View Full Version : Did a ROM Upgrade Make my 5450 go Faster? Yes.
Jason Dunn
07-09-2003, 07:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/files/ipaq-rom-comparison/' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/fil...rom-comparison/</a><br /><br /></div>About a month ago, I took my "virgin" iPAQ 5450 ROM 1.00.45 and upgraded it to the latest ROM, which was 1.11.19. I had read several reports from people who were claiming the new ROM made their device function faster. Being the curious person I am, I decided to use the then-unreleased <a href="http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/benchmark/index.html">Spb Benchmark</a> to perform a series of controlled tests.<br /><br />The results surprised me - the ROM update really did increase the performance of the device, even in CPU tests! Follow the link above to see the series of tests I did, along with the graphical benchmarks. If you're a stat-freak like me, you'll enjoy looking through the results. :mrgreen:
szamot
07-09-2003, 07:10 PM
I am still chocked about not being able to restore from backup after this upgrade. That really bothers me. But I too have the latest and the greates ROM, until the next update comes up - PPC2003.
Janak Parekh
07-09-2003, 07:28 PM
I believe the reason this was the case on the 5450 in particular is because inefficiencies with the sleeve-management program ("dm_k.exe" IIRC?) were fixed.
--janak
Jason Dunn
07-09-2003, 08:41 PM
I believe the reason this was the case on the 5450 in particular is because inefficiencies with the sleeve-management program ("dm_k.exe" IIRC?) were fixed.
Even if I never attached a sleeve to it for testing?
Scott R
07-09-2003, 08:50 PM
I'll be interested to see similar benchmarks comparing this updated ROM PPC 2002 5450 with a 5450 upgraded to PPC 2003. I'm still trying to determine definitively how much of the speed improvements people were seeing with the 2215 was really due to the updated kernal of PPC 2003.
Scott
entropy1980
07-09-2003, 08:59 PM
I believe the reason this was the case on the 5450 in particular is because inefficiencies with the sleeve-management program ("dm_k.exe" IIRC?) were fixed.
Even if I never attached a sleeve to it for testing?
Yes it would still hog CPU cycles.... dm_k actually is the software that detects the sleeve being attached....
I believe the reason this was the case on the 5450 in particular is because inefficiencies with the sleeve-management program ("dm_k.exe" IIRC?) were fixed.
Even if I never attached a sleeve to it for testing?
Yeah, the sleeve management program runs in the background to detect the insertion of a sleeve and perform actions once the sleeve has been inserted. Even if no sleeve is in use, the program runs in the background to provide that instant plug&play effect.
szamot
07-09-2003, 09:54 PM
Now we need a hand-dandy little utility to kill this little thief. I say be gone "dm_k.exe" for the 99.9% of the time that we actually don't use it. I would be quite happy to start the sleeve manually to get better performance 99.9% of the time.
JonnoB
07-09-2003, 09:59 PM
I'll be interested to see similar benchmarks comparing this updated ROM PPC 2002 5450 with a 5450 upgraded to PPC 2003. I'm still trying to determine definitively how much of the speed improvements people were seeing with the 2215 was really due to the updated kernal of PPC 2003.
Scott
This test was already done on the 39xx iPaq where dramatic speed improvements were realized. Video performance in WMP and other areas were greatly enhanced as well. Of course, the average user does not care that 2003 makes such great improvements... at least not enough to write about them if you are a tech reporter... :twisted:
mtillett
07-09-2003, 10:00 PM
szamot,
You don't need a utility. Just move the dm_k.lnk from the Windows/Startup folder into one where you can run it manually. Perform a soft-reset and you're good to go. Then when you need a sleeve run the file. I did this when the old one was giving issues, but I didn't see a need once it was fixed.
Scott R
07-09-2003, 10:25 PM
This test was already done on the 39xx iPaq where dramatic speed improvements were realized.According to Ed's posting on that subject, overall speed improvements were 12%. That's a welcome improvement, but I'm not sure I'd call it dramatic. My point though was that given this latest revelation about a non-2003 ROM update providing similarly-significant (10% range) speed improvements, one has to wonder if Ed's pre-2003 3970 might have had this same bug. In which case, was the speed improvement the result of the 2003 upgrade or simply fixing this bug?
Scott
JonnoB
07-09-2003, 10:28 PM
My point though was that given this latest revelation about a non-2003 ROM update providing similarly-significant (10% range) speed improvements, one has to wonder if Ed's pre-2003 3970 might have had this same bug. In which case, was the speed improvement the result of the 2003 upgrade or simply fixing this bug?
Good point. I guess we won't know the definitive answer until more devices are out there. Early cursory reviews point however, that speed overall is improved... most likely a combination of both the OS and hardware improvements.
Jason Dunn
07-09-2003, 11:52 PM
Good point. I guess we won't know the definitive answer until more devices are out there. Early cursory reviews point however, that speed overall is improved... most likely a combination of both the OS and hardware improvements.
Once you see the tests on a 3650 running 2000, 2002, and 2003 that I just completed, it will all become clear. :-)
Pony99CA
07-10-2003, 01:40 AM
Once you see the tests on a 3650 running 2000, 2002, and 2003 that I just completed, it will all become clear. :-)
Well, the 5450 benchmarks showed an iPAQ 3630 in the last overall index and CPU index benchmarks, and the 3630 was much faster in both. I find that kind of disappointing.
Stee
Pony99CA
07-10-2003, 01:43 AM
Yeah, the sleeve management program runs in the background to detect the insertion of a sleeve and perform actions once the sleeve has been inserted. Even if no sleeve is in use, the program runs in the background to provide that instant plug&play effect.
True, but you'd think Compaq would have made this interrupt-driven. Inserting a sleeve would trigger a hardware interrupt to detect and initialize the sleeve.
Maybe Windows CE doesn't support that, though.
Steve
ctmagnus
07-10-2003, 03:55 AM
I believe the reason this was the case on the 5450 in particular is because inefficiencies with the sleeve-management program ("dm_k.exe" IIRC?) were fixed.
HH_dm? I have no dm_k.exe but I have a HH_dm.exe. I also have an NK.exe. But this is on an upgraded PPC2002 device. ;)
Server
07-10-2003, 05:15 AM
I'll be interested to see similar benchmarks comparing this updated ROM PPC 2002 5450 with a 5450 upgraded to PPC 2003. I'm still trying to determine definitively how much of the speed improvements people were seeing with the 2215 was really due to the updated kernal of PPC 2003.
Scott
According to INGES-PDA, (http://www.inges-pda.net/ppc2003_revieweng.html) The 5400,
once updated with PPC2K3 aka WM2K3, it should run much faster.
"...I got my HP iPAQ H5450 a week after it was for sale here in Norway. So I got some experience with it. I was immidiately a little bit disappointed the first time I used it - and wonder why I changed from 3970 to 5450. The CPU should be sooo much better I was told. But I did not think it went faster. NOW I know what we were waiting for - the OS that is designed for the faster CPU and now my iPAQ 5450 is running faster than ever. I think the iPAQ now is the RAW Pocket PC on the market - radicaly improved in speed and stability, I do not reset it as often as before. I guess that all that upgrades will feel the same! It was my first reaction: woow... it is faster. Even surfing the Internet is faster than ever...."
phoa!!.. didn't realise how much dm_k.exe chewed.. removed it from my startup directory and reset it.. made a noticable difference in speed.. :D cant wait till the 2003 upgrade comes out...
mtriplett
07-11-2003, 11:33 PM
Hi all,
Can anyone help me? I installed the ROM update for my 5455 as well as the WLAN update. Now I am unable to sync my Avantgo by the USB cradle?????
In Activesync under Avantgo I have a message of 1 unresolved item. When I try to relsolve the item I get the message "device components missing or out of date."
I have uninstalled and reinstalled Activesync 3.7 to no avail. Help!!!!
I am however able to wirelessly sync Avantgo without problems.
Thanks for any input anyone has.
Pony99CA
07-12-2003, 04:34 AM
In Activesync under Avantgo I have a message of 1 unresolved item. When I try to relsolve the item I get the message "device components missing or out of date."
I have uninstalled and reinstalled Activesync 3.7 to no avail. Help!!!!
It's not a 5450 issue; I have the same problem on my iPAQ 3870. In fact, lots of people have gotten that problem. Just soft reset your Pocket PC and/or kill and restart ActiveSync to fix the problem.
Steve
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