PPC "hangs up" Any ideas?

[b-adams]

I am new to PocketPC Thoughts, and look forward to learning from the site. I've been a PocketPC user for a few years now, and love these tools. I have used a couple different iPaq models, and about 6 months ago, migrated to the Samsung SPHi700 PocketPC Phone edition (which I also love).

One fairly common experience I had with the iPaqs, and now also with
the Samsung, is for the device to occasionally "hang up". When this
happens, the device seems to get stuck on, for no apparent reason,
often with the backlight on, and the only way to get the device to
respond at all is to perform a soft reset via the small recessed button
on the device. Until doing so, I can not even turn the device off. So
the result is that if this happens while the device is not visible, it
may be stuck on and fully drain the battery. I do regular backups, so
recovery is not that bad, but having an unexpected dead battery becomes
frustating.

My question is whether anyone knows if this is a fairly common occurance
with PocketPC users or not. If so, is there a general
recommentation of how to remedy it? Or, is there a debug tool
available that would allow me to capture a failure log / etc., so the
root cause could be identified and resolved? My "today plugins" are Battery Pack, Journal Bar and Calendar Bar. Thanks in advance for any advise available.

[Janak Parekh]

I have an i700, and don't experience your problems (or if I do, maybe once a year or so). I don't use any of the three applets you do, though, so one of them could be a problem...

--janak

[MikeInDallas]

:twisted: I have to reset my iPAQ 2210 at least once a day, usually more than that. I've had 3 iPAQs now, the first being the very first, the 3600, then later a 3675. Neither of them had this problem.

I've been living with the reset issue because it's just an annoyance. Sometimes it's a bad annoyance because I'm trying to get some info quickly and have to wait for it to reload everything.

When the cursor button fell out (hmm, where'd that go?) that was all I could take. I called HP for support and found the only choices I had were to mail it to them and wait for them to mail me a referb back, or pay $100 for a "CarePaq" package that means HP will cross-ship a replacement.

I had no choice. I rely too much on my PocketPC to go without it an indefinite amount of time, so I bought the CarePaq. As promised, HP mailed it out overnight and I received the CarePaq the next day. However, much to my dismay, I have to mail in a registration card and wait for them to mail me back a registration number before I can actually use it! Nobody told me that, and it baffles the mind that they'd overnight something that cannot be used.

But I digress...does it happen? All the time with my 2210. It didn't happen with the older models, but the 3600 model had to go to the shop a lot because it was the first model and was riddled with problems (screen inverting, stylus not staying in the spring-loaded holder, etc.).

[sofene]

I have an ipaq h3970 and it freezes up after a while. I cannot leave it on for too long if it is not running any programs because it will hang. I have the memory upgraded to 128mb by ppctech use a 512mb SD card and a 5g toshiba pcmcia hd with the pc card expansion card so the machine is fully loaded. I just feel that having so many things running at the same time causes the machine to hang. If there is any cure for this I would be glad to hear it.

[Janak Parekh]

:twisted: I have to reset my iPAQ 2210 at least once a day, usually more than that. I've had 3 iPAQs now, the first being the very first, the 3600, then later a 3675. Neither of them had this problem.
I've had four Pocket PCs now (3650, 3870, i700 and e805 are current) and have to soft-reset about once or twice a month -- even on WM2003 devices. I probably hard reset once a year, and deliberately at that.

Is it possible that you're just using your device more aggressively? I've heard of sporadic issues with various applets and plugins. I tend to be very conservative in the set of programs I install. I use Pocket Plus, PI, and a bunch of other apps that don't run on the Today screen or in the background. I know that this is a bit limiting Today screen-wise, but I've found that PI's Agenda view takes care of all the Today-ish stuff I need as it is. The only thing that's on the Today screen that's not built into ROM is the Pocket Plus applet.

--janak

[pacemkr]

I've notices that my 2210 might freeze when I try to do several things at the same time and jump between different apps even if the other was not quite done doing something. I think that might be described as agressive usage and I usually reset my device once a day or so.

[dmacburry2003]

The only time my Pocket PC hangs (iPaq 1935) is when I'm browsing a wireless network and when I'm really, really, working it (all apps open at once, videos playing, internet browsing).

[Kowalski]

well as speaking from a programmers perspective let us look from a different view:

consider the difference between a win9x system and windows XP. my old device was running windows 98 and with average use i was having at least 3-4 resets a week and the device couldnt manage to live continuously for one day. but with windows xp, my computer can go for 2-3 days without reset easly(DSL).why?
the most important reason is that windows xp protects its kernel far better than win9x. any program crash cant effect system stability.

this is the case for our pocket pcs. the system is evolving but give microsoft a couple of years for a reliable system. even windows mobile 2003 itself is very stabil. most of the time the reason for soft resets are the programs messing with system resources, not the operatin system itself

[pacemkr]

well as speaking from a programmers perspective let us look from a different view:

consider the difference between a win9x system and windows XP. my old device was running windows 98 and with average use i was having at least 3-4 resets a week and the device couldnt manage to live continuously for one day. but with windows xp, my computer can go for 2-3 days without reset easly(DSL).why?
the most important reason is that windows xp protects its kernel far better than win9x. any program crash cant effect system stability.

this is the case for our pocket pcs. the system is evolving but give microsoft a couple of years for a reliable system. even windows mobile 2003 itself is very stabil. most of the time the reason for soft resets are the programs messing with system resources, not the operatin system itself

Very interesting. I never looked at it this way. Not to go off topic, but Windows XP indeed has been VERY reliable for me. I have the same install for around 6 months and it crashes maybe once a month, even less than that.

[Brad Adrian]

most of the time the reason for soft resets are the programs messing with system resources, not the operatin system itself
As an experiment last month (mostly to try to figure out the "missing reminders" issue) I hard reset my WM2003 Pocket PC and used only native apps. I also took Ed's advice and stopped turning the device off manually; I let the power configuration turn it off after a few minutes of non-use.

I found that the device was completely stable and the reminders popped up just as they should. So, there may be something about the operating system that contributes to these issues, but it seems clearer to me that add-on apps are what precipitate the real problems.

[Janak Parekh]

the most important reason is that windows xp protects its kernel far better than win9x. any program crash cant effect system stability.
Perhaps, but the CE kernel is pretty damn stable as well. The problem is that we want third-party apps doing all sorts of manipulation on the PDA's hardware -- for example, waking it up. How many apps on your desktop automatically wake the desktop from sleep? In fact, I bet the XP kernel wouldn't allow it unless you wrote a device driver or somesuch. If you start making such hooks available, the potential for instability grows.

--janak