TX internal memory failure after 9 months use

[docinthebox]

Recently, I've noticed insufficient internal memory errors during hotsync for installation of new programs even though Zlauncher showed I still had 30+ MB left. Then yesterday, after a hard reset, but before the screen calibration, TX kept giving me these two errors:

Extensions are not loaded because free storage space on the device is low. Delete application or data then reset the device again (APP 8004)

The free data storage space on the device is critically low. Delete application or Data (APP 8003)

I called Palm Support and had it shipped to them for repair this morning. Figured it's probably some internal memory failure. Anyone else has experienced the above two errors?

Well, this got me kinda disappointed at TX quality control. Would have expected the hardware to last much longer than this. I guess the good thing is it happened now instead of after the 1 yr warranty expires in a couple of months.

[bh77a]

Sorry, never heard of this issue. After the error, were you able to go ahead and get into the OS (past digitizing)? Any odd memory management apps on the TX?

Glad that it happened within warranty. I bought an extended one for mine for cheap ($5) from a site listed on BrightHand right after I purchased it.

[Dick Tracy]

Had you installed a custom ROM or been fiddling with any of the numeric shortcuts prior to this happening? Have not heard of this before.

[docinthebox]

After the error, it just kept restarting. Wasn't able to get past calibration.

Don't have any odd memory management software other than UDMH.

And no, I don't use a custom ROM. In fact, yesterday when it was only crashing once in a while, I was able to re-apply the wifi enterprise ROM update, just to make sure that the ROM was okay. (I think the versamail 3.5 update altered the ROM.) But that didn't help. Same errors before and after the ROM update.

[Dick Tracy]

UDMH could be involved, after all the app is about memory and your problems are with memory.

[dmitrygr]

udmh cannot be involved. it doe snot mess with storage only dynamic. now that we're done with accusations the symptoms point to bad ram

[malbo]

Oh, oh. I just experienced this last night. Got the second 'memory critically low.' I had several resets exiting previously reliable apps for a couple of days. Then this at start up. After several spontaneous resets it started. I tried another app, exited and it reset with this message again and went into another series of resets. Fortunately it restarted.

I deleted the offending apps and memfrag (with which I have had trouble previously) . So far everything is working again. Will now try adding back my previously reliable apps.

This is a refurbished unit Palm sent me after my 1st unit bricked out over a hotsync issue. I've only had it a couple of months. Don't use a launcher or custom ROM.

[T3_slider]

udmh cannot be involved. it doe snot mess with storage only dynamic. now that we're done with accusations the symptoms point to bad ram
dmitrygr, I think you're a phenomenal programmer and your support is quite good. However, I think you could be a little nicer when it comes to technical issues. Yes, it is possible that UDMH is in no way involved (And since you wrote UDMH, you would probably know, and you gave an answer that is sufficient). However, I'm not thrilled when you add that last line every time that makes you sound rude. Someone was simply pointing out that UDMH was a memory-involved program and it could be the problem. All you had to say was that UDMH was not involved with internal memory. Instead, you had to alienate someone by making them feel rude and stupid when they were just trying to help.

I understand that you don't want people bashing your software because it would detract from sales, but you don't have to be rude about it. Just provide information that counteracts these "accusations" as you put it and all will be fine.

Again, I think you're an awesome programmer, but every time someone says ANYTHING negative about your software AT ALL, justified or not, you get rude.

[bh77a]

@ docinthebox & malbo,

Could you post a list of the software that you ran on your TX's? Perhaps there is a common thread. How much free RAM did you actually have when these errors started occurring? This could be worthwhile information for other people that could experience the problem in the future and are trying to complete research on the topic.

[docinthebox]

@ docinthebox & malbo,

Could you post a list of the software that you ran on your TX's? Perhaps there is a common thread. How much free RAM did you actually have when these errors started occurring? This could be worthwhile information for other people that could experience the problem in the future and are trying to complete research on the topic.

What I had in RAM was just regular software like TomTom, ZLauncher, Bible+, CJKOS, Datebk6, Plucker, bunch of Palmpowerups software, and a bunch of medical software like Epocrates, MerckMedicus, Johns Hopkins Abx Guide etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But with all due respect, I don't think it matters here. The errors occurred during a hard reset, when the code that was running should be from ROM, not from RAM. From what I gather, the code must have been restoring some sort of a backup image from ROM to RAM (like when you restore a backup image of a hard drive after it crashed), so it shouldn't matter what's in RAM, since it's the recipient. Further, I didn't use any custom ROM. The ROM I had in there was the wifi enterprise security update from Palm.

It's like when you try to copy data from drive A to drive B, errors occur, and we're saying, let's list all the software that resides in drive B.

[bh77a]

Sorry, I was simply trying to get you to share your set up with others. People may have this problem and want/need to know as much information about it as possible. As you were having the issues with "memory low" messages prior to the hard reset, it seemed logical to ask what type of software you were using.

Regards...

[malbo]

I too don't think it was any of my apps. I have reinstalled those I had removed that I thought might have caused the soft reset loop resulting in the critical memory message. Everything is still working on day 2. I did not reinstall Powerups memunfrag. I feel this has caused problems in the past but I don't know enough on how it works or if it could have anything to do with this. It was the last change I made.
My TX has 50MB of RAM free.

[_Em]

Bump :)
This is the exact thing that happened to me when one of my TXes bricked... for me, it happened after both the dynamic heap and the DB cache were completely full, and the DB Cache tried to flush causing a reset. The alert came up on reset, and then when I tried a hard reset to get out of the loop, it only ever went as far as the grey Palm logo screen, and hung. Every forced reset after stalled out at the same location, even after draining the battery for a few days and doing a power-cable charge-and-reset. It seems to me that there *should* be some way to get out of this, but so far the only method I've seen is to return it to Palm and let them hardware flash the device. The chips themselves are perfectly fine, AFAIK.

[PalmTxer]

I ran into the same thing this morning...same exact symptoms.

My solution? Hard Reset and Restore

I haven't changed any of my software for quite some time but I knew there was trouble when saving some RSS feeds to my TX.

For me, I think it was caused by Flush It not flushing properly or something like that but nevertheless I will be monitoring this much closer and use Palm's meminfo app, if necessary, to keep the dynamic heap and DB cache from doing these bizarre things.

Dave

Bump :)
This is the exact thing that happened to me when one of my TXes bricked... for me, it happened after both the dynamic heap and the DB cache were completely full, and the DB Cache tried to flush causing a reset. The alert came up on reset, and then when I tried a hard reset to get out of the loop, it only ever went as far as the grey Palm logo screen, and hung. Every forced reset after stalled out at the same location, even after draining the battery for a few days and doing a power-cable charge-and-reset. It seems to me that there *should* be some way to get out of this, but so far the only method I've seen is to return it to Palm and let them hardware flash the device. The chips themselves are perfectly fine, AFAIK.

[signup]

had/having similar probs but not as bad.

i started to notice that anything i installed would have a generic icon and when i opened it it would either reset or say insufficient memory. i hard reset and reinstalled but it crashed during hotsync and was stuck in reset loop. if i restarted with the up button pressed it would reach the favourites screen but any app or going to normal icons screen would reset and hang unless i reset with up button.

the only way ive got my palm to work reliably is instead of hotsynching i put all of my apps on a sd card and copied them. not sure if this helped or it may be concidence as i put much less apps on.

now been stable for a week or so and hotsync s fine though i dont install anything that way.

no custom rom, only udmh, avantgo, agendus, scrabble, worldmate, clock, yahtzee