TX seems to discharge itself sporadically.

[Alex Ethridge]

I've owned an M505, M515 and a Z22; but, I've never had problems like I've had with my TX. It's been replaced four times in the first year and is giving trouble again. I will use if for days, charging every night and just occasionally, I will find it is fully discharged after no use at all.

To be clear, I check it each morning and it is 100% charged; but, the first attempt to use it during the day reveals it is fully discharged. I never know when it is going to happen. I may use it for several days without a problem; but, at some point I find it discharged.

Remember, I charge it every night.

Any ideas?

[dump71]

If you have not already done so, reset your recharging circuitry by plugging your TX in, doing a soft reset, and leaving it alone for at least 3-4 hours. This is a good first step in dealing with such a problem and sometimes works well.

[Alex Ethridge]

I don't understand how that would help. Besides, I've done several hard resets in trying to clear this problem. The problem is NOT getting it charged. It charges fully and sometimes holds that charge for days. And the only software on it that didn't come on it when new is Documents to Go Premium, version 9.

The problem is that it will occasionally unexpectedly fully discharge itself sporadically without warning and after NO USE AT ALL.

Example: I charged it from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM.
I checked its charge state this morning to be 100%.
I used it at 4:00 PM for less than 2 minutes.
Its charge state at that time was still 100%.
I turned it off.
I closed the Piel Frama case I keep it in and didn't use it the rest of the day.
I picked it up again at 7:30 PM and it was fully discharged and wouldn't even turn on until I charged it again for a short while.
Its charge state is now less than 20% and I am again putting it on charge all night.

[PinCushionQueen]

Do you have all of your antenna's turned off? Check in preferences that your bluetooth, IR and WiFi are all turned off & that BT is not set to discoverable. If you are hotsyncing at all after your hard resets, then another thing to check would be to download and install Palm Internals and check for any alarms that you are unaware of - like perhaps there is a calendar event that keeps turning on the unit - this would probably get hotsynced over even if it is from a previous device. I know that a brand new TX (or after a hard reset) will have several Tasks already entered with spam stuff from Palm. I don't recall if these will actually set off an alarm or not.

I would also give that in cradle reset a try - don't just right it off... It will recalibrate your charging/battery indicator. So even if your battery indicator reads 100% perhaps the bit used to detect % left is out of whack. I personally do this in cradle reset every couple of months or so just to keep things right. :)

[dump71]

Because it isn't consistently draining in the startling manner you describe each and every time it is fully charged, it suggests that something maybe other than a bad battery is at work. Reseting your device in the way I described may in fact help how your battery discharges by reseting the circuitry. If this doesn't work then it points to other issues that can be explored at least.

Do you have any alarms/notifications that are waking up your device? You can use free programs like "Alarms?" (v2.0.1Q) or "PalmInternals" (v.1.10.2) to see. There are other programs that do this type of thing as well... I think Resco Explorer is one; it isn't free, but it has a fully functioning trial.

Is there any chance that a button is being pushed inadvertantly while in the case or otherwise?

You might explore the battery discharge more scientifically by using a program like Battery Graph (will cause some drain itself because it is monitoring) or BattLogger (new and untested but has free trial).

[alt236]

@Alex Ethridge.
I'm guessing that you are locking your TX at a predetermined time.
There seems to be a bug in the locking code which sometimes (based on the app its running) will prevent it from going to deep sleep.
Have a look here: http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128224

[Alex Ethridge]

All WiFi and bluetooth are turned off. I have also take precauition to set the WiFi key to turn on the calculator instead of the WiFi.

I do have two alarms set in the calendar, one for September 26th and another for the 27th. I set these alarms about one month ago and the discharge problem preceeds my first use of alarms by several months and with two different TX units.

Yes, I am using locking. It powers off automatically after three minutes and locks itself five minutes after that.

I am also using a deactivation key that prevents it from turning on at the press of any button except the on/off switch at the top of the unit. This is something I did just recently in an effort to solve this problem. It has had no effect on this problem.

I agree this is not a problem with the battery, itself; it is in the circuitry somewhere.Is there any chance that a button is being pushed inadvertantly while in the case or otherwise?I'm using a Piel Frama semi-hard case and it is possible buttons are being pressed; but, I have taken the following precaution: I am using a deactivation key that prevents it from turning on at the press of any button except the on/off switch at the top of the unit. This is something I did just recently in an effort to solve this problem. It has had no effect on this problem. Here's how it works: I press the on/off switch.
I get a "Keylock Activated" screen.
I must tap "Deactivate Keylock" button within two seconds or the unit turns off again.
I am then presented with a Password screen.
I enter the password.
Now I can use the TX normally. I discovered recently the unit would turn on when some of the buttons at the bottom were pressed. That is why I activated the Keylock thing; but, activating Keylock has not helped.

[_Em]

Alex: try http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~koppen/pautolock/
Also, another issue with the TX has to do with flushing the DB Cache. When you flush your cache, does the device continue to operate normally? If it doesn't, you might be experiencing an issue where your cache is full, your system locks at its predetermined time, and immediately goes into a state where it locks up and refuses to sleep, draining your battery.

[Alex Ethridge]

I've never heard of "flushing the DB". What does that mean and how is it done? There's nothing about it I can find in the Palm manual.

[_Em]

The DB Cache is where all data is stored for manipulation by currently active software on NVFS devices (of which the TX is one). Older software not designed with this architecture in mind sometimes assumes that all its dataspace is ALWAYS available... so when the OS flushes the cache (because there's only around 13MB of it available for use... it fills up fairly quickly), any of these apps that don't deal with this correctly (apps are supposed to set a lock bit for data they require, and unlock that data when they're done with it), you can get all sorts of strange results.

If you only have the default software plus D2G9, I'd suggest downloading Dmitry's MemUnfragment software; it prevents Blazer from chopping up your DB Cache into two 6MB chunks when you soft reset your device, giving you 13MB of usable cache instead of two 6MB chunks. Of course, D2G is a big DB Cache hog, so you'll more likely have around 7MB or so of cache available -- better than the 2MB or so you might have right now though.

To back up, PalmOS is designed so that flushing the cache happens automatically whenever it fills up -- this is why you can sometimes get a 20 second white screen while starting some apps (Blazer is notorious for this) on the TX. The problem is that they didn't design their flushing routine very well, and it conflicts with a lot of software, possibly including their own security software.

This is why you see a lot of people on here using things like UnCache and OffFlush -- UnCache prevents apps from pre-allocating DB Cache on soft reset, and OffFlush flushes the cache when you turn your device off -- the safest time to flush as nothing else is happening at that point.

[hroldan]

I'm there too. I used not to care about BT and WIFI, no problem at all. The discharge thing appeared when I started using alarms on calendar. It didn't matter if it was a week ago, still discharge the TX. No I deleted all the events and it keeps the charge. Weird.

[Alex Ethridge]

I tried BattLogger; it records absolutely nothing, not even the starting voltage.

I have never used or enabled BT or even set up WiFi since the last hard reset so Blazer isn't a factor.

A google search brings up a lot of mention of offflush; but, I can't find it anywhere for download.

I don't know if this is important; but, I manually power the TX off after each use. If it powers off on its own, I power it back up and then manually power off again.

For some reason lately, the HotSync is hanging occasionally with "Synchronizing Documents" on the TX screen; but, this is a problem that started just yesterday. It may be because of the installation of BattLogger.

[alt236]

Try disabling the timed locking of your TX (if you want security, then temporarily lock on power off and use a quick unlock password.).

See if the problem persists after a few days and if it does not, use pAutolock (as Em_ said) to replace the builting security.

[Alex Ethridge]

I set it yesterday to lock on power off after I did a hard reset. We'll see what happens.

[Alex Ethridge]

So far, so good.

It hasn't discharged itself since post number 14 above.

It is beginning to look like there is a defect in the 'lock after so many minutes' feature. Now that I think back, it seems very possible this problem started about the time I started using that feature.

I'll post back if the problem recurrs.

[jaTELEVISION]

My TX began discharging itself within a few hours two days ago. Last night it discharged itself that much that it coudn't be turned on anymore this morning. I plugged in the charging device, but after 6 hours of charging the TX still remains dead. Any ideas before I ask the support?

[Alex Ethridge]

Just be sure your charger is delivering voltage. Do you know how to use a volt/ohm meter? If not, just call Palm tech.

[alt236]

Did you try reseting it?

[jaTELEVISION]

@Alex: I still have the charger from my Treo 650 and even with that I don't get it charged. Don't think that both chargers are broken, but I'll check that.

@alt236: I tried but nothing happened. It remains dead with both hard and soft reset.

[alt236]

Try removing the SD card and charging it again.

I've had this problem before where my card was fried and was short curcuiting the palm (it was on my TC though).

[Alex Ethridge]

I think my problem of sporadic discharges is solved. It hasn't discharged itself again so it looks like the timed lock feature is a buggy feature that was causing the problem.

[jaTELEVISION]

I did a hard reset while plugged in to the power cable but no change: you can watch the percentage go down within seconds. The card is not inserted.

I am thinking of buying a new battery, that woudn't be that expensive. I don't want to wait several weeks until Palm gets it repaired. But what about the warranty when I change battery?

[Alex Ethridge]

If you open the case, yourself, your warranty is void. If they detect you have used parts other than the ones they put in, themselves, your warranty is void.

I have had so much trouble with my TX and it has been away for repair so much that I bought a Z22 as a backup.

[jaTELEVISION]

Since the TX is always slightly warm on the back side (even when switched off) I don't think it's the battery. Maybe there's some short-circuit inside. You're right, better I send it to the support.