Problem with the clock &/or alarm on my HTC Hero

[goku4ever]

Sometimes the clock will go weird, and the time won't change unless I touch the phone. This morning I woke up at half 8, I went to look at the time on my phone and it said 04:36, then after a couple of seconds updated to the actual time of half 8.
As a result of this, my alarm set to half 6 didn't go off.
How do I fix this?

Note:
I don't have any task killer apps, my phone was not turned off, or on silent.

 

[lekky]

The time display doesn't update if you are not on that particular desktop, or of the screen is turned off.

For example when i leave my screen off for a while, and then turn it on i can see the time change from say 9:01am (time i turned the screen off) to 11:43am (time i turn the screen on).

However the phone does keep track of the actual time, just doesn't show it unless it needs to to save processing/battery power. So this isn't what is causing your alarm problems.

Has your alarm never worked?

(Daylight savings time was changed last night, so I wonder if this only happened today something went wrong with your clock when it was updating? I can confirm my alarm went off this morning, and my time was changed correctly.)

 

[goku4ever]

My alarm has previously worked as normal. Occassionally though, this problem will occur. It has happened 3 or 4 times over the last couple of months. So definetly not due to DST.

Also, the time that lags in updating isn't the one on the main screen. It's the one that shows on the locked phone screen.

 

[elvis100girlfriend]

I've had my Orange Hero for a week now. Love it, but the alarm has stopped going off, and instead vibrates as if on Silent mode, but definitely is not on Silent mode. I've also noticed my customised message alert has reverted to a default sound, although in my Settings it's still on my custom one. I downloaded Advanced Task Killer over the weekend. Could this have something to do with it?

 

[Jaffa]

I've had my Orange Hero for a week now. Love it, but the alarm has stopped going off, and instead vibrates as if on Silent mode, but definitely is not on Silent mode. I've also noticed my customised message alert has reverted to a default sound, although in my Settings it's still on my custom one. I downloaded Advanced Task Killer over the weekend. Could this have something to do with it?

Get Audio manager and ensure that the alarm volume is turned up, and add you clock onto your ignore list for task killer..

 

[elvis100girlfriend]

Problem sorted! Many thanks!

 

[goku4ever]

bump

 

[Lettuce]

Treat this post loosely because I've not experienced a great deal of alarm problems, but I once noted that my alarm did not work when I locked the phone after setting the alarm. If I set the alarm, return to home screen, and leave the phone alone, it has always worked.

As I say, treat this loosely. I don't know if the alarm has anything to do with locking the screen straight after setting it, but, just what I once experienced...

Lettuce

 

[goku4ever]

It happened again this morning. I made sure to fiddle with the volume on the alarm screen, and even re-chose what alarm I wanted.
Also of note, in the top right it still had the alarm picture as if it had never gone off.

Also, this happens in both the default alarm application and the better alarm app. And I don't always see the lag in the time on the clock after it being left a while, only occassionally.

 

[goku4ever]

Originally it was set to Network time, so a couple of days ago I changed it to the time I input. The alarm worked yesterday morning, but this morning the same problem occured as has previously happened.

 

[goku4ever]

bump

 

[lekky]

download an app called audiomanager. Check what sound level the system volume is set to. Maybe that got set down to 0.

Another test to do is to turn your phone to silent with vibrate on. That would tell us if its ans issue with the alarm not going off, or the sound being off.

 

[annavall]

hi everyone,
i got my hero in january and am pretty pleased with it, apart from one major issue which is exactly this - alarm doesn't work.

i did read about this on a different forum a little while ago, and can confirm that there are two different reasons to why the alarm doesn't go off when it should;
1. the volume in the actual alarm automatically goes to silent. to change this - go right in to the actual alarm where you set the time, and change the volume in there. some of you might see that this is set to 0.
2. because the main clock doesn't change its time continually, as mentioned above, which is the clock the alarm follows, the alarm doesn't go off as it thinks it hasn't gotten to the correct alarm time yet.

very annoying, and i've burnt myself missing a train because of this, so i only use my (work) blackberry as an alarm now as i don't trust my hero - such a shame when i've never had this issue with my old mobiles (nokia).

i really hope this is one thing that will be included in the next update, whenever that might be.

 

[highlander363]

Get Audio manager and ensure that the alarm volume is turned up, and add you clock onto your ignore list for task killer..

Cheers Jaffa! That fixed it you're a legend!

 

[enzydroid]

This might seem a bit lame, but you people having problems with alarms not going off, have you checked the recurrent day settings?

I've set and use a variety of alarms on my Hero and have never had any problems.

I know what you mean about the time updating itself - it's caught me out a couple of times as it happens - but it's only a very minor thing that hasn't detracted from the joy of using my phone.

 

[goku4ever]

When you say recurrent day settings, do you mean about having the alarm set for the same time on various days, e.g. monday, tuesday etc?
I don't use that, I just set it manually every night and dont have it set for any days.

 

[enzydroid]

Yeah, that is what I'm getting at, but hey, if you don't use it, then that's not going to be the issue.

Have you tried removing the alarms and creating new ones? Are you using the standard HTC clock (regardless of which skin you've chosen)?

All I do to set an alarm is tap on the clock on the home screen, which then brings up the clock app (which is normally already on the alarms screen, otherwise I choose it from along the bottom). I then select the alarm I want, which brings up the tumblers to set the time and once that's sorted I just press done and it returns me to the previous screen with a little green tick by the alarm I've just set.

What software build are you using? If you're still running 1.73, you might want to upgrade it to a later build - 2.73.

 

[skycry]

I have the same issue as OP.

After the alarm should have sounded:
1) take the phone (screen blank)
2) press Menu button to turn the screen on
3) screen turns on, shows it's locked, shows OLD time (e.g., middle of the night)
4) a second later the time on lock screen updates to current time
5) once time updates the alarm goes off immediately!

Clearly the problem isn't sound, as the alarm goes off with sound and vibration. The problem is the time didn't update and alarm uses the same time, as it goes off immediately when the time on lock screen updates.

I have installed new firmware and was waiting for android 2.1 to see if it would get fixed, but it wasn't.

Phone: HTC Hero (English/Czech/Polish European version)
Firmware version: 2.1-update1
Kernel version: 2.6.29-063c4d24 htc-kernel@and18-2 #1
Build number: 3.32.405.1 CL191507 release-keys
Software number: 3.32.405.1

I've been searching many forums, but yet to find a solution. I don't use task killers, I've tried a different alarm application, nothing helps.

 

[pauleycz]

I have the same issue as OP.

After the alarm should have sounded:
1) take the phone (screen blank)
2) press Menu button to turn the screen on
3) screen turns on, shows it's locked, shows OLD time (e.g., middle of the night)
4) a second later the time on lock screen updates to current time
5) once time updates the alarm goes off immediately!

Clearly the problem isn't sound, as the alarm goes off with sound and vibration. The problem is the time didn't update and alarm uses the same time, as it goes off immediately when the time on lock screen updates.

I have installed new firmware and was waiting for android 2.1 to see if it would get fixed, but it wasn't.

Phone: HTC Hero (English/Czech/Polish European version)
Firmware version: 2.1-update1
Kernel version: 2.6.29-063c4d24 htc-kernel@and18-2 #1
Build number: 3.32.405.1 CL191507 release-keys
Software number: 3.32.405.1

I've been searching many forums, but yet to find a solution. I don't use task killers, I've tried a different alarm application, nothing helps.

I used to have the same problem with my Hero (similar region). I'd wager the CPU deep sleep/suspend mode is the culprit. While under 1.5 the alarms, scheduled backups and mail checks were erratical at best, so far they fail completely under 2.1. For the record, my wife's 2.1 Legend works absolutely fine; according to the internet the problem seems to be limited to HTC Hero and Motorola Milestone phones.

I used initially an app called Load Monitor (free on the market), it has a setting that prevents deep sleep of the CPU. Then I tried Gentle Alarm (paid app though a limited trial is also available) and so far it works flawlessly. It does display a separate permanent notification much like Locale which apparently prevents the Android OS from suspending such applications.

Although the cheapest and easiest solution is to leave your phone connected to a charger. Charging doesn't suspend the alarms and notifications and in the morning you have a full battery - a win-win situation.

 

[skycry]

Thanks, I will try it with the charger and then possibly other solutions. My power socket isn't very close to the bed, hence the reason I usually just charge Hero from PC. (I've already tried an alarm application that keeps permanent event in notification list - it seems load monitor will also be needed.)

An interesting thing about this problem, however, is that Hero seems to sound alarm off just fine after restart. This problem occurs very often, if it wasn't restarted for several days.

 

[tommyho]

This is an old and know issue with all android phones: Issue 1109 - android - No sound or vibrate by alarm clock when set to be on. - Project Hosting on Google Code

It's unknown what causes it, it's a high priority bug, but it's not been fixed for the two years (!) it's been know by Google.

I have it badly on my HTC Hero 2.1. During standby (charging or not!) the phone will randomly enter "deep sleep", where almost all processes are put on pause. I'm not sure if I can even call the phone... E-mail fails to check when in this state, and the alarm doesn't have a chance to check the time.

When re-activating the phone it takes a few seconds to wake up all proceses and the clock updates to current time, triggering alarm (sometimes), e-mail updates, text messages etc.

The only thing stopping the phone from entering deep sleep is keeping the screen on, never letting it go on standby.

Stock alarm fails when in deep sleep, as does Gentle Alarm. Tried Alarm Klock once, and that one time it worked. Trying again tonight. Maybe there is a way to prevent this Deep Sleep, but as Google doesn't even know about it, and it's erratic across all android phones, I don't think so...