Database Users

MDA Vario - Worst phone ever or just needs flashing??

Hi all,
After spending 2 days with my vario my dreams of a half-decent smartphone are shattered.
I've got a C500 which hasnt really caused me any problems in over a year, now 2 days after having a vario i'm almost pulling my hair out.. can this phone possibly have been released in such a bad state or is it just mine?
For starters it crashes, not now and then, but like it's a hobby of the vario's, i dont think i can leave it for an hour, come back and find it hasn't hung in some form.
Sometimes i have to do a soft reset, sometimes, i can press the power button, get the screen to light up but can't do anything. Sometimes I get icons but when I click them i'm told the shortcut doesnt exist.
Ooh another thing it seems to like doing is randomly going into flight mode, and one really good crash was when i called it and the source phone could hear the ringing but the vario was just sitting there doing nothing.
So is it just mine or is this the most unstable phone the UK has ever seen? Is it worth me asking for a replacement, or just flashing the k-jam/qtek rom over the t-mobile one? Is there a way to backup my t-mobile rom and flash it back should i find the qtek/kjam rom does the same?
I've tried hard-resetting then cancelling all the t-mobile gubbins that loads from extended rom, but that didnt make any diference.
Any advice gratefully appreciated
Thanks

Personally, I'd say get T-Mobile to replace it! Unless you've installed a buggy piece of 3rd party software (but if you did, you wouldn't on here complaining about the phone you'd be complaining about the software, right?).
I also have an MDA Vario. I haven't touched the Extended_ROM (was going to, had a look and decided it was running fine so don't mess with it).
It's solid as a rock. As per a thread on howardforums asking how many times per day have I soft-resetted the phone and my answer was an average of zero.
I hard reset it on the day I bought it (after installing GPRS Monitor which knackers the backlight turning back on after sleep) and took the battery out after T-Mobile decided to disconnect me from their network (at their support line's request).
Anyway, it's on 24/7, never needs a reset of any kind, gets mobile emails via ActiveSync and is generally a wonderful piece of kit!
List what apps you've installed (even if they're T-Mobile supplied ones from CD) since buying the phone as there may be something buggy there. If not, definitely get T-mobile to replace it as it's certainly not a crap model (mine is absolutely fantastic).

Thanks Andy,
I've literally not installed anything, i'm just about to install pocketcommander but that will be the first thing i've actually installed. I've hard reset the phone this morning and it's already hung once on me (
I'll give tmob a call and see if they can send me another out today or something

Yeah, then you've definitely got a knackered phone. They should replace it (how long have you had it) without problems.
Hope you enjoy the replacement, they really are a great bit of kit

Well just had my first ever dealings with tmobile supoprt and it's as bad as the phone
They say because my contract/phone is only 3 days old i need to go back to the people i bought the phone off to get a replacement, problem is they'l want me to send the whole boxed thing uip and all the box etc is at home since i work away during the week

That's got to be faulty, like others have said.
WHen I bought mine, (T-Mobile shop in Leeds), I was told that if it was faulty within the first 28 days, there'd be a straight replacement issued immediately.
Don't accept anything less.
For what it's worth, I always try to be exceptionally pleasant when returning things rather than going in "all guns blazing"; it gets results a lot more often than the "I know my rights" approach. Of course, when it all comes down to it, the "i know my rights" approach might be necessary, but hopefully it shouldn't be.
The phone is superb, so stick with it even tho it is a bit of hassle for you.
good luck!

hi there no problems with my vario either. seems to work fine. no soft/ hard resets needed so far. have had it for 10 days. only thing is after the xteended rom instals there is a file called canned text in words which opens up in a crazy language. does not go on hard resets. but does not cause a problem either. any ideas on what this file is. have othar vario users noticed this file. please help.

_Belial said:
Thanks Andy,
I've literally not installed anything, i'm just about to install pocketcommander but that will be the first thing i've actually installed. I've hard reset the phone this morning and it's already hung once on me (
I'll give tmob a call and see if they can send me another out today or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
may not be relevant to your problem, but if skype is installed on yours from the hard reset install, it may be worth removing, on the k-jam as soon as i removed skype, reseting stopped happening

My o2 xda mini s is dead I think :(

Right i need some help, big style.
Had me phone now for nearly a couple of months and it's been fine. Then today it all went wrong. Firstly the phone just did'nt work no signal or anything. Tried everything to fix but nothing seemed to work. So hard reset. Now the phone boots up and goes thru setup etc.. (but no 02 option??) gets to my today screen but when I choose anything i get a msg saying did i want to run unknown program etc.. choose yes/no. I have chosen all the combinations to get it to work but the phone sometimes freezes so i have to soft reset to get going but then I'm back to square one. I've downloaded the backup o2 rom but when i run it i get an error saying it cannot create a folder??? So at the moment i can use the phone sometimes but sometimes it freezes up 9/10 i cant sync with comp.
Before you ask I only have tomtom installed and afew themes, and the xda worked fine before hand.
Any ideas please would be a great help. If not I'll be straight on the phone to o2 to get a replacement.
cheers

screen shot of the error msg i get

screen shot of the error msg i get

Right getting really annoyed now with my phone :evil:
managed to get it working again after downloading the o2 rom and re-flashing. Since i started this thread i have re-flashed rom about 3 times!!!! My phone just stops working. No network signal or anything!!! All the problems started after i install wisbar, phones never been the same since. stoped using wisbar and started pocket plus. phone worked fine until i soft reset cus it frooze. when it restarted nothingworked. I'm just about to flash again for the 4th time. Only gonna install tomtom and eten dialer and afew games thats it. I'll install in basic mode but wont delete any o2 files as normally do. If it goes again after this it's going back to o2.
cheers

Well, simply send it back for warranty repair, what's the problem? These things happen, I'm used to that... had to bring my Nokia 6600 back 2 times during warranty year... :?

does it damaged the phone if your constantly re-flashing the rom?

Sorry to keep posting but is there an anti-virus software or something cus i think there must be something on my xda cus even after flashing the phones still not 100%
cheers

Keep in mind, by the way, that flashing your rom with any ROM other than one provided to you by your provider is grounds for voiding your warranty

yeah I know i just thought that may fix whatever problem there is. I think i've just got a dud mini s. Worked fine for a month but now it's gone crazy. I think re-flashing with the o2 rom 5 times and still no joy means the phone will go back.
I'll ring o2 first thing in the morning.
cheers

Phone turns off sometimes when closing keyboard.

Like the title says. It doesn't happen all the time but happens alot. When I slide my keyboard in the phine turns off 60% of the time. Also I noticed when I bumped the phone on my knee at the bottom (Don't asked how I managed to do that ) it just turn off instantly.
Anybody else with this problem? If you don't have this problem let me know 2 please. Maybe its just my device! Thnx.

No my phone does this too; but not as much as yours. It also seemed to happen more when opening the keyboard. I noticed however if I don't open the keyboard quickly then it doesn't seem to do it as much. What I mean is if you push the keyboard open and it pops hard then the phone will shut down.
I think it has something to do with the battery. I have tried putting paper in the battery compartment in hopes that it will apply more pressure to the battery keeping it from sliding. This seemed to help a little but not very much. Best solution I found was to not open it so forcefully. I havn't had it turn off in a couple of months.

A friend of me has the same phone. I tried it with his phone and he doesn't have the problem. He never had it he said. So I called the HTC repair service to send it to them under garuanty and it sounded like they knew the problem. It shouldn't do that. and like you said, I tought it was the battery too but when i remove the battery case and try to move the battery the phone stays on, so I don't think thats the problem but something inside the phone. Maybe some bad contacts. Anyway, they come and pick it up thusday. Maybe I'll get a new one or they fix this one.

I have the same problem
Ocassionally I suppose as I haven't observed carefully, when I close the keyboard the phones powers off. Not sure what the problem is, haven't really read any thread on this kind of an issue. Does anybody have a solution without sending it back to the support center.

I have the same problem...it seems that there is somewhere a bad contact, I do not believe its a "loose" battery. Anyway, I will tell the repair shop as now also my touch screen does not respond anymore...
I had an Qtek 9000 for almost 2 years, never had any problems with it!
NOT very impressed with this thing...
Ciao

Eeehm, I called the repair center and they were about to come and pick it up. so i did a hard reset to delete all my stuff.... and now it doesnt power off anymore. Wich is really strange cause it looked like a hardware problem cause when i bumped the phone it also turned off.

Jewcookie - My phone also resets when I close it too forcefully or give it a good bump. After your hard reset did you re-install your prior software? If so, did the problem persist or did it disappear?

Choptank
I've been having a similar problem with my HTC branded Herald. (winmob 6)
The phone seems to behave normally until I open and close the keyboard.
A few minutes later, when I push the power button to exit sleep mode, nothing happens. I have to soft reset in order to get the phone operating again. During the time it is locked up, the phone doesn't ring and no calls show up as notifications. The fellow I spoke with today at HTC support said he hadn't heard of this happening before. He recommended a hard reset. Hoping to try a few other things first. Has anyone else with this problem had any luck resolving it?
Thanks C.T.

Still trapped in Sleep Mode!
Just a follow up to my previous post, it now seems that the phone locks in sleep mode after I have accessed files on the memory card. Two days ago I moved all Today plugin programs to device memory (except Pocket Weather, too large!) in order to see if that was the problem. Phone worked fine for two days, no lock-ups. Yesterday the only thing I did differently was access an Excel document from the micro SD card. I then put the pnone in sleep mode. About 10 minutes later when I needed to make a call, it wouldn't come out of sleep mode without a soft reset. Also I had scanned and re-formatted the memorycard, no apparent problems.
Anybody else dealing with a similar problem?

2 Jewcookie - met welk reperatiecentrum heb jij contact opgenomen dat ze hem komen ophalen? want mij zeiden ze dat ik hem moest opsturen, maar dat kost me teveel tijd.
grzz Clint

i had the same problem one time with it turning off when i closed the keyboard. it happened when i was playing with the battery. I just took the battery out and re-seated it securely and it fixed it.
Do you have a factory battery or an aftermarket one? if it is an aftermarket one then it might not fit as perfect as the regular one. I got spare thats a little bigger than stock. Might help in your case.

I have a stock battery. Not looking forward to doing it, though it looks like I will do a hard reset and then use my Herald completely stock for a few days and see if the "stuck in sleep mode" problem goes away. Then I'll load my third party software one by one and see if I can isolate the app. that is causing the problem. I'll post the result. May take a few days.

Keyboard issues
choptank said:
I have a stock battery. Not looking forward to doing it, though it looks like I will do a hard reset and then use my Herald completely stock for a few days and see if the "stuck in sleep mode" problem goes away. Then I'll load my third party software one by one and see if I can isolate the app. that is causing the problem. I'll post the result. May take a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Choptank- did you find out if it was software or hardware issue?? Mine just started happening and mine is stock!!!

As it turns out, the cause of my lock up problem turned out to be unrelated to opening and closing the keyboard. The actual problem was a Today screen plugin. When I disabled the plugin, the problem went away. It took me quite a while to discover this as the program (Pocket Weather) is one of my favorites and I really didn't want to disable the plugin. I'm hoping that maybe a future version of the program will work better on my device.
CT

Guys, I too was having this problem. But, in my case it came out to be a software problem. To summarize, these were the apps that can probably do that..
1) sbsh pocketbreeze
2) sbsh ilauncher
3) spb diary
4) spb p+(frequency was too low though)
It seems as if these apps demand more juice sometimes which causes device to reboot. I have been a huge supporter of the sbsh products but I'm not using them anymore. Currently I dont use any of the aforementioned apps and have not encountered a single unwanted reboot so far.

Troubles....
kdskamal said:
Guys, I too was having this problem. But, in my case it came out to be a software problem. To summarize, these were the apps that can probably do that..
1) sbsh pocketbreeze
2) sbsh ilauncher
3) spb diary
4) spb p+(frequency was too low though)
It seems as if these apps demand more juice sometimes which causes device to reboot. I have been a huge supporter of the sbsh products but I'm not using them anymore. Currently I dont use any of the aforementioned apps and have not encountered a single unwanted reboot so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's what I have Kdskamal:
WM5 (Hera 100, unlocked from factory w/t mobile)
OMAP console/ckr
Opera Mini (deleted recently) and now pages lock up
vTap Videos
Ygo! Mobile
One Note Mobile
As stated above, I deleted opera mini: since the deletion, I've had these problems and I have soft reseted twice. Should I hard reset

taz357 said:
Here's what I have Kdskamal:
WM5 (Hera 100, unlocked from factory w/t mobile)
OMAP console/ckr
Opera Mini (deleted recently) and now pages lock up
vTap Videos
Ygo! Mobile
One Note Mobile
As stated above, I deleted opera mini: since the deletion, I've had these problems and I have soft reseted twice. Should I hard reset
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you should definately consider doing a hard reset and install some nice clean WM6.1 rom. try the ones from aserg(the lite ones).

WM6.1
kdskamal said:
Well, you should definately consider doing a hard reset and install some nice clean WM6.1 rom. try the ones from aserg(the lite ones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kdskamal,
WM6.1 now is this a personal (cooked) upgrade?? im leery of WM6 because of its numerous problems when it first came out.

Seems to be the Battery
I have seven batteries for my alltel ppc6800 (titan, mogul, etc.). My phone completely loses powers when I use the orig. battery that came with the device and one other battery I bought on ebay sometimes when I slide out or slide in the keyboard letting the spring loaded feature do its job. It seems not to happen when I guide it open and close with my hand. One trick that did seem to work was taking an eraser and cleaning the leads on the battery and the phone, however it may work well for another couple of weeks but has the same problem sooner or later. Still, I never charge my phone and I am an insomniac and am always up using my phone so I need the batteries.

WM5 vs. WM6 for 8525?

I read that there's lots of tweaks for WM5 for the 8525, but then I seen mention of a WM6 available, too. I presume it's a free upgrade on the AT&T website, or elsewhere online.
Now for the questions. Which OS works best for this device? Do the tweaks made for WM5 work with WM6 as well? Should I upgrade to WM6, or stay with WM5? For the GPS (maps), does it work with both or just one of the options?
Now for other (off-topic) experiences I have with my new [reconditioned] device.
a) After inserting my SIM card, about an half hour later, I attempted to call an 800 number (to activate a new bank debit card), which it didn't fully connect the call, although the call timer was running. It wouldn't let me end the attempted call, either, so I removed the battery and reinserted it.
b) Exploring the device further, I noticed that some menus didn't close when I tap the "red X" in the corner. I even tried to expand (pull out the keyboard on) the device, but it shows the "red X" of the location from portrait. as well as from the landscape! For example, it wouldn't close the "selecting which size to send photos" option screen. After waiting about a minute, I had to remove the battery to get rid of those screens, which is a major pain to keep removing the battery!
c) Later on, the last phone call that I made wouldn't hang up (end call) -- I even tapped 'End Call' about 5 times, not to mention pressed the red phone icon on the main navigation keys about 3 times. I haven't used the device since, except to place my old Samsung Sync's memory card with pictures, songs, and videos inside it.
The device seems very slow to close/end programs, and I've just received it yesterday! [I have not hacked, tweaked, or done anything else to it, either; I've only set the time, date, and owner's info.] Is this normal for the 8525? Would installing the WM5 tweaks [HTweakC 2.1b] -- or updating to WM6 -- increase the device's response time and overall performance? Or do I have a still faulty, reconditioned 8525?
Sorry for the long questions, I just wanted to give background into the device. Thanks in advance for all help in this matter!

You seem to be way behind as you use WM5. First thing you do after reading this: UPGRADE TO WM6.1
Most tweaks of WM5 will ofcourse work on WM6. WM6 is faster and much much better.
Do you know about soft-reset? No need to take out the battery! Just soft-reset.
And most of your problems of hang-ing can be solved by newer version of Windows Mobile! WM6.1
In case if your new to upgrading, you may read my small guide. If your completely new to Pocket PC, this might help you too. Also, consider using a free taskmanager such as wkTaskMan to close applications completely.
Regards,
Carty..

Carty, thanks for the quick reply!
As a brief background, for about the past 6 months, I was infatuated with the HTC Tilt [8925], because of the built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, 3-MP camera, & media player. Later, from reading other opinions on the 8525 on this board and discovering that it was compatible with GPS services, I decided to "sacrifice" the 3-MP camera, as the 8525 was about $100 cheaper on eBay.
I am pretty new to the Pocket PC, as my cellular device; I have used computers since 1996, though. That being said, it's not even been 24 hours since I've tinkered with the 8525 (as the eBay one never worked at all). I take it that the 8525 is an older device, as I've seen posts dating back to 2006. I just bought one on eBay 2 weeks ago, and had it replaced at an AT&T repair/replace shop yesterday.
I see the reset button on the bottom of the device; I just didn't know when to use it. I presumed it could only be used if the device wouldn't turn on at all. [As you can tell, I'm overly cautious with my new cellular equipment.] Also, I read about the "hard reset" -- holding down the 2 option buttons on the front and then the reset on the bottom of the device; however, I didn't know when to use the hard reset, either.
I will read your tutorials, then will install WM6 ASAP. Then, I will return with my findings. Wish me luck!!

Now I'm having issues with the update of WM6! The device stalls at 11%, then the software returns with the following:
"ERROR [262]: UPDATE ERROR
The ROM Update Utility has encountered communication errors during the update process. The program will guide you step-by-step to recover from the errors so you can continue with the update."
I tried the [Recovery] button 2 more times, following the screens to the letter, but with the same result . . . the software stalls at 11%.
Any ideas? This is very frustrating!!

Man, I finally got it to install WM6! I had to literally remove every single program that was running under my "name" with the XP-MC OS. I even had to "Ctrl+Alt+Delete" the Explorer program and then "open" it (via Task Manager) again! [I didn't restart Windows, though.]
So far, it's back to the align screen, so I'll hope all goes well from there! Be back with more later!

I've made one phone call so far, and it actually did the end call promptly! Thank goodness for small favors! I thought having to do the "flash" about 6 times would have fried the device!
Now that I have the WM6, how do I install the tweaks? Do I copy them to a memory card, to the cell ROM, or something else? I already downloaded "HTweakC 2.1b" but haven't done anything with it yet. What would be my next step to correctly hack the WM6 8525 that I have now? I am a novice at hacking, so talk in layman's terms and please bear with me!

Hey

Hi guys i wasnt quite sure where to put this thread but finnaly decided this forum was fine. I am sorta a newbie but have been reading loads. I think this website is awesome and i will probably donate!! Anyways i have been having a problem with my phone . It is a T mobile MDA Vario Uk IPL 1.06 and SPL 1.06 and WM5, OS 5.1.70 (if that matters)it died, i went to the tmobile shop they sent it to thier place but it came back unfixed. Anyway to make a long story short i turned out to be the charger but now a week back i have got it up and running again!! But when it freezes as it does everynow and then i have no choice but to take the battery out. When i turn it back on the date and time has gone back to November 2005! It does not do this when i turn it off by holding down the power switch. It also loses some tasks i have made . But wierdly not all the tasks. For example i had 4 tasks i took the battery out , when i restarted it the date went back to 2005 and only 1 task remained!. Is there some other way to put it of that i dont know about when it is frozen? Or am i just doomed to keep changing the date!
Thnak you very much for your replies and your time in advance.

Are you trying to soft reset the phone first? Are you trying to turn the phone all the way off? Removing the battery should be a last resort approach.
Here's the deal...
You can stave off a lot of these kind of memory/freezing problems in the future by loading some kind of RAM indicator (QuickMenu has a built-in one, can manage running programs, and gives you a Windows desktop-style start menu for programs instead of the dumb folder avalanche) to let you know you have too many programs running, and you need to do a soft reset every once in a while, or at least hibernate it periodically (you can do this from QuickMenu), just to jog it clean. It would also be wise for you to load a temporary file cleaner to clear out your temp files every once in a while...you'd be shocked how much crap piles up under the OS when you're not looking.
Lastly, since you might end up really losing some important data, I'd recommend getting DotFred's PIM backup tool and loading it on an SD card in your phone, and configure it to back up your phone regularly (like once a day at 2 am, for example). As long as the phone's left on, it'll do that for you, and if your phone really craps the bed, at least you'll have your contacts, meetings, and other info safe and sound.
Also, in the future, please add the info on your phone to your sig, so you don't have to repeat yourself 8,000 times, and you might want to try more descriptive titles for your topics than "Hey," unless you like being ignored...

Thank you Myrddin Wyllt but what did you mean by hibernating it ? do you mean just pushing the on/off button quickly so the screen goes of? oh yeah and thank you for all the advice on this forum i shal procede to do that now! Thnak you again

Yep i have done that now

upgrade your OS to at least WM6.
When I got my phone it had WM5 on it, and it used to lock up or spontaneously soft reset at least once a day, even though I soft reset it regularly. Since I upgraded to WM6 I no longer have these lockup problems.

thank you i was thinking about upgrading but wasnt sure! About the battery thing i just found out about the little hole on the side. I think this solves the problem . But about upgrading will it make my phone slower or take up precious memory or something? And the big question which one?? Also some apps i would like to have require .net framework 2.0. I tried installing it on my phone on the storage card , i had about 50mb free but it still said there is not enough space and told me to clear up space and start again! will upgrading my rom also solve this problem? Is WM6 just like WM5 what are the differences i am a beit of a newbie here! You might have to treat me like a child on this one!
Also i was wondering out of the 47.4mb internal memory of the MDA Vario how much is used by the system and how much crap have i got on? Also if i use "clear storage" then will it also get rid of programs i have installed on my memory card and i have unlocked my phone. Will it re-lock it and return the old crappy t-mobile themes?? (i have spb moble shell atm)
Thank you in advance!