new firmware 2.3.20 - report bugs here

[macgyver40]

I didn't want to comment on the battery since It was more of what I thought then what I know. So after reading others posts I might start doing some tests. Like I know watching a 2 hour movie oer hdmi with wifi on used about 10% battery life. I also could force close market apps and play pocket legends for 4 hours from 100% bat. to 20% bat. I will test these two things over the next few days after I put my software back to the way it was even though I can't remove the new apps archos added. I just hope I can find another movie with the same time and file specs so I don't watch the same thing again. As for pocket legends well for testing I am stuck with the updated version so hope that doesn't affect the results to much.

[cutterjohn]

Something I noticed about the battery life when I updated. I had my unit plugged in while doing the update. I noted my battery life was at 44%, and after the update the battery life was at 14%. All the while the unit was plugged in to the outlet.

The battery seems to drain considerably faster after this patch, or maybe they calibrated it differently so that its a smoother decrease on the meter. I did notice prior to the update that it would stay in the 90's for quite awhile before the meter would start decreasing. It doesn't seem to stay in the 90's for long now.

I'll wait and see over the next few weeks of usage.

Also is anyone getting random reboots while it is in sleep mode. I noticed mine rebooted twice at like 1am while it was in sleep mode. I was watching TV, and looked over as it was on the Archos boot image, then I noticed it did it again like within 5 minutes.

The video capture does look better.

I see quick battery drainage with this update as well. The change indicator never goes to 100% (did it before) and battery drains to 80's% in 10-15 minutes.

I noticed slightly more batt drain as well, and when I charged my A43 yesterday the power LED was blinking but upon removal from charger the indicator showed only 97% charge whereas before it would always go to 100%(2.1.08).

[MarcusMarcus]

Has anyone confirmed that the battery really is draining faster or not yet? The battery indicator may drop faster than before but does the battery really last for shorter amounts of time or does it still last as long as it did before. I know my Archos would show 100% charge for a long time before it would start to drop, so maybe they tried to fix the battery indicator to show more accurately. I'm curious, those who are experiencing faster battery drop, is your device running as long as it used to on a charge, or is it running for less?
Also, regarding the devices not charging to 100%. Maybe Archos decided to implement something like my Samsung Netbook has. It has a battery life extender, where it only charges the battery to 80%. This is supposed to increase the life of the battery so you wont need to replace it as often. Though I think it is mainly to increase the life of batteries in netbooks that are plugged in most of the time and they offer an option to disable it if you want to charge to 100%.
These are just guesses on my part.

[bazzible]

I haven't done any run down tests. What I posted was from observations. I will need to use it more this week to get a feel of it. I have a feeling they tweeked the scaling of it. I did notice before the patch that once I went under 40% it would seem to rapidly deplete the battery. Clarification from them would be nice.

[rdskl]

OK after reading the many discomforting responses regarding the recent firmware, I finally grew the balls to upgrade my A101 last night. Here is what I can confirm:

Installed from 2.1.8 to 2.3.2.0, went problem-free and quick. No reboot-loops, crashes, etc.
Flash 10.2 no longer crashes in any of my installed browsers. (I primarily use Opera 11).
Device runs about 10~20% faster between common tasks. (I use Zeam Launcher.)
WiFi Proxy works great for the stock browser, (and maybe Dolphin Browsers). Archos needs to expand this to all apps. Might be an Android limitation.
Battery drain is a reality. Device charges to 97% only, and drains quicker when in use. Not too bad in deep sleep.
Like new YouTube app for my usage needs.

Basically asides the battery drain issue, no problems yet.

Thanks

[MarcusMarcus]

Battery drain is a reality. Device charges to 97% only, and drains quicker when in use. Not too bad in deep sleep.

How long did your device last on a charge before the update and how long does it last after the update? I have no doubt that the battery indicator drops quicker than it used to before, but mine never seemed to accurate before the update and after the update I noticed it dropped quicker but it is lasting me all day long on a a moderate use. If your device is last an hour less or something like that than the battery drain is a reality, but if the percent seems to drop quicker than used to but still lasts just as long the the battery drain is not a reality.
I am not saying it is not a reality, I am just trying to figure out if it really is or not. I'm hope it is not.

[PoisonBinky]

I'll chime in again and add that I'm still encountering weird audio stopping bugs on my A32 when the display turns off, either via timeout or manually. It looks like it might only be happening if headphones are plugged in. If I don't have headphones connected, the A32 appears to continue to play audio (for example Google Listen's podcast progress bar/timer is still running when I turn the screen back on)...but with headphones connected, playback stops as soon as the display turns off and when I turn it back on, the media controls are clearly paused, timer is stopped, etc.

Can anyone verify this?

[rdskl]

I'll chime in again and add that I'm still encountering weird audio stopping bugs on my A32 when the display turns off, either via timeout or manually. It looks like it might only be happening if headphones are plugged in. If I don't have headphones connected, the A32 appears to continue to play audio (for example Google Listen's podcast progress bar/timer is still running when I turn the screen back on)...but with headphones connected, playback stops as soon as the display turns off and when I turn it back on, the media controls are clearly paused, timer is stopped, etc.

Can anyone verify this?

I dont have this issue using the stock Music app, but I have had this happen to me ever since I can remember with Last.fm. Now I dont have playback stop, but I do have audio chop in and out. Also seems to happen with the display active and me multitasking while listening to Last.fm. Could be normal behavior, can someone else confirm?

[gottahavit]

Battery drain is a reality. Device charges to 97% only, and drains quicker when in use. Not too bad in deep sleep.

How long did your device last on a charge before the update and how long does it last after the update? I have no doubt that the battery indicator drops quicker than it used to before, but mine never seemed to accurate before the update and after the update I noticed it dropped quicker but it is lasting me all day long on a a moderate use. If your device is last an hour less or something like that than the battery drain is a reality, but if the percent seems to drop quicker than used to but still lasts just as long the the battery drain is not a reality.
I am not saying it is not a reality, I am just trying to figure out if it really is or not. I'm hope it is not.

Mine charges fully..

HOWEVER this afternoon I went to grab mine form it's case and realized it was on, and in fact rebooting and rebooting and so on. I hard powered it down and booted it up again it worked fine while I read a couple comics. Then I switch off the screen and 5 minutes later looked over and it was in a reboot loop again.

also battery life does seem a bit weakened, usually an hour of reading comics will use about 10%, now seems to use about 20%

There is definitely something fishy with this update.

[PoisonBinky]

I dont have this issue using the stock Music app, but I have had this happen to me ever since I can remember with Last.fm. Now I dont have playback stop, but I do have audio chop in and out. Also seems to happen with the display active and me multitasking while listening to Last.fm. Could be normal behavior, can someone else confirm?

I had issues with Last.fm a while ago and it seemed to be related to the scrobbling. Once I turned that off in settings it seemed to work better. But I haven't used it since they updated the app a while back.

[andrew.barr]

FCs are unhandled Java exceptions. App programming errors. They have little to do with the system firmware.

Given that the Gallery app is an Android app I think we can safely say that any issues with it on the Gen 8 devices is down to the firmware and not an app programming error. If an app is expecting to find something like a hook that is part of Android but the manufacturer has removed it from the firmware then the app will FC.

You are confusing "what is" with "what should be". I am sure that many apps do not anticipate, for example, no intent being available for certain filters. And I can think of one app--the Exchange ActiveSync client TouchDown--that the developer had assumed all devices have an IMEI. Microsoft Exchange requires some Device ID to provision Server ActiveSync. TouchDown used the IMEI, but these new Froyo tablets, including the Archos devices, have no such thing. They had to fix their code to ensure that if no IMEI was available, a random ID was generated in its stead and used.

Situations like these should, however, be anticipated and it should be the ongoing goal of any programmer worth their salt (and your money) to minimize these issues. Ideally, Android's developer documentation would be clear about when exceptions can happen. And if the Java compiler is aware that your code can throw an exception (through a 'throws' declaration on the function prototype), it will not let you compile without catching the exception or at least silencing the warning somehow (sort of saying, "Yes, I'm an idiot" to the compiler). But...Java and everything else in modern software is hideously complex and this safety mechanism is incomplete.

I think Archos has anticipated the odd situations that might arise somewhat...I have seen something that was supposed to open a dialer open contacts instead. But if the dev docs don't say anything and that situation actually comes up...it's probably more a design issue on Google's part that the situation can come up in the first place.

Anyway, back on topic, someone in this thread suggested an Android reset, i.e. the option in the "Repair and Formatting" settings menu. I have done that and I can say the white screen issue came up almost instantly after the reset. It was in a situation where I'd hit the power button and then hit it again very quickly. In the past this just meant the screen faded out and then right back in and there was no issue, however, now...white screen. If I am careful to try to avoid doing that, so far, I've been using it mostly glitch free. But it's only been a few hours.

[fbott]

I updated a few days ago and everything was fine until I deleted a movie that I had finished watching. When the multimedia library started to rebuild, my tablet went crazy. It froze multiple times forcing me to long hold the power button to shut it down again and again. At this point it no longer recognized my wireless connection and I couldn't get any connection when I finally got it to start. I then went to settings/repair and format intending to start over. I noticed that there was an option to reset the multimedia library from scratch and tried that instead since that is what started the problem. After doing that my tablet is back to normal and my internet connection is back too! I don't understand it, but I thought I would post it here in case someone else might benefit from my adventure.

[m_writer]

New WiFi Problem (on A70SIT):

Yesterday morning when I turned on the A70SIT for the first time, WiFi would not connect. When I checked, none of the controls where working in the WiFi section (ie, Checkmarks could not be created, no routers had been found and listed, etc.

The answer was to "forget all" access points and then re-start the A70SIT and re-enter the password key.

It has only happened once so far.

[hkccm2k]

The SMB scans directry and reads files much faster in built-in programs - Video and File. However, File failed to copy files from network shares as it treated network files as directories. I tried other SMB enabled file manager which filed the same way...

[Greg_e]

Anyone with battery issues should let the battery discharge below 20 percent and then charge again. I had the same issue on one of the previous updates, after I ran it until it was almost dead. After the next charge everything was back to normal.

[Gerke]

I finally found the solution to losing and corrupting mediafiles.
I found out that using a faster MicroSD solved the problems.

I switched from Sandisk class2 to a Patriot Class10 card and the problem is gone

[georgi]

It's been an hour since I appliy the fw 2.3.2 update. All is well except all my music files are gone. No big deal. I only had about 10 cds stored. This isn't the first time this has happened after a fw update. Anybody else have this happen? I did notice a new app called "Archos Remote Control". Has any one tried this app out?

Past FW updates my wifi settings were changed. The "disable powersave" box was unchecked. When that happens my wifi signal is dropped every several minutes and I have to turn the wifi off and back on for another few minutes of connection.

I can confirm also that on my A7IT with the 2.3.20 firmware the wifi signal is dropped every several minutes as well and I have to turn off / on the wifi in order to reconnect

[madmonkey]

hi, have major problem after update archos 70 250g
problems so far are when screen goes to sleep when i wake it up the screen is white, next is the fact the now the media update for library is no longer working.
have tried to contact support and find out some information yet expecting a response is my fault as i can see the a lot of people have been having problems with contacting support.
the one thing i dont understand is archos must know there is a problem and i would not be f##ked off if they would come out and say so yet there is no response from them which is very frustrating, without customers they have no jobs maybe they should remember that.
maybe its time that all frustrated customers start a webpage or facebook to express our complaints that way when ever someone types in archos it will come up with the page first to warn others about this company

anyone keen to start such a page let me know im sure with everyone working together we will be able to take them down haha

come one archos sort you company out, time to be honest and support your customers

[fabp1306]

hi, have major problem after update
problems so far are when screen goes to sleep when i wake it up the screen is white, next is the fact the now the media update for library is no longer working.
have tried to contact support and find out some information yet expecting a response is my fault as i can see the a lot of people have been having problems with contacting support.
the one thing i dont understand is archos must know there is a problem and i would not be f##ked off if they would come out and say so yet there is no response from them which is very frustrating, without customers they have no jobs maybe they should remember that.
maybe its time that all frustrated customers start a webpage or facebook to express our complaints that way when ever someone types in archos it will come up with the page first to warn others about this company

anyone keen to start such a page let me know im sure with everyone working together we will be able to take them down haha

come one archos sort you company out, time to be honest and support your customers

It may help if you could tell everyone what device you have...

[ms07.guf]

sorry, just a newbe question:

but thsi firmware is authomatically downloadable from my archos with his update or is a Beta version ?