HX4700 Keeps on resetting

[lehman05]

A couple of months ago I bought an HX4700 from ebay as an ex demo ppc.

It works relatively well, but one thing that infuriates me is it's tendancy to fully reset when the battery dies.

I think this happens mostly when I have been running TomTom 5 and my bluetooth gps and I forget to turn off the ppc so it comunicates with the gps until it dies. it also happens at other times which I can't put my finger on.

What would fix it is if you could tell the ppc to competely power off when the battery reaches a certain percentage ie 5% remaining, it shuts off.
Does anyone know an app that does this?

What is the use of the Nimh backup battery. I thought the ppc would of shut down on its own before it used this battery?

[Darius Wey]

What would fix it is if you could tell the ppc to competely power off when the battery reaches a certain percentage ie 5% remaining, it shuts off. Does anyone know an app that does this?

Normally, you would receive a low battery warning at around 20-30%, and another one when it's just about dead. It seems like your applications are overriding this.

One suggestion, and a significant one might I add, is to upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0. The new OS makes use of a feature called persistent storage, which enables your Pocket PC to retain all data even when the battery dies, since it's all stored on the non-volatile ROM, as opposed to volatile RAM (which is employed in Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition).

Edit: Oh, I see you're new here. Welcome to Pocket PC Thoughts. :)

[lehman05]

Yes I've tried WM5 but it was painfully slow and also it won't work with my Tom Tom 5 version.

[Darius Wey]

Yes I've tried WM5 but it was painfully slow and also it won't work with my Tom Tom 5 version.

Hmm, in that case, we'll have to work on finding the problem. If it is indeed an application (such as TomTom) overriding the notification, it's hard to work around it, since the code is most likely embedded in the application itself. Does this only happen while using TomTom?

[lehman05]

Thanks for your quick replies and thanks for the welcome too!

Yes I think it does only happen with TomTom. I haven't loaded it again as yet, so I think what I'll do now is run it on battery and see if it gives me a low battery warning and shuts down.

[Darius Wey]

Yes I think it does only happen with TomTom. I haven't loaded it again as yet, so I think what I'll do now is run it on battery and see if it gives me a low battery warning and shuts down.

Yes, that's the best way to test it out. If you still don't see the battery warning, try looking at some other applications you have installed.

Worst-case scenario, you could hard-reset and start fresh and install each application one-by-one while testing out the battery.

[DrAT]

I managed to get TomTom 5 working on WM5. My version of TomTom 5 is not supposed to work.
I installed it on a WM2003SE device and copied the folders created to the WM5 PPC. I bonded my BlueTooth GPS with the second PPC. I then ran the 4 TomTom CAB files on the new device, changed a couple of shorcuts and it worked.
I haven't foind a way to stop TomTom using all of the battery though Tweaks2k2 allowed me to 'mprove' the battery warning.

[lehman05]

Well, with no apps installed I left the ppc on battery mode and when it got down to 9% a red popup displayed saying the battery was low. The ppc then just stayed on until it switched off. This morning I turned it on and the os was still there.

So, it seems as if it's definately Tom Tom that causes it to completely drain.

I still don't unserstand the idea of the HX4700 backup battery though. Wouldn't it make sense that when the main battery level ran out then the ppc would switch off no matter what app was running, therefore saving all your settings from dissappearing?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I still don't unserstand the idea of the HX4700 backup battery though.

The backup battery's only intended to keep your unit powered while changing main batteries, and only lasts about 20-30min. It was never intended as a fail safe for keeping your unit powered if the main battery got drained.

For that matter, it's not a good idea to do deep discharges of the main battery in any case - this damages the internal chemistry of the battery and can drastically reduce your battery's lifespan. If you're using your iPaq as GPS in a car, I'd suggest looking at some power options for it.

[lehman05]

I managed to get TomTom 5 working on WM5. My version of TomTom 5 is not supposed to work.
I installed it on a WM2003SE device and copied the folders created to the WM5 PPC. I bonded my BlueTooth GPS with the second PPC. I then ran the 4 TomTom CAB files on the new device, changed a couple of shorcuts and it worked.
I haven't foind a way to stop TomTom using all of the battery though Tweaks2k2 allowed me to 'mprove' the battery warning.

I gave it a go this morning and got TomTom to work with WM5 the same way that you described. Sweet, I'll give WM5 another try. I have read a few posts on this forum that sound like there are some tricks to get it to run more quickly.

[lehman05]

From searching through this forum, would I be right in saying that Sprite backup is the best backup utility for a HX4700 and WM5?

[olliebbb]

What would fix it is if you could tell the ppc to competely power off when the battery reaches a certain percentage ie 5% remaining, it shuts off. Does anyone know an app that does this?

Normally, you would receive a low battery warning at around 20-30%, and another one when it's just about dead. It seems like your applications are overriding this.

One suggestion, and a significant one might I add, is to upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0. The new OS makes use of a feature called persistent storage, which enables your Pocket PC to retain all data even when the battery dies, since it's all stored on the non-volatile ROM, as opposed to volatile RAM (which is employed in Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition).

Edit: Oh, I see you're new here. Welcome to Pocket PC Thoughts. :)Does that mean if the battery dies you lose all of the data on your ppc?

[Darius Wey]

Does that mean if the battery dies you lose all of the data on your ppc?

If you're running Windows Mobile 5.0 on your Pocket PC, then the answer is 'no'. Otherwise, it's a 'yes' for pre-Windows Mobile 5.0-based Pocket PCs.