shaneincottondale

HELP!
I've been having some very irritating problems the past couple of days. To start, this weekend I installed an NES emulator (YamCE); one that hasnt caused any problems with anyone else (that I've heard of). Well right after installing it my performance goes right out the door, every menu takes 5 seconds or more to load as it draws the screen almost one line at a time and every program shows as not responding when I try to close it. Ok, the only way to get my Axim in a usable fashion is to uninstall YamCE and soft reset. System's running fine again...until I install MS Arcade Pack (Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Dig Dug). Now I can play only one game (not one title, but one game of any of the three) and then I have to close the program out and soft reset or the whole system is too slow to use. Maybe here's what I'm doing wrong: I bought a 128MB SD card with the intention of using it for programs and a 256MB CF card for data and files. So far, I've installed every single piece of software on the SD card. Is this why the performance is so bad? The first game plays fine...it's after that first one that everything blows up. I was planning on uninstalling the Arcade Pack and reinstalling it in the built in storage to see if that would help but now I get an error saying it can't uninstall Dig Dug and it's been sitting at the "spinning wheel" screen for over 15 minutes now trying to uninstall Ms. Pac Man. Which brings me to yet another question. Those of you using 300's, how do you have your memory set up? Should I center the bar or shift it left as far as possible to free up the most memory for programs? This whole memory setup thing is so foreign compared to the PC world that I dont have a clue what I'm looking at. Where is the combined 64MB that I should have? Isnt there 32MB RAM and 32MB ROM? When you look at memory, it says there is 31.55MB total available....someone please help me before I lose all me hair! ;)
Also, if I do a hard reset does that mean I have to reinstall the programs on the SD card?

shane

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Time is our greatest teacher, however it kills all its students!

cageyjames

You can't use the ROM to store anything. Your Axim only have 32megs of memory by default, but with a SD or CF card you should have enough. It shouldn't matter where the programs are installed. Is there something else you have installed that might cause the system to act slowly?

shaneincottondale

Here's everything I have installed at the moment (per the remove progams list), I noticed no difference after installing any of these:

Pocket Everquest
The Dog Ate It
MS Chess
KSE Backgammon
Warring States (turn based strategy game)
Dell Enable center navitgator button.


and thats it. Another question that just hit me, should the D-pad seem to "float" or should I receive a positive feel when I push on one of the four indentations (north, south, east, west)?

thanks,
shane

__________________
Time is our greatest teacher, however it kills all its students!

cageyjames

Nothing there looks like it would slow the system down. Does the system respond ok after a hard reset? I'd give it a day without installing any software and see if it slows down. If it does, something is going wrong with the unit IMO.

Other problems might include bad memory cards. I've heard about faulty SD or CF cards causing problems with Palms and iPAQs. Try installing the programs on your internal memory and see what happens, or try different cards.

As far the the D-pad, you describe what every Axim I've seen does. Up is the hardest to get feedback on. A friend got Dell to replace his unit, but the new Axim still had the same problem. I'd just sit tight on that until they fix it.

One more thing, is there anything you installed that is not in the "remove programs list"? Not everything shows up.

slam525i

Okay, so here's how your memory is set up:
32 Megs RAM: like a ram in your computer. BUT because the Axim doesn't have a hard drive, programs are also stored in the RAM, like a RAM disk (remember those old DOS days?). You can distribute the memory however you like if you go into Settings --> System --> Memory.

32 Megs ROM: Think of this kinda like a CD you use to load programs from. You read from it but you can't write to it. In this case, the operating system takes up this area and you cannot alter it (for the purposes of this discussion). Now, because the operating system only takes up about 26 megs, you get about 5.6 megs of ROM that's still empty. This is your "Built-in Storage" and you can store files in it. This is the ONLY space you have that will not be cleared after a hard reset. However, DO NOT install programs into this area because it will disappear on you. It's a bug in the operating system. Ask me how I found out! (Axim #1, may you rest in peace!) ;)

As for the sluggishness. I'd suspect the emulator somehow continues to run in the background. Use the "Switcher Bar" (it's under settings --> system) and make sure it's not running in the background.

Hope this helps! B)

shaneincottondale

Just installed the most recent problem app (MS Arcade) to the default location (built in storage I'm assuming) and still have the same problem. First game is top notch performance but once it's over you have to soft reset to play anything else. I guess all thats left is a hard reset and see if I have the same problem. Will I have to reinstall all programs on the SD? Maybe it would be best if I just uninstalled everything anyway and started from scratch.

<--should have bought a 400 I'm thinking.

shane

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Time is our greatest teacher, however it kills all its students!

Khuff

First off I haven't recieved the wife's Axim yet, so I will ask a couple questions based on general PPC experience. Have you checked memory usage when the Axim is operated really slowly (I know it will be a pain, but...) I have played plenty of games from the CF card in my 206mhz Jornada, and no probs. I have read elsewhere that some people have had memory leak problems with some apps on the Axim. Just verify others are using the same version of emulator, and see if the developer could shed any light on the issue. Good luck, it looks as if the rest of your set-up is ok...K

cageyjames

Quote:

Originally posted by shaneincottondale@Jan 28 2003, 09:20 PM Will I have to reinstall all programs on the SD?

Yes you will have to reinstall the programs, but any data (MP3s, photos, documents) will be fine.

SkyVoice

Shane,

Before resorting to big time hard resets... try using "switcher" first to close apps. Remember, when you hit the X at the top right it doesn't close programs as we are used to in Windows apps. The programs remain open. When you use switcher you can have it close programs that you select thereby freeing up a lot of processor bottlenecks. "switcher" can be found in settings---system. Good luck.

Ciao,

Ron

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"The first step begins any journey, no matter the distance"

shaneincottondale

SkyVoice,
I use switcher to close the programs, I somehow figured that out pretty quick. :P It was in switcher I was having the problem with programs not responding when trying to close them.



shane

__________________
Time is our greatest teacher, however it kills all its students!

SkyVoice

shane,

Sorry I missed that reference earlier re switcher. Thinking cap is going back on.

Ciao,

Ron

__________________
"The first step begins any journey, no matter the distance"