Serious Bug: Device password freezes start menu after phone call

[Guest Magxs]

Hi all,

I have been following this forum for a while - ever since I was interested in the Kaiser. Coverage and information on here is great! On Tuesday I picked up the officially released TyTN II. This is my first post here and unfortunately it relates to what I believe is a serious bug. I have now done several test and have found what I believe is a serious bug in the ROM, making the Kaiser virtually useless for business users.

When the device is protected by a password (Start/Settings/Lock), the start menu freezes after ending phone calls. In addition, the backlight turns off.

This only happens if the phone call is long enough (more than a few secs) for the display to turn off during the call. This is to prevent accidental button presses. When the phone call is ended the display should come back up, however, this is where bug seems to manifest itself. Somehow the password protection gets in the way and turns the display off and freezes the start menu.

The reason why this is serious (especially for business users) is that when you use MS exchange sync, many businesses enforce policies requiring a device password (common & recommended practice). This means that the option of turning the device password off does not exist. Therefore, using exchange sync (with security policies enforced) and making phone calls does not work.

I have now made several hard resets and used two different SIM cards. However, I was not able to try this on adifferent device. Therefore, I would be grateful if somebody could try if they experience the same issue. Disabling the device password fixes this, so you won't be stuck if you try.

I will return my device tomorrow for a full refund, unless the store can show that this problem is specific to my device and that a replacement unit works properly.

I also posted this in XDA Developers: XDA Developers Thread

Many thanks for any help!

Cheers

Magxs

Edited September 7, 2007 by Magxs

[Guest chucky.egg]

Yep, I'm getting if not the same issue then something very similar

Made a call to a landline

Waited for the screen to blank

Hung up th elandline

Hung up the Kaiser

The Start hardware button, and the Start on-screen button don't respond

The "top bar" (not sure it's proper name) still says "Phone" next to the Windows flag

Pressing the softkeys opens those apps, but when you close them the "top bar" then says that apps name (eg Calendar)

Briefly pressing the power button, to put the Kaiser into Stand By, then again to turn it back on resumes "normal operation".

I have a Simple PIN password set to prompt every 24 hours. Turning the PIN off does indeed revert back to "normal operation"

[Guest Magxs]

Yep, that sounds exactly like my issue. Thanks for testing!

That's bad news though. It means that exchanging the device will not fix it. Will have to return it and get my money back. No Kaiser for me, until they fix it.

However, over at XDA Developers somebody said that the issue does not exist with an AT&T ROM floating around. This could be a workaround, although I did not want to get into the ROM flashing business with the new device.

Unhappy :-(

Edited September 7, 2007 by Magxs

[Guest chucky.egg]

Done a little more testing...

- If you hang up before the screen goes off (even if it has dimmed) it's OK

- Setting a Strong Alphanumeric PIN doesn't fix the problem

- Letting the Kaiser timeout back to the Homescreen from the phone app doesn't fix the problem

- Having other PIN settings (I've tried 1 and 5 mins) doesn't fix the problem

- Disabling the HTC home screen plugin doesn't fix the problem

- Changing the Key Lock settings to "Do not lock buttons" or "Lock buttons if device is locked" doesn't fix the problem

I've also noticed that during the call the screen dims after 10 seconds, and blanks after 15 seconds on mine. The backlight is set to turn off after 30 seconds, and the device turns off if not used for 2 mins on battery power. I've not used PPC for a while, so that might be correct, but seems wrong?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

The AT&T ROM is exactly the same build, so that's odd.

P

[Guest chucky.egg]

Clutching at straws here...

Tried turning the Today timeout off, no change

I can see this being a major annoyance to my unsophisticated users.

Me: "It has everything you asked for - built in GPS, sat nav, a better camera, faster data, better keyboard",

Them: "Yes, but I have to press a button twice after ending a call"

[Guest Magxs]

Ok, the guys at the shop where I bought it found a workaround I can live with for now. Just toggle the power off and on and you're back in business. That's not too bad.

Is that what you meant by "have to press a button twice after ending a call"?

Still a big bug and I hope they fix it, but it is ok for me now. Wouldn't roll this out to business users though...

So I kept my Kaiser.

Edited September 7, 2007 by Magxs

[Guest chucky.egg]

Just toggle the power off and on and you're back in business

That's what I said in my first post!

[Guest Magxs]

I must be blind!! Sorry.

[Guest chucky.egg]

I've put a call in to HTC and they're going to look in to it. It sounds like they don't have any Kaisers themselves yet!

The guy said he'd give me a call/email back by the end of the day.

[Guest Magxs]

Great thanks. Please report back when you hear anything.

I will do the same. The guys at Inkino in London (that's where I bought mine) have also been on the phone with them and will keep me posted.

[Guest sqadan]

Any REPLACE INTO on this issue?? This may be a deal breaker for me as my IT department enforces a lock policy for Exchange Direct Sync. I really want to buy one of these, but if this issue persists, I'll be looking at other devices. <_<

I can't believe HTC did not catch this problem given how quickly it surfaced after the device was released.

Edited September 9, 2007 by sqadan

[Guest Magxs]

No, haven't heard anything yet. Will chase tomorrow (if I get to it).

With turning off and on fixing it, it just an annoyance for me, not a deal breaker. But I agree, unbelievable how they didn't catch it.

[Guest jjimenezjj]

Yeah this has happened to me several times now and it sucks :wub:

I know turning the power on and off will help you get AROUND it but after spending the amount of money on this device, it really is a shot in the balls :D

PLEASE PLEASE OH PLEASE FIX THE BUG HTC!!! ;)

John J:)

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

I have made a tiny application that I hope will resolve this problem for anyone that wants to try it.

Simply download the EXE and using ActiveSync copy it to somewhere on the Kaiser, then on Kaiser find it in File Explorer and click to run it. As this isn't signed then unless you have removed security you will need to accept the unknown publisher warning.

Currently it is form based so click the cross in the top right to hide the form then try a call. Once you finish the call the phone should wake back up normally.

** Edit: Unfortunately this wasn't quite as straight forward as I thought so I have taken the fix down as it will not work correctly, it will not do any harm, just doesn't cure the problem, I gave it a go! **

The problem is that after a call the phone seems to think it is locked, and the number pad to unlock the phone tries to show but gets stuck. I'll look into it some more.

Regards

Phil

Edited September 11, 2007 by Phil_UK

[Guest Magxs]

Thanks for this. I tried it, but didn't make a difference for me. I made sure that the app really was still running in the background and I made a soft reset, just to make sure.

Any ideas?

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

Thanks for this. I tried it, but didn't make a difference for me. I made sure that the app really was still running in the background and I made a soft reset, just to make sure.

Any ideas?

Okay it all seems a bit more complex than I thought, I've edited the post above and removed the small application and will take another look tomorrow.

Regards

Phil

Edited September 11, 2007 by Phil_UK

[Guest Magxs]

Strange. I made a call, waited for the screen to turn off, waited a few seconds extra and then ended the call via the red end button.

What happens next is the usual procedure: backlight turns off and start menu freezes. With the HTC task manager, I can bring your app to the foreground again, then hide it and - ironically - have name of it appear in the frozen start bar.

I saved the app in the "\Program Files" folder and ran it from there. That wouldn't make a difference, would it?

Many thanks

magxs

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

Okay here is another attempt, it isn't pretty as after the call has ended the screen will blank then come back on but it should leave you with a working phone without having to go OFF and ON again.

Instructions on how to install as before, I will see if I can find a nicer solution tomorrow.

Regards

Phil

KaiserCallEndFix.exe

Edited September 18, 2007 by Phil_UK

[Guest Magxs]

Thanks for all the work and effort! I will try and report back.

Cheers

EDIT: Great! It works! Seems like you are switching off and on for me?? Much better already.

Edited September 11, 2007 by Magxs

[Guest w4rmk]

So would I have to run this little utility every time I turn my phone on each morning? Isn't there any way to remove this forced corporate security policy off my phone? I hate it!

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

So would I have to run this little utility every time I turn my phone on each morning? Isn't there any way to remove this forced corporate security policy off my phone? I hate it!

The small application may be placed in your Start folder so it starts automatically after each reboot. It is only a small work around until it gets fixed by HTC.

You do not have to have the device secured by a password, unless of course this is a company phone and they insist on it. You have probably ended up with the password because during first start up you are prompted to enter one.

To turn off the password prompt, go to Start - Settings - make sure you are on the Personal tab, find the key icon that says 'Lock' and click that then enter your password to confirm and remove the tick from "Prompt if device unused for". This will stop the problem and you will not longer need to "log in" when you start the phone.

Of course the password prompt is there to help safe guard your data should the phone be lost or stolen and is probably wise to have one.

Regards

Phil

[Guest w4rmk]

Sorry but that is not correct, on my phone the checkbox you referred to is greyed out and cannot be unchecked. This happens when your company forces a mobile security policy on their exchange server. When setting up my phone on my company's exchange server I was prompted with a screen saying that I must setup a passcode due to a security policy required by exchange server. You probably haven't encountered this with your setup or you would probably know what I am referring to.

Thanks for the tip on the startup folder. Having to click ok on startup is a small annoyance, but worth it to get around the bug. Phil_UK can you make this utility so that it launches then disappears so that we don't have to push the ok button?

Edited September 12, 2007 by w4rmk

[Guest chucky.egg]

Just spoke to HTC Support and was told that they still don't have their TyTn IIs to test with, so they haven't been able to start investigating this yet!

I got a reference number, and the chap said he'd call back in a couple of days once they got their devices and had had a chance to look into it.

[Guest Reload65]

Hi

Okay here is another attempt, it isn't pretty as after the call has ended the screen will blank then come back on but it should leave you with a working phone without having to go OFF and ON again.

Instructions on how to install as before, I will see if I can find a nicer solution tomorrow.

Regards

Phil

Thanks Phil, it works for me as well. I think I'll be keeping the device and wait for HTC to release a ROM to correct this (I hope this will be very soon though).