5 weeks with the 770......
 

After 5 weeks with the 770, I must honestly say it's the worst PDA/table type device I've ever owned. Not because of the hardware (I think), or design, or apps that are/are not installed - it's the OS.

I've tried the last 2 versions of the 2006 OS on it, as well as the latest 2 2007HE versions. All versions become completely unstable after anywhere from 3-5 days of use, requiring a complete reflash of the unit each time.

OS2006 runs fairly well, but at some point, it just freezes. Could be the browser, could be the application installer - whatever. Nothing will allow me to regain control, and the only solution is to remove the battery - obviously creating an even worse situation. This usually then leads into the "reboot from hell" - the continuous rebooting of the system, with whatever is running in so hard a run, you can't regain control of it, and it's impossible to shut it down, short of removing the battery - again.

OS2007HE seems to run fairly well, but after about 4-5 days, the browser starts hanging up. Doesn't completely load a page, "freezes", again requiring battery removal - making the situation worse. Again, usually getting it into a state of continuous reboots.

For instance, I've just done a fresh reflash of the latest OS2007HE this morning. I'm simply trying to get a refreshed list of applications - and application manager just hangs - for minutes. Half the time it reboots the 770, half the time, it comes back, but any later operation just winds up spontaneously rebooting the unit. NO OTHER APPS HAVE EVEN BEEN INSTALLED YET.

The last two weeks, I've installed only one application - Maemo mapper, and I still have problems. These problems don't appear to be MM, but appear to be other gremlins inside the OS.

I've either got a lemon of a unit, with bad memory (which I can't test), or the OS is completely unstable.

If anyone has any bright ideas - I'm all ears.

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

funny you should ask. as you might have seen in my other post im pluging a script called "seat belt" available a maemo garage. there is no deb so it will take a little work to install, but once installed the browsers become more stable than dr phil and run for hours and hours without crashing. make sure u have swap enabled as well

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

So this makes it less stable? :D

I'll check this out, I've had a few situations where my device has locked up, but I've either been able to reset it via the power switch (with nothing else on the screen being responsive) or by pulling the battery. I've had to pull the battery maybe half a dozen times over the past 9 months I've owned my 770. I do experience the browser crashing/closing every now and then, sometimes from what I'm loading, and sometimes when I attempt to close a single window and have multiples open.

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

sounds like the the OP has a bum unit. My 770 might be a bit sluggish and the browser might crash every now and then (running os2007he) but its doesn't regularly freeze up like that.

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

Hi,

as my Nokia 770 freezes regularly
a nice hack is to put it into alu case for 10 sec
to make screen light off and back on.
The problem is new battery and voltage levels at platine
and not OS, memory only.

Darius

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

Why arent you just using OS2006 which should be more stable than anything else. Also, what are you doing with it? My 770 does slow down, but I amlost never freeze. More likely is Opera to quit, especially if I have more than 3 windows open. What are you doing on it mostly?

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

As originally stated, I used both of the last versions of OS2006, both with similar results.

I do virtually nothing else, than web browsing, email (to a Gmail account), and Maemo Mapper. I run ONE app at a time, closing the previous one, before launching another.

As I stated:

The first signs of trouble is when the browser typically hangs up loading the last image, or next to last image (or include), from a web site, then there's the LONG pause. About 30-40% of the time, it will eventually shake loose (after a 3+ MINUTE delay), but the rest of the time it's just locked up. I've waited for as long as an HOUR to see if it would shake loose - it doesn't. And from that point forward - you're (or I'm) screwed.

Re: 5 weeks with the 770......
 

Ok - an update.

I reloaded OS2007HE again the evening of the 7th (the date of my original posting), however, this time, I did 4 things:

1. ONLY load maemo-mapper and requisite packages (libsqlite and libxau0)
2. DISABLE swap to external card
3. DO NOT DEFINE email or IM account (I was using the provided software with a Jabber account for MSNmessenger).
4. DO NOT DEFINE/ADD all the 2007 repositories.

So far, has been stable.

I'm going to enable swap today, run for a few days and see what happens. I have a sneaking suspicion the root of problems are either something with the swap (about a 20% chance), or the IM/"presence" apps with Maemo (about 80% suspicious of the problem being here).

From previous experience, I also know that the apt program infrastructure is not very efficient about getting things done (memory use is horrible), cleaning up after itself, and generally auguring itself into the ground on smaller devices with a limited amount of memory/disk. So, I've left off the definition of most repositories.