I920: Program cannot start because program ram is unavailable? why?

[Guest Ceed19]

I have an I920, a few days ago it started saying upon startup that "XXX" cannot start because program ram is unavailable. Then it gives instructions to go to task manager and close any programs that did not close.

It does this EVERYTIME i soft reset, which is everyday since SPB does a scheduled backup and then does a soft reset. The program that it cannot load varies, what seems to be randomly, between the various programs that start. I used memaid to stop all programs from loading on startup, then it said cannot load memaid manager, or whatever itsw called, because program ram is unavailable.

The strange thing is more often than not, whatever program it says cannot start, does subsequently start. IE. SPB Backup runner could not start.....

Check the running programs once the boot sequence is done and often it is running. But it is annoying to say the least to have to hit ok to dismiss that box before I can use the phone or before it can finish booting up. I wake up in the morning and its on the screen, it also prevents my alarm from working now because this box is always on the screen. I have not installed new software and this sttarted from one day to the next with no additions or changes.

I am looking for a solution without having to do a hard reset and reinstall. I tried changing the startup sequence and disable some or all startup programs but even if one is enabled and all others disabled, that program could not start.

It is almost as though something else is grabbing the memory, others cannot start, and then it lets it go. but the programs that cannot start are always random. But I do have 50 meg of main memory free and about 70 meg of ram free, so there should not be anything that could cause the program ram to be used up and unavailable. That 70 meg of free ram is AFTER the phone has loaded everything, so during the boot process it SHOULD have even more available.

ANy ideas?

Edited January 22, 2010 by Ceed19

[Guest nugiene]

I have the exact same issue, just started today. I've had mine for a few days...just "testing". I'm not sure I'm going to keep this phone though.

[Guest WolfpackInCO]

Same here...annoying as hell, but at least it's on startup only...

[Guest nugiene]

Ok, I hard reset my phone, that error just kept popping up everytime I restarted and i couldnt take it anymore. I installed a few programs I use regularly and no error...I installed a few more programs...nothing. Then, I installed a couple of games and another program, viola..stupid error. so i looked through sktoos in the windows startup section and foung "playerupdate.something...i deleted it, and disabled sktools starup. taadaaa..no more error, so one of the programs is hogging the resource before the system can finish booting up...i'm sure you knew that, but i just verified it. Hope that helps.

Edited January 22, 2010 by nugiene

[Guest dwallersv]

Ok, I hard reset my phone, that error just kept popping up everytime I restarted and i couldnt take it anymore. I installed a few programs I use regularly and no error...I installed a few more programs...nothing. Then, I installed a couple of games and another program, viola..stupid error. so i looked through sktoos in the windows startup section and foung "playerupdate.something...i deleted it, and disabled sktools starup. taadaaa..no more error, so one of the programs is hogging the resource before the system can finish booting up...i'm sure you knew that, but i just verified it. Hope that helps.

You got it... I've run into this problem on a variety of winmo phones, so it's not an Omnia problem. I've hit this year ago on a Palm Treo 700, 750, my old Omnia, but not yet on the O2.

You correctly diagnose the problem: Too many startup programs/services are all trying to get going at the same time during boot. This can happen after you install a bunch of stuff.

One way to solve it is what you did. However, you can also change the startup order with SKTools (and MemMaid too, but if you have neither, I'd strongly recommend against Memmaid -- it's no longer in active development). I've been successful every time eliminating the problem by juggling around the startup order. However, it's an iterative process to find the right order, so it takes some time, and several reboots.

[Guest Ceed19]

I tried everything. disabled startup programs completely, changed orders, everything

after about 100 reboots, i did a restore from a backup a week old, problem solved. I went through lots of trial and error to find out why and as it turns out when I change my windows default screen, the one with the scrolling words like phone and text, clock etc, and i added a new panel and added an app to the panel as a shortcut the errors started again. when i removed THAT pane, the errors went away. i can use any other panes like weather, and calender, everything else, except a pane with apps or links on it. I am not sure why or how that causes and issue with program memory but it is DEFINITELY the cause in my case.