Yesterday, something suddenly went wrong with my phone. It became very unresponsive; programs wouldn't open, screen froze.
I had CHT 1.8.5 installed and suspected it may have something to do with that (though I'm not sure at all). I managed to uninstall it and get the original Sense back, but a number of things are still broken:
* Start menu: can't open it, neither with hardware Windows button nor with onscreen start button.
* Right hand corner icons "x" and "ok" don't show.
* Text input doesn't work: I can type on the soft keyboard but the letters don't appear.
I want to do a hard reset but would like to backup my text messages first. Problem is: I can't input my Windows Live password in MyPhone, since text input doesn't work.
Does anybody know what's wrong here and how to repair it? Or are there any other reliable ways to backup AND later restore text messages, that don't require text input?
Edit: I can use Resco explorer (except for text input) and most other programs, but it takes some trickery as they don't come to the foreground when I open them from the Sense home tab.
still have the problem?
the absent start menu and X buttons sound like a symptom of an overeager task manager terminating Shell32.exe. A soft reset will bring them back, until the task manager kills them again. I had the same problem with WKtask or xTask if i forget to exclude shell32.exe and mainila.exe from the exclusion list, (LINK).
if you don't have those task managers, but can still use the touchscreen for other things, then install MyMobiler in your PC to control the HD2 via usb. Do a full system backup, and use ActiveSync to start uninstalling a couple programs at a time until the problem goes away, and you'll know which program did it.
also, turn off CHT's lock screen, it causes more problems than it prevents. the stock hd2 lock screen should be good enough.
absent text input panel? don't know about that, but again, MyMobiler will take care of that from the PC.
Damn... that's a very informative reply. Thanks very much. I wish I had waited just one more day but I already performed a hard reset.
Still, it's great to get a little more insight on this as I was baffled by the behaviour of my phone. And I've seen a lot of weird things over the past years with different Windows Mobile devices. I don't know what could have caused Shell32.exe to shut down as the problem was present immediately after each soft reset, and I only use Resco Explorer's task manager which, I think, excludes critical stuff by default. And then there was that weird text input issue as well: it's not that the input panel was gone, but when typing on it the letters never appeared. I tried my Bluetooth keyboard and that didn't work either.
The touchscreen was still usable though, and your solution would probably have worked and saved me a lot of trouble...
I wonder if CHT's lockscreen could have been the problem. I uninstalled CHT first thing right after everything went wrong, but its lockscreen was enabled before that and maybe the uninstall left some unwanted stuff in place that kept causing trouble.
Anyway, thanks a lot for helping me understand a little more about all this.
Related
Hi,
I've just got an XDA IIi (having had XDA I and II before) using O2 in the UK.
I notice that the O2 Active application has a button in the bottom toolbar called "screen view" which rotates the display by 90° (i.e. making it landscape instead of portrait).
I don't use O2 Active itself as it's too clunky for what I want, but I would like to have access to the rotate screen feature.
Is it possible to put this on a button in my lower toolbar on the today screen (i.e. next to wireless and bluetooth icons). If so, how? Alternatively, can I have it as a button on the "desktop" (I use "Rhino Launch" to give me shortcuts to programs on the today screen). In the latter case, I'd just need to know where the exe for it is or a .lnk that will activate the switch in the display.
Thanks a lot,
James.
There shoud be an icon on the bottom taskbar far right to change screen layout.
If you hate the O2 active crap thats on the phone, do a hard reset and when prompted for "Personal" or "Corporate" user ..... choose the corporate option and use the password "0506"
The screen layout swapping icon is deffo on the corporate install.
The little icon which rotate the screen sometimes missing( after i install some software e.g. spb Diary,)
actually i don't really care to use the O2 active that softare, but does anyone konw what is the short cut of the screen view ?
cos i want to put it in my spb pocket plus..
or does anyone know what is the short cut for changing the screen?( setting--system---screen--Landscape ( right-handed)?
or even the short cut of the little icon in the right hand corner?
really thx..
Thanks for the replies.
I removed O2Active from the start-up (by removing "connections" from the /windows/startup" folder) and did a soft reset. Now that O2 active doesn't run, the icon for changing the screen orientation is now being displayed in the lower right corner.
Problem solved.
Cheers,
James.
I removed the O2 shortcut from the startup folder ages ago and the little screen orientation icon remained at the bottom of the today screen until today.
However it just dissapeared while installing some software (Calligrapher.) If I start O2Active a similar icon appears but it hasn't come back to the today screen. I'm sure it's not the same one. (Note the wi-fi icon in O2 does different things from the today screen one.)
So anyone have any ideas how to bring it back?
In future I think I'll backup the entire unit before every install.
Of course, as soon as I entered my reply saying the rotate screen icon had appeared in the today lower task bar after removing O2 active (does anyone actually use O2 active?), it promptly vanished and I didn't even install any software in between. This is very mysterious. I did a soft reset but it didn't come back.
Can anyone shed light on this?
Thanks,
James.
After a few resets and some experimentation I think I've good evidence to show that the icon dissapears on the next soft reset after installing spb diary. I've submitted a polite request to their support. It might be worth someone else doing the same if they can prove to themselves that spb diary is causing this.
Mike
i've experienced this as well and there's no O2Active program on my Startup folder....does anyone have any updates on this? thanks....
UPDATE: fyi, got a response from customer support:
With regard to your query below, are there any third party applications? Any software conflict may cause malfunction to the unit. To remove any software conflict, you may want to do a hard reset then without restoring any data, monitor the performance of the unit.
1) To perform a full reset:
Warning: Clearing memory deletes all data and restores the Pocket PC Phone to its default settings. Programs installed at the factory remain, while data you have created and programs you have installed are erased.
Before performing the full reset, use ActiveSync to keep a backup of your Pocket PC Phone data so that if you need to clear memory, you can restore the data on your Pocket PC Phone.
To perform a full reset on XdaII, press and hold the power button, and then use stylus to press the soft reset button at the same time. After the full reset, you will be prompt to recalibrate the touch screen.
2) Without performing any synchronization with your desktop PC to Restore back the information(under an enviroment of no possibility of software confliction), try to use and monitor the functionality of the Xda II.
I've tried searching, I can't seem to narrow my search enough to get relevant results.
I installed NullKB to block the annoying SIP popup from searchfromtoday. I first installed it to the memory card, and went into settings ~> input and selected it as the default input method. I go back to my today screen and the SIP still pops up when I tap the searchfromtoday box. I think that maybe it needs to be installed in main memory to work, so I uninstall, and reinstal to device. Still the same thing. I noticed that I can go into input, select nullkb, tap OK, then come back and it goes back to keyboard. It's like the change to nullkb won't "take" so to speak. Any ideas? Search from today is amazingly useful, but the SIP popup is a deal breaker.
Another quick question: How do I make programs launch on startup? I like to have magicbutton task manager launch everytime I start up the device. As it is now I have to open it after every reset.
If i remember correctly if you go into magic button settings, there should be an option to automatically start.
As a rule if you want a program to startup when the device starts place a link in the windows\startup folder, i.e. a lnk file to the program.
MSigler - after installing NullKB, try a soft reset. Also, don't set it as the default keyboard through the registry - if you do, you may end up with the device not booting anymore and requireing a hard reset (lose all data).
Mark - Thanks for the tip, I found that, but I'll use the startup trick in the future.
I did do a soft reset and it still doesn't work.
I posted this over at the cingular website, but I thought I might get a better response here.
I have an 8525 with WM6 installed. Sometimes when I perform either a soft or hard boot, the boot time is extremely slow. For example, I read here that a soft boot once a day is a good idea to free up memory. So I performed one. It takes my phone about 1 minute to go from the Windows screen to the screen where I enter my PIN. It then slowly "draws" the screen with the keypad to enter my PIN and eventually the word "unlock" appears in the lower left corner. It seems like it takes forever to not only load, but then draw the screen. Any touch input is then delayed. In WM6 does eventually load, its completely delayed and bogged down. This happens until about the 3rd soft reset when it is fine and the system is stable.
I have the following running on my system:
Sleuth255's PTTfix
enunutz HTC Home Customizer
Skunworks FlashVideoBundle
TCPMP The Core Pocket Media
C. Ghisler & Co. gtotal Commander
Vicsoft Clear Temp
Also, I have made the following registry tweaks:
1. disabled start-up animation and sound;
2. removed battery and communication from lower task bar;
3. moved battery to top of screen;
4. changed scheduling of activesync.
I have 25MB of storage space and 24MB of program space. I also have a 2GB micro-ram. Any ideas or other occurrences like the foregoing?
It may be helpful to see what's in your windows/Startup directory. There might be some sort of collision between two processes or something.
Windows start-up directory contents
Includes:
ClearTemp Startup (12/18/07)
Launcher (9/1/07)
poutlook (9/1/07)
PTTStart (9/20/07)
sddaemon (9/1/07)
TrayIcon_Manager (10/11/07)
Any help?\
Also, it does appear that after 3 soft boots, the system loads normally - in other words, three's a charm apparently for some reason or another.
My apologies if you have already tried to following, just need to know:
Did you try starting your 8525
- Without the microSD card?
- Removing the sddaemon.lnk from the startup folder (it seems to be optional, but to be safe transfer it to your PC first)
- Disabling cleartemp, either uninstall or removing it from the startup folder.
I suspect that it may be cleartemp, but I've never used it. Perhaps another process is competing with cleartemp by trying to write to the temp directory??
Also, which ROM are you using? The official wm6? Sorry for all of the questions.
I have read on many posts that removing the COMM MANAGER icon (your item # 2) from the lower taskbar causes a slow boot and system lags. It actually happened to me once after installing a program, but I successfully remove it yesterday and so far have not detected any problems. I don't know at this point why it would happen.
I've tried removing the SD Card - no change, removed ClearTemp from the startup - no change. What is sddaemon anyway? And I'm running the WM6 Rom that you could download from http://www.america.htc.com/support/8525/software-downloads.html - I guess that's the official version.
I'll try putting the comm. manager back in. It's hard to know if that was the problem, but I'll give it a shot. When you make a lot of registry edits and install programs in often hard to pinpoint exactly the problem.
dgaud007,
It may be a little early, but so far you're a genius. Looks like it may have been the removal of the Comm Manager from the bottom. I've had three soft boots now without incident. This begs the question, do some of those other today customizers which allow you to remove the Comm Manager slow down the system too, or is it just a product of using the registry tweak? On a side note, can somebody go into their registry at HKLM/ and see if there is a subdirectory called "5"? It's empty on mine and didn't know if I just created it by accident.
Thanks everyone!
Glad to help. I still would like to know why this happens. As I recall I had removed the comm manager icon when I first got this phone and it worked fine until I tried to install a kaiser type comm manager program, which didn't work. After that I experienced all the symptons, i.e. slow boot, slow redraw, etc. I then uninstalled the kaiser comm manager and put back the comm manager icon on the screen and the symptons were gone. A couple of days ago I removed the icon again just to see what happens, and so far is working fine WITHOUT the comm manager icon. I will try to duplicate the problem...
Update 12-26-07
I duplicated the problem installing this file: "JUVS_HTC_CommManager_Kaizer_fix.cab". After installing it with comm manager icon removed, it took > 4 minutes to reboot and all the symptoms re-appeared. I enabled the comm manager icon, did 2 soft resets and the symptoms were gone (i.e. boot time < 2 mins). I removed the application and installed "Kaizer Comm Manager(10 Buttons).cab" and so far is working fine without the icon in the today screen.
Same problems...
I can't really help much, but I've been having the same problem, both with the default ROM I had and with vp3g's ROM: extremely slow boot, with a successful boot on the third try...I'm thinking that the system keeps track of the number of times you try to boot, and streamlines the process the third time around to ensure a success.
Several days ago, I did this whole sequence of soft boots, and my phone actually "reset" itself: it went through the phone's "first-time-use" setup sequence, unpacking and installing default programs. I'm still running vp3g's ROM, but it now appears to be a blend of that ROM's customizations and the original system ROM, thanks to that weird reset. Anyone else know about this?
Mods - I don't even know where to put this (although I've looked for similar posts, sites, wikis, you name it, I haven't seen it).
My touch screen doesn't work, I don't have a start menu that has anything in in except "Today." The rest is blank. It didn't disapear right away, either. My touch screen worked after one soft reset, and I still had the expected display of the start menu, but none of it worked. Somewhere in the middle of all that my .tsk changed to the default. After another reset, I am here:
No Start Menu (Today option only)
Default .tsk
No links from Ultimatelaunch to startmenu links work, but links to Programs themselves do (in Program Files)
No CommMgr via hdwe key, but my wifi was on when this all started, and keeps restarting, without recognizing my network (I just re-entered my WEP key)
the joystick works, and the keys do things, but the camera and CommMger keys can't find thier apps.
the joystick won't select my wifi bubble radio button, but otherwise works.
AEBPlus stopped working, so I can't get to my MortButtons to launch anything else.
Since I don't have a start menu, I don't have a file explorer I can get to (yet I have 3....)
Phone works (but only using hdwe keys)
I can't do much else (no screen print uless you want me to take a picture of it with my Wiza200)
I'm doing quick copy of my Program Files and App Data foldera to catch all the changes I did today, the rest is synced (but I'll copy what I can) via a Guest partnership, since the name of the device seems to be gone as well.
I was playing with assigning hardware keys, fisrt with AEBPlus, then I switched to Calligrapher's config mgr (I was trying to regain the functionailty of button 3 press&hold, which went away with assigning the other keys with AEBPlus). It was all I did, besides play a few audio files with Vito Audio Notes and Vito Sound Explorer, since my last reboot.
Prior to that I was trying to get my video streaming up & running this way:http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=FlashVideoBundle
, and I installed Vito Metronome (just to see. kind of a waste. KOOK K-met is better, even tiny on VGA), and MccMobile Finder, but had reset a few times to recheck my timing in a Mortscript to bring back my today screen after having MccMobileFinder and Vito Audio Notes launch on start up (niether of which will automatically minimize.)
I had just entered all my reg codes earlier today, and I know there are too many, so this sucks.
Are there any viri (viruses, I guess) that might do this? I mean, yeah, I can spend an hour or two (I'm afraid it might be more, since things go all complicated on me all too quickly) getting back to running, but what the *{^ ( |<* happened?
I hope I'm off my rocker for the moment and no one ever sees this happen to them. Any ideas?
New development: I loaded up, started doing a few things I need to do manually (I like to do my AEBPlus, and have never been successful at imprting Phonealarm setting), and lo, I soft reset, and the boot screen stcuk. The red boot characters went away, but the button lights never turned on.
Can anyone tell me if I should be sending it in to PPCTechs, or might this be a ROM (or software????) issue.
Any input is welcome.
Have you tried hard reset? If yes and still unsuccessful, try re-flashing the ROM.
something similar happened to me once when i banged my phone on something..
all shortcuts / programs dissappeared...
i only had 2 options in start menu..
did a hard reset and everythign was restored
I installed Touch Commander, as the adverts looked promising, but I did not like it at all and uninstalled it immediately. Unfortuntely it has changed the way my Start menu looks, now the list is longer and the program names are smaller, also the list of the last used programs has disappeared completely. This is a nasty little program which also left a hand icon in my windows settings, which, when i click it gives me an error message. Could anyone please help me get the original start menu back? I couldn't find anything in Settings, it must have modified a registry setting.
to enable thr large start menu setings/system/touchflo/ then check large start menu. as for the hand i have no idea
Thanks mate, that did the trick, it also disabled other things but I managed to restore them. The hand icon in the settings doesn't bother me too much.