MITAC MIO 168 - a battery problem?

Pipiolo · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2004 Posts: 3

Hello - can you help a newbie? Smile

I have a MIO 168. I just had a problem that may be important, and I wonder if somebody could help me.

This afternoon the PDA was dead. Last time I used was yesterday and the battery was full. I did a soft reset but the effect was as if the PDA had not had any battery left and it lost the programs I had loaded (for example, the SnapNType infrared keyboard), regional settings, time and date settings, and anything that was synchronised through ActiveSync.

It is not the first time that I find that the PDA has no battery left when this situation is not justified, i.e. when it was less than 24 hours since it was last fully charged, and not used in the mean time. In previous occasions I could fix the problem by connecting the PDA to the ActiveSync connector and, sometimes, doing a soft reset.

One of the consequences this time was that ActiveSync did not recognise the PDA anymore. When I run ActiveSync to detect the PDA the software did not allow me to use the default "Pocket_PC" as the PDA name, I had to use "Pocket_PC1" instead. I assume this means that all the information about the previous configuration is still stored in ActiveSync and thus duplicated. Obviously, I had to load again all the software and do the configurations.

What worries me is that I intend to go trekking in the Andes in a couple of weeks, and if this happens there I would find myself with a useless GPS where I most need it! This can even lead to a very dangerous situation.

Can you help?

lbendlin · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:56 pm Post subject:

Do the following

- after you have installed all vital software do a backup onto the storage card (use Sprite Backup or similiar). That way if you lose power you can at least recreate the status quo.
- In Active Sync with no PDA connected you can delete partnerships - that way you don't need to change the name to Pocket_PC1 etc
- charge the Mitac completely, then let it drain completely (don't allow it to switch off ) - measure the time it lasts. Do that again (at least two more times). If the battery life keeps being low you may indeed have to replace it.

For the hiking trip make sure you get one of these emergency chargers (basically a four-pack of AA batteries), or two or three...
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

Darren

Pipiolo · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2004 Posts: 3

Thanks, Darren, Lutz.

I deleted the original partnership, thanks for your advice.

After the PDA was dead I did one other thing: I downloaded ScreenLock for Pocket PC 1.1 and BatteryTime 1.5 from PocketGear.com. The latter gave me better information (uptime, battery life) of the battery behaviour.

I intended to use ScreenLock to prevent any manipulation that could launch the PDA in a way that it keep draining the battery without me knowing. What happened is that ScreenLock seems to draw enormous battery resources and after 24 hours the battery was down to 20%. Thus I removed ScreenLock.

After that, the last three days the battery apparently behaved correctly. Did I do any manipulation that caused the problem in the first time? I honestly don't know but I don't think so. So I will do the backup to the memory card (by the way, any suggestion of a freeware or shareware application similar to Sprite Backup?) and then the test which Litz suggested.

Regards

jeffskent · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 14, 2004 Posts: 3

I had a similar event twice or three times with my 2 month old Mio 168. I had the machine in the soft slipcover case that came with the ppc. This case was in a camera case, and then in a side pocket of my backpack. I had a dead battery, but I simply plugged the ppc into the car charger and all was well again. I, too, thought I might have a bad battery, but I changed the cases and endeavored to not have anything press on the wing style buttons that are set to launch programs. In particular, I have read that PocketMap Navigator, for one, will not shut off after the 5 minutes I have set for battery power auto shut off. I haven't had the problem for a couple of weeks now, so I suspect that was it. Here's hoping!, (or is that hopping?) Rolling Eyes

lamplight · Regular Visitor Joined: Sep 13, 2004 Posts: 130

Had the same thing happen on my Mio yesterday (only got it 3 days before that!) and lost everything. And I thought I had been careful not to leave anything running so as to preserve the battery. (Never had this problem with my Palm Sad

) Also had same problem with AS not allowing access to default Pocket_PC. Just wish I had found this post before last night!!

I've disabled all the buttons now. Thing about the Mio is the silly placement of the Notes/memo record button on the side near the on/off button...means you can start recording and draining the battery without knowing you've done it. It's got me paranoid now, so I've ordered a spare charger to plug in at work. I'm so delighted with what TT3 does on my the Mio that I don't want to lose it again.

But this whole Pocket PC thing is daunting for me (I really did find Palm easier to understand and work with AND backup). Just the basics of backing up, let alone getting files such as POIs to transfer to the machine is all beyond me right now. But perhaps I'm just recovering from that blind panic of yesterdays power out.

rhoamish · Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:24 pm Post subject:

I had a similar problem with this.

Couple of suggestions:

Remove the SD card when you're not using the PDA: it takes a lot of power (this has given a marked improvement in battery life on my Mio). There's also an option in Mio Utility to switch the SD slot off when the PDA is switched off.

Also, the Mio 168 ships with eBackup installed, so you can save all your data to the SD card (if you get a 256mb one) and restore it if you happen to lose it. Incidentally, 7dayshop are doing 256mb SD cards for 17.99 at the moment, and whilst I've not heard of the make, mine seems to work!

lamplight · Regular Visitor Joined: Sep 13, 2004 Posts: 130

Thanks for those helpful suggestions Rhoamish. I'll certainly follow them through. One extra check I am making now (don't know if it makes any difference) is to look in memory and make sure all running programmes are stopped before I switch off. A newbie to Pocket PC like me doesn't necessarily realise that some programmes still run in the background even when apparently quit.

Tobas · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90

Download magic button, freeware, and the close button does what ex-pc-newbies like myself think it does.

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