vB Easy Archive - Why won't this ringtone play?

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Why won't this ringtone play?
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Posted by: OneMoreTime

I have a 143kb Text-to-Voice .wav file that I would like to use as the ringtone for ALL my incoming calls. I emailed it to myself and downloaded it to my Treo "Sounds". It then shows up at the top of my list of installed ringtones as "???". I then change the name to, say, "AllRing". When I assign it to Known Caller or Unknown Caller, it plays fine on the Treo.

Then - when I receive a call, this .wav file does NOT play and the Treo just reverts to the 'Alarm' ring tone at the top of the ringtone list.

I have searched for hours trying to find out what causes this and how to solve it. Can anyone help? (I have only one Valium left in my PEZ dispenser)

Posted by: Choop!

What do you use to play the file on the Treo? The regular ringtone selection menu in "PREFS"? It sounds like it may be a storage error, and will need to be saved directly on the palm or in the root file of your SD card so it will play as a ringtone, and not just a media file. I'll have to check for sure...

Posted by: OneMoreTime

No problems at all in PLAYING the file on its own on the Treo (it sounds GREAT). And I "assign" it as a ringtone through PREFS. But then when I receive a call, the ring just reverts to "Alarm".

Posted by: OneMoreTime

This gets even stranger! I just returned from covering the Detroit Auto Show - and EVERY call I received at COBO Hall on the Detroit side, local or long-distance, rang correctly with the NEW ringtone I installed. EVERY call I received on the Windsor side, local or long distance, ignored the new ringtone that I specified in PREFS and rang with the default 'Alarm' ring at the top of the list! Is this strange or what?

(BTW, my service provider is Rogers)

Can anyone explain this?

Posted by: DP102288

That is confusing.

Try a soft reset first, see if that helps.

Do you have any type of ringtone management software (LightWav, MRing, Ringo Pro, etc...)?

Don't know if this would help, but change the name of your new ringtone to another name that wouldn't be first in your ringtone list. sounds crazy, even to me, but the Treo is crazy itself, (though I love it). Maybe "Ringer" would work??

Good luck with this.

Posted by: OneMoreTime

Quote:

Originally Posted by DP102288

That is confusing.

Try a soft reset first, see if that helps.

Do you have any type of ringtone management software (LightWav, MRing, Ringo Pro, etc...)?

Don't know if this would help, but change the name of your new ringtone to another name that wouldn't be first in your ringtone list. sounds crazy, even to me, but the Treo is crazy itself, (though I love it). Maybe "Ringer" would work??

Good luck with this.

Yes, this is bizarre isn't it? I have no RT management software installed. I did notice that when I install the ringtone, it shows up at the top of the list as '???'. However, if I leave it like that, it doesn't work and when I rename it, it doesn't work either. Would the file size (143kb) be a factor? It shouldn't, should it?

But what is totally incomprehensible is that it doesn't work at all on the Canadian side, yet works perfectly on the U.S. side. I even tested it several times in Dearborn and several times in Windsor to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Posted by: Choop!

The only conclusion I could come up wth is this: The ringtone hates Canada. And you. Canada and you. Yes, that must be it. I'm sorry.

(But on a serious note...I tried to figure it out a couple of days ago, and came up with nothing. What an odd case.)

Posted by: telejas

If you aren't using a 3rd party mp3/wav ringtone program, then you shouldn't be able to even use a wav file? You have to have a "ringtone managment" program on your phone to use these file types as ring tones. If it played for a while and then stopped, then you phone is possessed and doesn't like you (or Canada).

Huh, sounds like you need to install a ringtone program to me.. The Treo, with no 3rd party app installed, should only be able to play Midi files.

Posted by: twitch3

Quote:

Originally Posted by telejas

If you aren't using a 3rd party mp3/wav ringtone program, then you shouldn't be able to even use a wav file? You have to have a "ringtone managment" program on your phone to use these file types as ring tones. If it played for a while and then stopped, then you phone is possessed and doesn't like you (or Canada).

Huh, sounds like you need to install a ringtone program to me.. The Treo, with no 3rd party app installed, should only be able to play Midi files.

Actually I think it's file size issue. All of the .WAV ringtones I have used have worked fine if they were small. Can't give you a maximum file size. The ones I use that work are around 25k. The ones that don't are around 128k.

Posted by: OneMoreTime

Quote:

Originally Posted by telejas

...The Treo, with no 3rd party app installed, should only be able to play Midi files.

That's what I first thought....however:

From the book Now You Know Treo (PalmOne Press), Page 80 - "WAV file ringtones. You can use WAV files as ringtones, but only on the Treo-650. Simply send yourself WAV files via email. Select the attachment and follow the prompts to add to your Sounds list."

As I stated, it PLAYS perfectly on my Treo-650 when I "select" it as the Ringtone from the factory installed list. It just doesn't play when the phone rings in Canada! But it worked correctly as a ringtone in Detroit and Dearborne. I tested it several times and I have (sober) witnesses! Does ANYONE have any ideas as to WHY this would happen? This is totally bizarre.

Posted by: OneMoreTime

Quote:

Originally Posted by twitch3

Actually I think it's file size issue...

I think that may be the direction in which the answer will be found.

However.......it still doesn't explain why everything works as it should in Michigan and not in Ontario. The file size is the same in Detroit as it is in Windsor.

Is there any way that the difference in service provider could cause this?

(file size: how do I reduce my 142kb file to 25-30kb?)

Posted by: DP102288

For the Michigan/Ontario problem, it is possible that if the ringtone is set to "Roaming Tone" it would play they ringer when you were roaming, and in Michigan. This would only work if Rogers did not have native coverage in Michigan. (I don't know if they do or not.)

Go into your sounds app, or from the phone screen, press menu and "w" to go to the sounds page. Go to the tones subpage under phone, and check what your ringtones are.

As a test, set all of your ringtones, one by one, to the wav file. Then try to test once all the ringers are assigned.

Hope this helps.

Posted by: OneMoreTime

Quote:

Originally Posted by DP102288

For the Michigan/Ontario problem, it is possible that if the ringtone is set to "Roaming Tone" it would play they ringer when you were roaming, and in Michigan. This would only work if Rogers did not have native coverage in Michigan. (I don't know if they do or not.)

Go into your sounds app, or from the phone screen, press menu and "w" to go to the sounds page. Go to the tones subpage under phone, and check what your ringtones are.

As a test, set all of your ringtones, one by one, to the wav file. Then try to test once all the ringers are assigned.

Hope this helps.

I've done all that. Still reverts to the default "Alarm" ringer when I receive a call now that I'm back in Toronto. I have three witnesses who heard it work properly in Detroit! I'd like to try converting it to a MIDI file, but I can't find a program that will quickly do that - the ones I've tried are all for converting music WAV files to be played on MIDI.

I have a hunch that the file size will turn out to be part of the problem - BUT....why did it then play properly in Detroit? This is too bizarre for words.

Posted by: OneMoreTime

I now have another piece to this puzzle. I just received an incoming call in Toronto marked "No Caller ID" -- and the ringtone played correctly!

So my son and I did a *67+number call to the Treo from a number of different phones - and the ringtone worked correctly each time! Can anyone explain this and show me how to correct it? I want that particular ringtone to be used for ALL incoming calls - known and unknown. TIF

Posted by: jasonoke

Hi - I have the exact same problem as OneMoreTime on my 650.

I have a custom .wav file ringtone that plays perfectly in the menu, and is assigned to all types of calls, but won't play when a call comes in - I just get the default "Alarm" ringer no matter what. In fact, even when I assign OTHER built in Palm ringtones, it just defaults to "Alarm" no matter what kind of call.

But here's another wrinkle: if I assign a picture to a contact, when that contact calls the .wav ringtone works. If I delete the picture from that same contact, and they call again, it defaults back to the "alarm" ringer. I've repeated this several times now. Very bizzare.

Does this make ANY sense to anybody?

I'm going to use the 1.20 updater (I have an unlocked GSM Treo running 1.13ROW) this weekend and see if that fixes anything.

Posted by: AngelJo008

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneMoreTime

I can't even get the prompt top ask me where I want to save it--it just downloads it and I can play it but I can't move it to my sounds file--this is totally new stuff to me coming from WM5 PPC--any help?????

Posted by: OneMoreTime

Sorry. STILL haven't been able to configure this correctly - and have found NO ONE who can figure out why it does this.