Database Users

Media Player gone bad...

Suddenly my Media Player has gone bad on me. Probably deleted some part of it in my efforts to slim down the system. When I launch it from the "Programs" folder I get this error-message:
"The file 'player' cannot be opened. Either it is not signed with a trusted certificate, or one of its components cannot be found. You might nedd to reinstall or restore this file."
The icon is also missing. However when I try to open a WMP-file the app starts up just fine, and after that clicking on the icon in the "Programs" folder also works until next (soft)reset. Icon still missing though. Kinda annoying but no big deal. Can it be fixed somehow, or am I facing my first hard reset?
Grateful for help / [email protected] xlnt forum

OK, so I did the hard reset hoping my problem would go away but since I also restored my device with Sprite the WMP-error was also restored (I sort of suspected that...)
It did however work before the restoring part of all this.
Is there any other way of doing this? (Besides another hard reset and the pain of having to manually install/set registrys etc etc...)
Please advise... :?

If you can remember all the files you deleted, you can perform a hard reset so that the files you deleted in the first place are returned. Copy all those files to your SD Card then use your excisting Sprite Backup to restore back to whatever configuration you programmed and add one by one the files you deleted (now placed on your Sd card) and test Windows Media Player. This proceedure is very tidious as you have to try one file at a time and remembering which folder you copied them from, restoring and deleting them again if that was not the file needed.
So personally, I would just perform a hard reset and do it all over again. But this is just me.
Another suggestion to avoid this happening in the future, if you do opt for the hard reset and starting from scratch, make a backup BEFORE each time you add or delete a file. Just in case you want to go back to your last configuration. This is the procedure I use to do with my Palm OS device each time I want to try an application. I made sure I have a backup of my system with a clean install, meaning I did not change anything on the system, just a plain backup after I plugged-in all my codes and installed all my applications. I then perform another backup after each change I do and observe my system if nothing conflicts. So in anyway, using this procedure, I know I always have a backup of a clean install. Something I miss from Palm.

You´re probably right, makes sense to have a nice, clean backup to go back to. Guess that's what I'll do. Just need to work up the energy for it...
Thanks Christian!

Program Installation Problem

I have had many pocket PC's and the Universal w/WM5 is the only one that gives me consistant installation problems. I had listpro 3.0 installed in program memory. I uninstalled it with the intent of re-installing it on the SD card. Unchecking it from activesync did nothing. Removing from the ppc directly told me that all of the file were not removed. I saw the the folder still existed in program files, do I deleted the directory and shortcuts pointing to it. I have had this exact same problem MANY times
Am I the only one with this problem? I don't find any messages like this.
Next, I try to reinstall listpro and it won't reinstall :x I get a message cannot be installed, try another location (which does not work). Do I need a hard reset? I tryed installing another program and I can still install other stuff, but the removal did not work again.

GaryK2 said:
I have had many pocket PC's and the Universal w/WM5 is the only one that gives me consistant installation problems. I had listpro 3.0 installed in program memory. I uninstalled it with the intent of re-installing it on the SD card. Unchecking it from activesync did nothing. Removing from the ppc directly told me that all of the file were not removed. I saw the the folder still existed in program files, do I deleted the directory and shortcuts pointing to it. I have had this exact same problem MANY times
Am I the only one with this problem? I don't find any messages like this.
Next, I try to reinstall listpro and it won't reinstall :x I get a message cannot be installed, try another location (which does not work). Do I need a hard reset? I tryed installing another program and I can still install other stuff, but the removal did not work again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Gary!
I have a lot of experience in this sh*t. WM5 cannot uninstall or install in a lot of cases. Usually if you still have some files or folders which are on the same location than with the installation, installer says: cannot install. In that case you have to delete (or rename) the folder left, and then you can install it. In other cases installer stays in a loop install condition, and cannot continue. In that case try to install another application to finish somelooped order. I realised another thing, which is very interesting: when you want to uninstall a program, and your pda says it cannot be removed - or something -, if I run Vijay555 killphone application in 98% of the cases after it I can uninstall the same.
I hope this wil help!

Hi,
Perhaps I have been lucky but I havent had any issues with regards to installing or uninstalling programs.
I do make sure that I soft reset before and after - so maybe thats a golden rule!
Matt

Yes, softreset would be a good tip in more cases, but it wouldn't solve the problem when you want to install a program which needs a place what exists.

I did find some files in the windows directory and deleted them. That WORKED. Just doing program files is not enough. In this case, the file name was the same as the program. I don't expect to be that lucky all the time.
I have done soft-resets when it does not work. I do a number of trial programs and tend to forget prior to removal. What a apin
Got to love Microsoft - reboot is the answer to everything.

Installation problems.....
I am having the same problem too.
Even after a hard reset when I try and install Sprite Backup & Agenda Fusion I keep getting the install error: 'cannot be installed, try another location'
It's driving me up the wall! I would have thought after a hard reset this wouldn't be an issue. I'm now the proud owner of an MDA Pro (Universal) that I can't use because the software I want to install won't install.
Can anyone help me please?

"remove programs" list empty and cannot install an

hi,
i'm having an odd problem. i am unable to do many things
1) sync with activesync. i can explore and transfer files to and from the device, but only as a guest, i cannot truly sync.
2) remove programs - the list is empty and i cannot remove anything
3) nothing new will install. when i send a cab over, and i try to install it, it will tell me that the installation was unsuccessful.
i belive this all started when an installation over activesync (tomtom) failed, though i am not sure.
i have rebooted my computer, uninstalled and reinstalled activesync, soft-resetted my 8125, tried serial/rndis. nothing seems to work.
the pda is usable right now, from what i can tell. the programs that are already on there work fine. its syncing that is all messed up.
thanks for any help you can give.

and i have managed to fix it, in a fashion
1) make a full backup (except for the sd card) with sprite backup. (i made this backup while i was having these problems)
2) hard reset, let ext rom run
3) restore from backup
everything seems to work, so i can say that i'm happy with it

norelidd, I had your exact same problem last night. Active sync was uploading a CAB file onto the device and I pressed cancelled. No big deal I thought because it cancelled during the uploading process. When I tried to sync it later, nothing worked except for the "explore" files option. I wasn't able to sync, remove, install or even change my today theme. The device itself still functioned normally, made calls normally and got on Cingular's EDGE fine. Just wouldn't sync or install/remove or change the today theme.
I performed several soft resets, deleted any files files on the device created within the last hour of my previous sync incase anything was corrupted, nothing worked. Only solution, I finally bit the bullet and did a hard reset. :x Reinstalled everything and it works fine after the hard reset. :wink:

my mini s wont install cab files from the file explorer. you see, ive recently been admitted to hospital (dislocated hip from a rugby tackle, 4 weeks on traction ) and thought i'd download some games to play. but ive tryed downloading loads of different cab files, as obviously i dont have access to my pc, but when i click on them, nothing happens. any ideas??

This has happened to me twice
I am having the same problem. I thought it was an activesync problem but the first time it happened I was installing .cab files and there was a problem with the install. I had to fix the problem with a hard reset.
My problem now is that I just loaded a whole bunch of programs and I was looking for a good back up program but I do NOT have one on my 8125 yet. How can I back up my programs (or can I) if I must do a hard reset. Is there any way of fixing this problem without doing a hard reset?
Please help!
Thanks.

Still looking for help...
I am really trying to avoid a hard reset. Can anyone help us with this problem? I am thinking it may have been caused by installing programs designed for PPC 2003 and not WM5. But who really knows with microsoft.
Thanks!

Hi!
I'm having the same problem!
The thing is, I CAN'T make a hard reset because I don't have Sprite Bckup installed on PDA and I simply can't installit now! I don't have backup of my PIM data...
Can you help me???
Thanks,
Deiota

Deiota said:
Hi!
I'm having the same problem!
The thing is, I CAN'T make a hard reset because I don't have Sprite Bckup installed on PDA and I simply can't installit now! I don't have backup of my PIM data...
Can you help me???
Thanks,
Deiota
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi again!
Just did the hard reset, but I found out a way to backup my PIM data.
Just copied the PIM.vol file that is on the root of the PDA and then, after the hard reset, restored the file. Done!
Best regards,
Deiota

I'll try it - thanks!
I did the hard reset and everything (except syncing through the exchange server is working). I will copy the file over. I am going to install the backup program first. It seems that my problems came from installing third party programs to the minisd card.

ARrrrrrrrrrrrr I have the same problem, canceled an install from activesync during the file upload...
I still don't see why this would cause an issue because the file had not started the install yet but obviously it has done somthing that I don't know how to fix... does any one know what the device does on a WM5 system when an app tries to get installed? is there a way to reset what ever it has changed?
Many thanks
JFC

This is the exact same problem, as I described here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=57461
It is a problem with policies getting screwed up all by themselves.
I just had to do a hard reset and as I didn't have enough permissions neither a backup app, I've lost ALL my data.
I hope I won't have the same problem in the future.

Same problem for me last week. I obviously had to hard reset...

Same problem for me last week. I obviously had to hard reset...

Get yourself a registry editor and make sure that your Policies (on HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies\ ) are exactly like these:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/download.php?id=13422
This is probably the only thing that can prevent us from a hard reset.

I had the same problem on my HTC Mogul (Titan, Sprint PPC-6800).
1.) Before I started, I made a backup with SPB Backup, after I had my problems, but before importing a clean policies registry from another Mogul.
2.) I imported the file, but that didn't seem to help, so I thought maybe there might be some new policies that weren't there before, so I was going to rename the old policies tree, and then re-import the file. BAD IDEA. As soon as I renamed the tree, Windows Mobile kicked me out and required me to set a device password. It wouldn't run any applications or communicate with Activesync saying I didn't have enough permission. Nor could I re-run Resco Registry Editor.
3.) Someone else here said that he made a Sprite backup after the problems, did a hardware reset then restored, and it solved his problems. That didn't make sense to me, but I did have that newly created SPB Backup image, and my PDA at this point was pretty useless. So I hard reset and restored the image of my device and all the problems are now gone! I don't understand why, but I'm glad it's working.
Conclusion:
If I didn't have backup software already preloaded I would have been screwed, because when my PDA got initially messed up one of the symptoms was that I couldn't install any new applications. I should do backups more often, but the fact that it takes 20+ minutes makes it a unfun process.

Help! Can't install or uninstall any apps on WM5

Help is needed. I tried to install PocketStocks this morning. It would not install and now I can not install or delete anything from my 8125. I can run what is on it, but I can not add or remove anything. I have soft reset and tried multiple times to connect by USB but it will not sync. But it will let me "Explore" my hardware.
The Microsoft Active Sync troubleshooter is no help at all.
Any ideas?

jschaff said:
Help is needed. I tried to install PocketStocks this morning. It would not install and now I can not install or delete anything from my 8125. I can run what is on it, but I can not add or remove anything. I have soft reset and tried multiple times to connect by USB but it will not sync. But it will let me "Explore" my hardware.
The Microsoft Active Sync troubleshooter is no help at all.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi i am familiar with pocketstocks but it looks like it buggered your device. What error message came up and how far into the install did it get? Just wondering are there any residual files to remove - check program files and windows\startup and registry if you are used to doing that. What error comes up when you try to install anything? You may need to backup important files and do a hard reset to solve this.

I had tried to install Pocket Financial Analyzer just before it, and that did not complete the install. So when I did the Pocket Stocks, it finished up by saying that PFA install was unsuccessful. I have had this happen before but a soft reset and reinstall usually made it work. I kind of do not think Pocket Stocks is the culprit.
I suspect that there is a corrupted system file, and maybe if I knew which one it was, I could delete it and a soft reset would rebuild the file.
Or like you said, I may have to do a hard reset and start all over. And that is OK. I have done this about five times before, but everything is working so good on the phone right now, that I hesitate to mess that up. I just can't add or delete any programs.
Its so weird, at first the name of my phone would not come up. Then I deleted Active Sync 4.1 and installed AS 4.2 beta. Now I can get the device name to show up, but still the list of installed programs does not show and I can't sync it.
Help is needed.

I had tried to install Pocket Financial Analyzer just before it, and that did not complete the install. So when I did the Pocket Stocks, it finished up by saying that PFA install was unsuccessful. I have had this happen before but a soft reset and reinstall usually made it work. I kind of do not think Pocket Stocks is the culprit.
I suspect that there is a corrupted system file, and maybe if I knew which one it was, I could delete it and a soft reset would rebuild the file.
Or like you said, I may have to do a hard reset and start all over. And that is OK. I have done this about five times before, but everything is working so good on the phone right now, that I hesitate to mess that up. I just can't add or delete any programs.
Its so weird, at first the name of my phone would not come up. Then I deleted Active Sync 4.1 and installed AS 4.2 beta. Now I can get the device name to show up, but still the list of installed programs does not show and I can't sync it.
Help is needed.

I agree there probably is a corrupt file somewhere - I would do all the checks I said and notification queue for good measure - but it looks like hard reset time. Recommend you invest in spb backup or sprite backup - then it all becomes so easy! Everybody that joins this forum should have to buy one - before entering the forum - lol!

I had SPB Backup trial. But everyone was saying that the ROM upgrades made the backup invalid since there were registry changes that may not correspond with the new registry.
So I did not use it again. I heard that SKTools has a backup built in. NO?
Which one is the best to use?
Thanks

I had SPB Backup trial. But everyone was saying that the ROM upgrades made the backup invalid since there were registry changes that may not correspond with the new registry.
So I did not use it again. I heard that SKTools has a backup built in. NO?
Which one is the best to use?
Thanks

Sktools has a limited backup, so its not that useful. Sprite backup is good as you can use it even with a rom upgrade and is now wm5 compatible.

Services.exe Error on Device Restart

Hi,
On 1st Jan i had to do a hard-reset of the device. Since then, regardless of the applications i've installed... my Xperia has been working with remarkable performance! But Alas! today after i was testing out new software, i ran into a new problem.
Though the performance of the device hasn't lagged, but whenever i do a soft reset, i get an error saying 'a problem has occurred with services.exe'.
Any ideas? It seems to me that it is starting something that doesn't exist anymore? Is there a startup manager app that i could use or something like that?
Best Regards.
Salman Khalid.

Oh never mind... i found that SKTools has a startup app manager, but that didn't help. I also checked missing links in registry and stuff, but still no luck... so i ended up hard resetting the phone. (true that the error came only once when you soft-reset the phone and that the phone's performance was not at all degraded, but it was annoying me crazy! )

What is the piece of software you have intalled that prior to the error ?
I think Services.exe is a system file, if that is missing or damaged you may have to do another hard reset, aslong as youve saved everything to your Pc or memory card, its ok.
One thing you have to watch with a hard reset is the system files left on the memory card from your prev install, using file explorer, click menu, show all files, and look for any folder on the memory card called things like cache, programs, MSMETADATA, WMDRM, etc, basicall anything you have not specifically copied there manually.
If you dont delete these files windows will boot up and get confused and try to follow settings you had for your last install.

Mark A Cilenti said:
What is the piece of software you have intalled that prior to the error ?
I think Services.exe is a system file, if that is missing or damaged you may have to do another hard reset, aslong as youve saved everything to your Pc or memory card, its ok.
One thing you have to watch with a hard reset is the system files left on the memory card from your prev install, using file explorer, click menu, show all files, and look for any folder on the memory card called things like cache, programs, MSMETADATA, WMDRM, etc, basicall anything you have not specifically copied there manually.
If you dont delete these files windows will boot up and get confused and try to follow settings you had for your last install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed over 10 different apps in under 10 minutes and it coule have been any one of them. Services.exe was neither corrupted nor missing, as that would have resulted in continuous errors, but like i said; the error came up only once once i rebooted.
Anyhow... i've already hard-reset the device after being unable to figure out what caused the error. As for the MicroSD card... i did a full format of the card as i can easily copy all the stuff back in from my laptop again as needed...
Thanks!