ice cream sandwich bug on a500

[btmh]

I've just updated my iconia tablet a 500 few days back.
1. My asphalt 6 adrenaline, nova HD, dungeon hunter and hero of Sparta all HD, doesn't work even i reinstall it.
2. The screen rotation doesn't work anymore. I lock it and turn and unlock it. Its still the same.
I haven't encounter any other bugs yet, but for now... Its working fine and its real smooth. Never dropped only used for 5 months so i dont think its the tab that causes the screen rotation prob but the operating system. Any1 having similar problem?

 

[J515OP]

I think this is covered in the A500 sub-forum. One possible solution is to to power down, rotate the tablet around and then power back up. It helped at least one person but not others. Acer Iconia Tab A500 Forum

 

[J515OP]

Oh and I see that you are posting for the first time, so welcome and enjoy the many A500 ICS conversations currently taking place as well as the rest of the forum

 

[btmh]

Thx. And ya first time. I can rotate it by using apps that uses it horizontally or vertically but ut stays permanent till i switch app. Thrs no need to power it of. Just want it auto. And my games. T_T now i will wait for a new update to fixnthis bugs. Currently using os4.0.3. Is it the latest?

 

[J515OP]

I'm going to move this to the A500 forum where you might get more replies

JP

 

[Mrhelper]

You may have encountered the ICS relate InvenSense sensor initialization problem I wrote about in this long winded post: http://androidforums.com/acer-iconi...veral-a500-ics-related-symptoms-problems.html. It started out with the sensor problem and what I thought were related performance problems, and turned into a post about both the sensor issue and more general app related performance management issues. It just sorta got away from me. You don't need to read all of that to work this issue though, just do the following.

You can confirm or discount the sensor error condition by installing aLogcat and looking for MLUpdateData error (code 26) messages in your system log. If you see any, that's the problem, and there will be very many -- about 20 per second. If you do this, please post back and let me know what you observed in the logs. To see the errors, the screeen rotation lock switch must be unlocked (slid to the left). Locking screen orientation pauses the output of the errors.

The workaround is to use the pinhole button to perform a hardware reset, and then avoid powering down your tablet when practical. I have not isolated any single app or other specific trigger, but this seems to happen to my tablet in about 50% of power ups after I have my favorite apps installed. I really have not done much testing with no apps installed, so I don't have enough data on the problem to tell for certain if it happens less with only the Acer provided apps.

After doing the hardware reset (pinhole), if I never power down and back up, I never see the problem. This appears to be a bug in the current a500 ICS version. I never observed it on Honeycomb.

I'm guessing that many people may not have noticed this problem, because like me they may tend to use the tablet in either landcape or portrait orientation. I didn't notice it until I saw a post about it. It also seems possible that it affects some hardware builds differently than others.

 

[Greg_E]

FYI, mine works just fine and always has since the first day of update. I almost always power mine down when I'm done with it. The number of apps I have installed is very small so it would be easy to sit down and list them if you think it will help.

 

[Mrhelper]

FYI, mine works just fine and always has since the first day of update. I almost always power mine down when I'm done with it. The number of apps I have installed is very small so it would be easy to sit down and list them if you think it will help.

I actually did test for the problem without loading any apps at all after a factory data reset. I was able to cause the problem by powering down immediately at the completion of power up, when the login screen came up. If I waited much longer, it would not happen as often. It seems like some sort of race conditon affecting power down, which then leaves the device in a state where it requires a reset to again enable initialization code to subscribe to sensor IRQs after power up. I suspect it gets worse with more apps intalled, and possibly certain types of apps, but I just have not taken the time to narrow it down further. I had about 70 apps installed when I first encountered the condition, and I am now down to about 40. My tablet is otherwise very stable and very fast, if you read the other post, you'll see that I did identify problems with Dolphin causing severe system wide problems, but I don't think that any one app is the cause of the sensor init bug. That appears to be an Acer a500 ICS issue. It's an intermittent problem, and the trigger/cause is somewhat obscure, so it appears that they just didn't pick it up with their system test suite.

I've actually gotten used to it, and because I have an easy and reliable workaround, it doesn't bother me. I just want to make the workaround and methods for reducing the frequency available for others who may be having the same problem.

 

[iamkoza]

I actually did test for the problem without loading any apps at all after a factory data reset. I was able to cause the problem by powering down immediately at the completion of power up, when the login screen came up. If I waited much longer, it would not happen as often. It seems like some sort of race conditon affecting power down, which then leaves the device in a state where it requires a reset to again enable code to subscribe to sensor IRQs after power up. I suspect it gets worse with more apps intalled, and possibly certain types of apps, but I just have not take time to narrow it down further. I had about 70 apps installed when I first encountered the condition, and I am now down to about 40. My tablet is otherwise very stable and very fast, if you read the other post, you'll see that I did identify problems with Dolphin causing severe system wide problems, but I don't think that any one app is the cause of the sensor init bug. That appears to be an Acer a500 ICS issue. It's an intermittent problem, and the trigger/cause is somewhat obscure, so it appears that they just didn't pick it up with their system test suite.

I've actually gotten used to it, and because I have an easy and reliable workaround, it doesn't bother me. I just want to make the workaround and methods for reducing the frequency available for others who may be having the same problem.

I have this issue too... a hardware reset and then never powering off the tablet is not an acceptable solution. i hope acer addresses this.

 

[Mrhelper]

I have this issue too... a hardware reset and then never powering off the tablet is not an acceptable solution. i hope acer addresses this.

Maybe this is already clear, but just in case it is not: When I refer to powering down the system, I mean holding the power key until a window pops up and asks "Power Off, Would you like to shut down?" I was not refering to the short press of the power button that causes the tablet to go to sleep. If you merely use this button to put your tablet to sleep, then you won't see the sensor initialization problem after a reset. You will only see this problem after a full power off, and it does not happen every time. I actually prefer the sleep mode anyway because I like the instant start. I do the same on my notebook PCs. I have no desire to waste precious time on pointless full system boots. This problem is really not that much of a burden.

I agree that Acer should fix this. It also seems reasonable for people seeing the problem to call them about it so they know it is important, but don't let it melt your ice cream.

 

[Douvie]

Maybe this is already clear, but just in case it is not: When I refer to powering down the system, I mean holding the power key until a window pops up and asks "Power Off, Would you like to shut down?" I was not refering to the short press of the power button that causes the tablet to go to sleep. If you merely use this button to put your tablet to sleep, then you won't see the sensor initialization problem after a reset. You will only see this problem after a full power off, and it does not happen every time. I actually prefer the sleep mode anyway because I like the instant start. I do the same on my notebook PCs. I have no desire to waste precious time on pointless full system boots. This problem is really not that much of a burden.

I agree that Acer should fix this. It also seems reasonable for people seeing the problem to call them about it so they know it is important, but don't let it melt your ice cream.

I power down my tablet all the time. I don't have a problem.

Try disabling google+ I've seen some problems on the forum relating to some issues caused by google+. Even if you don't use it. The latest update for Google+ came through yesterday.

 

[Mrhelper]

I power down my tablet all the time. I don't have a problem.

Try disabling google+ I've seen some problems on the forum relating to some issues caused by google+. Even if you don't use it. The latest update for Google+ came through yesterday.

Thanks for the tip Douvie,

The InvenSense sensor init problem I've written about in considerable depth is not associated with Google+ though, I disabled that app as soon as I installed ICS, because I do not use it. The sensor problem is apparently related to the ICS update, and is actually a failure occuring in the ICS initialization (boot) code as shown in the system logs.

 

[Douvie]

Thanks for the tip Douvie,

The InvenSense sensor init problem I've written about in considerable depth is not associated with Google+ though, I disabled that app as soon as I installed ICS, because I do not use it. The sensor problem is apparently related to the ICS update, and is actually a failure occuring in the ICS initialization (boot) code as shown in the system logs.

Another question:

Did you download the ACER UPDATER UPDATE before you got ICS?

Apparently it was possible update to ICS without having to do this update first.

 

[gerryex]

I power down my tablet all the time. I don't have a problem.

Try disabling google+ I've seen some problems on the forum relating to some issues caused by google+. Even if you don't use it. The latest update for Google+ came through yesterday.

Hi Douvie,

I'm actually not having any problems but I also do not use G+ and would like to disable it, but I couldn't find where to do it. I went into the Setting - Apps and found it but the only the only options it has was Force Stop, Uninstall Updates and Clear Data. I did the Force Stop but I don't know if it will start up again when I power on (my tablet is not used daily so when I'm done I do a full power down). I thought with ICS there was a way to disable pre-installed apps even if you cannot uninstall them. Isn't G+ one of them and if so how do you disable it?

Thanks,
Gerry

 

[2000roadie]

Gerry,
recall, I cleared cash, then data and then uninstalled updates. When that was completed, it allowed me to disable. Hope that helps.