Random Power Up Issues After WM5

hshendon · 11-02-05, 03:36 PM

I searched through the various issues folks are having post-WM5 upgrade.

I haven't seen this one, so I thought I would post to see if anyone else has the problem, has heard of the problem, and more importantly if someone knows how to fix the problem.

I am finding that at random times, after my Axim turns itself off or after I have turned it off, it does not respond to the power on button or any other button for that matter. In order to get the thing to work, I need to press the reset button.

Please help!

11-02-05, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by hshendon

I searched through the various issues folks are having post-WM5 upgrade.

I haven't seen this one, so I thought I would post to see if anyone else has the problem, has heard of the problem, and more importantly if someone knows how to fix the problem.

I am finding that at random times, after my Axim turns itself off or after I have turned it off, it does not respond to the power on button or any other button for that matter. In order to get the thing to work, I need to press the reset button.

Please help!

My Axim was doing the same sorts of things. Usually when I had been using wireless and hadn't turned it off. That said, today was the worst...

I was using my PDA in the morning and all was well and i turned it off and put it in my pocket. About an hour later, I feel it and it's a little warm for it's off state. I take it out and attempt to turn it on and nothing happens. I assume this is similar to your problem. Well, I do the natural thing and hit the reset button. It starts to boot up, but then just freezes with the little bar about .5" from the end. After a few tries at this, I decided that a hard reset was in order...that didn't fix it! It still does the same thing right now. I left the batteries out for a few hours to let it all power down and even still I get nothing! The only thing I did recently was install Adobe Reader which seemed to work fine when I was using it. I'm sure it's not that, but I have absolutely no idea what could have happened! Needless to say I'm a little upset.

NEWS FLASH: While writing this message, the Axim booted up! It's a miracle! It took nearly 10 minutes though! That's rediculous! I'm just glad it's back from the dead. So this could be a symptom as well. Sorry for the crappy writing, but at least it came back to life!

sgtsampay · 11-02-05, 03:51 PM

OK. 1. Kf man. I would try and reinstall WM5. 2. hshendon try and expirament with differnt things. Like taking the battery out and putting it back. Soft resets. (If a soft doesn't work then a hard won't ethier. Just my expirence...) Good lucck to both of you. :)

hshendon · 11-02-05, 03:52 PM

Yeah, mine does the same thing when resetting. It progresses until a fraction of the progress bar is left, then sits there. Takes about 2-8 mintutes, then it boots up.

Still randomly stays off, though.

Freshy · 11-02-05, 03:55 PM

I had a similar experiance to kf man's. I noticed that my Axim was quite warm for being shut off. I had not powered it up since it had left its crade this morning three hours prior. I tried to turn it on, but it would not power up. I eventually hit the reset, and after a little delay (just a minute or two) it came up.

Hopefully this is just a minor bump. I would expect a few.

sgtsampay · 11-02-05, 04:00 PM

It is a minor bump. Give MS and Dell some time. They are having a hard time because people want Wm5 to have no probles. Hello! Dell and MS are just human and there will be mistakes.

11-02-05, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by sgtsampay

OK. 1. Kf man. I would try and reinstall WM5. 2. hshendon try and expirament with differnt things. Like taking the battery out and putting it back. Soft resets. (If a soft doesn't work then a hard won't ethier. Just my expirence...) Good lucck to both of you. :)

As of right now, I don't plan to reinstall WM5. At the same time, i also don't plan to downgrade to WM2003SE either. When it finally came back up, I just ran through the initial setup wizard and turned it off and put it on the charger. I don't believe that anything good could come from reinstalling WM5 and I will hopefully be able to hold out until A02 or A03 come out for the Axim. Thanks for the advice though and I'll keep it in mind if the problem persists.

I definately don't plan to jump ship this easily. I was really annoyed/nervous because I figured it would need to go back to Dell. I honestly can't believe that it took 10-15 minutes to start up! Either way, I will probably try to keep it stock for the next few days and just use it like that. I also plan to really exercise it and find out if this reset speed is the norm or not. It seems like WM5 has a few problems and I plan to hold it out. So far, I really love some of the enhancements that Microsoft made. Things just feel more natural in this newest version. As long as my PDA keeps running, then I will be happy...it's not that mission critical to me anyway, but it's nice to have around.

MrZ · 11-02-05, 04:55 PM

Very similar issues here.
I upgraded to WM5 last night and loaded up a few SBSH today plugins in trial mode that claimed to be WM5 compatible. Also installed the beta "11" version of wisbar advance 2 in trial mode which is potentially WM5 compatable. Loaded up a theme and corresponding skins and turned it off for the night. I connected to my work network in the morning and did some internet browsing. Thats where the honeymoon ended..

After lunch I hit the power button - nothing. After a couple more presses I saw the sometimes familiar memory error has been detected message with the suggestion to press the calendar button or hard reset. I pressed the calendar button and soft resetted. Same thing. Repeat twice and then no response from power button on the fourth attempt. Lack of power perhaps?

Swapping in a fresh battery got the error up once more and a soft reset got me into windows, appearing to work perfectly. Checked my web email and checked out some of the tech bargain sites. Turned it off.

3 hours later - same exact scenario as before.

Anyone suppose that WM5 is chewing through batteries even while "off"? I guess next step is to try charging it and doing a hard reset. I'll run it stock for a few days and see if its the 3rd party software versus the OS giving me the issues. Flashing it a fresh copy of WM5 probably won't be a bad idea either.

-Z

11-02-05, 04:57 PM

I also had that problem, it has only happened once but it freaked me out. I too believe in being patient...Dell must and hopefully will resolve these issues soon.

hshendon · 11-02-05, 06:16 PM

bump --

Want to see if those people who thought it was a minor bump or one-time occurence have changed their minds or had it happen again.

Mine has done it to me 6 more times. One time gave me the error message the earlier poster referred to.

Any possible fixes?

11-02-05, 06:53 PM

These problems are not just with a WM5 upgrade. Those of us who have purchased axim x51v brand new units with WM5 on them and we are having the same problems. The only thing that allows you to turn the unit on with the power button on a consistent basis is to take SD and CF cards out. Then the units seem to turn on all the time without problems. Check out the thread that deals with this problem.

11-02-05, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by hshendon

bump --

Want to see if those people who thought it was a minor bump or one-time occurence have changed their minds or had it happen again.

Mine has done it to me 6 more times. One time gave me the error message the earlier poster referred to.

Any possible fixes?

It has only been two days, but I have had some problems already. I think that when Dell comes out with the first ROM update, things will get much better. I know I'll be able to survive until then, but I can understand how other people will not be able to. Hopefully all the issues will work out and everything will be happy.

flipcody · 11-02-05, 07:23 PM

I have the same problem with my X50v on WM5. I very frequently need to soft reset to start my ax after upgrade. I discussed it in the WM5 forum.

Another problem that I have is that the battery is draining very quickly. I'm hardly using it during the day at work and checking bettery and it sometimes drops 20% in half hour without any use. I'm using it less than a half hour and battery is not lasting a day. Anyone else with this issue?

Its really too bad. I'm digging WM5 and I'm really not seeing all this lag that people are complaining about.

I will try pulling my SD and CF card to see if this helps. That really is not an option for me though. I use a lot of stuff off those cards. People with X51, this is a known problem and Dell has done nothing to address? Hasn't the x51 been out for a while?

Freshy · 11-02-05, 08:06 PM

Actually, it has gotten worse. Fortunately, I have not needed it much today. In fact, After the "incident" this morning, I didn't touch it until late this afternoon. Then, its battery was dead.

So I thought, cuz, it would not respond even if I pushed the reset button on the back. I do not have my cradle here, but I do have a sync cable, and since it is already off, I plugged it up there for about an hour or so.

I then tried to turn it on, but it would not. So I left it for another half hour (give or take a few). I tried to turn it on again, and it still would not. I decided to performa hard reset, but when the prompt appeared (apparently, this got its attention finally), I chose to just do a regular reset.

It finally booted, but it was very squirly. It appeared that I only had 10% of my battery left. In addition, it would not let me turn it off. Every time I tried, it would come back on in about 30 seconds or so. On one of these occasions, it thought it had a full battery.

I finally unplugged it, turned it off (this worked), and then plugged it back in again. I have not tried it since.

Freshy · 11-02-05, 08:10 PM

As a side note, for anyone wondering, I performed the upgrade Monday night. I had no problems. Took me about an hour and a half to do the upgrade and re-install all of my apps:

Pocket Informant
SPB Pocket Plus
Pocket E-Sword
Tweaks2K2
Rescoe Explorer
Rescoe Picture Viewer
Microsoft Reader
A couple of Jamdat games
and the chess and taipei games rom Microsoft's action pack.