Power Drain with A12? - Page 2

sockapoke · 07-10-06, 07:54 PM

My battery is running down during use a little faster.

Originally Posted by player911

I've found that 2 days in a row, my axim was found in the morning dead when it had a full charge the night before.

Something is keeping the battery draining. The screen is off, I know. I do not know if it is wifi or bt being left on. Or something else. I have x51v A12 and Widcomm.

Does anyone have this same problem?

Normally turning off the screen is like a "suspend" which will turn off all radios. The first time I found this was while coming home from work where I had used my BT GPS reciever. At 5 O'Clock it was dead. I dismissed it as maybe I left the screen on in the case. But this morning it was dead again after using WiFi yesterday. I just installed the new WiFi/BT switcher included in .50 release of Widcomm. So maybe I turned BT on.

Maybe its the WiFi? I'm not sure.

eagle47 · 07-10-06, 08:16 PM

mmmmmm, guess I better check mine when I get home.
I noticed when I powered down, the screen looks like the axim is still on, but the brightness is way down, I press the power button a second time and I thought it shut off. I had tried holding the power button down a few seconds the same as with A06 for full power down, but that didn't seem to work after upgrading to A12.

Bosadabiz · 07-10-06, 08:18 PM

Seriously, Try the modified Fake server trick. I've had all of the problems listed and after last night when I did it, I haven't had any problems at all. In fact, now I've finally started to like Windows Mobile 5!

eagle47 · 07-11-06, 07:26 AM

Just checked my axim, battery is holding up just fine.

shut down is different with A12 than with A06, I guess Dell just likes to change things just becasue, clowns.

If it's not broke don't fix it, only fix what is broken, you don't have time to fix all that is broken now.

07-11-06, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by Bosadabiz

Seriously, Try the modified Fake server trick. I've had all of the problems listed and after last night when I did it, I haven't had any problems at all. In fact, now I've finally started to like Windows Mobile 5!

What was modified about the FST? I'll do a search after posting this but I haven't seen that yet.

I can agree that the old FST (unmodified) has stopped ActiveSync from running randomly. I use WA2 and if you stop WA2 from ignoring ActiveSync pre-FST you'll see ActiveSync popping up at random times. Since applying the FST it no longer does.

I am having a different issue...Not really a power drain issue but a wake-up issue. I have a backup scheduled for 3am. I turn my Axim off at night (no radios) and plug it in to charge it. When I wake up in the morning the screen is glowing bright and it seems to be frozen. I mean, the clock is right, but the Axim is unresponsive and I've found the backup hasn't worked. I am using SPB Backup.

Bosadabiz · 07-11-06, 01:51 PM

Here's the modified FST: I found that the Fake server trick didn't work for me. Or at least, it didn't until I found a fix. I had to check sync outgoing items immediately in the schedule menu. Haven't had a problem since. The problem was that the "manual" schedule setting kept getting reset. Clicking this option somehow fixed it.

athos · 07-11-06, 04:40 PM

What is the Fake Server Trick, and will it work for me when I actually do use an Exchange Server to sync to. I am having the power drain problem as well. At first I was really excited because the axim would actually wake up on schedule, connect to the wifi and synch. Finally I thought this is great, I can always have up to date e-mail, problem is, I don't think it was ever going back to sleep until the power was dead.

Bosadabiz · 07-11-06, 04:45 PM

Should work just fine. Just input your actual server information instead.

AlbaJoe · 07-11-06, 06:27 PM

I am going to try your modified FST.

I am beginning to get a few issues now.

was it all too good to be true?

toadskin · 07-11-06, 06:50 PM

Thanks Victor516..........worked fine.........no more flat battery o/night

player911 · 07-11-06, 08:43 PM

Well I applied the fake server trick the same day I upgraded, which was the day the patch came out before all of this.

My settings actually SAVED to manual. I don't have 'Sync out going messages immediately' selected. But it seems to be fine now for a few days. I know its not Bluetooth or WiFi like I originally thought. I left each one on independantly and both together through out the day and by bedtime there was one bar missing (ilauncher's top battery bar).

I'll try that setting if it happens again.

firebush · 07-11-06, 09:18 PM

Guys, I'm noticing MAJOR battery drain as well with A12! This is after doing the fake server trick (not the modified FST.. trying that right now).

I stream Air America all the time, and before the update I could listen to it full blast for a couple hours. Now, I'm lucky to have it last for more than 40 minutes before the low battery warning comes on. I don't think I could have fried my battery within a day or two. Anyone else noticing a substantial battery drain after both the A12 update and the FST?

Furby · 07-12-06, 04:54 AM

Mine goes from 100% charged to 80% in say 15 minutes - just sitting there. It then goes back to a more reasonable rate of discharge.

On putting it on charge it goes back up to 100% in less than 5 mins. Previously this would have taken a lot longer - it would get up to 97% and stay there for a while before reporting 100%

I cannot honestly say it is A12 responsible for this but have only noticed it since the upgrade.

L.P. · 07-12-06, 11:21 AM

I am having battery drain issues too since A12. I have been lurking and have tried the modified fake server trick. Last night I removed the Axium from the cradel, turned off activesync from the settings, memory, running programs screen, closed the memory screen to get back to the today screen, battery is showing 100%. I then put the Axium in sleep mode. This morning the battery is showing 92%. Activesync was not on.

I have the same programs installed that I had with A06. Some have been upgraded to newer versions with my reinstall of all my programs. Something is going on but I don't know what?

Any suggestions or Ideas? :rolling:

Bosadabiz · 07-12-06, 08:32 PM

Well, I dunno if this is good or bad news, but it's news. The FST or my modified FST does not actually work any longer. The way I have been testing my theory is: I installed Pocket Candy (a screensaver program) and set it to run after 1 minute. Then, I would trn my Pocket PC off and leave it sitting for a few minutes. I also made sure that ActiveSync was closed. Sure enough, even with the FST applied, the screensaver was running when I turned on my PDA.

Now for the good news:
I found a program called x50v enhanced Gapi on this site actually. If you enable the enhanced drivers, the device will truly shut down. If it is left on the "Original" drivers setting, you will continue to see the power drain problems. The only difficulty I have had with this program is that two of my emulaters aren't Gapi compatible (PocketGBA and Ce/gg) and one game is not compatible (Age of Emires). So, whenever I want use these particular programs, I just set the device back to the normal drivers and I'm good to go.

I wish there was a more permanent method, but for now, this seems to be the only way to prevent power loss situation.