Two common issues based on users: Sleep mode & Wifi

[rushmore]

After using my second A500 for a while and reading user reviews in forums, Amazon, Best Buy and local users (plus filtering out Honeycomb related issues that are not due to the A500), there appears to be two common problems.

1. Sleep mode wake up. This is weird and I am sure the Ghost Hunters would say is it paranormal activity (kind of like the very lame flashlight gimmick they do). I have watched my A500 wake up at different intervals and does not seem to be app driven, but firmware related. Perhaps lower level polling and was missed by Acer's FW devs. Depending on frequency, I can see why some folks may have more battery drain in sleep mode- It is not really "asleep" all the time.

2. Both of my A500s exhibit the following wifi issues and others are as well, though it seemed initially the second one was a little better.

a. Wifi range is weaker than other devices

b. Wifi is unstable and bounces in low bar areas. As I mentioned before, it seems to "bounce" regardless of signal, but folks notice it in low signal areas, since the "bounce" will cut the connection when in the lower signal range.

Both the "waking out of sleep" and the wifi issues need to be addressed in a firmware update, but the initial response has not been good on the wifi part. The common "fix" given by Acer CS is that "Wifi works best in the same room".... I kid not.

On a positive note, the pluses far outweigh most people's concerns here, but I think it is because people assume Acer will fix the issues.

 

[coin]

Rush, look at this video of the Xoom.

Android 3.1 on the Motorola Xoom: hands-on (video) -- Engadget

In that video you will note that stationary the Xoom even has the moving bar issue. And the Xoom never moved, yet the wifi bar moved up and down just like you are reporting for the Iconia.

Thoughts?

 

[rushmore]

Rush, look at this video of the Xoom.

Android 3.1 on the Motorola Xoom: hands-on (video) -- Engadget

In that video you will note that stationary the Xoom even has the moving bar issue. And the Xoom never moved, yet the wifi bar moved up and down just like you are reporting for the Iconia.

Thoughts?

Moving bars is par for the course to some degree, but losing connection should not be.

Could be threshold issues for the mW level the radio chips have been set to. Probably done for power management balance. Seems the A500 needs to be a little bit higher to stop the lower signals from cutting out as people report. Also, the router can be causing bounce, but too many people are bringing up losing a connection for it to be just the router. I think the mW threshold theory is correct and Acer should tweak the settings.

Still, out of 93 reviews at best Buy, the device gets a 92% rating in spite of the two main issues. Acer needs to fix the issues and not tell people to "use the tablet in the room the router is".

Still leaning to keeping, since everything else is so good, I rationalize the issues will get fixed. They are not killers anyway, but more an annoyance.

 

[GeekClass]

I had a freezing problem. It would freeze after sleeping, whether by sleeping/locking manually or automatically. It also would happen every morning, after a night of being in 'sleep'. I didn't really have a waking up problem, at least one I didn't notice.

Yesterday I made two changes. I turned Wifi to 'never disconnect'and found a Pulse setting where it was set to download background data, but the 'always use wifi' wasn't checked. I also checked my other apps to see if they had this option, thinking the reason it was freezing was because it was trying to use a nonexistent 3g connection. I also made all of my apps update more regularly to inscrase the chances that I'll run into this problem.

After that it started waking up on me a few times where I had it sleeping, but was still holding it. But the only time it froze on me was when I was charging it and so it had been aslep for a few hours and I had started to use it without unhooking the power cord. I let it sleep overnight, and it didn't freeze on me.

But none of that really means much, so I'm going to carry out a bunch of tests today to find out exactly what my problem is. Should be fun. >_>

 

[rushmore]

I had a freezing problem. It would freeze after sleeping, whether by sleeping/locking manually or automatically. It also would happen every morning, after a night of being in 'sleep'. I didn't really have a waking up problem, at least one I didn't notice.

Yesterday I made two changes. I turned Wifi to 'never disconnect'and found a Pulse setting where it was set to download background data, but the 'always use wifi' wasn't checked. I also checked my other apps to see if they had this option, thinking the reason it was freezing was because it was trying to use a nonexistent 3g connection. I also made all of my apps update more regularly to inscrase the chances that I'll run into this problem.

After that it started waking up on me a few times where I had it sleeping, but was still holding it. But the only time it froze on me was when I was charging it and so it had been aslep for a few hours and I had started to use it without unhooking the power cord. I let it sleep overnight, and it didn't freeze on me.

But none of that really means much, so I'm going to carry out a bunch of tests today to find out exactly what my problem is. Should be fun. >_>

I have had a few freezes, but figured more Honeycomb related, considering Xoom and Trans owners appear to have the issue as well.

 

[GeekClass]

I have had a few freezes, but figured more Honeycomb related, considering Xoom and Trans owners appear to have the issue as well.

I didn't know that. Thanks.

 

[rushmore]

My guess is the mW level needs increased, but what the heck do I know (not much)?

Based on the 93% positive review average (this includes BS posts too, so the actual positive score is higher), most people luv the A500. Since moving my router out of the basement, I do not have the issue and steady connection all though my house (3,200 square feet).

Seems that the positives outweigh the negatives by a wide margin. Heck, I like the A500 enough to try a second one and moved my router out of the basement (been there for years). Better throughput now on my other devices now and less "lag" yelling by my kids playing 360 and PS3.

added:

Frankly, the performance improvement for other devices has made me wonder why I waited so long in the first place and my favorable impression of the A500 compelled me to move the router. Sad but true.

 

[urdaddi]

My guess is the mW level needs increased, but what the heck do I know (not much)?

Based on the 93% positive review average (this includes BS posts too, so the actual positive score is higher), most people luv the A500. Since moving my router out of the basement, I do not have the issue and steady connection all though my house (3,200 square feet).

Seems that the positives outweigh the negatives by a wide margin. Heck, I like the A500 enough to try a second one and my router out of the basement. Better throughput now on my other devices too now and less "lag" yelling by my kids playing 360 and PS3.

Hey Rush, I just want to say thanks for providong a lot of info on these forums as well as others. I am glad your 2nd unit is working better for you.

 

[rushmore]

Hey Rush, I just want to say thanks for providong a lot of info on these forums as well as others. I am glad your 2nd unit is working better for you.

Thanks. I still think the mW level needs an increase. I would take a ten minute or less (estimate) battery loss for more wifi range and a more stable bottom.

The N900 was nice, since it had an option to increase the mW level of the wifi radio. Now THAT was one poorly managed device by Nokia, but at least had the option.

added: I wonder what Acer's plans are for updates?

 

[GFizzle]

It took about 2 reboots after receiving the HC 3.1 update in the wee hours of the morning to run into a devasting issue - no wifi.

After the HC 3.1 update, I noticed my Nook for Android App would no longer work (force closes everytime). I explored and used the new apps Movie Studi (workable video editor), Videos ( 4 out of 15 movies no longer play) and Zinio (replaced the magazines I had on Nook for Android). Two hours later after a couple of manual reboots due to some blank screen flakiness, the wifi will not connect to any of my pre-existing secure connections (home and EVO 4G WAP). The signal strength is strong when not trying to connect but as soon as it does the signal strength drops to nil and it stays in the obtainng IP Address loop until it gives up.

Anyone have any ideas how to solve this?

 

[Lofeg]

Same issue here. WiFi was ok for a day after the update to 3.1 on Wednesday. But last night (Thursday) I could not connect to my home Wifi, despite various reboots of the Tablet and resets of my Router. The WiFi Setting screen toggles between 'Obtaining IP Address' and 'Disabled, secure with.....' Every other device in the house (iPhone, laptop, iPod etc) all connect OK to the WiFi. Will attempt to contact Acer Support today.

Update: I contacted Acer support and its not good news - the 1st thing I was told to do was to hardware reset the Tab to roll back the updates! That is lose all applications, docs etc. They couldn't explain what should happen next - do I remain on 3.01? etc. Hopeless!
Going on eBay right now! Shame its only a month old Tab....

 

[mplevy]

I had the same problem, had to factory reset. Factory reset wipes all data on the internal storage including apps but will not revert to 3.01, it will stay 3.1. Factory reset does fix this issue, posting from my iconia now...

 

[bazsh]

I also have wake up issue once in a while
But for WiFi I don't have any problem with that
Really hope that Acer will tackle this prob ASAP

 

[GFizzle]

Hi, me again ...

Well, I did the factory reset, spent half a day getting all my applications back on and widgets all set up on the home pages ( my Backup Pro was set so /mnt/sdcard and not the real external sdcard /mnt/external_sd so the non-cloud backups were wiped too ) .

It worked for another whole day until this morning. I am running into the same problem again. As another poster notes, even with the factory reset it goes to 3.1 not back to 3.01. This is not good!

 

[agent00]

I just ran into this problem this morning. Its weird that it didn't happen until 2 days after the update. I configured with a Static IP and its working for now. Won't be able to do that when I'm at work tomorrow though =/

 

[mulawingalang]

I just ran into this problem this morning. Its weird that it didn't happen until 2 days after the update. I configured with a Static IP and its working for now. Won't be able to do that when I'm at work tomorrow though =/

I found a solution for the wifi problem, I hope it works for you too!
http://androidforums.com/acer-iconia-tab-a500/372336-500-3-1-wifi-problem.html