Classic after the latest update – what’s going on?

[Classic by MotionApps]

We received many emails from our users and from some of you guys from the forums. Reports are similar – Classic is not working correctly after the latest update from Palm. We are organizing the use cases and issues you describe in a few different groups, and we’re trying to get to the bottom of what caused this.

When we do that, we’ll be able to fix it.

Anyways, this post is to tell you that we’re here and working on this constantly. We do have some progress and hope to come out with the answer soon.

You did not see us around for the past couple of days, and this is because we hoped to come out with a solution – but it is day three now and there is no point in leaving you without any info from us.

However, we’re here all the time, going through your reports and carefully reading each one of them.

Please be patient, and feel free to drop a line here in the forum (thanks or *** posts – both are valid in a situation like this).

MotionApps crew

P.S. We got some reports that a hard reset in Classic helped to some, but did not confirm this on our side yet.

[dcIIIxe]

Thanks! That means a lot to us. We will stick by you if we know you understand and are working on it. But we don't like silence or denial.

[rswst8]

can't you work on some kind of failsafe so when classic crashes it doesn't take down the whole phone with it?
there's no other app that consistently resets my whole phone. every time i launch Classic i know there's a good chance there will be a reset. and it's also the most expensive app. two facts that don't go well together.

maybe the problem is on the webos side, not sandboxing it well enough.

[Dr.Grace]

Thanks. It's reassuring when developers at least let their customers know they are aware of a problem and are working on a solution.

This is a strange thing: while some are reporting that things have gotten much worse, actually for me, Classic is now working beautifully. For the first time, I am routinely leaving it open on my Pre, with no ill effects. Prior to 2.0.1 and WebOS 1.3.1 I had the problem where Classic froze every time the phone went to sleep, and before that, I had frequent crashes and freezes, some of which would cause the Pre itself to freeze and reset. Performance is also pretty good now. So at least I can say that it's possible for Classic to work well, once these problems are sorted out.

[Jonathan I Ezor]

Sorry, but add me to the list of people seeing problems. The beta voice memo you shared with me crashes not only Classic but often the entire Pre, and even a simple Monopoly game can lock and crash both. {Jonathan}

[doctorzeph]

I left Classic open on the Pre when I put it on the Touchstone last night. The phone went to sleep using Brightness Unlinked after a delay and all seemed fine. However, sometime during the night, the phone automatically reset and the bright light of the phone woke my wife up. I checked the phone to find that no cards were open--the sign that the phone reset. I'm guessing it's Classic that's the culprit as this is the program that has been frequently crashing and causing resets since updating to WebOS 1.3.1.

Thank you Motionapps for your email reply and for starting this thread to let us know you're working on the problem. Classic is very important for my work so I sure hope it gets updated with a fix soon.

[Classic by MotionApps]

No big news since the last post, but we are testing some possible "fixes". We're still not sure if any of them will be applicable to all the cases, but we do have a starting point.

Staying in touch with all the news.

[justjill3]

I was hoping that I would fly through this upgrade without any "classic" problems, but cest la vie! That was not the case. Classic seems to be opening slower now. I got excited with the Classic update prior to the release of 1.3.1 because the program seemed to open up faster. Now, not so much. And crash??? Let's talk. The relationship between the use of Goosync, Classic and WebOS seems to be a problematic one. Don't get me wrong, I love the prospect of what Goosync offers users, but it repeatedly crashes Classic and sometimes the phone.

I am just grateful that your company stays in realtime touch with us here. You do that and you will continue to have my loyalty. Thanks.

[Shadowcat]

Ok, first I should mention that I use Classic almost exclusively for non-Classic-certified programs, but I've been doing this since day 1 and have never had the amount of issues that I've been having since upgrading to 1.3.1. There have always been programs that just don't work with Classic, but of the handful of programs that used to work, almost half of them now cause Classic to crash. I've had to pull the battery three times.

***

After much experimentation (and the aforementioned battery pulling), I've discovered that the issue seems to be with attempting to load more than one file at the same time. While it would seem like files should be loaded separately, this is actually insane when you start looking at exactly what's involved. It would be bad enough to have to load each individual program separately, but when some programs come with multiple databases, and each one has to be loaded separately, that can take hours. Here's how I managed to get some of my programs to install:

1. connect to USB drive
2. drag and drop one file into the Classic Install folder
3. disconnect USB drive
4. run Classic and let it import the PRC or PDB that you just added
5. lather, rinse, and repeat

Considering that for 6 programs to install, I had to add 22 PRC/PDB files to my install folder, it's no surprise that the above process got old in a hurry. I do, in fact, have 3 other programs I want to install, but I'll save that for sometime when I haven't just loaded 22 separate files. Whenever I tried to load more than one file at a time, I received this error message:

The application <> performed an illegal operation and cannot continue.

If this message appears again, please contact the developer of this application.

I know that MotionApps isn't responsible for supporting the hundreds of thousands of apps out there that are not Classic-certified, but I got this same error message when trying to install MetrO, which is Classic-certified. Hopefully, you guys are tracking down whatever is causing these errors and will have it fixed soon.

[Dick99999]

This morning my pre (GSM/Sprint, webOS 3.1, Classic 2.01) did a reset (first time ever) after starting up Classic and then starting an noncertified app:TomTom.
I noticed:
- Classic took a very long time to start up: 30-60 secs
- after the reset, starting Classic then starting TomTom with the non-cert question, and the main app screen appeared, so TT seemed terminated
- started TT again and it worked

UPDATE
Classic crashes now randomly, after a 2 hotsyncs and when Classic is starting up. It gives the non-cert message even for GOOSYNC.

[Classic by MotionApps]

Thanks for reporting. How we "use" reports - we try to research around everything you wrote, and then find the thing or a combination of things that could have caused each different behavior you report.

This issue has some nasty things about it, because as you see, some users have no issues with Classic, and the ones having it - have it manifested in different ways.

Now back to work.

[bulls96]

happy to note that my hanging issues have been resolved (so far) after 1.3.1. That is after a webosdoctor 1.3.1.

[dakotaforgione]

Keep workin' on er !! Most of us are having issues rather than running fine. I also had a problem after a reset loading on Text Twist It says that there is no memory. I will try to the "virtual card" . It had loaded fine in last version.

Thanks

[wcarlson40]

Strangely, I have to say the crashes are slowing down....It'd be odd that the program could "self heal", but that's what it appears to have done.. Maybe I've already crashed it every possible way, and maybe it can't crash the same way twice??? I'm sure that doesn't help you at all

[dcIIIxe]

Maybe you've just stopped doing anything that causes crashes, which is mostly everything. I can't do hardly anything without the dreaded "Illegal Operation" crash, which requires a hard reset. I give up until something is fixed.

[redheads55]

I am chiming in with my wahhhhhh... ;-)

I have been using classic since day one with very few problems - have been using it with non-certified things such as audible and loving it. With the last update I found I could not use audible unless I also ran nodoze, so I would run both together. Ok, I can do a work-around :-)
I got crashes every two to three days - every now and again my book would still play though the entire thing reset (that was always cool, but when it came back on I could listen until I opened classic, then the book would stop...) not sure i would call audible certified unless they changed it a bit -- will check there next to see if there was an update.

Then came this 1.3.1 os update... :-(

What I have been able to do:
I can open program and get as far as starting an app such as the games you included. They seem to work, though I deleted most of them so I cannot test them very well.
I started audible and was so excited to see that it was now 'certified' - yeah... and then crash. I get a frozen 'ok' screen on audible.

And I have to take out the battery.

Sometimes I get the:

The application <> performed an illegal operation and cannot continue.
If this message appears again, please contact the developer of this application.

as I try to *start* classic, sometimes it is after I try to open an app - it varies (lots of help, I know!).

I click the button to dismiss that message. Sometimes it freezes there, other times it exits. And then the screen is just on. It will not go off - total freeze of all apps and functions. I left it on the charger over 1/2 hour last night waiting to see - LOL. It just got hot and seemed ticked off at me (sluggish and hot) when I did reboot - to recover I have to take out the battery.

So, no more audible, no more classic for me right now :-( ... happy to help get data as needed to help speed it up ;-)

So, let me know what else you want me to try, I am happy to report back.

[doctorzeph]

Classic still randomly crashes on me. Fortunately, I only got the "illegal operation" error message once today and I was able to dimiss the card and not have to pull the battery like earlier in the week. I'm still hoping that Motionapps finds a way to STABILIZE Classic within 1.3.1. I wonder if the problem is more likely to occur if you have more cards open. I didn't have as many open today. Hmm.

[Classic by MotionApps]

Guys, the issue seems to be rather complex, and we will need some more time to work this out.

But, here’s what our support team received from one of our users, so we thought we should share:

Just thought I'd report a kind of workaround I figured out. I have found that Classic runs fine (better than before the update) if I follow this procedure:
1) Turn on airplane mode,
2) Restart Pre
3) Run Classic with no other cards open.
If I have a card open before it (even if I closed it before starting Classic) or if I open any other app after Classic is running, I get one of the various types of crashes.

However, we do not have a 100% confirmation that this will work as "a fix" in all cases.

If you go for this, pls report back with results.

[hdhuntr]

Originally Posted by Classic by MotionApps

Guys, the issue seems to be rather complex, and we will need some more time to work this out.

But, here’s what our support team received from one of our users, so we thought we should share:

Just thought I'd report a kind of workaround I figured out. I have found that Classic runs fine (better than before the update) if I follow this procedure:
1) Turn on airplane mode,
2) Restart Pre
3) Run Classic with no other cards open.
If I have a card open before it (even if I closed it before starting Classic) or if I open any other app after Classic is running, I get one of the various types of crashes.

However, we do not have a 100% confirmation that this will work as "a fix" in all cases.

If you go for this, pls report back with results.

I tried this exactly. Zero difference. Audible runs for 1 minute or less then crashes.

[Classic by MotionApps]

Originally Posted by hdhuntr

I tried this exactly. Zero difference. Audible runs for 1 minute or less then crashes.

Thank you for reporting.