[TouchpadTim]

I've used KalemSoft Media Player version 1.0.1 on my Touchpad for years to watch videos. It has worked perfectly for years.

Recently, KalemSoft started doing something odd. Frequently, if I had other windows open on the Touchpad, KalemSoft would crash. It had never done that before. It was annoying. But if I just closed a few other windows that were open, KalemSoft would then run OK so I just worked around the issue.

But the other day KalemSoft suddenly started refusing to open entirely. If I press the KalemSoft button, the little lights around the icon flash, as they normally do on Touchpad as an app opens. However, then the lights stop and the app doesn't open.

I went into Software Manager, deleted the KalemSoft app, and then reinstalled it properly. But even after reinstalling, it is doing the same thing. I can't open KalemSoft. The icon flashes the lights around it when pressed, but then just stops and nothing happens.

Everything else on the Touchpad is working perfectly. No other issues at all. Only this strange issue where Kalemsoft won't open.

What should I do to get KalemSoft to work again? It's the app I use most on the tablet so it's a real bummer not being able to run it for some unknown reason. I really figured deleting and reinstalling it would fix the problem but it didn't. I'm not sure what to try next.

[MikeN68]

I had this issue and contacted Kalemsoft. They were very good and responded quickly, but the gist of it was. Uninstall and download the 'current' version from their website. Then activate it from Settings --> Activation using the email address you bought it with.

www.kalemsoft.com/site/docs/wqi.txt

[TouchpadTim]

Thanks so much for your reply. But that's exactly what I tried. I went into Software Manager, deleted KalemSoft app, then went to that very page you linked above and reinstalled it. After reinstalling I have the same issue still. When I push the KalemSoft icon, the light goes on for a second around the icon but nothing happens. So it won't open up. I can't get to any settings to activate it because I can't even get the program itself to open.

I'm not sure what else to try. As far as I know, going to Software Manager and clicking delete on the app is the only way to uninstall it. I know sometimes on computers, when you delete a program, it doesn't really do a full delete unless you do it a more complete way. But I don't know if there is any such issue on a Touchpad. Is it possible that deleting through Software Manager didn't really do a full uninstall and therefore the reinstall isn't quite fully new and the problem is persisting? Is there some way to do an uninstall that ensures I'm fully deleting the app before reinstalling?

What else could I do?

[Mutoidi]

FYI: You can also delete Apps using WOSQI.
Tools-->Device Management-->User-Installed Content - Packages/Patches-->Tick the relevant box-->Click on 'Uninstall'.
And/Or:
Open 'Launcher' and press & hold relevant App Icon until the 'X' appears.. then tap on the 'X' to uninstall/remove.

- I am also in the habit of performing a full Device Restart after Uninstalling/Reinstalling anything.

Hope this helps a bit.

[joeytino]

I have had this issue happen occasionally ever since I purchased it and in every case, a reboot fixed the issue. I did not read above that you ever did that so I thought I would throw in my 2 cents. A bit of a pain, but a small one compared to others.

[George Mari]

Try cleaning out your var partition. Search the forums here.

-- Sent from my Palm Veer using Forums

[TouchpadTim]

Thank you all for the replies.

KalemSoft told me to also try deleting the KalemSoft folder on the device while in USB. So I deleted the program in Software Manager and also manually deleted that folder. Then I re-installed but the same problem exists. KalemSoft said if that didn't work to try restoring to factory settings, but this is a drastic measure I'd hope not to have to do since I have a lot of modifications on the device I don't want to lose.

Joeytino, when you talk about a "reboot" what kind do you mean? I certainly have just held the power button so it turns off and then turned it back on again (powering off and powering back on). Or do you mean holding the power button and home button simultaneously until it restarts? Or something also involving the volume button? Please let me know which combination of buttons you mean and I'll definitely try it.

Once I'm sure what you mean and I try that, if that doesn't work, I'll look into George Mari's idea regarding the var partition.

[joeytino]

Just a plain old reboot works in my case. Hold the power button until the menu appears and select Device Restart though it appears your issue is more complicated than the one I have.

[TouchpadTim]

Yes joeytino, just restarting the device definitely doesn't fix the problem. Are you sure your issue is the same? You push the KalemSoft icon, the lights around the icon flash a bit, but then stop and it fails to open? Either way I guess something more serious is awry on my device than yours if just a regular restart fixes it for you.

[TouchpadTim]

I still can't figure out how to get KalemSoft to launch. Nothing so far has changed the behavior. I'd still really like any other suggestions.

I'm curious about the var partition issue George Mari mentioned. The links I've been able to find that seem relevant to this are these:

http://forums.webosnation.com/webos-...gets-full.html

Fix "Not Enough Storage to Download" error (homebrew) | webOS Nation

Am I correct that this is basically just about the /var/luna/data/downloadhistory.db file becoming too large and needing to be deleted? Mine is only 1.5MB so that doesn't seem like it would be the culprit right? Or is there more in that var folder that needs cleaning up? (And if so how to do it? Just use Internalz and delete?) Is it worth deleting that file even though it seems pretty small? Is there a way to back it up first so I at least still have it if I delete it? I can't access the var folder in USB mode.

I'm frustrated because KalemSoft is the app I used most other than the browser. And now I can't use it even though I paid for it and can't figure out why.

[George Mari]

Sorry I took so long to respond.

Here are some notes I took regarding cleaning up your var partition. And yes, you can do this using Internalz...

var partition cleanup:

0. Go to Browser preferences and clean cache and cookies
1. Delete /var/luna/data/downloadhistory.db
2. Delete any files found in /var/minicores
3. Delete any files found in /var/context/pending
4. Delete any files in /var/palm/data/localstorage with filename pattern http*.localstorage

-- Sent from my Palm Veer using Forums

[TouchpadTim]

George Mari,

Thank you. This seems to be the next thing I'll have to try since nothing else is working. I am also having some other symptoms so perhaps those are also tied to the var partition.

A few questions I still have before I undertake this:

1) Is there a way to check the size of the var partition and a standard size to compare it to to verify it is, in fact, too big?

2) Can this var partition size still be the problem even if my downloadhistory.db file is so small (only 1.5 MB)? This post questions that and asks whether the problem may really be corruption and not size. http://forums.webosnation.com/webos-...ml#post3451879

3) Is there a way to backup the downloadhistory.db file? I can get to it in Internalz, so I could delete it that way. But in USB mode, I can't access it so I don't see how to back it up. (Or is backing it up just pointless and there's no reason to worry about that?)

4) Is there any reason to back up anything else before deleting these things on your list?

[George Mari]

1) Is there a way to check the size of the var partition and a standard size to compare it to to verify it is, in fact, too big?

Yes. Connect your USB cable from your PC/Mac to your TouchPad, and use the novaterm command to access the command-line environment on your TouchPad. Then, type "df -h /var" (without the quotes) to get an overview of usage of your var partition. Here is what it looks like from my own TouchPad:
Screenshot_2017-11-04_07-20-15.png
The "Size" column tells me my var partition is a total of 62 Megabytes.
The "Used" column tells me I've got 48.3 MB used out of that 62 MB total.
The "Available" column is the difference between the 2.
The "Use%" expresses the amount used as a percentage.

My own rule of thumb is if I start to see weird behavior on my device, like files not downloading, or apps not behaving normally, if this Use% is over 90%, it's time to clean out the var partition.

2) Can this var partition size still be the problem even if my downloadhistory.db file is so small (only 1.5 MB)? This post questions that and asks whether the problem may really be corruption and not size. http://forums.webosnation.com/webos-...ml#post3451879

I am 99% sure this file is just the contents of what you have downloaded with your browser, seen below. You say 1.5 MB is so small, but if it's 1.5 MB out of 62 MB total, it's a lot!

browser_2017-04-11_071601.png

3) Is there a way to backup the downloadhistory.db file? I can get to it in Internalz, so I could delete it that way. But in USB mode, I can't access it so I don't see how to back it up. (Or is backing it up just pointless and there's no reason to worry about that?)

No need to back it up. It's just your history of files previously downloaded, and will be re-created by the browser app. If you want to, you can copy it from /var/luna/data over to your media partition, and then from there to your PC/Mac, but there is no need, unless you want to preserve your download history for some reason.

4) Is there any reason to back up anything else before deleting these things on your list?

No. The files and directories I listed are safe to delete, or to delete from. There are other folders under var that are more of an unknown, so I wouldn't go there yet.

[TouchpadTim]

I went to a command line on Windows and typed novaterm but it doesn't recognize that command. I believe I need to install Novacom for that command to work? But I can't find where to download Novacom. The old links are dead. Am I correct that this is what I need? And if so where can I download this from? Any guide for installing it? Sorry I know this may be basic stuff but I have never done it I don't think and so much of what I'm finding when I search is so old and possibly outdated.

[Grabber5.0]

Unfortunately on Windows, there is no novaterm executable. The easiest method is command line access from wosqi, but it's more limited, as it's not a full shell, so you can't edit files, and ctrl+c will exit the terminal completely instead of just the currently executing command. Putty works well, but first you have to enable ssh access. There's a batch file to enable that in the SDK, which of course requires having the full SDK installed rather than just the Novacom drivers. I think there is stuff available in Preware that also might work, but I've never used it. If you have an Ubuntu live flash drive, you can install the Novacom drivers on that, which does include novaterm. On some of the latest Ubuntu versions, they've changed the way services are started, but I don't know when that happened. I use the 2014 LTS version I believe.

[TouchpadTim]

It turns out I had Novacom on one of my other computers. So I was able to go on there and look at the Var partition usage. It was 100%

I've done almost all the steps you listed and already some of the symptoms are fixed. I think this was definitely the problem.

One last question.

Your last task was Delete any files in /var/palm/data/localstorage with filename pattern http*.localstorage

There are hundreds of those files. In Internalz, I can't find a way to delete them in bulk. Deleting them one by one will take hours. Is there a way to delete them in bulk?

Once I figure that out I'll be able to complete the process.

As for how to install Novacom, it might still be worth answering in another thread or pointing to one with the answer as I would still like to know how to install it on my other computer and maybe other people would too. But in terms of getting the Touchpad working properly, I think we're at the very last step once I know how to delete all those localstorage files.

P.S. I just saw Grabber's response about Novacom after posting this. I had wosqi on one computer so that's how I was able to check the var partition usage.

[George Mari]

There is no way to do "bulk" operations in Internalz, that I'm aware of.

But you can sort directory contents by size, and then just delete the largest files that start with "http".

If you open Internals and navigate to /var/palm/data/localstorage/ it should look something like this:

internalz_2017-07-11_070039.png

You can tap on the column header for "Size" in Internalz, and your directory listing will now be sorted by size:

internalz_2017-07-11_070047.png

Then you can delete the largest ones, one by one, until you get sick of it. :-)

NOTE: Only delete files in this directory that begin with "http". These are used as local storage by the corresponding website, kind of like cookies.

[TouchpadTim]

Thank you to everyone who replied. Especially thanks to George Mari. Following those few steps to clean the Var partition completely solved the problem. It was at 100% usage. Now after following the steps George posted in this thread, it's down to 18%. A lot of things are working properly again.

I don't have the patience to delete all the "local storage" files but I sorted by size, got rid of the big ones, and then did a bunch more and that's good enough. Thank you very much again.

This Var partition issue is something every Touchpad owner needs to know about. If that partition becomes too full it can really disable a lot of things on the device. But there is no indicator or any way you'd ever know to check that without someone telling you. It's kind of amazing that HP even allowed it to be possible for this to happen without the user having any idea or way to find out. I'm just glad you guys were here to point it out. I'll clean that partition out regularly now to keep things running well.

[eblade]

HP's QA testing wasn't quite so good as the webOS QA testing these days is (good thing for LG's TVs :-) ) . . . I suspect, though, that there were a lot of things that were known as potential gotchas, but they figured they'd be updating the software a lot longer than they were :-S

[Preemptive]

This Var partition issue is something every Touchpad owner needs to know about.

@George Mari: Would you be willing to put your posts into an article for pivotCE or webOS Internals? I have also recently been put onto the 'var issue' and improved performance with a bit of deletion.

Actually, how difficult would it be to make an app that could do a one tap 'tune-up' by deleting these files? Or even better, a patch that fully automated this periodic clean up?