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My History of the problem and Solutions
Updated: 06-10-07, 06-26-07, 09-01-07 (after this fix my x51v A10 ROM has been working perfectly ever since)
After performing the steps outlined below my PPC WM5 has not had a problem for over 3 months!
PROBLEM: windows Mobile 5.0 WM5 and probably WM6? Notification Queue fails to sound alarm for CALENDAR.EXE events and or TASKS.EXE events. This problem is different than the more common problems of duplicate or blank entries in the Notification Queue.
KEY FACTS: This problem occurs on devices running Pocket PC regardless of brand. Affected OS versions include Pocket PC 1.0 through 2002, 2003/se, WM5.x, WM6.x. This is Microsoft operating system issue and but really kicks in with Dell's A12 ROM update. The problem is the worst in WM5 and maybe WM6. After monitoring and cleaning the Notification Queue weekly with Memmaid I still ran into trouble becasue of
RECURRING appointments in the calendar that had reminders aka a reminder alarm.
Reminders Fail & Notification Queue Jam is Caused by the Dell Axim ROM A12 Update:
01-31-06 Purchased my Dell Axim x51v and started syncing with outlook - including about 20+ recurring / reoccurring reminders, mainly birthdays, etc. No problems with reminders for 8 months!
09-30-06 I upgraded my Dell Axim x51v with ROM A06 TO A12 ROM firmware.
10-20-06 Twenty days after the A06 to A12 ROM firmware update the problem started happening.
Affect all years and brands
Temporary Solutions that Last a short while:
1. Installing certain types of programs and doing a soft reset. I installed dell's notification tool and ran it but I did NOT use it to delete anything and that solved the problem for a few weeks. Aparently, certain software installs are an event which jump start the notification queue and fix the offending notification causing the log jam but after a short time another log comes along and jams the queue.
2. Changing the time zone to a different zone and then back again - can be dangerous and I don't recommend it.
SYMPTOMS:
Notifications are broken again and you run MemMaid v1.73 or Dell's Notification Management utility only to find
that there are no duplicate or blank notification entries to delete, yet your pocket pc (PPC/WM5/WM6) doesn't make a sound for calendar entries where a reminder has been set. Create a test calendar entry and set a reminder. Examine the notification queue with memmaid or the del utility for
CALENDAR.EXE entries. If the newly created entry does not appear this procedure is likely to resolve your problem.
SOLUTION: If you are using RECURRING (official ms outlook terminology) / REOCCURRING calendar entries for birthday's, etc? Try temporarily removing ALL calendar entries past, present and future from desktop Outlook and synchronize with you PPC via ActiveSync to remove them. After doing this, when I made a new calendar entry and set a reminder 10 minutes in the future it worked. Previously, it had been broken for at least two weeks! Then I moved all the entries that I had deleted (except recurring entries) back into the outlook on the computer and sync'ed and it has been working great ever since. Outlook 2002 /XP, outlook 2003, outlook 2007 with ActiveSync 4.x, I used ActiveSync 4.5, should be up to the task.
After removing all calendar entries and sync'ing the pocket pc you will see right away if this fixes your problem.
Outline of Basic Procedure:
1.) backup outlook *.pst file
2.) I used SPB to backup my WM5 PPC.
3.) Remove all reoccurring calendar entries.
4.) set ActiveSync desktop software to sync calendar & tasks for a max of 2 weeks in the past.
5.) sync with another computer with a clean test outlook user profile.
6.) examine all calendar items which will be from 2wks past but include all future appointments.
7.) delete all calendar entries and in the trash examine them to see if any contain attendees or an email that got tossed into calendar by accident.
8.) unplug ppc and make a new calendar entry reminder 10 min in future and set reminder for either 5 min before or 0 min.
9.) check notification queue with MemMaid to see if there are any entries calendar.exe and if there are click it to see if it contains your entry.
10.) if the alarm goes off then re-sync and carefully reintroduce calendar appointments back from trash to calendar - leaving off any that are suspect (ie causing the log jam in notification queue.).
11.) retest.
12.) if ok then re-sync with your normal computer. and continue to monitor event queue.
