iPAQ ROM Update For h4350 Series

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/HandheldiPAQ/us/download/21536.html">http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/HandheldiPAQ/us/download/21536.html</a><br /><br />It will wipe out your RAM, and you shouldn't try to restore a backup from a previous ROM version. As of this posting, it is available in English only, though I am sure other languages are to follow soon. There are quite a few fixes and enhancements. Some of the bigger ones include:<br /><br />• Enables Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer to use cached pages when offline, even for local servers.<br />• Removes duplicate radio telephone number from Contacts List view.<br />• Enables handheld to properly return to Power Off state after an alarm. <i>(No mention of properly powering <b>on</b> for an alarm.</i> ;) )<br />• Updates Asset Viewer to display the Wireless LAN (WLAN) Driver version. <br />• Adds support for Wireless Protective Access (WPA). <br />• Adds ability to configure Accept header for Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer. <br />• Improves wireless connectivity technologies.<br />• Improves USB reliability. <br />• Adds use of high-quality MIDI playback for alarms and meeting reminders. <br />• Improves data integrity when file system is near maximum capacity.<br /><br />The download is just over 18MB and requires ActiveSync 3.7.1.

[sebbes]

A solution already exist !!

Check all the details here : (thanks to this freeware writer, my 2210 is now able to wake up by itself)

http://www.pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=876[/url]

[Robb Bates]

• Enables Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer to use cached pages when offline, even for local servers.

Hey! I hope they can fix this on the next h2210 ROM update. I could never get this to work quite right.

Robb

[bdegroodt]

I can't believe they did a ROM update without making an improvement to the keyboard--could be much more useful if they followed RIM's lead.

[BanjoFrog]

I can't believe they did a ROM update without making an improvement to the keyboard--could be much more useful if they followed RIM's lead.

I'm curious, my h4355 keyboard works fine. What update are you looking for here?

I'll have to say, I was a little miffed by 2 things with respect to this update.

1) Be cautious when installing this. I ran setup from my compaq (read HP) nc6000 laptop running XP Professional SP1 (haven't been auto-updated to SP2 yet). After the updater rebooted my h4355, it BLUESCREENED my laptop! I've had this machine for almost a year, and it has never bluescreened until today. Make sure you've saved all your work before you try the update. I'm very curious to hear if other people have this problem as well.

2) Apparently you cannot sign up for e-mail notifications of updates for the h4355. HP's website offers no explanation.

3) I looked for 30 minutes on the HP website starting at their homepage, and I could not find anything referring to this update when I did a search for "h4355". I get some cheesy FAQ pages and basic troubleshooter guides, but they don't make it easy to find this.

That said, at least it's a drop of what I expected from HP when I bought this thing. I'm glad to see they're fixing bad issues. Never mind their own product support folks told me in person I could definitely expect a free upgrade to WM2003SE... bugger that.

[gorkon280]

Anyone figure out how to specifiy WPA on this? I only see WEP.

[pepemosca]

Does anyone know how the high-quality MIDI playback for alarms and meeting reminders works?

PS: I have a h4150

[bdegroodt]

I can't believe they did a ROM update without making an improvement to the keyboard--could be much more useful if they followed RIM's lead.

I'm curious, my h4355 keyboard works fine. What update are you looking for here?


It's pretty poor leverage of an input device that could be (see RIM) much more powerful. I'm especially unhappy with the lack of good shortcut keys in email the application (again, see RIM). It's the primary reason why my 4355 sits on my shelf, waiting, while I get work done on my Blackberry. The hardware is there. They just need to better leverage it. I'm still hopeful.

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

Does anyone know how the high-quality MIDI playback for alarms and meeting reminders works?

PS: I have a h4150

Ya, would like to know what does high-quality MIDI playback for alarms and meeting reminders means as wel...

[BanjoFrog]

re: midi files, I tried copying a .MID file to the MyDocs folder, but apparently MediaPlayer can't play it. The file doesn't show up as an option when you're choosing the sound to play back for notifications either.

How nice of HP to give us a feature without documenting how to use it.

You can choose WAP in the authentication type in your wireless settings.

[Wasp]

My issue with the keyboard is as an engineer, I input a lot of numbers. To input 123, you have to hit six keys &lt;fn>, 1 ,&lt;fn>,2,&lt;fn>, 3. It would be a heck of a lot more useful if I could stay in numeric mode, ie &lt;fn>,1,2,3. Since the keyboard is worthless for numbers, I use Fitaly to input them. If I am already using Fitaly, it is easier to use it to type the words. Therefore, I have not found the keyboard to be very useful. 8)

[brianchris]

My friend owns a 4300 series (I own a 5400 series). Anyway, he pointed out that HP's downloads page for the 4300 series, as of today, has screwy version numbers and dates for the ROM update. Here's the page:

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/HandheldiPAQ/us/locate/105_5920.html

As you can see, there are two ROM's availible. They have the SAME date. The one that's indicated to be current (and indeed even has a "new" designator by it) has a SMALLER version number than the older one (1.00.07 is current / new while the previous version was 1.10). Which one should he install? TIA!!

[brianchris]

A solution already exist !!

Check all the details here : (thanks to this freeware writer, my 2210 is now able to wake up by itself)

http://www.pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=876[/url]

Excellent. Thanks for posting this, and thanks to the author for solving the problem. HOWEVER, you can't deny HP and/or Microsoft SHOULD have fixed this themselves AND included it in a ROM update (where the tweak is not taking up precious RAM space).

[BanjoFrog]

Regarding the update feature to be able to use MIDI files for notifications, here's some info I got from HP today (cross posted from Dave's iPaq)
---

Ok. I contacted HP over their "chat" feature about this today.

First, the support engineer told me that my iPaq was out of warranty and I'd have to pay for help. I explained to him that a) this was a ROM update they recommended, so I should get free support, and b) I had bought a refurbished iPaq this June, and so my support window should still be good. His reply was that the warranty starts on the original purchase date, not the date I actually bought it. But he at least tried to help... in his own little HP way... (Sorry, I'm very disgruntled with HP these days, so this is going to sound cynical).

He had me soft reset my iPaq, then go to Start->Settings->Sounds & Notifications->Notifications and "check it". I asked what he wanted me to check, and after several iterations, he finally told me to:

1. open ActiveSync, click "Explorer"
2. copy a .MID file into MyDocuments on the iPaq
3. copy the .MID file into the Windows folder on the iPaq
4. soft reset
5. open Settings->Sounds and Notifications -> Notifications
6. your .MID file should show up in the list of available sounds to use for any notification.

These steps did NOT work for me, but maybe someone else will get them to work. If you do, please reply to this thread.