Hell on Earth...With XDAII & XDAIIs!

[XDA_User]

Hi all,

Does anyone know *WHY* these units can sometimes simply lose all memory without any reason whatsoever??

My XDAII just froze and reset yesterday, with the LCD screen freezing and fluctuating, with partial display of the keyboard below, (during a battery change) and *today*, when I thought that switching to my new XDAIIs would help (possibly the older XDAII had a contact or circuit board problem), it suddenly went on the blink just sitting around when I was exchanging telephone calls!

Does this happen often?

I am seriously ready to install WinMobile5, but if this happens with that hacked OS, who knows...! :cry:

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Does anyone know *WHY* these units can sometimes simply lose all memory without any reason whatsoever??

Exactly why do you suspect lost memory? From your description, it sounds more like either a program incompatibility, or (in the case of the battery switch) your backup battery is on the fritz.

Does this happen often?

I've never heard of this particular problem relating to the XDAs, or any other PPCs either.

I am seriously ready to install WinMobile5, but if this happens with that hacked OS, who knows...! :cry:

Considering that the XDAII and IIs are not getting the WM5.0 upgrade, installing the hacked version invalidates any warranty you may have, not to mention being illegal. Also considering that the cooked ROMs available are typically from earlier beta versions, you can hardly blame the machines if they don't exactly behave.

[XDA_User]

"Considering that the XDAII and IIs are not getting the WM5.0 upgrade, installing the hacked version invalidates any warranty you may have, not to mention being illegal. Also considering that the cooked ROMs available are typically from earlier beta versions, you can hardly blame the machines if they don't exactly behave."

However, there aren't any really compatible WM5 OS PPCPhone versions that have anything more than these - with the larger screens, other than the JasJar, which is not worth the money, as it adds nothing, and no EDGE! :roll:

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Well, it's your risk to take :wink:
Having said that, I'm pretty disappointed on the current offerings as well.

But to keep on topic, you haven't answered my first question - how do you know you have a memory problem? It could be something else you know.

[XDA_User]

Undestood - but as these units store all programs are stored in RAM, that's why memory is gone....must be a program as you suggested....

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Actually no they don't - 95% of my programs are "stored" on an SD card. RAM can also be used for storage (and for some programs installing in RAM is a requirement), but it is primarily used for program execution. It sounds like to me you haven't done any memory management at all and you've just kept running programs until the system crashed. Do you know how to do a soft reset? That should be done at least once a week, or more, just to ensure your memory iis cleared. Also, it may be worth investing in a good task manager. As you may or may not know, the "close" button in windows mobile does nothing of the kind - it actually only minimises. 3rd party task managers overcome this issue by providing you with a real close button, that actually closes the app rather than hiding it.

[XDA_User]

Noted and agreed.

I also install as much into my SD card, with some essential programs in "storage" in ROM, but when the OS resets, all references to the programs and executions are gone....

Must be the latest version of SPB's PocketPlus - it seems to be the most common factor here....

I just tried re-installing it into the ROM "storage" on my XDAIIs, but it never installed, so I am trying installing it into RAM....

However, it could be the unstable program you referred to earlier...

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Quite possibly - SPB is a little bloated for my taste. Try it out and let me know how you get on. Though I'm a bit puzzled - you're saying that when your XDA resets, it's actually doing a hard reset? Every time?

[XDA_User]

Both units did this (*hard resets*), the XDAII (battery installation) yesterday and the XDAIIs today....out of the blue...

Note that PocketPlus only installs into RAM on the XDAIIs, as it just confirmed on the install right now....!

Note that the XDAII normally hard resets like this (I have 2 x XDAII's) during a battery change - possibly a battery is bad/contacts bad?? Who knows, but I know that this happens to others as well...

[Nurhisham Hussein]

How old is the XDAII? More than likely the backup battery is dying - these are typically NiMH rather than LIon, so the lifespan is very limited. You may need to take it to O2 to get that fixed. Though IIRC the XDAII backup battery has always been a little iffy.

It's always a good idea to install today plugins (like SPB Pocket Plus) into RAM - for performance reasons if nothing else.

[XDA_User]

Actually, I think PocketPlus has slowed the response time on the screen touches to actually responding, even in RAM....

The XDAII is about 1.5 years old, but the backup battery shows 100% - wouldn't it be accurate?

IIRC = ??

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Nickel Metal Hydrate (NiMH) batteries are subject to the 'battery memory' phenomenon - they tend to take the last charge as the maximum charge available. As time goes on therefore, the maximum charge they'll give becomes less and less - it's recommended to fully discharge before recharging to maximise battery life. Unfortunately this isn't really possible on a PDA. This is quite unlike LiON batteries which tend to retain their maximum charge level until they near the end of their useful working life.

If you can live without PocketPlus, I'd suggest you ditch it - there are other software (or combination of software) that cover the same functions with less bloat. The problem with an all in one Swiss Army Knife software is that Swiss Army Knives tend to be bulky, making them difficult to just carry around.

If I Remember Correctly.