Current enTourage Tech Support Experiences

Sorry, I have no idea of which the problem cause is. But % that the beta could cause troubles was not = 0, the cause of your machine's failure could possibly be so easy you'd end up laughing about it (ie a driver conflict). The point is, in this uncertain condition of the enTourage company, I wouldnt either install a simple random application found on the web just for trying it. I need the the device for its core function and am not interested in having an all-in-one toy, I feel it's better to preserve it by avoiding risks.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

The option to install the beta does rest with the user but NOBODY expects the Beta to kill their machines.

Originally Posted by lorenzoens

Sorry, I have no idea of which the problem cause is. But % that the beta could cause troubles was not = 0, the cause of your machine's failure could possibly be so easy you'd end up laughing about it (ie a driver conflict). The point is, in this uncertain condition of the enTourage company, I wouldnt either install a simple random application found on the web just for trying it. I need the the device for its core function and am not interested in having an all-in-one toy, I feel it's better to preserve it by avoiding risks.

Luckily my PE hasn't crapped out yet using the Beta. However, you do have a good point about the beta being a risk. I bought the device for its core functions as well. Hopefully Qwill and Jazzmind's issue will be something simple.

Originally Posted by Qwill

As mentionned in the Ermine related forum, my 5 weeks old PE suddenly decided to transform itself into a lighthouse : The LCD (tablet) screen stays completely white (all pixels on) when the device is on.

Not trying to insult anyone's intelligence including tech support but, did you try the reset button? I know it might be a little late in the game to ask but how much battery power was left when you put the PE into hibernate? I have noticed that when my PE is in hibernate the power light blinks about every 5 seconds. Hopefully Entourage has contacted you and resolved your problem. Many new PE owners like myself will be looking forward to see what happens. Best of luck.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

Not trying to insult anyone's intelligence including tech support but, did you try the reset button? I know it might be a little late in the game to ask but how much battery power was left when you put the PE into hibernate? I have noticed that when my PE is in hibernate the power light blinks about every 5 seconds. Hopefully Entourage has contacted you and resolved your problem. Many new PE owners like myself will be looking forward to see what happens. Best of luck.

Yes, that's one of the first thing I did ... pushed reset button, hold it for a couple of, switch off the device while holding menu and rotate button ( makes your device reboot), switch oin the device with this same magic combination, reinstall ( or try to, as I can get no hints from the LCD screen wether it succeeds or not, although I think it worked because the e-reader side shows the calibration stuff ( press on the center of the cross etc...)

I'm still waiting signs of life from tier-3. The fact Jazzmind got exactly the same symptoms after the same series of event (downgrade to dingo, fresh ermine reinstall, and at the 1st hibernation wake-up ... the LCD shines as a lighthouse! ) makes me wonder wether it is not something like a driver conflict (Did the Ermine video driver put the GPU in an incompatible state ? But then why did the PE hibernated without any trouble for almost a week before ?
Thinking back of the series of event, what could make sense is a kind of corruption of the SSD file system slowly happening under Ermine (which will explain why the PE suddenly froze when I was commenting pdf, which made me push the reset button). THen I decided to go back to dingo (I wnated to get a fresh ermine install as I did not properly erased my email profile, and also I wanted to see wether it would suppress the Camera 1.0 app). If the file system was faulty then, it makes sense that the video driver may have been installed on a ill-formatted place ...
That would be better than a hardware failure, but not easy to solve at home ... as I can't access to the device... (Would be fun to be able to plug it through usb and to be able to make a fsck (a check file system command under unix) to the PE hard-drive ...
I hope to get some news from Entourage support today (they announced they'll get in touch within 48 hours, which means this afternoon) or I'll call them again !!!

Life without the PE is amazing, I even came back to my paper agenda! Makes me appreciate the PE more !!!

Stay tuned for the next episode ... Qwill

Hi Qwill. Have you tried a factory reset? I know you'd lose any data that isn't backed up on your SD card, but maybe that would wipe out any driver weirdness. Just a thought; I'm sure others would have a better idea.

Hi Dr.T. Yeah, I did the Factory reset before re-upgrading to Ermine. Now that the LCD only shows white screen, I'm not able to do anything, unless through a combination of button pressing ...

When I installed Ermine first, I had a problem with the library.
After installing Ermine, I moved library to SD and behaviour was not very good, so I did factory reset, without a clear picture of what I would see in my EE after that.

After factory reset, library was again in the internal storage, and Ermine was still there, and the whole thing was working much better.
I haven't tried moving library to SD again, for the time being, until Ermine has a better, more stable development, or until I read more favorable posts from fellow members who have tried this post-Ermine library-move in a successful way.

But all in all, factory reset rearranged things and set apps in a proper operating mood. Good luck with it if you try it. Please remember your data and most of your apps will be erased if you choose this option and you will need to re-register Edge, reinstall some of the applications, and reconfigure mail accounts...

All the best,

Paula

Originally Posted by Qwill

Yes, that's one of the first thing I did ...

The fact Jazzmind got exactly the same symptoms after the same series of event (downgrade to dingo, fresh ermine reinstall, and at the 1st hibernation wake-up ... the LCD shines as a lighthouse! ) makes me wonder whether it is not something like a driver conflict (Did the Ermine video driver put the GPU in an incompatible state ? But then why did the PE hibernated without any trouble for almost a week before ?
Thinking back of the series of event, what could make sense is a kind of corruption of the SSD file system slowly happening under Ermine (which will explain why the PE suddenly froze when I was commenting pdf, which made me push the reset button). Then I decided to go back to dingo (I wanted to get a fresh ermine install ...

If the file system was faulty then, it makes sense that the video driver may have been installed on a ill-formatted place ...

I kind of figured you tried the Reset option. Just curious, was your file system on a microSD or was it using internal memory? paula-t reported system issues with her EE using external storage. Also you say you downgraded to Dingo and then tried to back to Ermine when the problem occurred. Perhaps it is a driver issue. Have you tried connecting the PE to a PC to see if Windows or Unix sees the USB connection?

After doing some searching on the Internet it appears that this White Screen of Death is not uncommon for Android 2.2(Froyo). From just looking at it briefly it indeed seems they are usually caused by software bugs and poorly-written device drivers. Even i-Pod and i-Pad users have reported the WOSD. I'll do a little more digging to see if I stumble across a solution.

The only way to solve the White Screen of Death error on a Blackberry is to open the back panel of the phone and remove the battery and put it back again after a few seconds. However, I know this is not a simple option on the PE. EE owners have reported having to remove their battery to get the EE to come out of hibernation so Froyo may be buggy and causing different hibernation issues on different machines. I just wish there was a way to DISABLE hibernation on the PE (for example when you close the PE it forces hibernation on you).


I have a question for those who used Android 1.6, was there a hibernate option in Dingo? If not there was probably a good reason why.

I'm sure everything will turn out OK. Please keep us updated.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

I kind of figured you tried the Reset option. Just curious, was your file system on a microSD or was it using internal memory? paula-t reported system issues with her EE using external storage. Also you say you downgraded to Dingo and then tried to back to Ermine when the problem occurred. Perhaps it is a driver issue. Have you tried connecting the PE to a PC to see if Windows or Unix sees the USB connection?

All the file system was on the device internal memory (no micro-sd, no usb sticks were on).
I plugged the device on linux this morning, and I see the USB connection, I can even drag/drop files there, but its only on the "user data" directory, they were almost empty, which is logical as I did a factory reset + downgrade to Dingo. At least the beast is still alive ;-)
I wished to get access to the system files but no luck.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

The only way to solve the White Screen of Death error on a Blackberry is to open the back panel of the phone and remove the battery and put it back again after a few seconds. However, I know this is not a simple option on the PE.

Indeed. I wish I could remove the battery ... I let the PE run out of its power twice, but no results either.

Just to clarify the history preceding my WSOD... I upgraded from Dingo 13 to Ermine as an update without incident about 2 weeks ago. A couple of days later I moved all of my library files to a 16g mini SD card using the command included in the update.

I used my PE on a daily basis for about 2 weeks and it worked well with no problems waking from hibernation with the menu button and no problems starting up from the sliding power switch after being powered off. I recharged my PE every night and during the day most days.

Several days ago, on approximately Apr 13, I woke my PE after a night charging while hibernating with the case closed [as usual] and got the WSOD on the LCD screen. The e-reader screen went through its usual initialization process. After the initialization process finished [as evidenced by the e-ink screen] a couple of measures of music began to repeat from the PE speakers. The LCD screen remains white and the music keeps repeating even when the case is closed. Only by powering off using the power switch can the evil white light and sinister funky music be darkened and silenced.

I tried to reset the unit while on the phone with the initial tech support person [Larrie] but this did not solve the problem. She also commented that the music sounded to her like a "ring tone". My support request was escalated to tier 3 on Thursday Apr 14.

I have not received an email or phone call from support yet. I called the number given on Monday the 18th and was told that my request would be re- escalated. I am still hoping the tech support will live up to its reputation in these forums.

My daughter is wondering why I ordered another PE for her when I am having this problem, but i really like this device.

Originally Posted by JazzMind

Just to clarify the history preceding my WSOD... I upgraded from Dingo 13 to Ermine as an update without incident about 2 weeks ago. A couple of days later I moved all of my library files to a 16g mini SD card using the command included in the update...

Several days ago, on approximately Apr 13, I woke my PE after a night charging while hibernating with the case closed [as usual] and got the WSOD on the LCD screen. The e-reader screen went through its usual initialization process.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately it is not comforting for PE owners like myself because now I feel like my PE is on death watch. I'm actually considering downgrading to Dingo. Please keep us posted with the results from tech support. Sorry it has been such a nightmare.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

now I feel like my PE is on death watch. I'm actually considering downgrading to Dingo.

I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of the other forum members, but I think this might be premature. Most of the PEs, even those running Ermine, are functioning exceedingly well, it seems. Or, am I misinterpreting the data? Those of you who are more savvy than I (that is, most anyone on the Forum): are you considering reverting to Dingo?

Originally Posted by obsessed2

I have a question for those who used Android 1.6, was there a hibernate option in Dingo? If not there was probably a good reason why.

Yes there is hibernation, if I am understanding it correctly, in Dingo. I have not upgraded (yet -- still planning to eventually!) and when I close my PE it hibernates. I think. The LCD powers off and I wake it later with the home button, then menu button to unlock. No long startup as from complete power off, but it seems to conserve the battery -- meaning I still have a charge after ~10+ hours away from AC.

Thank you to everyone running Ermine and reporting the good and bad.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

I have a question for those who used Android 1.6, was there a hibernate option in Dingo? If not there was probably a good reason why.

Just to clarify, Dingo has a "Sleep" mode and not "Hibernate".

The Marvell CPU used by the eDGes has multiple power saving levels, each of which requires special driver code to be supplied by Marvell for use by companies using the chip. Since the chip was new when the EE was released, the driver did not yet exist. Last summer Marvell delivered the necessary driver to enTourage which proceeded to add a "sleep" mode to the EE.

"Sleep" is a moderate power saving level where the CPU remains active, and indeed the wifi. The LCD turns off, though. As a result, there are some power savings, but the battery drains steadily. When the PE shipped, it got the same power saving "sleep" mode.

"Hibernate" is typically a zero power mode where the CPU, and all other circuits, are turned off after saving RAM contents to hard disk or flash RAM.

With Ermine, enTourage has encorporated a new "hibernate" driver from Marvel that appears to only actually be effective on the PE, where it does seem to be a true zero power mode - the wifi turns off and the PE will not check email, etc., while closed. I suspect the EE either didn't get a real hibernate mode at all, or the driver is quite buggy (I would have thought both devices used the same CPU, but since the behaviour is different, and since enTourage never actually published the PE CPU specs, we don't really know).

When you downgrade to Dingo, you should lose all indications of a hibernate mode. Closing the EE or PE should cause the LCD screen to go dark, but you won't see the "your device is hibernating" message on the eInk side.

This implies that all wake-up issues (WSOD, won't wake up) should go away after the downgrade. However, there's a small chance that Ermine actually updated the CPU microcode and/or some system flash ROM that isn't reversed by the downgrade. If the update made to the microcode or ROM was buggy, then it may be permanent until (and if) enTourage releases another update.

Originally Posted by JazzMind

I have not received an email or phone call from support yet. I called the number given on Monday the 18th and was told that my request would be re- escalated. I am still hoping the tech support will live up to its reputation in these forums.

Unfortunately, my last experience with tech mirrors yours, and is nothing like the tech I remember from last year. I never received any contact in reference to my last support request - submitted on 3/28, although I was promised level 3 in 24 to 48 hours. My call today was met with the same - a level 1 tech, taking info only, and promising escalation to tier 3. I'm so glad I pay with American Express.