Problem with the WM6 Built-in BT Keyboard Driver?

FrinkTL · 04-16-08, 10:31 AM

I guess because I'm a glutton for punishment, I tried using my new Stowaway Sierra BT folding Keyboard (STBT01) driven solely by the WM6 built-in keyboard driver. All works well...for awhile. Eventually, usually after turning the radio off and then back on, on a subsequent attempt to turn on the radio (to connect to the keyboard), I get an error indicating that the BT radio failed to initialize due to insufficient driver memory, and prompting me to do a soft reset to restore the radio.

Clearly, with 128MB of RAM, there's plenty of RAM available (and just to be sure I checked and there was 60MB free).

However, after 2 consecutive days of using the Sierra BT Keyboard driver, I have not seen this error recur. Could it be that the BT Keyboard driver that comes with WM6/iPAQ211 is the problem? Has anyone else seen this?

SonyConvert · 04-16-08, 12:27 PM

try one of the following, i had the same issue with my keyboard at first.

you need to go into the settings for the driver and turn off the power management mode for the driver. this should eliminate the issue. i have not had the problem since i turned it from auto power management to "off"

FrinkTL · 04-17-08, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by SonyConvert

try one of the following, i had the same issue with my keyboard at first.

you need to go into the settings for the driver and turn off the power management mode for the driver. this should eliminate the issue. i have not had the problem since i turned it from auto power management to "off"

That solution seems to address the opposite of the problem I'm had. My problem was NOT with the driver that came with the keyboard but with the BUILT-IN Windows Mobile 6 driver that came with the iPAQ. I have not had a single issue at all with the Stowaway's/iGo's keyboard driver, and I've been using it nearly non-stop for the last 3 days. Oh, and it's set up to the auto power management setting.

MY problem was when I tried to use the keyboard with the generic Bluetooth Keyboard driver that came with the iPAQ (and Windows Mobile 6). So I guess I'm wondering if it's just my iPAQ that has a bad generic BT keyboard driver or if it common to all the devices/WM6 devices. Has anyone tried using just the generic WM6 Bluetooth keyboard driver?

DrAT · 04-17-08, 03:18 PM

This is the age old WM BT bug. The built-in BT needs a large, contiguous block of memory. If that's not available because of fragmentation, the error pops up. I'd have though they'd have fixed it by now but at least it shouldn't happen often with so much memory to play with. I'm afraid that defragmenting RAM doesn't help. A soft reset is needed.

FrinkTL · 04-17-08, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by DrAT

This is the age old WM BT bug. The built-in BT needs a large, contiguous block of memory. If that's not available because of fragmentation, the error pops up. I'd have though they'd have fixed it by now but at least it shouldn't happen often with so much memory to play with. I'm afraid that defragmenting RAM doesn't help. A soft reset is needed.

It didn't even occur to me that it was the same defect as pre-existed from prior versions of Windows Mobile. I guess the good news is that keyboard manufacturers do a better job and their drivers run error free. It's just plain stupid that Microsoft can't design a better driver (or drivers that aren't such enormous memory hogs).