PalmOS Alarm bug

[edwingo]

Hi all,

I've bought a new Sony Clie T665C a few months ago, which I'm happy with overall, but there is this *really* annoying bug: sometimes the alarm never goes off! Here is what happens:

1) It seems that the alarm works fine for a while and then something causes the alarm to stop working

2) I think that if I change the alarm sound to something else then it will start working again

3) Goto step #1

This used to happen with my last PalmOS device a Palm V which is one of the reasons I bought the new Clie. :-( So it seems to be a PalmOS bug. Anyone have this problem and know of a fix or workaround?

Version info: PalmOS v. 4.1

-Edwin

[Talula]

Hmmm... Could it be a software conflict of some sort? I've never had this problem. My alarms work very reliably. Does the problem persist after a soft reset? What about a hard reset. I know, standard answers but I always start with a soft reset.
Talula

[acraniotes]

Yeah, never heard of that one. Over the years I've owned a PalmIII, V, two Vx's, a IIIc, an m505, and now, an NR70V. None of them have ever failed to sound an alarm on time. My PPCs are another story altogether...

Sounds like an application conflict to me.

-Adam

[edwingo]

How do I debug an "application conflict"?

My Clie is working now so I cannot test whether a soft or hard reset fixes the problem, but back when I had my PalmV, I tried both and the problem would eventually reappear! :-( I do not know what causes it to reappear.

Could it be related to me using a different alarm sound than the default. I use a different one so I can tell my alarm from others at work.

-Edwin

[mrdeucie]

Originally posted by edwingo
How do I debug an "application conflict"?

My Clie is working now so I cannot test whether a soft or hard reset fixes the problem, but back when I had my PalmV, I tried both and the problem would eventually reappear! :-( I do not know what causes it to reappear.

Could it be related to me using a different alarm sound than the default. I use a different one so I can tell my alarm from others at work.

-Edwin

Maybe it's a third party app. that you keep re-installing.

[edwingo]

I only have the Sony provided apps on my Clie except for two which are for BART and Caltrain train schedules. These two non-Sony provided apps were never on my PalmV. So I suspect they are not the cause.

-Edwin

[edwingo]

Perhaps it's due to the alarm sound? I've tried two non-default sounds and the bug re-appears. I've set it back to the default to test whether the bug goes away.

Is anyone using a non-default alarm sound? I would think this would be common as other users have PDAs with the default sound and so would want a different alarm sound.

[rolando]

I've had my alarms stop making sounds at one time or another, too. The alarm screen still pops up, just no sound. Is it the same for you?

I always attributed my problem to the use of VolumeDA, which can turn off sounds for a period of time. But, I'm never sure.

A warm reset fixes the issue and it rarely comes up again.

Rolando

[edwingo]

Thanks for the response. I think it just ignores the appointment completely and does not give me a pop-up either. But, I cannot be sure because I cannot reproduce the problem easily. It just starts to happen. I'll reply again, when the problem appears again.

I do not have or use VolumeDA, BTW.

-Edwin

Originally posted by rolando
I've had my alarms stop making sounds at one time or another, too. The alarm screen still pops up, just no sound. Is it the same for you?

I always attributed my problem to the use of VolumeDA, which can turn off sounds for a period of time. But, I'm never sure.

A warm reset fixes the issue and it rarely comes up again.

Rolando

[rolando]

I've heard, with some PalmOS devices, that letting the battery run very low causes alarms to become unreliable until after a reset is performed. I believe that one symptom is that alarms don't ever show up.

I think that what happens is that when the power is very low, the OS temporariily disables alarms so that the battery doesn't get drained even deeper. It seems that the "flag" for this behavior sometimes doesn't reset back to normal until a reset.

Roland

[edwingo]

I do not think it is the battery being too low b/c the indicator still shows battery life. Also, if I change the alarm sound, then it temporarily fixes the problem for a while -- until some unknown event happens that triggers the bug to re-appear.

-Edwin

Originally posted by rolando
I've heard, with some PalmOS devices, that letting the battery run very low causes alarms to become unreliable until after a reset is performed. I believe that one symptom is that alarms don't ever show up.

I think that what happens is that when the power is very low, the OS temporariily disables alarms so that the battery doesn't get drained even deeper. It seems that the "flag" for this behavior sometimes doesn't reset back to normal until a reset.

Roland

[rolando]

I don't know then. However, the problem that I was talking about is caused by the battery, at one time, dropping very low. Once that happens, the alarms problem continues until a reset, regardless of the current battery settings.

Take care,

Rolando

[Importluva]

my alarm never fails, EXCEPT when the unit has a fatal exception. Then I have to go back into WA clock and mess around with my alarms and they're fine. Never had a prob since.

[edwingo]

Thanks for your response. How does one know a "fatal exception" has occurred? What are the symptoms?

-Edwin

Originally posted by Importluva
my alarm never fails, EXCEPT when the unit has a fatal exception. Then I have to go back into WA clock and mess around with my alarms and they're fine. Never had a prob since.

[tanker_bob]

Fatal exceptions occur due to software crashing the system--stomping on someone else's memory, invalid system call chain, etc. A box fills the screen saying Fatal Exception and having a Reset button at the bottom. The only way to get rid of the box is to tap the Reset button on the screen or pushing the reset pin in the back of the device. Therefore, it would stay on the screen until you saw it or the battery was drained below the voltage cutoff to auto power down. Both are self-evident, so it's not something you'd miss.

The problem sounds odd. Have you check the FAQs on Palm's site? Known problems usually show up there or in their knowledge base. If the alarm box shows up but with no sound, I'd check the sound settings in your General Preference category to see if your alarm was turned off somehow. That's a remote chance without some software actually doing that. None of the built-ins would do that except WA Clock.

[pulpdoc]

Oh you'll know when you have a fatal exception (FE) because everything stops. There will also be a window that tells you you've just had a FE. In most cases, you just click on the OK button and your Clie will reset itself.

As far as alarms not working I use Clock III on my Clie. This is an old program that hasn't been updated in years but seems to still work. I have noticed on occasion that it doesn't alarm. This is usually in the morning so maybe I've slept through the alarm. However, when I finally wake up, usually in a panic, and set Clock III to alarm in 5 minutes, the alarm always goes off. So me thinks I splept through the alarm.

There are occasions though when I've found that the alaram did NOT go off. In these cases, I've found that doing a soft reset "clears the registers" so to speak and the alarms work correctly. The makers of Clock III have posted an article on the web regarding erratic behaviour of alarms that *might* apply to Clies although I'm not positive. Here's the link: http://www.lwsd.com/DragonEZ.html

[rprice54]

using FastCPU? If I have fastCPU enabled over 46mhz then my sounds don't work. (slept through an important alarm to learn that)

[mmmm_beer]

I have seen something similar to that with my T665C. The alarm will sound, but only play the first note or two then stop. After reading this post, I change the alarm sound and then back again, and now it plays the complete song. Pretty weird. It is a song I converted from a midi file, and not a default one.