Exchange server device lock freezes up phone

[Guest pavankp]

Hello folks,

For a couple of months now I've had push email set up on my i-mate SP5 with my corporate Exchange server. Everything worked great. A couple of days ago, ActiveSync told me that the server needs security settings so that the device may be locked if not used for a period of time. I guess the corporate IT guys changed some policy on the server. So I choose the longest period of time it would allow (24 hours) and set a password.

Now every morning I pick up my phone and it doesn't respond to any key presses. The only fix for the problem is to take out the battery, put in back, and switch the phone back on. When the OS comes up, I then get a prompt for the password. I have my phone set to automatically reboot at 3 am and I have maniac's Auto Key Lock utility installed -- don't know if the device lock doesn't like one of those things.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Any ideas for a fix? I would really like to keep my Exchange server sync alive, and I don't think I hvae the clout to get IT people make an exception for me. I don't mind entering the password once a day, but I don't want to have the phone completely lock up on me!

Thanks,

Pavan

[Guest jimbouk]

I would remove all other lock and reboot apps for now - especially as the reboot at 3am would require a pin to restart the device and in the meantime the server lock would activate?

See if it works without them.

[Guest pavankp]

I would remove all other lock and reboot apps for now - especially as the reboot at 3am would require a pin to restart the device and in the meantime the server lock would activate?

See if it works without them.

Thanks for the response Jim. I think you're right, though I will know for sure only tomorrow morning. I removed the auto reboot now. I played around with manually rebooting the phone, and I think I now understand what's going on. When the phone is coming up, it always prompts for the PIN. And you have a few seconds to enter the PIN -- if the PIN entry screen goes away and the home screen comes up, that's it, the phone freezes.

I guess I wasn't expecting the PIN prompt on every reboot. Now that I think about it, it makes sense for security reasons. So the security setting is not just "prompt for a PIN after 24 hours of non-use", but "prompt for a PIN after 24 hours of non-use or device reboot". But I wish there was a way to disable the PIN prompt for an automatic reboot. I really liked the auto reboot because it would keep my phone "healthy" and stable all day. Now I will have to reboot manually every day, if I can't figure out a way to disable the PIN prompt for my automatic reboots!

Thanks,

Pavan

[Guest jimbouk]

The MSFP security will always want a pin on restart in order to avoid thieves and industrial spies simply restarting the device to access the data (and the device).

If your phone gets nicked, tell your It guys and when the thieves turn it on, not only will they have a pin to contend with - but your it guys can remotely wipe the device's memory.