vB Easy Archive - The only thing I hate about the MPx220 (long post)

Pages: 1

The only thing I hate about the MPx220 (long post)
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: CeluGeek

Here is the only thing I don't like about the MPx220, but that I'm beginning to hate with a passion.

Watch the video (in Windows Media format)

Whenever this happens, accessing any RightSoftKey menu becomes a nightmare, and using the SIM card speed dials (like pressing 3#) is as unbearable as issuing network commands like the one I used to demonstrate the problem in the video.

Once the problem occurs (out of nowhere) the only way to get rid of it is by power-cycling the phone!

Sometimes I can go two days in a row without a single reboot, but there are days that I have to power-cycle my phone three or four times in a single day because of this.

I've gone through three different phones (through Cingular's XBM), all with the exact same problem. I've tried ROMs 1.30, 1.39, 1.43, 1.47 and 1.49. It doesn't make a difference whether the ROM is American or European, and it doesn't matter if the ROM is generic or with Cingular's branding file. All of them have the exact same problem. I've tried numerous hard resets and setups without any third-party apps. I've even removed programs from the Startup folder (like the picture caller ID program) so that the phone starts up with less programs chewing up memory. Nothing has helped.

I can't believe no one has ever experienced this problem! I don't want to bother with Asian ROMs, and after trying all of the above, I don't expect an Asian ROM to be the perfect cure at the expense of skinny fonts, foreign contacts inserted out of nowhere, and extensive hacking to get rid of these issues. I don't mind the lower volume, crappy speakerphone, and having to use WMA instead of low-volume MP3 ringtones. But this slowdown is totally unacceptable!

I almost have my SMT5600 sold, but now I can't decide if I keep the SMT5600 (even if I can't get used to candybar phones anymore) or if I just drop smartphones and go back to a decent non-smartphone clamshell until a Windows Mobile based clamshell that works as it should is released, if that ever happens.

Posted by: jsppty

I encountered a similar problem like yours.

When a reminder I set to an appointment is activated, it takes forever to "dismiss" the reminder.
I usually have to pull the battery and restart the phone.

Similar to your problem, this doesn't always happen. But enough for me to temporarily switch to my Nokia 6230.

Posted by: Omega2008

This is a memory problem. There is a memory hack to fix this. This happened alot when I first got my MPx 220. I did the regiostry edit to fix this and it rarely happends and when it does its because I have a crap load of programs running so its understandable, well to me it is.

Posted by: Omega2008

Oh try a asian ROM, the hacking is not that bad. However you MUST power cycle the phone after every registry edit or you could run into some problems. Its well worth it and you can change the font easily. Take a look of the screen shot in my blog, no skinny font.

Posted by: CeluGeek

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega2008

This is a memory problem. There is a memory hack to fix this. This happened alot when I first got my MPx 220. I did the regiostry edit to fix this and it rarely happends and when it does its because I have a crap load of programs running so its understandable, well to me it is.

I tried the suggested values for the settings under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\LowMem

I even tried values I made up myself and no success either way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega2008

Oh try a asian ROM, the hacking is not that bad. However you MUST power cycle the phone after every registry edit or you could run into some problems. Its well worth it and you can change the font easily. Take a look of the screen shot in my blog, no skinny font.

Not so when you can't see the font. I already have a hard time enough seeing the thicker default font un US and Western Europe's ROMS.

Posted by: Omega2008

Ahh I see. Sorry about that.

Posted by: wenlez

wow, this lags like hell!

Posted by: bryanz

I've never seen anything like that no my mpx220, it's really disgusting. I have a ROM from an Austria operator (ONE). Never seen that, but I understand you.
Sell it and get a non-smartphone phone

I have been thinking about doing that for a while!

Posted by: TriAxis

This is just a memory issue. I recommend getting SP Task Manager. It will show you every non crucial system app running and other apps that are running. Then just kill them. It also has SP Free Memory which automatically kills apps running in the background. The only problem with Free Memory is it doesn't kill any Microsoft apps regardless if their crucial or not.

Also get into the habit of properly closing all programs once your finished using them. Most apps have a MENU/EXIT or MENU/CLOSE option. If you use these they will properly close and won't be using up you RAM anymore. If you open an app, then open another, then hit the HOME button, those 2 apps you just opened are still in your RAM.

Lastly use a Homescreen that shows your current RAM. I use Drizze99 homescreen and it has a few plugins thjat monitor the following. Signal Strength, Battery Level, Storage Memory, and Ram Memory. If I ever see my Ram Memory get down to about 15% or so, I use SP Task Manager to find out what needs killed. On average my RAM sits around 30%-39%.

Posted by: CeluGeek

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriAxis

Also get into the habit of properly closing all programs once your finished using them. Most apps have a MENU/EXIT or MENU/CLOSE option. If you use these they will properly close and won't be using up you RAM anymore. If you open an app, then open another, then hit the HOME button, those 2 apps you just opened are still in your RAM.

I never, quit an app just by pressing the Home screen. I always use the Exit command whenever available, or the Back button to get rid of all menus 'til I reach the Home screen. What's more irritating is that this would even happen when I have no external apps installed, and when I'm only using the phone as a phone, without programs like Media Player, File Manager or Photo Album ever launched on the current session. Whatever the memory leak is, is something the SMT5600 doesn't have.

Posted by: conan_troutman

I never have that problem but my phone gets rebooted once a day I have it set to do it automatically( use autoflight or see below) i have aslo done the low mem reg edit set it to 96 and i have no problems with my phone whats so ever exept for one everytime i check it no one has called or sent a message but hell i'm just unpopular lol

Posted by: CeluGeek

I'm seriously doubting this is a memory problem.

My phone has 10.15MB of free RAM at startup. The last time I got the slowdown, (two hours ago) I went to the About page and I had 9.48MB of free RAM. At that point, I tried SP Task Manager (which I installed earlier this morning) without success no matter how many programs and processes I killed - which there weren't too many open anyways.

I've been able to go down to 6.70MB of free RAM and still not see a slowdown. I've seen slowdowns with free RAM being below 5MB, so definitely it's not a memory problem.

My patience is running out.

Posted by: princeasi

After playing with the smt5600, after playing with the hw6515, I've came to realization that the mpx220 is really a bad phone, and ridden with problems after problems! Before I couldnt realize it becuz it was my 1st windows based phone, now after comparing, the mpx220 was a great idea that fell into shambles, once again, its probaly faulty hardware thats causing your issue cinguliano! If you can, I advise you to sell it before it burns out, or youll find urself paying out 50 bucks plus the monthly dues to exchange it thru cingular insurance progam everytime the phone goes out!

Posted by: Omega2008

Like I said, change the firmware or reflash. And after the ROM update, hard reset as well. I doubt it is a hardware problem. I have had this problem and eliminated it.

Posted by: princeasi

hey omega, isnt ur mpx220 from a different assembly line, I thought you mentioned awhile ago(and maybe im wrong or a little off about this!) that urs was a build that you got a hold of before the mpx's hit the stores? If this is the case wouldnt it be possible that your model may not experience some of the same problems that some of has experienced like the faulty charging ports?

Posted by: CeluGeek

As hard to believe as this may sound to many of you, I have never had a single problem with the charging port. But then again, I use a desktop charger so who knows. My MPx is on a timeout right now and I'm using the 5600 until I decide what to do.

Posted by: princeasi

how long have u had ur phone cinguliano?

Posted by: CeluGeek

Almost eight months.

Posted by: princeasi

ok well it had taken me around 5 m0nth before my 1st mpx went out then i got another one and that one had taken about 4 months. most people that has had this problem didnt make it a full a full yr. so if u can coast a full yr , than u might be in the safe zone. Also with mine, i charged it everyday, so im sure that contributed to the wear! I also noticed that certain websites i went to didnt come up as easy as it does on the smt and 6515. Im just sold on stability now!

Posted by: Omega2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by princeasi

hey omega, isnt ur mpx220 from a different assembly line, I thought you mentioned awhile ago(and maybe im wrong or a little off about this!) that urs was a build that you got a hold of before the mpx's hit the stores? If this is the case wouldnt it be possible that your model may not experience some of the same problems that some of has experienced like the faulty charging ports?

I have two MPx 220's, one that is an engineering sample that I got before the phone was released and the other is a Cingular Branded MPx 220. The Cingular Branded one is what I am using (and currently selling). It has not given me any problems that I could not fix and ever since 3.45 ROM I haven't had a single problem that I didn't expect. Neither of my MPx 220's have had this charging port problem. Maybe its because I am gentle when I plug the charger into the port, I don't know.

Posted by: princeasi

well i will admit that with my 1st mpx, i may have been a little rough with the plug but after that one went out then i was very careful with the 2nd one, but that didnt make a difference. oh well i guess ur one of the lucky ones that didnt go thru this! all of us are not fortunate lol!

Posted by: iDunnolio

i always have the same problem as your problem if i leave my phone on for 2 days without a restart.

Posted by: pdazealot

It may be a Cingular only issue actually. See if people on other networks have this issue.

Posted by: illmatic416

Ah, i had this problem when for awhile when i upgraded to 1.43 and then to 1.47...even did a handset exchange...i discovered that disabling OBEX will get rid of this problem...i enabled OBEX in the registry and that's when the problem started, once i disabled it again, the problem never occured again...hope that helps

Posted by: CeluGeek

Quote:

Originally Posted by illmatic416

Ah, i had this problem when for awhile when i upgraded to 1.43 and then to 1.47...even did a handset exchange...i discovered that disabling OBEX will get rid of this problem...i enabled OBEX in the registry and that's when the problem started, once i disabled it again, the problem never occured again...hope that helps

Hmm, I just disabled OBEX to see what happens. I now have my fingers crossed. Good thing I don't use OBEX on a regular basis.

Posted by: Omega2008

Thats odd.....let us know if that solves your problem.

Posted by: CeluGeek

I think it's still too premature to tell, but ever since I tried illmatic416's suggestion, I haven't had to reboot the phone at all. I'm not getting too cocky until I can top three days without a forced reboot. But so far so good...

Posted by: NetGuyR

Quote:

I think it's still too premature to tell, but ever since I tried illmatic416's suggestion, I haven't had to reboot the phone at all. I'm not getting too cocky until I can top three days without a forced reboot. But so far so good...

Cool! Keep us updated!

Posted by: CeluGeek

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but it looks like illmatic416 really nailed it. Ever since I disabled OBEX, I haven't seen a single slow down even after using many programs... and this is with the Cingular 1.43 ROM. Many, many thanks!

Posted by: Omega2008

awesome....so there must be a problem with OBEX....odd. I didn't have that problem when I used 1.43 but again I didn't use it that long. I guess the Asian ROM's do not have this problem.

Posted by: CeluGeek

Maybe that is why Cingular ROMs 1.30 and earlier had OBEX turned off by default. I had this problem with 1.30, but of course I already had read on this forum about how to turn OBEX on, which I did.

Posted by: Omega2008

Right...but I never had a problem with it............I guess I was lucky or that I did reboot my phone once a week...in either case I am glad that the root of the problem is solved.

Posted by: illmatic416

Quote:

Originally Posted by cinguliano

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but it looks like illmatic416 really nailed it. Ever since I disabled OBEX, I haven't seen a single slow down even after using many programs... and this is with the Cingular 1.43 ROM. Many, many thanks!

I know how annoying that problem was...i probably should have posted the solution earlier, but no one really complained about the problem. I'm glad it's working out for you. I almost never use OBEX so i figured disabling it wouldn't matter too much.

Posted by: sofene

Quote:

Originally Posted by illmatic416

I stumbled on the solution myself a few days back when I did a file transfer from my mpx200 to mpx220. At the end of the transfer the mpx200 asked whether I want OBEX turned off. It looks like the obex is turned off by default in the 200 and on by default in the 220.