Problems with McPhling 4.30

[Isa43J]

I have installed the updated version of McPhling (version 4.30 for Palm OS 4.1) on my T615C.  I had an older version on it before (I think it was 2.?). 

The older version worked great except that it didn't recognize apps on the MS.  The new version works for a while and then quits.  I have to uncheck it in HackMaster and recheck it to get it to work again.  It will fail every time immediately after a hotsync.  It will also fail at other undetermined times; much too often to ignore as a minor annoyance.

Is anyone else having the same issue?  Any fixes?  Are there any apps that v4.30 conflicts with that older versions didn't?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wnm]

I have not experienced the problesm you described. Have tried a different hack manager. Hackmaster is pretty old and has not been updated. I used Tealmaster, which can be tried as shareware. Xmaster and YAHM are two others.

[DanT]

I use McPhling 4.3 with X-Master 1.5 w/o any problems. The X-Master is set to disable during HotSync.

[tanker_bob]

I also use McPhling with X-Master 1.5 w/o problems, and set it to disable during HotSync. Hackmaster hasn't kept up with newer OS versions, and becomes more problematic as time goes on. I highly recommend switching to X-Master.

Here's an additional safety tip: If you add apps to the card, you need to go back into McPhling's configuration screen. It will, at that point, reread the new apps on the card. When it finishes reading the card, just tap OK to exit the configuration screen.

[rolando]

If you're really still using Hackmaster, you should switch to a newer one. I really recommend Tealmaster if you you use a lot of hacks, as you can map hack profiles to certain apps to alleviate conflicts, etc.

If you want free, try X-Master or YAHM (which I've never tried, so can't comment on the reliability).

Rolando

[yorrick]

Avoid using Hackmaster. It is old and doesn't handle hacks very well. I would suggest xmaster (free) or tealmaster (shareware). A new one is YAHM (yet another hack master - free), but I haven't tried this at all - though it is supposed to have a look and feel like TealMaster.

TealMaster is the only one which can support limited hacks in OS5 -so it may be worth the money to spend on this critter.

URLS:
TealMaster : http://www.tealpoint.com/softmstr.htm
X-Master : http://linkesoft.com/xmaster/
YAHM : http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?sid=23736820030212214019&prodID=45126

[Isa43J]

Excellent information.  Thanks.  I hadn't even thought about HackMaster being old.  I've had it for a long time.  Anyway, I've just installed X-Master to try it out.  It automatically removed HackMaster for me.  Outstanding!

I keep getting a message to delete HackDelete (which I did) since the functionality is incorporated into X-Master.  Does that mean that is a hack is deleted while it's active in X-Master, X-Master will safely deactivate it and delete it?

[tanker_bob]

I think that it is always best to deactivate before deleting hacks. While X-Master does a great job handling the memory chains, nothing is perfect and you might end up hosing another hack's operation. I use HackBroom to delete hacks, which does a great job cleaning up their config files, etc.

[Isa43J]

Thanks Tanker Bob.

[Isa43J]

Still having the same problems.  The only things that changed recently are the updated version of McPhling, the updating of MegaLauncher (from v3.2.2 to v4.1.0), and a new installation of Super Utility v6.00.  There is also now the replacement of HackMaster with X-Master v1.5, but the problem started before that.

Is there anyone else who may happen to have the same or a similar setup?  I'm on a T615C running Palm OS 4.1.

Once again, thanks for any help you can provide.

[tanker_bob]

I'd uninstall them one-by-one, following each uninstall with a soft reset, until the problem goes away. I'd be mildly surprised if ML 4.1 caused this, but don't know anything about Super Utility. You might look in their perferences and see if either of them want to use stylus strokes for anything.

[Isa43J]

I'm not sure what happened, but McPhling seems to be working fine now.  I'm not sure what triggered it to not work properly, or to start working properly, but I'm not gonna complain about it.  It works very well now.

Thanks for your help.

[Isa43J]

It's started happening again.  Every now and then, McPhling will stop working.  I am now using X-Master (was using Hack Master), but that hasn't stopped the problem.  I go into X-M and I see that McPhling is still activated.  If I try to deactivate it I get an instant Fatal Alert / soft reset.  Once the Clie (T615C) resets I get the dialog asking me if I want to reactivate all X-Master hacks that were active at the time of the crash.  I click the "Activate" button, go into X-M and see that McPhling is still active (meaning it never deactivated when I tried to uncheck it).  Is anyone else having the same issues?

Another thing that may or may not be related:  My Clie has been acting a bit strange lately.  Yesterday, I pulled it out of the case and it was already on.  I still have the factory flip-up hard cover on it to keep from accidentally hitting a button.  It has never done that before.  Later the same day, I turned it on and it came up with MegaL 4.1 as usual, but it was on a tab that I rarely use (and I know I didn't use it earlier in the day).  It usually comes up to the last tab used, which wasn't the tab in question here.

Any thoughts?  Is my Clie dying???  :confused:    Thanks for any help!

[Isa43J]

One more thing to add.  I've also recently been experiencing problems with the hack "Popup Note" not working.  There doesn't seem to be any pattern that I can tell concerning when the hacks go out.  They aren't both out at the same time necessarily; though they will be at times.

Needless to say, I would strongly prefer not to do a hard reset, although I have Backup Buddy to use if I need to.

[Unregistered]

try to uninstall McPhling and reinstall it again. Deactivate it, then delete the prc file and its cache. And also the config entries in the "Saved Preference.prc" file which should look like "McPg x" where x is 0,1,2,... FileZ can delete the files while RsrcEdit can delete these preference entries.

Sometimes if you delete some apps which you just use (then cached in the McPhling's recent app list) or some apps which you've added to the favorite list in McPhling, then when you use McPhling there might be some problem. That happened to me once. I deleted McPhling and reinstall it.

Uninstall a hack is not as easy as to uninstall an app. Maybe you can use Bob's suggestion with the HackBroom tool to delete a hack. I haven't got chance to try it though. I always use Filez (to find out the app and related db files) and RsrcEdit (to find out the profile/preference entries in the Preference file) to delete these kind of stuff.

[rolando]

It sounds more like you are having a Hackmaster (or X-Master, TealMaster, etc.) problem. That more than one hack sometimes stops working would point to that program.

Also, sometimes adding hacks can make other hacks not activate. The order of activation and priority is often important. Over time, I periodically have to adjust the activiation order/priority of hacks as I add and subtract others.

In addition, could it be that you have Tealmaster and are using profiles? There could be a profile that doesn't have that hack active or set to the wrong priority.

Or, X-Master has a method for changing hack "groups" with swipes, etc. You could be inadvertantly changing groups.

Rolando

[Isa43J]

Originally posted by rolando
It sounds more like you are having a Hackmaster (or X-Master, TealMaster, etc.) problem. That more than one hack sometimes stops working would point to that program.
I changed from HackMaster to X-Master to try to resolve that possibility.  I was told that Hackmaster is outdated in some cases and that I should try another one.  So I installed X-Master.

Originally posted by rolando
Also, sometimes adding hacks can make other hacks not activate. The order of activation and priority is often important. Over time, I periodically have to adjust the activiation order/priority of hacks as I add and subtract others.
I'll have to look into that.  They probably have changed order in the list.  I didn't know that the ordered mattered, but I'll look into that.

Originally posted by rolando
Or, X-Master has a method for changing hack "groups" with swipes, etc. You could be inadvertantly changing groups.
Again, I wasn't aware that this was a feature of X-Master.  I'll look into this also.

Thanks for your advice.  I'll post the results when I have them.

[rolando]

As to changing "groups" with X-Master. I think you'd know if you were doing it. You have to add a special hack from the vendor in order to enable it. It's called "xmswitchset." If you don't have that, I don't think that could be the issue.

Take care,

Rolando

[LanMan]

I can't get McPhling to work with any consistency when I have MsMount enabled. I don't know if that is related to your problem or not, but McPhling works well on my T415 when MsMount is disabled.

[Isa43J]

Originally posted by LanMan
I can't get McPhling to work with any consistency when I have MsMount enabled. I don't know if that is related to your problem or not, but McPhling works well on my T415 when MsMount is disabled.

I don't use MsMount.  I use MegaLauncher 4.1 which allows for launching apps from MS.

I have just installed an older version of McPhling (v1.09) and it seems to work fine so far, but the newer v4.3 would also work for a while and then quit.  I'll keep you updated.

[Isa43J]

Originally posted by rolando
As to changing "groups" with X-Master. I think you'd know if you were doing it. You have to add a special hack from the vendor in order to enable it. It's called "xmswitchset." If you don't have that, I don't think that could be the issue.

You're right.  I had not setup any "Sets" in X-Master, so that's not the issue.

I wanted to ask your opinion about the order of my hacks.  I have these hacks in this order:


McPhling (now version 1.09)
NoLinesHack
Popup Note
Popup Time
SafeHack


Do you think any of these would have any affect on the performance of any other(s) of them?

Thanks for your help.