Dell Releases Long-Awaited Update for Windows Mobile 5.0-Upgraded Axim X50/X50v

[Darius Wey]

Truthfully, we've lost count the number of times the Pocket PC community has expressed frustration over the sluggish Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade for the Axim X50/X50v series. Obviously, there were enough complaints for Dell to take action - perhaps a little too late for everyone's liking, but as they say, better late than never. The new A02 ROM update is available for <a href="http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R143810&SystemID=PDA_AXIM_X50&os=PPM&osl=en&deviceid=7635&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&libid=7&fileid=191979">416MHz X50</a>, <a href="http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R143811&SystemID=PDA_AXIM_X50&os=PPM&osl=en&deviceid=7644&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&libid=7&fileid=191986">520MHz X50</a>, and <a href="http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R143808&SystemID=PDA_AXIM_X50&os=PPM&osl=en&deviceid=7640&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&libid=7&fileid=191977">624MHz X50v</a> devices that have been upgraded to Windows Mobile 5.0. Note that you cannot use this ROM update for X51 and X51v devices, nor X50 and X50v devices running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. If you rolled your X50/X50v back to Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, then you will be required to sit through a two-step update process (install the initial Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade, and then install the A02 ROM update).<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050706-X50v.jpg" /><br /><br />A02 features AKU 2.3.1 for Windows Mobile 5.0, and enhancements to wireless roaming, CF memory cards, the CF modem driver, microphone, and ActiveSync connectivity. If you get around to installing A02, let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly. Download links are located above.

[Julio]

Wow. Certainly better late than never. I had given-up waiting for this. I've downloaded it and will probably install it in the near future.

Julio

[msprague]

Is the WM 5 upgrade CD still available? I didn't find it on dell.com and I never got it on the first go around.

[CTSLICK]

I am find myself wondering...why now? Current rumor mongering had Dell and pretty much everyone leaving the PDA space anyway. So why would Dell finally release the update at this late date? Are they trying to kiss and make up? Or is this just the intertia of a dieing X50/X51 program slowly winding itself down?

[TMann]

So for those of us who are still using 2003 SE on our x50v's, can we just do the one update? Or do we need to do two updates to get this latest version of 5.0 on our devices?

TMann

Edit: Never mind. I just realized that my question was answered in the original article. Duh...

Was the original upgrade free? Or did you have to purchase it? It's been so long I can't remember all of those details...

[ppcinfo]

Was the original upgrade free? Or did you have to purchase it? It's been so long I can't remember all of those details...
The original WM5 update was available through Dell for $50 US, so it was not free. I purchased it and did the upgrade several months ago, but shortly after the upgrade I decided to roll back to the original 2003 SE OS since the performance of WM5 on my x50v was pathetically slow.

Most of this was attributed to the "compaction thread" running in the background, so I'm not sure if this new update corrects this issue and runs any faster than the original WM5 update. I suspect that the slowness of WM5 was due to the slow FlashROM in the x50v, and the updated WM5 OS probably won't over come it. Just guessing, though. I'm curious to hear if anyone does do the upgrade and what the performance is like after using the device for a few weeks.

ppcinfo

[blazingwolf]

The original update cost about $45 if I remember correctly.

I'm downloading now and I will be updating as soon as it is finished. Thanks for letting us know. :D

[Joelacrane]

Yes!

I don't have an x50, but I do have an x51v, and I am active on AximSite.com. Juraj, a "Dell employee", warned us of the update long ago, and nearly everyone doubted him, hurling a few harmful words. I am happy to see that he was right. Some apologies should be given.

Thanks Juraj!

[netboy]

Y EVEN BOTHER! aku 2.3??
2.3?? shouldnt it atleast auk 3.0 by now??

[blazingwolf]

Y EVEN BOTHER! aku 2.3??
2.3?? shouldnt it atleast auk 3.0 by now??

I think they are up to at least 3.2.

Why bother? Why not. AT least we mught be able to start using WM5 like we should be able to.

Installed and running fine so far. Now to start loading my programs again.

[Sven Johannsen]

Guess I'll have to find my upgrade CD. Bought one but never installed it, because of all the issues. Since then I have pretty much moved to a K-Jam as my day-to-day machine, though the X50 stays charged and updated. Be fun to see how it goes.

[blazingwolf]

So far this update is working really well for me. No sudden battery death from having a battery meter on the today screen. Speed is fine, no major slowdowns that I have noticed so far. Everything seems great. :mrgreen:

[Darius Wey]

I think they are up to at least 3.2.

Actually, some devices have AKU 3.5. It's interesting how a lot of them stay under the radar. ;)

[Darius Wey]

So far this update is working really well for me. No sudden battery death from having a battery meter on the today screen. Speed is fine, no major slowdowns that I have noticed so far. Everything seems great. :mrgreen:

Couldn't agree more. I think this update is a no-brainer for anyone still struggling with A01.

If anyone's interested, here are the memory figures after installing A02 (it may differ slightly from person to person):

Storage (Total): 90.00MB
Program (Total): 49.29MB

[Menneisyys]

Y EVEN BOTHER! aku 2.3??
2.3?? shouldnt it atleast auk 3.0 by now??

But, at least, it works ;)

[blazingwolf]

Actually, some devices have AKU 3.5. It's interesting how a lot of them stay under the radar. ;)

Hmm, I missed a couple.

No problems have shown their faces yet. This is much nicer then A01. :mrgreen:

[cab124]

For those of you who have upgraded...

Do you think there is a benefit in going from WM 2003 SE to WM 5.0 A02?

Thanks!

[Mitch D]

If I could just remember where I put my upgrade cd, after having so many device issues this past summer I had all but given up on ever upgrading to wm5.

[Tracy Daubenspeck]

Cab124

Benefits:

Bluetooth works out of the box for my GPS, and my Bluetooth stereo headphones

Powerpoint now come with the OS.

Enhanced Word and Excel

You don't lose everything in a hard reset.

Syncs with Windows Media automatically.

[Don Tolson]

Well, the upgrade SEEMED to go OK, but I can't get past the Screen Alignment portion after hard reset (multiple times).

Guess I'll try installing again to see if that helps.

[Don Tolson]

OK, after going through the screen alignment process about 7 times, it finally kicked over into the next steps...So far, so good. I really like the new 'power' icon in the top menu.

Now to see what happens after an Spb Backup restore!

[gpspassion]

Interesting news, a month too late for me since I rolled back to WM2003SE after thinking my X50v was about to die as it barely responded to clicks. Actually it took it a while to get back up to speed with WM2003SE, not sure why. First reports sound encouraging, please keep us posted on usage over a few days, thanks.

[joefuture]

Looks like the update doesn't work from a Vista machine. I tried it on both a Vista laptop tonight and my XP Pro desktop and finally got it to work. Got a little nervous when my first hard reset didn't take (I must not have pressed both buttons at quite the same time), but so far - so good.

Now, if they could only do something about the bogus "oops, the battery door was opened so I'll shut down" problem I have after a certain well-known Pocket PC repair company fixed my connector plug. :(

[Darius Wey]

You don't lose everything in a hard reset.

Actually, the purpose of a hard reset is to restore your device back to default settings, so your data gets nuked as well. That feature is still in place.

Persistent storage is what you may have been referring to. Under the old WM2003SE model, your data would be wiped upon depletion of the battery. Persistent storage overcomes this issue by storing data on the non-volatile ROM. Personally, I feel that's enough of a benefit to move from WM2003SE to WM5, and then there's the other added benefits you mentioned earlier.

[lapchinj]

Guess I'll have to find my upgrade CD. Bought one but never installed it, because of all the issues. Since then I have pretty much moved to a K-Jam as my day-to-day machine, though the X50 stays charged and updated. Be fun to see how it goes.
Stay with the K-Jam besides I don't really know how fun it will be. But I wish you luck not everyone had a tale of woe to tell but enough did that you should think about it for a while.

I have two x50v's. One became a brick a few weeks after the upgrade. I should send it into PPC Techs but I got really turned off with Dell - nobody to talk to so it's just laying in a box. The other one (I think) was upgraded at the same time but right after the first one died I rolled back the other to 2003se. I won't go through the upgrade again, at least I got a really really slow PDA that I turned into a a desk clock - cool but I should have bought a Rollex. I went back to my iPAQ 4155. Runs fine - too bad the Dell couldn't compete. I will never buy anything with a Dell label agian. No servers, laptops, desktops or PDA's - finished.

Jeff-

[Sven Johannsen]

Guess I'll have to find my upgrade CD. Bought one but never installed it, because of all the issues. Since then I have pretty much moved to a K-Jam as my day-to-day machine, though the X50 stays charged and updated. Be fun to see how it goes.
Stay with the K-Jam besides I don't really know how fun it will be. But I wish you luck not everyone had a tale of woe to tell but enough did that you should think about it for a while.

Too Late :wink: Did both the upgrades and it seems to Be running OK. Really wasn't using the Dell, but my wife uses hers. Wanted to see how it comes out. If it is farly stable, I'll build it for her and keep her other one at WM2003SE just in case. Mine has the PPCTechs upgrade in it. FYI the memory readings look like this now

Storage
Total: 90.00 MB
In Use: 6.87 MB
Free: 83.13 MB

Program
Total: 113.27 MB
In Use: 23.83 MB
Free: 89.44 MB

Looks nice doesn't it. With a 4G CF and a 4G SD, this wouldn't make a bad little media player, eh.

[lapchinj]

Too Late :wink: Did both the upgrades and it seems to Be running OK...
I wish you all the luck possible. I really hope you don't become one of the sorry few. Anyway, I liked WM5 on the Dell while it lasted - really nice. I would upgrade my desk clock to WM5 but I guess I'm gun shy at this point and since I've gone back to my 4155 it looks fine just there. I really should check out with PPC Techs if they can revive my brick. If so then I would upgrade both since I do have 2 full WM5 upgrades laying in my draw. I would keep one as a desk clock (maybe a chess clock) and the other I would give to my friend who is a Palm freak (poor guy :deadhorse: )

Don't get me wrong - even if my Dell's do get revived I still will never buy another dell - never, neVER, nEVER, NEVER!!!!!

Jeff-

[Sven Johannsen]

Don't get me wrong - even if my Dell's do get revived I still will never buy another dell - never, neVER, nEVER, NEVER!!!!!

Jeff-
You might never get the chance. Rumors aside, hard to tell if Dell is going to make any more. I'd buy another one. Had 2 X5s an X30, and two X50s. Had decent luck or decent support with all. The X30s sync port went bad, and one X50's touch screen got flaky. Both had replacements overnighted by Dell, and the broken one went back in the box at their expense. Can't ask for much more than that. The X5s got upgrades, but they also sold X5s with the later OS directly. Not the same with the X50/X51. Dell never sold X50s with WM5, they developed a new box for the new OS. Folks demanded an upgrade though, and Dell capitulated. Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for. I don't think the HP4700 upgrade went much better.

In any case, I have had no more complaints about Dell than any other brand.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I took the plunge a couple of days ago and so-far-so-good. I do have the impression that my battery is losing power faster than it did with WM2003SE though. Anyone else seeing this?

[Sven Johannsen]

I took the plunge a couple of days ago and so-far-so-good. I do have the impression that my battery is losing power faster than it did with WM2003SE though. Anyone else seeing this?

I'd concur with that. Doesn't really make sense though if the RAM isn't needing to be refreshed. Not really sure how they arranged all that unless the OS Image and the persistent memory stuff went into the old ROM and User Storage area, and the old RAM is now just that...execution space.

I personally am not sure if it is an impression on my part, because of the older battery, not a lot of recent use, and more use now that it is fun to play with again. Sort of a new toy.

I did let it run all the way down though and once power was reapplied and I gave it a little bit to come back to life, all is as it was. No drained battery hard reset.

[lapchinj]

You might never get the chance. Rumors aside, hard to tell if Dell is going to make any more. I'd buy another one. Had 2 X5s an X30, and two X50s. Had decent luck or decent support with all...
In any case, I have had no more complaints about Dell than any other brand.

I go back a few years with iPAQ (3600, 3700, 3800) did some development on the early Sharp SL 5x00, my trusty 4155 and of course the 2 Dells. I ended up with 2 of the Dells after spec'ng out a bunch of PDA's and I thought I made a good decision since it got good write ups. But they were slow and didn't live up the the upgrade I thought I was buying into. And after one became a brick I tried Dell's tech support but couldn't get anywhere with their tech people. I kept telling my tale of woe over and over with no resolution in sight. I just gave up and went back to my trusty 4155.

I did do the WM5 upgrade after your previous post to my living x50v but unfortunately it's still slow - very disappointing. We'll see how it acts over time but I did load load my Rollex timepiece back onto it so it wont be a total loss if it wont perform. Looks really cool in VGA. But what I really need my Webis and Resco stuff to perform.

Jeff-

[lapchinj]

I took the plunge a couple of days ago and so-far-so-good. I do have the impression that my battery is losing power faster than it did with WM2003SE though. Anyone else seeing this?

I did notice that I was coming up short on battery life with my x50v (before it went over the edge). I did buy the extended battery and never thought about it again and never came up short where I needed to recharge. But I didn't get enough time with it to say yes or no. But I definitely got the impression that I was not getting the mileage I should have been getting.

Jeff-

[k1darkknight]

Incidentally, can anyone find the WM5 upgrade CD on Dell's website any more? I happenned across a link to it, but I can't find it again, and I'm not sure if they're actually still offering the CD, or if it was listed as unavailable, or somesuch. After the responses in this thread, I'd like a chance to try WM5 on my X50v, but I never even bothered to buy the CD before, with all the issues people had right away, with it...

[rpenhale]

All I can say is better late than never, I work at a school and we run 122 Axim X50V units and under 2003SE when teachers forget to charge them we constantly have to reinstall the apps and reconfigure devices daily. When we bought the devices we were promised an upgrade path to WM5 and as soon as it became available purchased the upgrade CDs. The number one reason was the persistent storage feature. The A01 WM5 upgrade was to say the least dreadful and we have had to give up and I had almost given up hope of there ever being an upgrade, but finally yesterday I found about the A02 and after upgrading 10 units yesterday all I can say is hallelujah finally an x50V that runs WM5 reliably and at a reasonable speed. This will now allow me to start rolling out VOIP software and many new apps at our school. I see 2007 as the relaunch of Pocket PCs at our school and hopefully this update we reignite the use of these devices and make using them a much less painful experience for our teaching staff. Thank you Dell at least for making my start to 2007 very happy.

Richard

[Ca$h]

I'm not sure why this guy needs to find the CD, since both Win 5.0 upgrades are available free from Dell, as well as a de-upgrade package which allows you to roll back to 2000SE, if you're not happy with 5.0 A01 or A02. The important thing to remember is to backup all your software &amp; data and then backup the back-up.

Having said that, although I've downloaded both upgrades, I'm not going to install them until I've seen more feedback (hopefully positive) both here and on Aximsite.

[Sven Johannsen]

I'm not sure why this guy needs to find the CD, since both Win 5.0 upgrades are available free from Dell.

Really? Where did you find the initial upgrade for free on Dell's site. All I see are the A02 upgrades and they require the device to be running A01 already. Rollbacks have been there since early on.

[Ca$h]

I stand corrected! I went back in there myself and couldn't find what I thought I'd found, so I guess I'm not ever going to upgrade. When I bought my Axim about a year and a half ago, it didn't come with any deal for upgrading to 5.0. I haven't had any problems with 2003SE, anyway. Because of Dell's lousy reputation for service, especially in Canada, my next PPC or computer won't be a Dell.

[k1darkknight]

Okay, so...the WM5 upgrade CD for X50 models seems to be unavailable, at the moment, then?

[Darius Wey]

Okay, so...the WM5 upgrade CD for X50 models seems to be unavailable, at the moment, then?

Not all products are listed on the web site. You may still be able to acquire the upgrade CD through phone sales.

[Sven Johannsen]

Got an observation on my upgrade. Does seem the upgraded X50v goes through the battery faster. I could leave the un-upgraded one lay on my desk for two weeks easily, just turning it on now and again to see if it needed charging. Now it drains to the point it won't power on in less than a week. Doesn't lose all it's stuff when that happens, so that is a good thing. With WM2003SE, I was pretty careful about watching the charge state, and keeping up with backups, so the addition of persistant memory wasn't that big a deal, though I have gotten used to it on other devices.

I woudn't be all that heartbroken if I couldn't upgrade my X50 to WM5.

[i_spock]

Well, I had my fun messing around with my x50v (if you can call two ROM updates and reloading all your applications "fun") but I had to go back to 2003SE. I really gave it a go though, I even did a hard reset and reloaded all my apps a second time under A02 because of a post here recommending that all apps be installed on a flash card. Whether my apps were installed in memory or on a flash card, I experienced a number of problems including:

* snappy operation for a few seconds followed by seconds of sluggishness even with the processor forced to 624
* increased battery drain
* couldn't seem to get hard reset to work- had the same effect as a soft reset. even installed my copy of dinarsoft handymenu and did a hard reset through software- no luck, it just soft reset. Maybe I am a dope and am doing something wrong- but I have done plenty of hard resets :-)
* OS was really confused about remaining power when switching between my extended (2200 mAh) and standard (1100 mAh) batteries
* disproportionate number of times where after having turned the unit off it would not turn back on- had to soft reset a lot

It's probably my combination of apps that just isn't a good match for A02. I figured there won't be any updates after this one so things won't be getting any better for me unless I go back to WM2003SE. Like I said, I did have fun trying out A02, but at the end of the day I really need my x50v to be able to work when I need it. I actually have a new appreciation for WM2003SE :)

[Sven Johannsen]

Here's another member of the regression crowd. My X50v with the PPCTechs RAM upgrade and the WM5 A02 upgrade just eats the battery. This time it was like a day, laying on the desk. This morning it was dead again. Pop it in the cradle, let it drink a little and it comes on to a memory error screen. That screen has me hit the contacts button to reset, and everything comes up fine. Even a device I'm just using as a toy, draining in a day laying around is unacceptable. Don't know if the RAM upgrade has something to do with it, but with 2003SE A05, it could lay on my desk esentially unused for about a week.

I can tell you it is not an inherent WM5 issue. I have plenty of devices running that, that work just fine for me. I expect that the X51 doesn't have this sort of issue, or we'd really hear about it.

Just goes to show, IMHO, that all these devices are very dependent on what the OEM does to them. All the issues aren't neccesarily MS OS issues.

Update/Edit: Battery drain is back to normal/acceptable levels under WM2003. Laying around I'm loosing just a couple of % per day. Much better than stone dead in a day or two.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Unfortunately I had to rollback too. Performance was too spotty, but the battery drain was the main reason.

Too bad...one of the reasons I got the Dell was the fact that I expected to be able to upgrade the O/S. Not to mention the $$ for the A01 disc. :(

[k1darkknight]

Well, considering all the battery issues people seem to be having, combined with the fact that I keep a 1GB SD card in my X50v at virtually all times (slight increase in battery drain, at least when powered on), I'm even more hesitant to get the upgrade than I was initially. Is everyone having these battery drain issues, or are some people seeing acceptable battery life, with the upgrade and upgrade's update installed? Also, I have an extended battery, so is the 1-2 day drain with a standard or extended battery in your X50's?

Finally, I'd seen someone post somewhere about getting Dell to replace X50v's with X51v's under their warranty. Seems they had to jump through hoops to get it, and that it might even have been a fluke. But if this is possible, I'd much sooner go for the 51. I got Dell's 3 year warranty WITH the "accidental damage protection" (which has already saved my sanity - and wallet - once), so I'm thinking they might be more flexible with someone who spent those extra dollars on this extended plan. If anyone can point me to the thread in question (or knows any more about this possibility), it would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

[Ommadawn]

I'd appreciate hearing more about this as well, being in much the same boat as k1darkknight.

[jmberman]

Well, I just bought the WM5 CD for Dell Axim X50/X51 on EBay..
I'll let you folks know if it works well..