HELP! BTTRAYCE.exe is AWOL on IPAQ 3970

[JeffV]

Hi guys,

Disaster struck last night. When I turned on my IPAQ 3970, the bluetooth icon in the system tray was gone. I backed up my data, did a hard reset, and had it return. Upon restoring my data, however, it went bye-bye again.

I did some extensive browsing (to the detriment of a bunch of stuff I need to get done asap) and managed to figure out that the bttrayce.exe file is nowhere to be found on my Pocket PC in the \windows directory, even when I'm exploring through my notebook with the "show all hidden files" option on.

The crazy thing is that if I disable ALL (I mean everything) from my today screen and do a soft reset, guess what pops up? The BT icon in the bottom right corner. But the minute I add something back in, it goes away again.

I've got a few things running in my startup folder:

ari_eng
HH-DM
poutlook
romupdnote
cadenza services
magic button

...but no bttrayce.exe. Ever. Even on a fresh hard-reset pre-restore of data, I can't find bttrayce.exe anywhere, despite having the icon on the screen and BT functioning like it should.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

[Darius Wey]

I did some extensive browsing (to the detriment of a bunch of stuff I need to get done asap) and managed to figure out that the bttrayce.exe file is nowhere to be found on my Pocket PC in the \windows directory, even when I'm exploring through my notebook with the "show all hidden files" option on.

The bttrayce.exe will most likely not appear as it is a ROM file. File Explorer, by default, will not show ROM files even with the "Show All Hidden Files" option activated. This is to prevent users from accidentally deleting an essential file. If you want to be able to see ROM files, you need an alternative file management utility such as GSFinder+ and ensure that you activate the ROM Files option so that you can see the ROM files on your device.

I've got a few things running in my startup folder:

ari_eng
HH-DM
poutlook
romupdnote
cadenza services
magic button

...but no bttrayce.exe. Ever.

Well you should have a bttrayce.lnk file. If you don't, then you can create one, but you'd need the afore-mentioned GSFinder+ utility (or something similar to that) to allow you to do this. If none of this works, I suspect something in your backup file is causing problems, so I'd consider restoring your PIM data, and reinstall your other programs manually (even though it's an arduous task).

[JeffV]

Well, I reflashed the rom, and rebuilt my device program by program. Just finished getting everything "just so", including using my cell as the BT modem, so I take a backup using iPAQ backup, reset as ordered, and poof, there the icon goes again.

I am beginning to suspect some corruption of ROM. Is this reasonable?

[Darius Wey]

and rebuilt my device program by program...and poof, there the icon goes again.

I am beginning to suspect some corruption of ROM. Is this reasonable?

Well... What programs are you installing? There's always a chance that it is one of your programs that is hijacking the bttrayce.exe file.

[JeffV]

Well, this time, I was running a pared down set of programs when it happened again. This is what's on there:

In RAM:

PocketInformant 5.5 (with the system tray icon turned off)
Cadenza mNotes
SPB Pocket Plus
NYDITOT Virtual Display 3.22

On SD card:

PlanMaker and TextMaker
Hexacto Soccer

The Pocket Plus is the trial version...previously I was running Rhinocode Ipaqpanel2002 and Transcreative Magic Button.

This last time, the tray icon disappeared after a Virtual Display-induced soft reset after working in PlanMaker. I guess tomorrow I'll try another restoration and take either the Softmaker stuff or Virtual Display off and see what happens.

The funny thing is that even with GSFinder+ after a hard reset or reflashing the rom, I can't find bttrayce anywhere, even with all the hidden and rom files showing. Yet at the same time, BT works properly until it goes poof after a soft reset.

I can't remember if I mentioned, I'm running PPC2002, which means it is the old bluetooth stack, not the newer WIDCOMM from 2003.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. I'm lost on the technical side of this stuff, I just know I've used it hard for the past two+ years and won't give it up without a fight!!!