Strange wake-up slowdown

[HeartOfDarkness]

Hi peeps !

I have the weirdest problem with my Athena, regardless of ROM versions (from official WM5 french version to my current Black Touch by PK 2 - awesome ROM, just installed it, gonna contribute and that's no bs).

When my Athena wakes up when I turn it on (or I'm called on the phone), even if I dont do anything, CPU load's about 80%. Needless to say, it is then extremely sluggish.

When I check what processes use CPU time using various task managers, it shows what it should, which is the idle process "using" (so to speak) almost all resources. Meaning that no other process shown by any task manager uses more than 2-3% at a time.

If I leave the Athena connected to a power supply, turned on, after a while, like 10 minutes or so, CPU load falls back to 5%, and my Athena then goes from turtle to rabbit.

What I tried already:
- hard reset and nothing installed: same behavior;
- disabling services: nothing changes;
- killing all "killable" processes: nothing changes;
- formated microdrive from Athena / "recovered microdrive" / formated microdrive from XP (FAT32) using WM5torage: nothing changes;
- searched and searched through the forum(s) and the internet for anything that remotely resembles my problem (hence the microdrive manipulations, for instance).

I'm therefore running out of ideas, and hopefully turning to the good people of the forum to see if they have any suggestion or idea as to what my problem is, and how to solve it.

Its especially frustrating to see my Athena "debilitated" to the point of being almost unusuable when I know how fast it can be... :-S

Thank you all for your help ! :-)

[HeartOfDarkness]

Another weird thing about my problem: I used Pocket Hack Master both to "see" CPU load real time, and to force various clocks to the CPU and see what happens.

And the strangest thing is that CPU usage remains "constant" at about 80%, from 200 MHz to 728 MHz !

Weird, huh ?

I'm at a loss... :-S :-(

[eaglesteve]

hardware faults? Tried replacement?

[HeartOfDarkness]

Well, no, haven't replaced it. I was kindda hoping that someone would have an idea, because it doesn't "feel" as if it has a hardware problem: when after a while CPU drops back to normal, the Athena feels lightening fast again, and even when it is sluggish, it works, it's just... Extremely slow.

It "feels" as if something is being "checked" or I don't know what, by some processes I can't see in a task manager. Of course I may be wrong, and if nobody has any idea as to how to fix this , I guess I'll have it replaced.

Thank you for your interest in any case ! :-)

[Pawel062]

try dual 3.0 if i remember correctly btio was causing a steep wake up cpu load and it caused problems like u mentioned. thats why it aint in 3.0

[HeartOfDarkness]

Hi there, Pawel !

Well, I'd removed btio from my startup folder, because I'd experienced the huge battery drain issue.

But you know, I'm gonna try Dual PK 3.0 and see what happens... :-) I'll let you guys know ! :-)

Thank you for your answers, guys, though ! :-)

[eaglesteve]

In place of btio, you might want to try the latest wktask, which already has a battery metre.

[HeartOfDarkness]

Well well well, I installed Dual PK, but alas, thrice alas, same old same old problem. :-(

I was wondering: is there a way to disable embedded devices the way you'd do with a desktop Windows ? I tried from the registry but the HKLM\drivers and such keys, I didn't have the right to modify.

I have an idea that it may be my SD Card slot that causes the problem (I've always had minor troubles with it, such as having to take the card out and in again every once in a while, even tough I'd modified access times in the registry). I'd sure like to disable it to see. But I tried from a Taskmanager (to disable the device) and from the registry, even tried to delete the dlls, but couldn't (the modification was either refused or altogether ignored).

So, is there some kind of "failsafe mode" comparable to that of Windows 2000/XP/Vista ? Or an "admin" mode that lets me do what I want with my registry and DLLs ?

Thanks a bunch guys !

[eaglesteve]

1. where do you install your applications@?
2. are you using miniSD or miniSDHC?
3. What exactly were your format parameters?
4. What benchmark do you manage to get using sktools for your storage card?

[HeartOfDarkness]

Ok:
1 - since i had some problems with my SD Card, I now install applications to the main memory (not microdrive, not SD);
2 - Both, actually, when I use SD Cards (which is only for transfer purposes, now). When I first experienced problems, I thought it was due to my 2GB Transcend 80x MiniSD, so I bought a 4 GB SDHC from PNY. But that didn't solve anything, alas. The SDHC worked, though, well, it worked just like the regular SD, which means with the same "disconnected-have-to-take-it-out-put-it-back" once in a while trouble;
3 - For my SD ? Although I don't have them with me right now, I belive it was FAT32;
4 - Haven't tried, actually. Will do so tonight !

Do you know if there's a way to disable embedded devices, aside from modifying my ROM's registry and hard-reseting ? Maybe logging in with a more critically privilieged user than guest ? If so, how do I do that (searched the forum, didn't find it) ?

I just installed MemMaid, to see if it tells me someting I don't already know... :-S

Thank you for your interest, man. This thing is driving me nearly insane... :-S

[eaglesteve]

Ok:
1 - since i had some problems with my SD Card, I now install applications to the main memory (not microdrive, not SD);
2 - Both, actually, when I use SD Cards (which is only for transfer purposes, now). When I first experienced problems, I thought it was due to my 2GB Transcend 80x MiniSD, so I bought a 4 GB SDHC from PNY. But that didn't solve anything, alas. The SDHC worked, though, well, it worked just like the regular SD, which means with the same "disconnected-have-to-take-it-out-put-it-back" once in a while trouble;
3 - For my SD ? Although I don't have them with me right now, I belive it was FAT32;
4 - Haven't tried, actually. Will do so tonight !

Do you know if there's a way to disable embedded devices, aside from modifying my ROM's registry and hard-reseting ? Maybe logging in with a more critically privilieged user than guest ? If so, how do I do that (searched the forum, didn't find it) ?

I just installed MemMaid, to see if it tells me someting I don't already know... :-S

Thank you for your interest, man. This thing is driving me nearly insane... :-S

Installing everything on device memory could be the cause of the problem, if by doing so you become critically low in storage or program memory. I monitor this occasionally to ensure I have at least 40 mb of storage free.

You must format miniSD in FAT16 and miniSDHC in FAT 32.I've posted somewhere the effect of various parameter on read/write performance in another thread. I'll find that thread later and let you have the info.

Edit:
See post number 2
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=331502&highlight=format

As for embedded devices disabling, I have not found any need to do that.

[HeartOfDarkness]

Hi !

Ok, thanks for the info on FAT format for the cards, I'm pretty sure that's what I had, I'll recheck tonight. But for now, I'm SD-Card-less, so I should think it's not the immediate cause of the problem.

I never went below than 70 MB of free storage, so I guess that track's out the window too. :-S

Yeah, I know that I shouldn't try and disable any embedded device manually, but since my Athena's acting up and I *think* that one (or more, god forbid) devices may be the cause, I'd really like to try and disable them one at a time, until I find the culprit.

Do you know of a way to log on to WM6 with enough privileges so as to be able to rename / remove \windows\DDLs or delete HKLM\drivers\ registry keys ? I don't really care if I screw my Athena up with such manipulations, I not hard-reset shy anymore. :-)

Thank you for your help, in any case ! :-)

[eaglesteve]

As I have not felt the need to do that, I'm yet to find out how to do this myself. Perhaps someone like Powell or Olipro would have done it.

[HeartOfDarkness]

Thank you for your help, Steve. :-)

Well, let's hope one of them cruises by, sees the light coming out of the thread and feels like sharing a bit of wisdom. :-)

That'd be an even greater christmas gift than that...

http://www.windypundit.com/archives/2006/images/MsClause.jpg

Yes, I *am* a geek alright. :-)

[HeartOfDarkness]

Well, unless one of the gurus out there provide me with the miracle solution to my problem, I guess I'll start the replacement procedure (which, being in France, is probably gonna drive me nuts).

Thanks eaglesteeve and Pawel (and others who might have thought about this strange problem of mine).

[cmonex]

Well, unless one of the gurus out there provide me with the miracle solution to my problem, I guess I'll start the replacement procedure (which, being in France, is probably gonna drive me nuts).

Thanks eaglesteeve and Pawel (and others who might have thought about this strange problem of mine).


well did you try to test it in this way:

- flash a rom (stock rom or PK3.0)
- do not do anything at all, do not modify registry or anything
- remove SD card
- turn off all wireless and the phone too

and see if it is still sluggish, if so then it is some subtle HW problem on the motherboard or something, and i recommend having it replaced

[HeartOfDarkness]

Well I'll try that tonight, and post here my observations.

If it is still sluggish, well, we can proceed with what I suggested to pawel by PM, if you guys are interested. :-)

Thanks for your help !

[cmonex]

Well I'll try that tonight, and post here my observations.

If it is still sluggish, well, we can proceed with what I suggested to pawel by PM, if you guys are interested. :-)

Thanks for your help !

OK, thanks, have you had a chance to test it out yet?

[HeartOfDarkness]

HI there cmonex !

Actually no, not yet, new year's eve kindda put the thing on hold. And I am still (lol can't help it) trying to find a way to locate and "destroy" the antagonistic Ghost inside my Athena.

Hence my other question about the power button, I thought I maybe had a lead there.

But I'll follow your suggestions very soon and let you guys know about it ASAP. :-)

[cmonex]

HI there cmonex !

Actually no, not yet, new year's eve kindda put the thing on hold. And I am still (lol can't help it) trying to find a way to locate and "destroy" the antagonistic Ghost inside my Athena.

Hence my other question about the power button, I thought I maybe had a lead there.

But I'll follow your suggestions very soon and let you guys know about it ASAP. :-)

ok, no problem, though i think i missed the power button idea, where did you ask about it?

[HeartOfDarkness]

Well, the power button 'idea' (if one can really call it that) was posted here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1782478

BUT !

It's been more than 24 hours that it's been running fine. So fine, actualy, that I am posting this using my Athena's Opera, which was completly impossible only 24 hours ago.

I didn't hard reset it. It would seem that I know what solved the problem, but I have no idea WHY.

In order to avoid scratches to be caused to the body of the Athena by the keyboard plate, I placed a while ago 4 extremely thin silicon pads at each corner of the keyboard. I decided yesterday to remove them, for no specific reason. And since then, everything works A-okay.

I can't begin to understand why that is. Mainly because I have the habit of leaving the keyboard at work, kindda like a dock to put it on when I'm there. And the Athena was slow at work AND at home, whether with the keyboard on or not. And when it wasn't slow, for the few minutes it did at least, it also happened with or without the keyboard...

I'm utterly flabbergasted, but... My Athena now runs like the wind...

Thank you all, guys ! And sorry cmonex and pawel, I guess I'll hold on to it a little bit longer... :-)

[cmonex]

hey,
well glad you solved the problem.

all i can say as a comment... the athena's keyboard driver is buggy, in some circumstances can slow down the device like hell. now, i don't know where these silicon pads were located exactly or anything... so it doesn't make sense.

anyway you can test if that was really causing this problem... put the pads back and see :P

[yetdy]

I'm currently experiencing the same sluggish behavior being described. Although my ROM is HTC WM6 download for x7500, I couldn't understand why this is happening. At first I thought that it is because I am using the microdrive as a storage for dynamic data. I moved all dynamic data to the SD so that I can isolate the problem but sluggishness still persisted. I uninstalled Egress and erased its root directory and re-installed it (sluggishness appear normally when I access Egress). Sluggishness gone but Egress couldn't finish its downloads.

[galt]

Also having a few occurances of extreme slowdown, not sure if it's a "waking up" issue though. Soft reset doesn't necessarily cure it, device is getting warm, battery discharging super fast. I'm running PK Dual 2 or 3....