Sandisk SD might be causing a general instability in my 5455, unrelated to data access on the card???
Personally, I've never heard of SD cards actually causing system instability, so if I had to guess, I don't think the SD card is the original poster's problem (BTW, the original poster clarified that he is NOT using SanDisk).

A couple of posters brought the possibility up though, and my thought was that the only way to know for sure was to operate the device for a while w/o the SD card.

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-26-2003, 04:39 PM
I will say, however, that I have begun to experience problems with the backlight not turning on after the device has been asleep for a while. This just started happening in the last couple of days for no apparent reason...
That's a bit disturbing. I had this problem previously with my old 3835, but due to reasons I won't get into here, HP replaced it with a refurbished 3870 which has not shown any backlight issues at all in the 3.5 months I've been using it. So I had assumed this was no longer an issue for newer units.

piperpilot
03-26-2003, 04:41 PM
That's a bit disturbing. I had this problem previously with my old 3835, but due to reasons I won't get into here, HP replaced it with a refurbished 3870 which has not shown any backlight issues at all in the 3.5 months I've been using it. So I had assumed this was no longer an issue for newer units.

This was a big issue for the 38xx series in general, although I never had a problem with my 3850.

that_kid
03-26-2003, 04:52 PM
I'v had my 5450 for about two months so far and I am happy with it. I was upset at first about the headphone volume but that's been taken care of. Now if they can only get this wlan memory issue straight I will be happy. There's a thread over at brighthand where someone contacted both the wifi and bluetooth chipset manufatcures and found out that the memory errors are actually from the OS and should be address in the next OS but hell my lucent card has worked flawless since day one so what is the difference between all the other wifi cards and the one in the 5450? Anyhow I've come through the whole ipaq series 3650-5450 and my mom now has my 3970 and she loves it. Comparing the 3970 to the 5450 and I find the 3970 to be very stable, but I also remember all the talk about the 3970 being unstable when it came out so YMMV. So far I've had 3 reset with my 5450 and two of the times it was while using @mail. The third time happened while on the cradle :bad-words:. I like my 5450 but I would recommend the 3970 over the 5450, at least until they get the bugs worked out.

piperpilot
03-26-2003, 05:11 PM
I like my 5450 but I would recommend the 3970 over the 5450, at least until they get the bugs worked out.

I had my 3850 for about a year and have had the 5455 since January. Overall, I would say that I am very happy with the increased functionality of the 5455 over the 3850. I use the WLAN at home every day, and now that I have purchased a Bluetooth phone, I expect to use that every day as well. I also get a lot of use out of the NEVO remote control program as my boyfriend absolutely MUST have the TV remote at all times . . . but I digress. Now I should preface all of this by noting that the 3850 was my first PDA and my experience with the capabilities of PPCs in general and the range of software has increased exponentially since I bought the 3850--also, I should note that I am a lawyer, not a computer person--so a lot of my preference for the functionality of the 5455 may be due to a better understanding of its capabilities.

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-26-2003, 05:31 PM
I like my 5450 but I would recommend the 3970 over the 5450, at least until they get the bugs worked out.
I had my 3850 for about a year and have had the 5455 since January. Overall, I would say that I am very happy with the increased functionality of the 5455 over the 3850. I use the WLAN at home every day, and now that I have purchased a Bluetooth phone, I expect to use that every day as well. I also get a lot of use out of the NEVO remote control program...
Actually though, the main differences between the 3970 and the 5450 are really the built-in WiFi and the fingerprint scanner. The 3970 also sports the backlit reflective screen as well as Bluetooth and the consumer-strength IR beam with NEVO software. It's also well-known as a rock-stable device (very few complaints about this unit). Not that I don't like what the 5450 brings to the table. It's a loaded-device. It's just that I already have a CF WiFi card and don't want to spend more than about $300 on a device right now (if I decide to upgrade).

If I were to upgrade from my 3870 right now, it would be for a 3970. Unfortunately, those units are still running around $400 brand-new. If it came down to $300-350, I'd probably take it.

Shadowcat
03-27-2003, 05:37 AM
Don't forget the removable battery in the H5450s! Many people were asking for this feature. Honestly, I'm not sure if I really need a removable battery. I definately wouldn't buy an extra one. The only reason I see why I'd want a removable battery is in case the original one doesn't hold a charge anymore but by then I'd probably want to buy a new device! Of course I'm sure there are people out there that want/need an extra battery.

connoleg
03-27-2003, 04:05 PM
I took the SD card out yesterday and have not had to reset the 5450 once, I have used bluetooth and WLAN and its working great. Its just like my old 3870 for stability!!! :D

I will give it a few more days and report back. I thought of formatting the SD and recopying the data to see if that has any effect. The SD card came from my 3870 with its data, Tom Tom navigator and Dashboard stuff on it.

Gary

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
03-27-2003, 04:18 PM
The SD card came from my 3870 with its data, Tom Tom navigator and Dashboard stuff on it.
Dashboard?

Are you saying that you have Dashboard installed on your SD card? Was this not installed directly on your 54xx RAM?

Since Dashboard is a program that launches automatically upon startup, you'd probably want to have that installed directly on your device instead of your SD card. Additionally, I haven't used Dashboard in quite some time, but I do remember that this application was rather taxing on system resources. Considering the system resources already needed for WiFi and BT, this app could somehow be complicating your day-to-day operations.

Hyperluminal
03-28-2003, 05:13 AM
For what it's worth, I have an "infamous" SanDisk 128 MB SD card. It's generally worked well, except one time I was doing a backup and it lost all of my data... :(

William Yeung
03-28-2003, 05:26 AM
I think the unit itself is faulty, couple things:
1. I dont know, but seems USB Charger cable kills my unit twice, one screen blur out, 2nd time entire unit not able to turn on

2. Finger print issue. The idea great, but the driver sucks, once I use that I need to reset more often when the panel is not able to load and a funny 4 digit dialog shows up for password.

3. Low volume alarm

Well except all these... I found things quite interesting and fun... esp the great screen compare to my old 3630...

Lets hope things can be cured by firmware.

monzter
03-28-2003, 08:52 AM
hi people,

i've heard the same complaints about the 5450 here is malaysia. Screen not sensitive to the touch, soft/hard resets, lousy battery (esp the ones made in korea), low sound volume, biometric thingy not easily set-up. But ppl say the "patches" that hp introduces solves most of the bugs/problems.

connoleg
03-28-2003, 09:35 AM
Dashboard?

Are you saying that you have Dashboard installed on your SD card? Was this not installed directly on your 54xx RAM?

Since Dashboard is a program that launches automatically upon startup, you'd probably want to have that installed directly on your device instead of your SD card. Additionally, I haven't used Dashboard in quite some time, but I do remember that this application was rather taxing on system resources. Considering the system resources already needed for WiFi and BT, this app could somehow be complicating your day-to-day operations.


the data files for it, not the application itself. as part of one of my hard resets I didn't re-install it again. I have only Battery pack, Monkey Messenger, Pocket controller, Tom Tom Navigator, TV Remote controller, shutdown and who wants to be a millionaire? installed.

Looxer
04-15-2003, 12:44 PM
I've been looking to buy a 512MB SD card and want to avoid any potential problems with Sandisk. What brand would you recommend? I know that Panasonic, Lexar and, I think, Kingston, all sell 512MB SD cards but I have no idea which are good and which are junk.

I recommend SimpleTech :way to go:

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SD Memory Card Physical Layer Specification Version 1.01 Compliant
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SD and SPI Interface Supported
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Mechanical Write Protect Switch

http://www.simpletech.com/products/consumer/flash/flash_cards.php