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Reset Doctor helps you to deal with crashes in modern Palms. It contains:
Thanks for trying Reset Doctor! - I hope it helps!
Just click here then hotsync!
If you have any problems with installation or hotsync, then there is extensive help
Please purchase a registration code here. This will entitle you to a year of free upgrades (only applies to this site, and others that send me your details)
Once you have purchased, simply click on the register button and enter your registration code.
If you have problems with the code, there is extensive help
If your device doesn't have NVFS (non-volatile file system) you won't need Reset Doctor
Current Devices that have NVFS and where Reset Doctor might help are:
If you think your device might have NVFS, you can download Reset Doctor and try it. If Reset Doctor runs, you have NVFS, if it tells you that you don't have NVFS, then you don't!
When Palm One (now Palm) introduced the NVFS it was really buggy. Now it's only a bit buggy - but one of those bugs seems to kill preferences.
Reset Doctor helps you to save your preferences, as well as managing the cache memory that NVFS devices need.
The front page lets you see the status of the main tools.
Below the Cache Management tool, you can see how much cache is currently free.
Click on the buttons for more settings.
Simple - and the best cure. This makes a copy of the preferences database every time it is changed.
If there is a reset, then at the very beginning of the reset sequence, Reset Doctor checks that your preferences are still there. If they're not - Reset Doctor restores the old preferences.
The cunning bit is that it does this even before the other applications get to respond to the reset request, so they see their normal preferences and are able to do what they're supposed to do (like setting alarms).
It doesn't stop the resets - but it should stop the nasty loss of preferences.
(access this page through the Auto Backup page)
Details of Backups shows what is being stored. The modification number shows how many times each database has been changed, so acts as a measure of how old it is.
The modification number for your Curent and Backup databases should be the same if auto backup is enabled and working.
The Backup is your main backup which you can restore if you wish.
The Replaced database is the database that Reset Doctor replaced when it last automatically restored your preferences. If for some reason, you want to undo an auto-restore, then just restore the replaced preferences.
Finally, some users have reported that the current database doesn't get backed up when the modification number gets extremely high. If this happens to you, just reset the modification number.
THIS CAN CAUSE RESETS!
Using cache management can bring problems to the foreground if you have applications that aren't properly coded to handle the cache on new devices. If you find you get more resets, then you can read how to fix them (your palm will be happier in the long run!), or just turn this option off! (If you don't fix the problems, then you will still get resets but they will be less frequent as they will only happen when the device does an occasional complete cache cleanup on its own.)
The cache is the memory where your Palm actually runs applications and accesses data. When it becomes full, the system clears out data that it doesn't think is needed. Unfortunately, this clearing process can take a long time and seems to freeze your device (you will normally see a white screen for anything up to 30sec and may hear a quiet clicking noise). Reset Doctor allows you to schedule regular clearing of the cache so that it never gets completely full. The 'little and often' clearing can be less intrusive.
To pick appropriate settings, I recommend you press the 'clear cache now' button, then set the 'clear cache if less than' value to half the 'Free Mem In Cache'. That will make sure that Reset Doctor clears the cache before each application runs, so the system probably won't have to clear it while an application is running.
You can read all about the cache here
Reset Doctor has a built in plugin that lets you show the current level of free cache and clear the cache at will. It will work with Initiate, Propel, Datebk6 or 2Day. You don't need to install anything extra for this to work.
You can download a shortcut from the main download page which will trigger a cache flush when launched.
This shortcut is coded so that it can run on top of other applications if launched by a launcher that supports this capability (Initiate, Propel or Butler's keylauncher). Butler's keylauncher is particularly handy as you can set FlushCache as a favourite in the main phone app, then simply press and hold a letter key that you assign to the shortcut to flush the cache at any time.
This option logs every crash and every reset (yes, even ones you do yourself!)
It even logs when Reset doctor saves your preferences.
Tap on an entry for additional information.
This can be a massive help when trying to figure out what is making your Palm unstable, though remember - the system 'blames' the application that is running in the foreground, so if a background application does something wrong, the blame can be spread to other applications!
Unfortunately, the Palm OS doesn't always provide an error message when there is a crash. When Reset Dr detects a crash without an error message, it will label it 'User Initiated?'. This might be that you triggered a reset deliberately, or it might be that an application crashed without providing a crash reason.
There is an old Palm Os bug which goes something like this
Reset Doctor cures this by cleaning out the exchange manager entries relating to any applications that aren't in RAM (it does this when every app exits)
More details of the bug at the Palm Source site.
If you're running applications from the sd card - then this might reduce resets for you.
I do NOT recommend this cure for most people - if you are desperate and losing preferences a lot, you might want to experiment...
Reset Doctor locks the preferences database so it can't be flushed. It then makes sure that when each app ends, the preference database is copied back into the NVFS so that your changes are not lost at a reset.
Some users have reported a significant reduction in resets as a result of this cure - and without the resets, they're not losing preferences. It doesn't work 100% though.
For people using DBCache, there certainly seem to be problems in some circumstances (annoyingly it doesn't seem clear cut - the same settings give one user resets and work fine for another!).