Cleaning 'Problems' On My Treo...
I can’t remember the last time I had a problem of any sort with my Treo but yesterday proved an exception as I tried to use TCPMP to play a movie but it kept crashing within 5 seconds of playback every time I launched it…
TCPMP had always worked flawlessly before but just in case the application itself might be the issue I updated it to the latest version 0.71 from my installed 0.70. Still, when I tried to launch a movie it crashed again.
I reached the conclusion that I was either dealing with a lack of free available memory (I only had 1.8MB free) or a software ‘conflict’ of some sort but figuring out which was causing the problem would soon prove to be a rather annoying but nonetheless productive afternoon-long ‘repair operation’. Evidently, with the number of applications that I have installed on my Treo (over 100) I was bound to at least once have an issue creep up.
Before starting to dig into my Treo the first thing I did was make a backup using Resco Backup which I have found to be the fastest of all available backup solutions. With this done I could now safely proceed to make any changes or deletions in the knowledge that I could always ‘restore’ my Treo to its previous state.
Now to figure out what was wrong I initially launched FileProg to have a view of all the files currently installed on my Treo. FileProg is a freeware application which I like a lot because it quickly allows me to sort all the files installed in RAM either by Size, Creator ID, Type, Date, Time (of install) or Attribute and then to Copy, Cut, Delete, Paste, Select, Unselect All, IR Beam, BT Beam or view file Attributes.
In the two screenshots above I first wanted to sort all my files by Descending Size to see which applications were using the most memory space and then sort by Creator ID to view which files belonged to a particular application. If there was anything in the list that I knew for sure should not be there (remnants of past installations for example) I quickly deleted the file (always be careful about what you delete).
At the same time, on my PC I opened my Treo ‘Backup’ folder (typically found in Program Files > Palm or PalmOne > Your Treo Username > Backup) and looked for obvious files which should not be there and either deleted them or cut and pasted them in a temporary folder. Anything which I deleted on the Treo with FileProg I automatically also deleted on my PC.
After this I used Soft Reset for my Treo and tried launching TCPMP again to see if it would run without crashing but it didn’t so I had to move to the next phase. Considering that I only had 1.8MB of free memory I thought that perhaps this might be the cause and so I moved a few large applications to my SD Card using PowerRun to have at least 4MB free. Still TCPMP kept crashing.
Knowing that performing a Hard Reset has the benefit of cleaning up some of the ‘dirty files’ on my Treo and freeing memory in the process (see More Good Within Hard Reset) I decided that this might be a step in the right direction. After performing another backup set with Resco Backup and a HotSync to make sure that all my files were backed up to my PC I went ahead with the hard reset. Again, no luck, TCPMP still would not work.
It then became obvious I had to identify the set of applications that could foreseeably be the cause of the conflict and typically this would have to be one of the 13 utilities that I use (see Top 100 Treo Software). I identified three that I guessed could be the most likely culprits: Softick Card Export which I had recently reinstalled, Central and PalmRevolt which changes the skin of my Treo to the Mac OSX Aqua Green that you see in my screenshots.
As I progressed in my problem solving I realised that Card Export could not be enabled in the background and thus unlikely to be the cause while Central for its part could be disabled by pressing a button within the application. This left only PalmRevolt.
I initially tried to add TCPMP to PalmRevolt’s ‘Exclusions’ list (above) but this still not work. Somewhat frustrated I had no other option but to uninstall PalmRevolt using Destaller Pro (below) which has the benefit of removing all the files including Preferences and DB’s in RAM associated with the application for a truly ‘clean’ uninstall.
Finally TCPMP worked flawlessly again but I really didn’t want to be left without PalmRevolt whose skins I have become completely used to. Luckily I noticed that PalmRevolt had released an update from my version 0.94 to 0.942b which I reinstalled and that now works beautifully without conflicts with all my other applications (plus the 5Way navigation issue from previous version has now also been fixed).
Evidently I would have preferred not to have had to spend hours figuring out what was wrong with my Treo but at least I learned a few things in the process and now everything is super finely tuned…
Treonauts always like a fresh start… 
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Comments
i have palm revolt 0.934b with tcpmp .070 installed and tcpmp works fine for me. doesn't cause any crashes.
I think we've all been through this kind of thing before. It sucks too, because there are so many variables it can be really tough trying to figure out what's wrong.
I wanted to comment on a problem I experienced yesterday. I installed avantgo a while back. Had some problems getting it to download the content properly. I do not sync my treo all that frequently because I just download conent from the internet. I had to sync it a few times trying to get avantgo to work properly. After the first sync, I got a message saying I was low on memory. I thought it was odd so I went and deleted a few programs I don't use anymore. I had like 3mb free. I synced again and it ate up all the memory again. I looked at filez to see what it was, couldn't tell. So i did a hard reset. Synced the treo, it filled up all the memory. Not only that but it didn't copy my calendar or some contacts. I was getting really mad. I copied the backup folder and started removing stuff from the original. I synced after another hard reset and this time I had like 4mb free. I thought that was acceptable so I tried to get avantgo working again. Synced again, memory was full! I was losing it. I did another hard reset and copied the whole palm folder in the documents folder on my apple. I started looking at some stuff in the folder and realized that every time I synced the treo, it duplicated the pictures in the phone's memory. It would double the amount of space it took up on every sync. I deleted all the photos, did a hard reset, synced it again, and now I have 8mb free...... Just wanted to share that so if anyone else had a weird problem, it may help solve it. I can tell you that I was going insane with fury over it. John
Speaking of Treo problems, I have been having a strange problem which I was hoping someone would know the cause of.
Once every few soft resets, my Treo would purge ALL preferences files (i.e. all registered software is unregistered, display settings are lost in the phone view, etc.).
Has anyone experienced a similar problem? Thanks!
A cleanup question:
Is there any way to delete the tutorial from the ROM? At 2 MB it takes up a lot of space, especially for something that most people will only look at once.
Thanks.
Fred
@John Dawson:
This is a common problem with the Treo650 I encountered using the 1.13 ROM. This led me to installing Backupbuddy and explicitly backing up two files (SAVED PREFERENCES and UNSAVED PREFERENCES) every night at 10pm (automatically). Both these files contain settings and registrationinfo (amongst other things). If a reset occured and I lost my settings etcetera, I would simply restore both these files and i was all done. Problem solved. Not 'nice' that it happened, but at least I could fix it in just a few seconds time (instead of re-entering all the necessary information).
Since ROM version 1.20 however, I have never encountered these destructive resets anymore.
Thanks, Brutus. I'll install the ROM update and see it solves my problem.
Yaara
Perfect! I had the same problem with TCPMP playback, and upgrading my PalmRevolt did the trick. Movies play just fine off my 4gb SD card (Verizon Treo 650, ROM updated with Fat32 driver). Thanks, Andrew!
FYI: I installed the ROM update and my problem was, in fact, resolved. Thanks.
Has anyone had a problem with the new Treo 700 just shutting off for no particular reason? The only way I can than turn it on is to remove the battery and put it back in. I started noticing it was locking up, or slowing down last Saturday, and now it's been doing this shutdown. I went and bought new/additional memory, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Any advice is welcomed?
I am having reset problems with a replacement 650. I tried to sync it, got a message that the memory was full and that I should delete some stuff.
I am not able to delete via the menu - Delete can be chosen but the unit doesn't respond.
I cannot perform a hard reset - the unit never seems to cycle to the round Palm logo. It simply repeats the PalmOne logo over and over.
I cannot execute a Zero reset - I only get the three color band screen.
Help!
Hi all.
Ive had my Treo 650 since January and wouldnt be without it - yes it resets from time to time but hey no worries. Well - up til today that is when (perhaps due to a seriously low battery) the calendar entries disappeared all but the current week. The recurring entries were there going back to Jan but no data. All the rerst is there - the call log, memos, contacts etc. The hot sync hasnt been working for a while so no hope there. However I did spot that Treo has a backup facility built in (not noticed it before - yes I know hindsight is a great teacher) and it seems to back up to my network providers server somewhere - all it took was about 5 minutes. Im guessing the calendar data is gone forever unless anyone on here knows differently please ?????
Kind regards
Clive - UK
Anyone having trouble with 700w treo. It's a great palm, but, it crashed and I can't revive it! I pulled the battery, but it keeps blinking access powered. Anyone have any suggestions?
i got two treo 680
both phones cannot received page two of the sms message or both phone can only received 160 character of sms and the rest of the message is gone
750w sucks
i had one before
i have been palm loyal user since the first palm pda was launch in the market
so far 650 is the best aside from low memory
I'm having touble with my Treo sending my email out multiple times
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