Psion Epoc Bug Reports

This is a placeholder for a list of bug reports.

AppArcServerThread error

Tim Harrold writes: The first time I inserted the camera CF card into my Psion I too got the AppArcSever error message, followed by the complete inability of my 5mx to read any file, on either the CF card or internal drive until after a shell reset. However, I discovered that moving all the ".rdl" and ".mdl" files from the "System\Recogs" directory on the D: drive to the same directory on the C: drive seems to fix the problem. As I understand it, these files are used by the shell to work out which application should be used to open a particular file. I'd guess that the AppArcServerThread is a process which is continually monitoring all the rdl files it can find and so complains if you pull out the CF card on which some of these files are stored.

Atelier Check Disk (7, NetBook)

EDU CheckDisk Gives error if used on Series 7 with additional DIMM memory. Only valid for 16 MB models.

Auto Switch Off and infra-red reset bug

If you have the auto time off in the Control Panel set to 30 minutes or more (29 minutes is fine) then when you access IrDA you will suffer a reset. Only solution known is to limit it to 29 minutes maximum.

Battery (Revo)

Some Revo models have a problem with the rechargeable battery not charging correctly. The battery may have been faulty in very early models, and if faulty, could be replaced by Psion even if out of warranty.

Battery (Revo)

The battery cable can become damaged, leading to excessive battery discharge rates. The cable would need to be replaced.

Battery (Revo)

Some Revo models have a problem with the rechargeable battery not charging correctly, as indicated by the battery software. This is not so much a fault with the battery as with the software getting confused about the state of charge of the batteries. Often corrected by discharging battery as much as possible, then a hard reset, and then doing an overnight charge. On Revo models returned for service for any reason, Psion now measure battery properties, and adjust the software defaults (which are normally fairly accurate). On the first cold boot, the ADC in the display digitiser is used to measure the battery voltage to determine battery capacity. Subsequently, the BQ2018 chip in the battery pack works out how much charge and discharge go through the battery.

Contacts to Outlook 2000 (PsiWin)

Outlook 2000 reads Contact Work Email as E-mail 1, Contact Home Email as E-mail 3. If you have a second Contact Home Email, Outlook ignores it. If you have another Contact Work Email field, it will be E-mail 2. Conversions from Outlook 2000 to Contact work as above also.

CopyAnywhere multiple sessions under Windows 2000 (PsiWin)

CopyAnywhere spawning multiple sessions is a known problem under Win2K. It does not happen with Win 9.x or Win XP. Remove CopyAnywhere from your startup folder and open it from a desktop shortcut when you need it and close it when you're done copying, advises Jim Cooke.

Display visibility (5, 5mx)

Display can be hard to see except under good office lights. Probably a result of backlight and digitiser layers. No fix available. 5mx is said to be somewhat better than the 5. There are indications that displays have changed in minor ways through the production run (note that the 5mx display is considerably different to 5 display, and they can not be swapped).

Display visibility (7, netBook)

Display hard to read outside in daylight, although excellent at other times. No fix available. I suspect no suitable display for daylight will be available until OLEDs become available on some other model.

IrDA and empty file (NetBook)

Transfering an empty file (like those created by Symbian Editor as Documents\editor.txt) via IrDA from a 5mx to a NetBook is reported to cause the NetBook to crash. Solution. Don't transfer empty files. Try putting something into the file, then save it, and set it as read only so it isn't removed by the editor or whatever.

IrDA and Switch Off Time (Revo, 5mx, ?)

If the Control Panel switch off time exceeds 30 minutes, use of the IrDA functions will cause a soft reset. Solution is to keep the automatic switch off less than 30 minutes (default is 3 minutes).

IrDA port problems.

I recently encountered an irritating problem with the IR port of my new MC218, and it took me ages to track down a solution to the problem. I have put together all the info I found on the web dealing with the problem, and hope that it will help other Psion 5mx/MC218 users. I make no claim to originality - most of the text was written by others, I just put it together in a single place. Peter Rand
Problems with the IR port of the Psion 5mx/MC218
Sometimes the IR port of the Psion 5mx/Ericsson MC218 seems to get blocked and won't work or causes spontaneous resets. It is not a common problem but a few users have experienced it and have needed either a deliberate soft reset or a hard reset to sort it.
Below are some other things you can do to try to get the IR port working reliably.
Some people report success with the software updates, others with a soft reset, yet others have had to do a hard reset and reinstall all their programs. We wish you luck as you try the following:
1. Install the Mobile Connectivity Update 1.1. which is available at: http://www.vadino.com/series-5mx-mobile-connectivity-update.html or on Mike McConnell's site: http://www.mikemcc.org.uk1.
2. Change the switch-off time of your Psion to something less than 30 minutes
3. Do a soft reset
4. Search C:\system\Libs\for irda.prt and rename it and see if this helps.
5. Install the IRda update of the Psion S5mx from http://www.psion.com/downloads/TCPIP_UPDATE_NON_ETHERNET.sis
6. Check to see whether the problem comes from the system folder: Rename c:\system to c:\system2 and see if that fixes the problem.
7. Check to see whether the problem is from the CF card: Rename your d:\system (before hard reset) to see if the problem comes from the Card without having to format all the CF Card.
8. Do a hard reset by removing all batteries (backup battery also) and put them back after 10 seconds. Before restoring, try to send and receive files to see if it's a hardware problem.
9. If the problem appears again after a restore, the problem comes from your system folder. You will have to restore manually all other files (not in system) and re-install all your extra applications not in ROM (after a new hard reset)."

Modem must support AT+FCLASS

ER5 family of machines cannot be used with a modem which doesn't support the command "AT+FCLASS=?". The modem doesn't need to support fax but it must respond to this command without giving ERROR, otherwise it will try three times and then time out without dialling. There is no solution to this - Clive Evans (formerly of Psion Tech Support) confirmed in a newsgroup posting that it is not even possible to place an amended file in "C" drive to override the ROM file, because it doesn't work. This tip from Mike McConnell.

nConvert (Neuon shareware)

David Lir reports: When nConvert fails to convert an HTML file and gives a warning instead that "This file cannot be converted" - simply open the file from within Editor (or another text editor) and *add <HTML> to the very start of the file*. Keep in mind that <html> in lower-case won't work - it has to be in UPPER-case. Now nConvert should be able to convert the file just fine! So far this has worked on 100% of the previously unconvertible HTML files that I've tried :). My comment. Really weird, considering that the html SHOULD be in lower case, and that a valid HTML file MUST have a DTD before the HTML tag!

Printing from Sheet (Psion 5mx)

Shading in Sheet cells containing characters is reported broken in the move from ER3.

PsiWin Outlook synchronising past 2100

Synchsvr, a tool underlying PSIWin, has a problem with dates past 2100, so if reminders calendar go past 2100, you will get misleading error messages.

Record

In the Series 7 (and possibly in netBook) there a bug with the microphone, which does not always make contact with the motherboard. Pressing down very hard on the case above the microphone (near right hand shift key) will often cure it for a while.

Screen cable (5, 5mx)

The cable to the display screen has a tendency to fail after a period due to bending. Although this naturally does not occur on every Series 5, it is a potential weakness, and is very expensive to repair. This can also occur in the 5mx, but the cable is different and is less likely to fail.

Spell (5mx)

4 Nov 2000. In Spell in 5mx the user word list, user.dic, gets corrupt when the size reaches 9K. No fix in sight. For a non-english-speaking user this also means that you can not have a user.dic with native language words, for example Swedish words to use on Swedish texts. From: jan.r.gustafsson at home.se

Spell bug in Psion 7 (not in 5mx)

You can't save new words in your personal dictionary. This is because the file \system\data\user.dic has been set to Read Only. Use File Properties from the System Screen to remove the Read Only status.

Stylus holder (5, 5mx)

The stylus holder in the Series 5 would fail to grip the stylus. There is an easy user fix, mentioned in the 5mx manual.

Toolbar battery icon fails (NetBook)

The Toolbar battery icon becomes a triangle in the NetBook and MalayBook (but is correct in a Series 7) when running OPL programs. Andrew Gregory is looking at a patch for Z:\System\Opl\Toolbar to work with all machines. You can see this fault by running an OPL program.

Toolbar battery indicator doesn't change

The toolbar indicator shows Good, Low, Very Low, and Recharge. This is updated regularly by the built in applications, however the battery indicator may not be regularly updated by third party OPL applications. Sometimes tapping the indicator will force an update. Ask the program author to modify.

TomTom

Upgraded Street Planner Millennium using the patch provided by TomTom.com. It installs its own version of Instapp (required by Psion 5 classic ER3). This will cause Add/Remove program problems on ER5 machines, since they already have their own vesion.

Word crash

Epoc Word will crash if too many styles are used in a document.