another battery post

[intron]

I have had my frankenpre2 for long time now and suddenly I have battery issues - which doesn't strange except for the fact that I don't think its the battery.

the battery has been fine and then about 2 days ago it suddenly wouldn't last longer than an hour on full charge. It is burning hot _ >50C and when I check the battery its discharging at -350 to -800 mA.

this battery in a different pre behaves fine and another battery in this pre doesn't fix it.

I uninstalled uberkernel, just in case, but tht made no difference.

so my queston is: is there a way to differentiate whether this is a software or hardware issue? Can I use a command line on my pc to se which processes are using how much cpu power?

any other ideas?

[hans109h]

When was the last time your profile backed up? Are you using Compcache?

You can use novaterm or Wterm and run 'top' to see a list of the current processes and their cpu and memory usage.

Hans

[somline]

I had something similar once and found out with "top" over ssh that it was a mail, constantly trying to get fetched from the server. I deleted the mail using my mac.

[intron]

Thanks for the help. To answer the questions: I am not using compcache and haven't backed up my profile in a while. Ok, here is what the output is for "top" . When I issue a "ps" command for the top PID (1320), it returns a process at /usr/bin/PmBtstac

I googled it and it doesn't return anything, anyone know what it is?

[somline]

Bluetooth?
Maybe

strings /usr/bin/PmBtstac | more

can show you some hints what this process is for.

[intron]

Originally Posted by somline

Bluetooth?

I thought that too but my bluetooth is turned off. Hmmm... let me try turnng it on and then back off again, just for the hell of it.

Interesting, I can't make it come on. I tried to turn it on and its stuck with the twirling wait circle and a message saying "Bluetooth is turning on"..... but it never does. And I can't stop it and try to turn it off. Even though I have restarted the phone multiple times since this began, I am going to restart it and see what's up.......nope, still won't turn off/freezes.

So, now what? We are narrowing it down - thanks for all the help everyone!

[somline]

I would try:
1. Shutdown the device and remove the battery for some minutes
2. Look in /var/log/messages for error messages
3. Try killing the process "kill -9 <process id>

[intron]

Originally Posted by somline

I would try:
1. Shutdown the device and remove the battery for some minutes
2. Look in /var/log/messages for error messages
3. Try killing the process "kill -9 <process id>

Thanks again to everyone for the helpful comments.

Tried #1, it doesn't change anything.
#2 - I don't see anything specifically referring to "bluetooth", "bt", "stac" or that file name. The errors that I saw didn't seem to be related.
#3 is a life saver. When that process is killed all is right with the world.

So, in the short term, I can kill this process when it pops up and go about my day.

In the long term.... ***?

[intron]

Originally Posted by somline

Bluetooth?
Maybe

strings /usr/bin/PmBtstac | more

can show you some hints what this process is for.

Here is the output:

# /usr/bin/PmBtStack |more
/usr/bin/PmBtStack |more
Initialized logs for process, PmBtStack
[STACK] -- priority = -1 -> -4


Warning: The local Bluetooth address has not been specified with -X option.
The default Bluetooth address will be used.

Using COM port: /dev/ttyS0 and baud rate: 115200
[STACK] -- starting msg loop
[PWR]: com.palm.btstack :: Initializing Power
(process:9483): Powerd-DEBUG: IdlerShm already exists... reusing

** (process:9483): DEBUG: _powerd_server_up connected was true (powerd is alread
y running)
CsrSched: external send registered
peer_com: waiting for connection...
open_port: Unable to open serial port - /dev/ttyS0: No such file or directory
PANIC: Failed to start the BlueCore transport (tech 0, reason 17)
*****ERROR:PANIC: Failed to start the BlueCore transport (tech 0, reason 17)
*****ERROR:[SIG]: Received SIGABRT, Stopping PmBtStack
[SIG]: Received Signal to stop, Stopping PmBtStack
!!!! STOPPING STACK
[STACK]almsniffer deinit
Illegal instruction

[somline]

So now we know that the Bluetooth daemon is using all the power.
It's either a software- or a hardware problem.
I would doctor the device.
Backup your stuff before.
* preware -> save packet list
* Save/Restore -> backup all
* Backup the whole USB drive

EDIT: And of course start a palm backup manually

[intron]

Thanks for all your help somline, I appreciate it. And thanks for Dr. Battery too!

Since i don't really use bluetooth with my phone I think I am just going to kill the process whenever I have to reboot and leave it at that. If it gets to be too much of a pain, I will take a trip to the doctor. But I loathe starting over and recustomizing everything if I don't have to. So, thanks for the tip to help me keep this thing hobbling along for a while. I *did* drop it in a puddle a few weeks ago, it might very well be a hardware issue. So, this will do. I am going to need a new phone in the next year for sure, unfortunately I don't have any webOS choices right now, and since I am CDMA, I can't even use open webos. I am bummed. But this lets me stick with webOS for a little while longer.

Thanks again.

[somline]

OK you can try to rename the process:

mv  /usr/bin/PmBtstac  /usr/bin/PmBtstac.dont_run

Then it should no start at all

EDIT: You may have to make the partition writeable. I can search for the command to do so.

[intron]

Originally Posted by somline

OK you can try to rename the process:

mv  /usr/bin/PmBtstac  /usr/bin/PmBtstac.dont_run

Then it should no start at all

EDIT: You may have to make the partition writeable. I can search for the command to do so.

done.

The actual file is

/usr/bin/PmBtStack

(the capital S threw me off for a while)

again, many thanks.

[somline]

Originally Posted by intron

done.

The actual file is

/usr/bin/PmBtStack

(the capital S threw me off for a while)

again, many thanks.

I didn't look into my device. Just copied it from your post :-)
And is it working: not starting the process?

[intron]

Originally Posted by somline

I didn't look into my device. Just copied it from your post :-)
And is it working: not starting the process?

Yup, it was definitely *my* typo . I was mostly clarifying for future reference in case anyone else has this problem and stumbles on the site. I don't want them to be misled by my mistake

And yes, I reinstalled Uberkernel, rebooted, and that process is not active at all - perfect!

Thanks so much, you saved me many hours of trouble trying to doctor and reconfigure a 'new' phone.