HELP!!! TG01 goes into super S-L-O-W mode

Search This thread

olyloh6696

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2009
7,674
1,556
27
Manchester
I believe that drupad2drupad had the same/similiar problem on his TG01 (which led to him selling it...)

Mayne it could be a hardware fault that developed?

Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium
 

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
I believe that drupad2drupad had the same/similiar problem on his TG01 (which led to him selling it...)

Maybe it could be a hardware fault that developed?

Hi olyloh6696,

Thanks for the tip!:D Up until yesterday I thought it was a hardware fault, that the phone was simply dying, so I was ready to toss it into the trash bin. After I discovered that device.exe was hogging all CPU cycles it became clear that it's not a hardware fault. The TG01 is trying to operate normally but simply can't because it has no available CPU cycles since device.exe is hogging them all. I just turned my phone on and had left Bluetooth on when I shut off the phone for the night. Guess what, it booted up normally. Device.exe is using between 0.8%-1.0% CPU usage, which appears to be normal. If I turn on the phone without BT enabled the phone boots up in the S-L-O-W mode every time.
 

kevinpwhite

Retired Recognized Developer
Nov 19, 2006
438
90
Jim,

I've annotated some comments against the separate points you made above...

I'm using the Mugen back cover for their 2600 mAh battery, although with my custom battery pack. The phone is now about 1/2"(17mm) thick. Do you think this Capdase sleeve will fit?

Unfortunately no it won't if you have the fatter battery housing. A possible alternative might be one of the elasticated sleeves available for 2.5" HDDs - I have one for a Toshiba StorE Steel hard drive which is elasticated on the sides and would be almost perfect if just slightly longer. Possibly a look at the 3rd party phone sleeves in Carphone or Amazon might be worth a try.

........a question about cooking my own phone config into a custom ROM. After just having to reinstall all of my add-ons, customized SPB GUI, etc., twice while trying to fix this problem, I'm now thinking about backing up everything with a custom ROM. ...............And since 99.9% of my stuff is installed on the microSD card will the new custom ROM be able to access that existing data?

Certainly possible but if you don't want to go the full route of customising the ROM itself, a good option would be to extract the relevant Registry settings and create .cab files which contain all your key settings. You can then run those whenever needed to restore a known good configuration. Particularly helpful for re-setting things like Operator, WLAN and BT settings. If you want to follow up on that PM me and I'll share an example.

Regarding having applications installed to the SD card - if you did go the custom ROM route then it would be possible to set discrete .cab files embedded in the ROM (eg. such as Spb MS) to install to the uSD card, but as a general rule I avoid installing any applications to the card and keep it just for data unless unavoidable. There have been many recorded instances where people have hit problems ranging from major instability to irritations such as icons just not displaying correctly.

Finally, I have to say this phone continues to amaze me (when WM isn't acting up). I just can't see any benefit to 'upgrading' to WP7 like many have done, possibly bricking the phone in the process, or trashing the SDcard, etc. as it just doesn't seem worth it. Now I admit that the reason I bought this phone last year was to install Android, but after having a Viewsonic G-Tablet for a few months with a custom Gingerbread 2.3 ROM installed on it I just gave the tablet back (to my buddy) as it was so freakin' buggy. Bottom line is I'm not so impressed with Android at this point, especially custom ROMs. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :eek:

Quite agree :) I have honed my own ROM edition how I want it and have absolutely no aspirations on WP7. Frankly the visual impact and inability to customise the Metro interface (which I find ugly) to something visially and functionally appealing means it leaves me cold. I'm just hoping my TG01s will last a very long time !

Best regards,

Kevin

PS. I agree with Oly and also don't believe the S..L..O..W problem is hardware. Much more likely to be a persistent registry corruption or a consequence of two applications not playing nicely together. Had you added any new applications prior to the go-slow phenomenon starting ? Unfortunately the only real cure is a HR (maybe also try an alternative ROM) followed by a gradual rebuild of added applications, preferably making a fresh backup at each stage so you can test and go back if needed every time. An absolute pain and time consuming, but a methodical approach should make it possible to resolve the issue.
 
Last edited:

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Unfortunately no it won't if you have the fatter battery housing. A possible alternative might be one of the elasticated sleeves available for 2.5" HDDs.

I'm using a non-elastic zippered 2.5" HDD case now. It's a little bit too big but works well.

Certainly possible but if you don't want to go the full route of customising the ROM itself, a good option would be to extract the relevant Registry settings and create .cab files which contain all your key settings. You can then run those whenever needed to restore a known good configuration. Particularly helpful for re-setting things like Operator, WLAN and BT settings. If you want to follow up on that PM me and I'll share an example.

I'm hoping for a simple solution for a complete 100% backup (if possible) that doesn't require much effort to reinstall since my experiences with WM to date are that it gets easily corrupted. Now add in the fact that the TG01 is also a bit flakey at times and a 100% backup makes a lot of sense. I prefer not having to deal with an assortment of cab files and also a registry file. I can't count the hours I've spent during the past 2-3 weeks, not only trying to repair my corrupted WM6.5 install, but also searching forums, etc., for the 'best of' apps, games, etc. since WM6.5 platform is all but dead and gone. Even here at xda most of the members have moved on to newer toys and Android/WP7. There seems to be only a few of us left hanging on.

Regarding having applications installed to the SD card - if you did go the custom ROM route then it would be possible to set discrete .cab files embedded in the ROM (eg. such as Spb MS) to install to the uSD card, but as a general rule I avoid installing any applications to the card and keep it just for data unless unavoidable.

So I can't 'cook' a custom ROM that will not manipulate the data on the SD card in some manner? I do specifically want to include access to all those add-ons, just don't want to overwrite any of the data on the SD card since the problems I typically have are with WM getting corrupted, and not developing problems with add-ons.

I agree with Oly and also don't believe the S..L..O..W problem is hardware. Much more likely to be a persistent registry corruption or a consequence of two applications not playing nicely together. Had you added any new applications prior to the go-slow phenomenon starting ? Unfortunately the only real cure is a HR (maybe also try an alternative ROM) followed by a gradual rebuild of added applications, preferably making a fresh backup at each stage so you can test and go back if needed every time. An absolute pain and time consuming, but a methodical approach should make it possible to resolve the issue.

Thanks to a French TG01 website I have pinpointed the problem to the Toshiba Power Savings settings menu. More specifically, clicking on the Restrict Sleep Mode checkbox causes file device.exe to go haywire consuming all available CPU cycles. Unfortunately, I clicked on that button before reinstalling Jacenty's ROM then again afterwards with the same disgusting results (of course, at the time not knowing that it was the culprit!). Because I was able to pinpoint the problem and the fact this old thread hasn't been very productive I posted the device.exe problem in a new thread hoping to find a solution to that particular problem. Luckily, the French site has a partial workaround. After bootup cycle on both BT & WiFi then off and the phone will operate normally until next reboot. I also found, by accident, that if I leave BT on when I turn the phone off, next time I turn it on it will operate normally. Of course, that's a kludge and am searching for a permanent fix not a temporary workaround.

Oh, one more question. How can I view all system and hidden files with the file extensions appearing? I've already turned on Show All Files. If I can find this Toshiba Power Savings - Restrict Sleep... exe file I'm going to nuke it!

Thanks, Kevin!!!:D:D:D

Jim
 
Last edited:

fxdjacentyfxd

Senior Member
Sep 7, 2009
633
201
Hi CrashMurdock.
I am afraid it may be a flash problem. Take into account You did master reset and it helped only for a small period of time. How do You think, how many times Your tg01 was flashed by You and by previous owners ? Such simple flash we have guarantee for few thowsands write operations and after it it become "weak". On the other hand ROM's guru - feropont - told some times ago that custom roms with simplified kernel ( Yes, I am afraid almost all cookers including me delete not needed modules from original kernels ) may do some unpredictable behaviour. In such case it could be good solution to upload any of original roms and after such operation one can upload custom rom.

Regards
fxdjacentyfxd
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrashMurdock

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Hi CrashMurdock.
I am afraid it may be a flash problem. Take into account You did master reset and it helped only for a small period of time. How do You think, how many times Your tg01 was flashed by You and by previous owners ?

Greetings fxdjacentyfxd,

Nice to hear from you. :D When I bought this phone last August it was Orange branded and still had the original Orange ROM. While it's hard to tell, the phone appeared to be all original. And other than a bunch of soft resets, I've only installed Kevin's ROM once in the beginning, yours soon after, then reinstalled yours again last week. Of course just prior to that I had done a Master Clear/Hard reset because WM had gotten so corrupted because I carry this phone in my pocket while jogging, bicycling, and speed walking and had disabled the lock function early on. As a result, the phone suffered frequent random button presses and it just screwed up WM over time. Many times Task Manager would show a list of 10 or more random functions that had opened. Unfortunately I had done exactly the same thing to my previous WM6.0 phone.

I guess my point is that this phone doesn't appear to have a history of ROM installs, only 4 to date, as far as I know, since I did them. And like I mentioned previously, others have also had the same problem with the device.exe file running at 100% after clicking on the Restrict Sleep Mode, which I had also clicked on at some point, and again after reinstalling your ROM. Anyway their temporary solution works for mine also.

Such simple flash we have guarantee for few thowsands write operations and after it it become "weak". On the other hand ROM's guru - feropont - told some times ago that custom roms with simplified kernel ( Yes, I am afraid almost all cookers including me delete not needed modules from original kernels ) may do some unpredictable behaviour. In such case it could be good solution to upload any of original roms and after such operation one can upload custom rom.

How many ROM installs before the phone gets unstable and requires reloading an original ROM? I guess installing an original Orange ROM will be next on my list. Everything else is working fine and speed is normal as long as I cycle BT & WiFi on and off every time I boot up the phone. Have to say this has been very frustrating!:eek:

Thanks for the tip!!! :D:D:D:D

Cheers!
 

olyloh6696

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2009
7,674
1,556
27
Manchester
Hey Jim,
I think what fxdjacenty wants to say, is did you also do a hard reset after a ROM flash? (This is a must!)

Will lead to problems if you don't.

Also a tip I gathered to stop problems, is

1) Hard reset current ROM
2) flash stock ROM
3) hard reset
4) flash desired custom ROM
5) hard reset
6) soft reset.

And see how it goes! I had a few problems during my ownage with the TG01 (problems with sense .it loading)

I followed this procedure and it worked :)

The back story behind this is related to the HTC tool 'task 29' where data partitions on each ROM is different, therefore old files might be left and not overided and replaced properly etc.

Search 'task 29' ;)

Unfortunately we don't have such tool, therefore we use the method (posted above)

Good luck, I hope this post was useful to you! :D

Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrashMurdock

kevinpwhite

Retired Recognized Developer
Nov 19, 2006
438
90
Hey Jim,
I think what fxdjacenty wants to say, is did you also do a hard reset after a ROM flash? (This is a must!)

Will lead to problems if you don't.

Also a tip I gathered to stop problems, is

1) Hard reset current ROM
2) flash stock ROM
3) hard reset
4) flash desired custom ROM
5) hard reset
6) soft reset.

And see how it goes! I had a few problems during my ownage with the TG01 (problems with sense .it loading)

I followed this procedure and it worked :)

The back story behind this is related to the HTC tool 'task 29' where data partitions on each ROM is different, therefore old files might be left and not overided and replaced properly etc.

Search 'task 29' ;)

Unfortunately we don't have such tool, therefore we use the method (posted above)

Good luck, I hope this post was useful to you! :D

Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium

Hi Oly, that's an interesting bit of information I wasn't previously aware of..... :) I'm just thankful that I've not encountered the SLOW phenomenon, despite a huge number of flashes over the last couple of years, although the majority have been my own ROM which was derived direct from the original.

Regards,

Kevin
 
Last edited:

kevinpwhite

Retired Recognized Developer
Nov 19, 2006
438
90
How can I view all system and hidden files with the file extensions appearing? I've already turned on Show All Files. If I can find this Toshiba Power Savings - Restrict Sleep... exe file I'm going to nuke it!

Thanks, Kevin!!!:D:D:D

Jim

Jim,
You didn't mention which File Explorer you are using - the native MS one which won't do the job or a 3rd party such as Resco or Total Commander which will. I suspect that it may be a .cpl file rather than an .exe. Where did you identify as an .exe initially ?

Regards,

Kevin
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrashMurdock

kevinpwhite

Retired Recognized Developer
Nov 19, 2006
438
90
Jim,

There are two Registry entries as follows:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Bluetooth\HCI - contains a Key DisableSleep. DWord should be zero.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Bluetooth\Transports\BuiltIn\1 - includes same Key as above

I think this relates to the Sleep mode you mentioned having activated originally. It may be that this Reg entry is proving persistent for some obscure reason..... could be a tie in with the behaviour you described of clearing the SLOWdown by toggling BT.

May be completely off-beam, but a possibility....

Regards,

Kevin
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: CrashMurdock

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Jim,
You didn't mention which File Explorer you are using - the native MS one which won't do the job or a 3rd party such as Resco or Total Commander which will. I suspect that it may be a .cpl file rather than an .exe. Where did you identify as an .exe initially ?

I've been using Total Commander for the reason you just mentioned but it was the excellent FdcTaskMgr (v3.3) that revealed that device.exe had absolutely run amok. FdcTM not only shows file extensions, but under CPU Usage also lists the percentage of CPU cycles for each entity/executable file and also shows a graph of overall CPU load. Until then I thought something was forcing the CPU into minimum speed in spite of me having set it for max performance, or that the phone's CPU was simply dying. Since FdcTM glaringly revealed that device.exe was continuously consuming between 95%-100% CPU cycles I realized the hardware was OK, it simply had no CPU cycles available to do anything else. I couldn't even make a call. There would also be a huge delay after clicking on any icon before anything would actually happen. And of course, my battery usage was all over the place. I now understand why.

Thanks again Kevin! :D:D:D Let me move to the next post.
 

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Hey Jim,
I think what fxdjacenty wants to say, is did you also do a hard reset after a ROM flash? (This is a must!)

Will lead to problems if you don't.

Also a tip I gathered to stop problems, is

1) Hard reset current ROM
2) flash stock ROM
3) hard reset
4) flash desired custom ROM
5) hard reset
6) soft reset.

And see how it goes! I had a few problems during my ownage with the TG01 (problems with sense .it loading)

Hi Oly,

I have only done one hard reset so did not do a hard reset after loading Kevin's or Jacenty's (twice) ROMs and the phone worked perfectly for a long time. But ooks like my work is cut out for me now!:eek::eek::eek:

Thanks so much!!!!:D:D:D
 

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Jim,

There are two Registry entries as follows:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Bluetooth\HCI - contains a Key DisableSleep. DWord should be zero.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Bluetooth\Transports\BuiltIn\1 - includes same Key as above

I think this relates to the Sleep mode you mentioned having activated originally. It may be that this Reg entry is proving persistent for some obscure reason..... could be a tie in with the behaviour you described of clearing the SLOWdown by toggling BT.

May be completely off-beam, but a possibility....

Regards,

Kevin

Thanks for the tip Kevin!!!:D:D:D I'll certainly take a look at these settings. The sad part about this whole fiasco is the phone has been working flawlessly except for this device.exe problem. Witnessing the fact that WM6.5 websites are slowing disappearing I've spent countless hours recently trying to snag the best WM6.5 apps and utilities and even a game or two that will show off the TG01's prowess, i.e., those with genuine 480x800 graphics, which are far and few between. I've also customized the SPB homescreens with my favorites. So I get the phone just like I want it and POW I've got to start from zero again because maybe I was stupid and pressed an option button that I had no idea what the functionality was (Restrict Sleep Mode). I only clicked on it because I've been using a stereo BT headset for a while now and didn't want the Sleep mode to interfere with my tunes while out bicycling, etc.

Again, thanks so much Kevin!!!:D:D:D:D With you guys great advice I'm sure I'll have this thing cruising again soon.

Cheers,

Jim

---------------------------------------------------------
Update:
According to this WM website:
HTML:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/32297/Visualizing-the-Windows-Mobile-Virtual-Memory-Mons
Device.exe is the Windows Mobile process that is in charge of loading all the device drivers on the system. This means that drivers that come from Microsoft, the OEM device maker, the cell carrier, and ISVs, all have to fit in the same 32 megabytes. Of course, drivers vary from device to device according to what the OEM maker and the cell carrier decide to install, and so the amount of free virtual memory available for third party drivers varies as well. As a result, an ISV application that requires a driver may work fine on one device, but may not even load on another!

This means I haven't pinpointed the exact cause, just that it's something under device.exe's control. I'm more curious than ever now to know what EXACTLY is causing the malfunction! :confused::rolleyes::eek:
 
Last edited:

kevinpwhite

Retired Recognized Developer
Nov 19, 2006
438
90
..........I've also customized the SPB homescreens with my favorites. So I get the phone just like I want it and POW I've got to start from zero again............

Jim,

This is where the idea I mentioned previously of saving your custom settings and then creating a .cab of the Registry entries come into its own. The trick is to identify where each key application stores its settings; set it up exactly the way you want it and then save into the .cab file. That means in order to restore the look and feel of your setup, including things like device Name, your name and address, email, wifi access point details, etc. You just need to execute the .cab and soft reset and everything is exactly as you want it. A whole bunch of settings can be combined into a single .cab, eg. jimsettings.cab.


Update:
According to this WM website:
HTML:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/32297/Visualizing-the-Windows-Mobile-Virtual-Memory-Mons

This means I haven't pinpointed the exact cause, just that it's something under device.exe's control. I'm more curious than ever now to know what EXACTLY is causing the malfunction! :confused::rolleyes::eek:

That makes for interesting - but puzzling - reading. I don't have any specific new ideas but will continue to think about it. My son is coming home in a few days and I want to have a look at his TG01 which he's reported is having similar dead S L O W problems. He has been doing similar things to you in terms of a hard reset and then having restored which should be a 'good' master backup we made (Sprite Backup) when I did the original software build on top of my own ROM. I anticipate re-flashing and then trying a restore from the gold build again and seeing what happens. Also I want to replicate on a separate TG01 with the same backup as a control so we can try and eliminate the device itself from a hardware point of view.

Best regards,

Kevin
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrashMurdock

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Jim,

This is where the idea I mentioned previously of saving your custom settings and then creating a .cab of the Registry entries come into its own...

Thanks for explaining this process in more detail. Is this less work than 'cooking' a custom Rom with all my stuff?

My son is coming home in a few days and I want to have a look at his TG01 which he's reported is having similar dead S L O W problems.

Obviously after my round-and-round sojourn I recommend checking CPU Usage with FdcTaskMgr. It may not be device.exe causing the mischief, but FdcTaskMgr should reveal what is as it really is a great tool. I'm curious to know what you find out with your son's TG01.:eek: Good luck!:cool:

Cheers & THANKS SO MUCH for trying to help me get this mess sorted out!:D:D:D

Jim
 

CrashMurdock

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2008
138
6
Thailand
Update - S-L-O-W mode is gone...

YAY!!! The slow mode has vanished.:victory: I was having to turn on Bluetooth before turning off the phone every time otherwise the next time I turned on the phone it would automatically go into speed of carpet™ mode. I did a gazillion soft resets and even two master resets. The problem would go away for a short time after each master reset but then would return within a few days.

I've just now replaced my custom dual Cameron-Sino soldered-together battery pack (initially a triple battery rig) as my charging meter has been getting progressively less accurate causing the phone to shut off in the middle of calls due to 'low battery' condition, which was false. I have just installed a genuine Samsung Galaxy Note 2500 mAh battery that required a start-from-scratch mod. Here's my post describing the mod with photos:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1889350
What to my surprise this morning when I turned on the phone and had forgotten to turn on Bluetooth before shutting down last night, but the phone is at normal speed. I've rebooted it several times and the slow problem is gone again. Sure hope it's permanent this time as I still like my TG01, although seriously want the Galaxy Note 2 when it comes out or may wait for the Galaxy S3 to come down in price a bit and pick one up.
 
Last edited:

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 1
    yeah, its a WinMo issue :)
    the software gets corrupted.

    I faced this issue on my older WinMo devices. best bet is to hard reset!
    1
    Any idea how the carrier can cause the problem? I've had the same carrier for 5 years including several months with the TG01 and never had this problem before.

    In my case the carrier has two separate network (one for 2G and one for 3G), but it is certain that if i use the phone under that carrier it works as you described!
    I put another sim (from another carrier) and the phone work great! So i identify the problem as beeing created by the carrier network or phone radio!
    But i tried diferent radio and the result was that no mather the radio version I use the phone get slow in Cosmote network (the carrier I speak of). :(
    1
    Hi, I had exactly the same problem about one year ago.

    Used to work the 'hard reset' stuff but in a days it slows down again and again.

    I checked my SD card on the PC and looked like it was working fine, but it really wasn't. I had the final clue by using by a few days the phone without the SD... It worked just fine without sd.

    So I decided to buy a ultra cool (an expensive BTW) SDHC class 10 and every problem with TG01 was solved!

    Well, not every problem... Still having a little one with the GPS signal and the 3G data but it's not about the same thing.. but i'll still reading post here. Just forgot about this problem cause I was using some cooked roms from this place, but I had to return to the Movistar ES original in order to unlock the phone and now... you know, just don't work anymore. If I can't finx this **** with the original rom I'll go back to another coocked one.

    Good luck!
    1
    My phone was getting screwed up because the case (actually a thin sleeve) was too tight and it allowed buttons to get mashed while it was in my pocket. ............... I'm now using a 2.5" USB external hard drive case until I can find a better fitting one.


    In case it may be of interest, I have been using the Capdase leather sleeve case for a long time now without any issues. Nice red microfibre lining and pull tab to extract the phone easily. This UK supplier says no longer available, but most likely there are some about if you search a bit.

    Best regards,

    Kevin
    1
    Hi CrashMurdock.
    I am afraid it may be a flash problem. Take into account You did master reset and it helped only for a small period of time. How do You think, how many times Your tg01 was flashed by You and by previous owners ? Such simple flash we have guarantee for few thowsands write operations and after it it become "weak". On the other hand ROM's guru - feropont - told some times ago that custom roms with simplified kernel ( Yes, I am afraid almost all cookers including me delete not needed modules from original kernels ) may do some unpredictable behaviour. In such case it could be good solution to upload any of original roms and after such operation one can upload custom rom.

    Regards
    fxdjacentyfxd