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Treo 650 Crashing Problem

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Posted December 15, 2005 in Venture Capital and Technology

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Solution... Go back to the Blackberry.

Posted by: Tony Alva | Dec 15, 2005 9:02:10 AM

Had the same problem with one of the earliest versions. It should have a one year warranty and if you call Sprint, they will send you a new one at no cost. Mine works perfectly now...no more crashing and some of the email problems I had are fixed completely.

Posted by: DOC | Dec 15, 2005 9:08:04 AM

What do you mean by "crashing" ?

The phone function on mine used to turn off randomly every now and then. The problem was that my SIM card was too small, and would lose contact with the phone somtimes.

I fixed it by cutting up a piece of paper, folding it, and sticking it behind the SIM card in the little plastic carriage.

Apparently this is a well known problem-- Palm sent new SIM card carriages to all Cingular Treo 650 customers recently that fix this issue.

Posted by: Maurice Codik | Dec 15, 2005 9:17:38 AM

Have you updated to the latest firmware and software? Check the Palm site for the latest updater...

There are also some apps that are just not very stable. What else are you running?

For email, I highly recommend Chattermail for better-than-Blackberry always on email (if your provider supports the IMAP IDLE command).

Posted by: John | Dec 15, 2005 9:27:14 AM

My 600 doesn't hold a charge. I'm waiting for the Q and getting away from Palm entirely.

before it lost its charge, it crashed a lot as well. Palm blamed 3rd party apps.

Posted by: charlie crystle | Dec 15, 2005 9:29:28 AM

Depends on where its crashing. I've had this problem a couple of times. If its crashing as you enter your email it is likely a message with a corrupted header. Try deleting the emails in your inbox. If thats not it you could try reinstalling the os. And if that fails I would take the previous suggestion of sending back to be replaced. Someone else mentioned a "hardware" problem, which also seems pretty likely, I think the Treo's are pretty fragile.

Posted by: Robert Goldberg | Dec 15, 2005 9:31:53 AM

My Treo 650 and Treo 600 used to crash at least once per day, sometimes upon receiving a new phone call. This is not good in the private equity software business, particularly if you depend on multifunction devices like this. I've come to live with it, since even with my latest PPC-6700 Windows Mobile 5.0 phone, I end up rebooting each day also.

Posted by: Joseph Fung | Dec 15, 2005 10:01:03 AM

My 650 runs quite happily with thousands of contacts, a heavy task and appointment list, always-on email via Chatter, always-on IM on 5 accounts with VeriChat, holds battery charge well, and is not particularly fragile. I get a reset every now and again, but it's set up (via Chatter) after a reset, to restart, reconnect and everything's good again.

It's the best converged device out there at the moment...nothing can touch it for one-handed use. Even new WM5 devices need a lot more stylus tapping to get the same thing done.

The Blackberry is awful as a phone and reasonable at email if you're happy with the whopping monthly charge. As a PDA, it is just plain terrible.

Posted by: John | Dec 15, 2005 10:07:59 AM

I know you probably need GoodLink to get your office email, but I'd seriously consider seeking alternatives. My Treo 600 worked fine until I put Goodlink on it. Goodlink managed to halve the battery life and cause multiple crashes per day. As soon as I removed it, these problems disappeared.

Don't take my word for it though. Try removing Goodlink for a few days and see what happens.

Posted by: toby | Dec 15, 2005 10:26:36 AM

My 650 does this as well. It will often crash as I am about to receive a call.
I also have an unlocked one w/a tobile sim.
I think I am going to get a new phone as no serious business person can rely on something that shuts itself off unknowingly. defeats the purpose of having a phone if it is never turned on.

Posted by: Brian Breslin | Dec 15, 2005 10:33:51 AM

I had this same problem with the Trio. I went through this for months. I went to the Verizon store after talking to support at least 6 times and they told me they did not support the device, even though they sold it.

After it continuing to get worse, I finally left Verizon and bought a new phone at Cingular. It was $599 that I will never get back, plus all the calls that dropped. This is the only case I have seen where a class action I agree with!

Jim

Posted by: Jim Larrison | Dec 15, 2005 10:42:42 AM

Vendors and service providers are useless for support. The only thing they are good for is providing a replacement device and even then they manage to screw that up most of the time, or at least make it unbearably tiresome.

With a device like a Treo, the only place to get good support is through the "community" - I hate that word - on Palm and Treo forums. They've helped solve numerous problems of mine.

For example, you could try using Resco's free Locker to "lock" the Goodlink app into memory and see if that helps.

People are so quick to rubbish a device without really trying to help themselves out...

Posted by: John | Dec 15, 2005 11:40:18 AM

Fred,

Don't return the phone, you will probably get a refurbished one that will be worse. Is is probably a software problem related to Goodlink. Do you have multiple programs connecting o the net a the same time? I would keep it to a minimum.

Also, make sure you have the latest updates from Palm, and it does not hurt to have programs like Butler and Phone technician (turns on-off phone)

Make sure you have enough free memory by moving programs to the SD card. One great piece of advice would be for you to create your own custom ROM, deleting foreign languages you do not need in precious and versamail too.

Hope this helps.

Posted by: nonobeez | Dec 15, 2005 12:11:25 PM

Fred--call verizon Data Services Support at 866 788 9387 (number they gave me yesterday as I tried to replace my battery on 57th, to which they said we can't help you...)

Ask for a new phone, not a refurb and they'll give it to you. You can also get a big discount on an upgrade, especially if you talk about going to Cingular. Really.

Posted by: charlie crystle | Dec 15, 2005 12:18:30 PM

Same thing happened to me on my 650/Goodlink phone. FInally had to get rid of all the software I downloaded. Also stopped using Bluetooth headset. Now it never crashes. Of course, it's also half as useful, too.

Posted by: Josh | Dec 15, 2005 12:42:34 PM

I have several customers with the same issue. It isn't Goodlink that is causing the issues, but it does have to do with the free memory left (which Goodlink uses quite a bit). If you get to close to the limit the phone will reboot itself because it thinks it has a memory leak and needs to be cleaned up.

I have been begging Good to allow a sim card based install, but haven't gotten anywhere.

You also run into issues with Bluetooth address book syncing. The memory issue pops up and anything of 2000 contacts is not worth trying.

One last thing. Do you have the latest software installed from Palm? It made a huge difference in sound quality and slowed down the crashing.

Posted by: Greg Benedict | Dec 15, 2005 12:46:08 PM

Fred,
i agree w/ nonobee- move as many apps to the SD card as possible. i had the same prob with my 650 only it would reboot everytime i received a text message. after moving 50% of the apps to the SD card it only crashes maybe once a week now.

sean

Posted by: Sean Tierney | Dec 15, 2005 1:32:20 PM

I had tons of crashes with my 600 (unlocked to T-Mobile as well) so I replaced it twice before I "upgraded" to a 650. This has roughly 25% less crashes - mostly when I take a call - but this is still 100% too many for both my wife and my clients. I've been actively searching for a more reliable (notice I didn't say "better") solution to get my email, and possibly take a voice call once in a while. I tried the BlackBerry 7105t for a weekend and simply couldn't get used to it. As of Dec 15 2005, the only phone that meets my needs looks to be the new BlackBerry 8700, but it can't be unlocked from Cingular to T-Mobile at this time. Cingular/ATT has terrible data prices compared to T-Mobile, but if it means that I can count on a call not going directly to voicemail, then I'll have to consider it. I also know that I'll see several alternative phones at CES in Vegas next month, but I simply can't wait until Q32006 (about the time those phones will hit the market) to have a phone that actually works as advertised.

Posted by: Marc Nathan | Dec 15, 2005 2:44:05 PM

A useful app for moving heavy applications to the SD card is PowerRun...it moves the app, and optionally the data files, to the SD but keeps a link in RAM (kind of like an OSX alias) so that HotSync issues are avoided. When you run the app it is copied back into RAM and executed. It's great for games and little used apps that you want to keep, but are willing to sacrifice a few seconds in launch speed with (PowerRun tells you how much extra it will take to launch from the card). You can copy apps back and forth as much as you want, it's totally two way. It's $9.95 or something. Well worth the money. I've saved a few megs of RAM, which may make the difference between a crash or smooth running.

Posted by: John | Dec 15, 2005 3:08:53 PM

Exactly the same problem, exacerbated by no GPRS on the cell site by my house which can cause it to freeze during the hand off process. Am sure my treo is female as it has a number of good weeks followed by a 5-a-day crash followed with sporadic no reboot.

I have tried hard reset (after back-up!!) and complete re-install, of the latest software and still the same problem. Shifted everything I could to my sd card and zipped the rest that i rarely use....

There are a couple of hacks in the Russian-language web that claim to solve the problem.....

Posted by: Alistair Stobie | Dec 15, 2005 4:40:37 PM

It should just work.

I called Verizon today and I'm returning the 600. Because it's out of warranty, they are charging me $50 for the replacement--another flawed 600. Because I'm a great customer and pay 200 a montha nd have for 2 and a half years, I'm selling the replacement as soon as I get it and leaving Verizon.

It should just work. When it doesn't, I shouldn't have to pay for it.

Posted by: charlie crystle | Dec 15, 2005 11:42:39 PM

It's almost certainly 3rd party software. Maybe goodlink. AIM does this as well.....

Posted by: Kevin Burton | Dec 16, 2005 12:12:07 AM

My factory unlocked treo 650 is always crashing. When I run the crash report it always says the 'phone' application caused the crash.

I'm always checking to see whether the unit's phone is on. What can I do? I'm running it on Fido Wireless in Canada. Can it be replaced?

Posted by: Bart | Feb 6, 2006 10:03:36 AM

I have the same problem with the 650. Sprint's solution (after being transferred thru 7 people and left on hold forever) was to make me do a "hard reset" which deleted Goodlink. They told me to then reinstall the software. We'll see if it works.
If it wasn't a company issued phone I'd go back to the blackberry. It didn't have a camera but was much more reliable.

Posted by: erin | Feb 16, 2006 12:37:57 PM

I am now on my 3rd Trio 650, they just keep sending me another one with every complaint. Verison will not let me upgrade to the newest technology (Trio700). Without waiting a year and then and only then can I choose to pay an additional upgrade fee for the new phone.

If there was ever a law suit that was ripe, this is it. I have this phone lock up at least 4-5 times a day. My 10 year old Nokia is far superior.

This phone clearly violates the, "Warranty of Merchantability, fit for intended purpose." In other words, it does not do what it was designed to do. I am addressing a letter to Verison's legal department this week. If anyone would like to know that info, drop me a line. I have had it.

Posted by: George Barulich | Mar 2, 2006 11:09:26 PM

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