~help~ Flash Mode?? Phone Wont Turn On....

[csnow]

if you have contact information for this super moto tech who beleives that RAM activity is corrupting ROM, id like to speak with him, so I can understand how the 2 can possibly be related.

The "super tech" was actually several Moto Q techs, all giving the same advice (my 5 Q's now). Perhaps all Q techs have been intstructed to tell anyone with that problem the same thing. Their number is 800-657-7576 & we would love to have you talk to them. You obviously have the qualifications.

Their solution just made sense to me since I have had the same blue screen failure on previous low end computers....I run a lot of memory eating software in my engineering work, jumping between & seldom closing programs. If the chips are that bad why aren't there ever MORE of us having this problem? Just makes sense that it is user related habits.

Can't wait to hear your results.

[dcd]

thanks for the #. i need to talk to them about another issue, and 1-888-buy-moto or whatever told me that there is no higher tier cs available. i will give them a call sometime this weekend and let you know what i come up with.

about the low end computer...these days operating systems have their own method of handling memory, and have their own routines to follow when available physical memory is used up. i am not an engineer but i primarily support engineering users and i am all too familiar with the way their applications eat up any hardware you throw at them. but, at least in an xp/vista environment, my experience has been that BSOD type crashes are the result of a software problem or BAD hardware, but never just running out of memory. Actually, nowadays you get a popup window with an OK button telling you that no more virtual memory is available . i beleive wm5 is intelligent enough to handle memory usage rather than crashing also - these devices only have 64mb, and any everyday user is going to use that up at some point. as windows mobile has been around a long time, i cant beleive MS would not have implemented better memory management by now if this was an issue.

i thought about the possibility of the operating system writing to ROM based on RAM activity. while I am no WM5 expert, I do have a contact at MS who is and will run my theory by him later. i am under the assumption that the Q operates in the same fasion as a linux-based, flash-rom storage based, low end thing i play with at home (actually running as a router right now) - on that device i have 16mb of flash ROM and 16mb of RAM. The image for the OS takes about 4mb. The remaining 12mb is writable during OS operation, but the 4mb where the OS is stored is read-only. Modifying a file stored in read-only space results in the entire file being rewritten in the available space. The read-only copy is then ignored in favor of the stored copy. I have reason to beleive the Q behaves the same - try and go into your windows folder and delete a file stored in ROM. You cant - but you can create a new file thats 0 bytes and overwrite it.

If this is true, the OS would never touch the space that gets read by the bootloader at startup time.

Have all of your affected Q's been from alltel? Have you noted the manufacture dates and/or serial/ESN #'s? Take the early versions of xbox I mentioned earlier - the bad devices were manufactured for 6 months to a year. Lets say you went to your local walmart and returned one 5 times - and got one from the same shipment each time - I can see you having the same problem over and over. I am beginning to blame motorola here, not MS or alltel or the user.

[dcd]

I've called this number twice now and its pretty clear that neither of the people I spoke with learned english as their first language.

Last night the agent I spoke with admitted that he does not understand the problem I described, yet insisted that tier 2 support could not assist with it. I wanted to speak with tier 2 since tier 1 could not even understand me. This obviously angered the agent, because he began yelling very loudly into the phone. After screaming at each other for a while I was told that a 3rd level engineer would be calling me in 3 to 4 hours. I never received a callback.

I called again today and got another agent who stumbled over his english telling me that their computers are down and they cannot help with anything.

I am beginning to wonder if I should have purchased an HTC device, based on support.

[braxtoq]

Still ticking......I've used my phone all day and have not charged it or rebooted still have 9 programs running, no issues yet.... stay tuned some more.....

OK, I let my Q's battery run completely down with 10 programs running, popped in another battery and no problems! I do not think the issue has anything to do with the number of programs running

[aadams]

OK, I let my Q's battery run completely down with 10 programs running, pooped in another battery and no problems! I do not think the issue has anything to do with the number of programs running

I don't seem to have the problems everyone is having. I have only shut off my phone probably 2 times since I got my Q. I run programs all day long and right now I have 17 of them running. No problems yet. I downloaded the Opera Browser for my Q today. It runs quicker than IE. I find.

[kalmania]

I really dont think its from running to many programs.My phone went into flash mode and i was only running 2 programs as i can recall.i forgot to charge the phone yesterday when i came home so i left it without knowing. 4 hours later my phone went into flash mode.i think it has a few bugs.i hope motorola can repair it at no cost.Any thought please reply thanks!!!

[QPeach]

I really dont think its from running to many programs.My phone went into flash mode and i was only running 2 programs as i can recall.i forgot to charge the phone yesterday when i came home so i left it without knowing. 4 hours later my phone went into flash mode.i think it has a few bugs.i hope motorola can repair it at no cost.Any thought please reply thanks!!!

I just had the same "flash mode/bootloader version" message come up and it sent me into a state of panic, especially when I read this thread. (And especially since I had forgotten the Q on my deck all night-under a canopy, but in the rain, nonetheless, and had left it on. This morning, I switched out batteries and it worked fine, then all of a sudden around 6 hours later....the dreaded message. I called Sprint and they won't have any phones in for a couple days and my business depends on my having access to my phone. Anyway, out of quiet desperation and a glimmer of hope...and what the heck, it can't hurt, I removed the battery, put in a fully charged one and VOILA..it is working. I am hoping that this error message was just due to me not keeping a charge on my battery...who knows...it is working now and honestly, the only real complaint I have is battery life. My husband has the Q and he got the 3200 battery...we used to get about 6 hours...now he is getting a couple days worth...I just switch out between his old battery and mine. Ok, nuff said already....

[louwho04]

Hello, I am not very techy so I hope you guys don't tell me to do something difficult. I was on my Q the other night and my friend sent me a text. When I got off the phone with her, I tried to open the text and it wouldn't let me. I shut my phone off and turned it back on. When it came back on, it wouldn't go past the Windows Mobile screen. It plays the music and everything but the screen stays the same. Please help if you can!! Thanks

[rudeboy]

Hello, I am not very techy so I hope you guys don't tell me to do something difficult. I was on my Q the other night and my friend sent me a text. When I got off the phone with her, I tried to open the text and it wouldn't let me. I shut my phone off and turned it back on. When it came back on, it wouldn't go past the Windows Mobile screen. It plays the music and everything but the screen stays the same. Please help if you can!! Thanks

welcome aboard.. how long have you had the Q ? if you didn't install too much and/or personalized it you may want to consider a Master Reset. before that describe the screen you say it stays on.

[aeonfluxx75]

I'm a naysayer to this proposed cause. This is my first motoQ and I always - ALWAYS - ended running tasks via taskmgr right after using an app or utilizing anything. I do not have an SD card so therefore knowing that memory was somewhat limited AND not wanting to bog down or self-induce performance drags or hits I would go right to taskmgr and kill all then return to home screen. However, I would frequently use the home button to get to home screen to quickly access taskmgr. So maybe the bootloader flash mode is tied to the home screen button. I never really used it until recently when I noticed problems with startup and shut down, slower than usual performance and issues with it coming on or holding\reporting charge appropriately. Either way it certainly isn't running tasks in my case, unless it's the frequency of which one uses kill or kill all.

After hours of research, Alltel & Motorola techs, I became obsessed with this problem, seeing how many others have had it (I'm an engineer & 5 Q's for me now!!). I am firmly convinced it IS INDEED a problem with programs running (TSR's). You naysayers responding to this thread previously should send apologies when it happens to you. Multiple Motorola techs inisist that it is a problem inherent in WM5, & the Q, that ANY PROGRAM you start: ie: contacts, calandar, media player, tasks, IE, camera, etc. will stay running ESPECIALLY if you simply hit the home button or jump to another app. These do not have to be 3rd party softwares you installed. Prove it to yourself (if yours still comes on) & go to "system tools", "task manager". There you will see several programs running. As I posted before, it's analogous to blue screen computer failure, more memory than the Q can handle. It gives you NO WARNING, just shuts down & goes to bootloader/flash mode. OS failure is fatal & Q must be replaced. Solution: Regularly kill programs not in use from "task manager", or turn your Q off at night/when not in use. Last Moto Q tech this morning, said it will eventually happen to anyone who leaves Q on all the time. I told her to join this forum and speak up - get it published in the manual.