Alarms - what the **** is wrong with these people?

gadgetnerd · 07-22-06, 12:03 AM

Yes, a great thread title, I know. So, I'll get to the point. I used my old X5 as my alarm clock - the WM2003 Clock alarm clock, that is. It was fairly reliable - it went off most of the time, and always at the right time. Now, on my X51v. Totally different story. I started trying to use the WM5 alarm clock on ROM A06. I had no plug-ins running, in fact nothing at all except Switcher Bar. It went off perfectly. Then I upgraded to A12, and installed Resco File Explorer, and its various plug-ins (including the Today screen one), SBSH Pocket Weather, and MortPlayer. I tried using the built-in alarm, but it alternated between simply not going off to coming up with the WSOD, and very, very hot (like it had been on all night. It was nearly too hot to pick up) I got sick of this quickly, and stopped using it. No problem. Then I decided to try MortPlayer's (3.31R2) alarm feature. This time it ALWAYS brought up the WSOD, and very, very hot. I thought maybe Pocket Weather was trying to auto-update and crashing during the night, so I uninstalled it. That didn't help, so I quickly tired of this and stopped using it. I donwloaded MP3.31R4, and installed it. I haven't tried the alarm function yet, but I will very shortly. I don't see that much could have changed though.

Oh, and both alarms (WM5 and MP) would come up after the soft reset the WSOD neccesitated. And it is left plugged in during the night. I'm curious as to why Microsoft would include a feature that could potentially cause serious damage to a hardware device.

Fortunately, I don't need an alarm clock for the next week. But I was hoping someone could help, somehow...

locutus555 · 07-22-06, 12:48 AM

pTravelAlarm version 2.6.0 works very well with A12 on my X51v
www.burroak.on.ca
playes mp3's to wake you, has never failed for me with X50v or X51v

gadgetnerd · 07-22-06, 12:55 AM

Thanks! Downloaded, installing now, will try. But it's truly sad how crappy the MS alarm is... I mean, I hope M$ staff aren't forced to use it to get up every morning - if they were, they'd have a LOT of late, or absent, workers...

gadgetnerd · 07-22-06, 01:05 AM

I installed it, works like a charm. Too bad it's not free... *sighs* nothing decent in this world is, except when it has to do with Google...

solara · 07-22-06, 03:53 AM

You never mentioned whether the alarm worked fine after the A12 update BEFORE you installed all those third-party programs.

Are you sure it's not one of those programs causing the conflict? Can't blame MS if it's another software maker screwing things up.

darkultra · 07-22-06, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by solara

You never mentioned whether the alarm worked fine after the A12 update BEFORE you installed all those third-party programs.

Are you sure it's not one of those programs causing the conflict? Can't blame MS if it's another software maker screwing things up.

I have this same problem, sometimes my stock x50v doesnt wake me up, only turns on with memory error, and is hot. Only happened when I either using WiFi and/or Switcher Bar.

x50v with ROM A05 and WM2003SE

rlarson_mn · 07-22-06, 09:23 AM

My X51V with A12 alarms wake me up just fine. But then when prior to retiring I work up to a wrist watch alarm which was not a bell clanger by any means.

Koterpillar · 07-22-06, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by gadgetnerd

I mean, I hope M$ staff aren't forced to use it to get up every morning - if they were, they'd have a LOT of late, or absent, workers...

But you have just proven the opposite - if their workers are OK, why is all software buggy? :)

07-22-06, 10:58 AM

gadgetnerd, did you try GreenSoftware's gsalarmclock? It is free and it does a decent job waking me up daily.

sto-helit.de · 07-24-06, 09:02 AM

Microsoft isn't guilty. The trouble is, Microsoft gives the Windows Mobile source to the device manufacturers, who fit it to their devices. So, this bug won't happen on most other devices, except they implemented the same or a similar bug...
Maybe it's even caused by another application, or the combination of an application and device specific changes.
For most people, MortPlayer's alarm works fine. The "WSOD" seems to be caused by a bug in the "turn display on" function. But if I wouldn't do that, many devices would switch off before even the player is started... So, no matter what I do, I just can work around one of the bugs. And WSOD seems to be more rare...

SkyRydr · 07-24-06, 11:15 AM

I've alway had good luck with SPB Time. It's about the same price as the above mentioned program. It may be worth looking into.

Here's a link.