Develop Bugs

hacking out the account balance / transaction notification

Hi all,
This is a cool phone and all, but i'm on the verge of returning it because of one completely ridiculous feature: I'm a using Cingular in the US and after any transaction, be it making a call or receiving a text message, I get a notification on the phone letting me know how much it cost and what my account balance is. This would just be a minor irritation if it weren't for the fact that when it does this, it plays the 'notify' sound, at near to full volume, regardless of any of the phone's sound settings.
This essentially makes the phone useless for me a good portion of the time as the only way to shut it up during a meeting or whatever is to power it down completely.
I've tried disabling every windows sound setting i could find, putting it on silent, vibrate, whatever, that notification (appears as a bubble next to the connection strength icon with the heading "Phone") will always play, always full volume. In desperation i tried deleting notify.wav from \Windows through activesync and total commander, but it's write protected and you can't change its attributes. Cingular themselves call it a feature of their prepaid plan and can't disable it despite my railing.
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas that I can use to disable this stupid "feature", registry or otherwise, I'd LOVE to hear it.

Threaten Cingular saying that you let the whole world know that they are not willing to work with customers under any circumstances after the money is in their hands because of your simple request to have them remove a simple unwanted feature.
There are 2 reasons I say this:
1) Since "Cingular themselves call it a feature of their prepaid plan" it will happen regardless of any phone you use from them.
2) PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
(It may not go your way as seen in reason 2 - but at the same time after seeing reason 2 would you buy a motorcycle from that company that resides in Milwaukee WI. or recommend that anybody else you know do the same? )

Well I thought about that, but from cingular it's just a clunky product and second rate customer service, which, you know, happens.. The fact that I can't control the sounds my phone makes is a little more ridiculous. It basically doesn't have a silent mode, and should. So that's what I'm focussing on.

zwitterion said:
it plays the 'notify' sound, at near to full volume, regardless of any of the phone's sound settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again, this is not the fault of the phone but Cingular overriding the settings in their "feature of their prepaid plan".
----
When speaking to them about this do it in a polite mild tone manner.
Here is what I would do:
I would call customer service and ask to speak with their supervisor.
When that person gets on the phone, ask for their supervisor.
Repeat process as many times until you can get no further - each person will be more reluctant to bump you up.
Once you get the highest person you can speak with, they will be more willing to listen to your issues because it has reached them.
Focus on their inability to remove unnecessary features - that cause disruptions during important meetings because of a SMS sent - at the customer's request & poor customer service (that is reason why you wanted to speak with the highest person possible.)
Do not focus on the phone itself because it will happen on all their phones.
Also tell them that you have plenty of friends that are not happy with their current provider and are asking everybody about their provider & calling plans (leave it at that - that is making a threat towards them without actually saying it - let them think it).
If nothing gets resolved, then revert to STEP 2 in my previous post.

Thanks for the advice longhair, I might get to the point of doing that. Right now though I'm more interested in the phone itself - Cingular after all just broadcast crap over the air - it's the phone's decision what to do with those signals, and right now that decision is "torpedo useability with an intrusive and unmodifiable notification noise". I write software, i'm pretty sure that somewhere in this little brick of transistors & code is a way to make for a real silent mode, I just need to figure out how.

zwitterion said:
- Cingular after all just broadcast crap over the air - it's the phone's decision what to do with those signals, and right now that decision is "torpedo useability with an intrusive and unmodifiable notification noise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By what you are describing, the phone itself is not the problem but the provider - Cingular in this case.
I am using T-Mobile with the same phone and the service is much better than I had with Orange (Cingular's name out here).
Good luck and keep us updated

sorry i can't help with the sound issues - sounds rubbish! ... but you could try putting your phone into flight mode when in meetings etc to save you fully resetting it!! at least until you find a solution to the problem... stick with it!

I used ActiveSync to explore to \windows under 'My Device' and copied notify.wav to my desktop. I then used an audio editor to make it silent and copied it back.
Now when I get the notifications it still plays the notify.wav but it is silent. You could change it to any sound you wanted. The reason you couldn't delete it was that it was read-only.
I didn't try deleting the file itself but I would guess it would work. If not just replace it with a silent wav file...

Yeah that's what I ended up doing. Well actually I created an empty.wav, copied it to the phone, searched the registry for the ref to the notify sound, changed it to point to empty.wav and bob was my uncle.. I had trouble overwriting notify.wav itself due to permissions.

Can anyone post the key to edit to get rid of the notify.wav sound? I have a Cingular ipaq hw6515 and if I edit the only key that has the notify.wav value I still get the same anoying sound. The file is protected by windows, so I cant delete or edit it to make it silent. I just called Cingular and they say its a feature and there is no way to turn it off.....Thanks

i THINK the key was 'InCallBuzz' from memory but I don't remember where it was.

Humm, I had changed it and it didnt do anything. I will delete some of the keys to see whats gonna happen. Im crossing my fingers.... thanks for the tip anyway

didnt do anything, even after a soft reboot.... must be a Cingular custom setting....

keep in mind that if you change the InCallBuzz.Sound key to something completely bogus (or delete it), your phone will play some default sound anyway. That's why I had to change it to 'empty.wav' and make sure there was an empty.wav on the phone.

Dudes, thanks for all your help. I went back to XP rather than Vista, and the XP explorer allowed me to change the notify.wav file. Now I have a silent file instead of the original and it works perfectly.
I guess Vista is less permissive than XP.
Again, thanks for all your help.

Interesting that Vista turned out to be the difference...
For those without access to XP, I wrote an installer cab to do the replace.
It should replace the notify.wav with a silent one then ask you to reboot the device. I tested it out on my HTC Wizard and it works. Really the only work it is doing is copying one file so it should just work but you never know...
-jalex9

Does anyone know of any register hack to remove the notification balloon as well?

Suppressing the notification message
See my post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2248890
-Kevin

Something is not right ... !!!
I have the same phone, and the same service, and the same bloody horrible notification messages everytime I so much as look at my handset - it tells me that did not cost anything and my balance is ...
However, something is not right with your handset because I can control the volume of the notify message when it arrives - it plays at whatever volume my handset is set to.
Sorry I can't tell you why, I am not very technical, but I thought you might like to know it should not play at full volume.
As a second matter of interest, I have also been talking to Cingular about turning the bloody message thing off.

I did not have to change the notify sound to an empty wav. Just did the reg edit to kill the bubble (linked to above) and it killed the sound as well. Also, worth mentioning is the cab file (above) cannot be un-installed if you decide you want your sound back for any reason so you'd need to manually undo what it does.
I mention this because I was having trouble with something on my phone keeping my phone awake after the notification (sound & bubble) popped up. After the reg edit, the notification still gets sent to your phone and, if it's in standby, wakes it up. You just won't hear the sound or see the bubble. Without the sound, I quickly realized I did not know my phone was sitting in my pocket with the backlight on. I needed my sound back! No big deal really, but should be noted so there are no surprises.
I finally found the program keeping my phone awake after the notification was port splitter. So, I changed some settings and put back the reg edit. Now I have no balloon and no sound when the notification arrives. When Cingular sends it to my phone, it lights up full for 30 seconds then dims then goes completely dark into standby mode.
Hurray! I hated that "feature" even though I could control it's loudness by lowering the whole phone's volume. I also hated OK-ing out of the bubble all the time. Thanks sdkevin for the simple reg edit that killed two birds with one stone!

HTC Excalibur WM 6 constant beeps

Hello i need help. i have no messages but about every hour my HTC excalibur with windows mobile 6 makes a beep, please help

ahronzombi said:
Hello i need help. i have no messages but about every hour my HTC excalibur with windows mobile 6 makes a beep, please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is still a huge problem. its giving m random beeps. i just upgraded the firmware and i still have the problem

I know it's late, but for anyone else experiencing this I believe I found the fix from another forum.
you replace the Default.wav file in the /Windows with a silent wav file.
I copied it to my computer, had to uncheck the read-only setting then opened in soundrecorder. it sure enough is that horrible beep. play it then select "delete before current position" Save it and replace.
haven't heard a beep yet

screamphilling said:
I know it's late, but for anyone else experiencing this I believe I found the fix from another forum.
you replace the Default.wav file in the /Windows with a silent wav file.
I copied it to my computer, had to uncheck the read-only setting then opened in soundrecorder. it sure enough is that horrible beep. play it then select "delete before current position" Save it and replace.
haven't heard a beep yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You healed the fever but did not cure the disease... check your appointments, alarms to see if is one of them that is causing it. You stopped the sound from playing, but whatever is causing the beeps is still there.
Try a hard-reset and do not sync with your PC for 2 or three hours. Also, do not install any app and let us know further.
Regards.

sounds like low bat issue or a missed message a missed text or mms or email that has not been looked at can cause it to send a reminder every 15 mins if you have that turned on. the one thing i had to do was open every email in the phone i had one not read and beep beep beep.
now your power might be high but if the battery is failing like mine i get the beeps at 50% because the bat is crap and at less then 50 shuts off.

is your phone on wifi?
if it has wifi enabled it'll beep everytime it searches out a new connection

those sound like logical answers but my phone had none of those symptoms....
I checked everything I could possibly think of. The people on the forum where i found that "fix" seemed to be just as baffled and nobody ever really came to any conclusion.
someone suggested searching the registry for instances of that .wav file and removing them but that didn't seem to help either
blanking the wav seems to be the only remedy for that annoying noise you're gonna find if you do happen to have this problem

[Q] Power Off Shutdown Sound Is Missing

Since upgrading to a Froyo based ROM, I noticed that my DINC no longer responds with an audible alert, when shutting down. It does issue a vibration. My memory, tells me it did sound a notification when powering down under the stock v2.1 ROM. I searched all the setup and settings menus, but cannot find anything that controls such an alert, when shutting down. I do have a fully functioning bootanimation and startup mp3 of my own. I am happy with startup animation and sound. I also remember, under the HTC stock ROM v2.1, that whenever the USB cable was either attached or disconnected, that I also received an audible alert, or notification. Now, the phone is silent when I connect or disconnect the USB cable. Is there an app or widget or system file that controls this alert. Note, I did check-off the box for Sounds/Notifications/SD card in the settings menu. It makes no difference.

To update my research, I created a Google search on "Froyo shutdown sound". There were many hits across the Froyo/Droid spectrum. Apparently, the Froyo users believe that the Froyo update has removed the notifications that were generated during USB cable activity and during phone shutdown. Many people seemed to be very glad that these "annoying" notifications were removed. Others, like me, missed hearing when the phone randomly booted while tucked neatly away in a pocket or on a counter top. I am glad that I still had the opportunity to use my own power on mp3 notification. I wish I also had the opportunity to exercise choice for these other two items, as well, oh well. Mostly, I regret having had to spend about three (3) hours doing internet search, upon search, to figure out if I was suffering from some self inflicted anomaly. It might have been nice to know, in fact, that there was an official Froyo change log that I could have consulted. All I have is conjecture and nothing is sourced to official material. Sorry for the rant.

DHD Problems !!

Hi all !!
I have a few minor problems with my DHD, the solution for which i'm looking... i'd love it if anyone could help me out. The problems :
1. Earlier when i used to dial any number on the keypad, there used to be a beep sound every time i pressed a number... now this sound does not come... i've tried all the sound settings, changed the skin to stock, and even restarted the phone quite some times, but the sound wont come back... how to get that sound back ?
2. Screen Lock Sound - Earlier, this sound used to be loud enough for me to listen to. Now, this sound does come, but it is very very low in volume... As mentioned before, i've ensured that all the volumes are at their fullest levels, but still no improvement...
3. Whenever i use WiFi, the speed of the phone becomes very slow. Whenever i exit a game after playing it, the phone takes a lot of time to recover to its full speed... what might be the cause of all this ? The Running services always shows around (80 MB in 4) on the left side and (250+200 MB in 40) on the right side..
Please let me know the answers to all these questions as they are quite nagging, especially the 3rd one...
PS : I'm still on Android 2.2... dont have the OTA 2.3 update in India yet !
thanks a lot
maxx

I haven't encountered the first two of your problems and the only thing I could think of would be that you have become deaf. (kidding)
I had the third problem for a while... I think it was to do with certain apps that can drain the processing speed of the phone. I had to delete and reinstall a few apps to find out what it was... might be worth a try.

Download sound manager from market. Not all volumes are accessible with out this app. I had the same problem. Another app you may have installed has altered the keypad and lock sound volumes. Sound manager will allow you to put this right.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

USB connected sounds

Hi,
just installed Maximus 3 rom for my M8 dual sim and noticed that the usb connected sound is the camera click
and its REALLY LOUD
i just know that is going to cause problems in the office if i have to charge it. its embarrassing now just sitting at home...
does anyone know where the settings are for the usb connect/disconnect sounds?
thanks.

hmm, nobody?
any apps out there to change the sound then?
otherwise i will have to remove the camera click sound from audio

Use a root explorer like ES File Explorer, go to system/media/audio/ui and see if there is a file that matches with the "unwanted" USB connection sound. If you find it, rename it (such as adding .bak to the end), and see if that helps.
I'm not on Maximum, and not sure if that is where the particular sound is stored. But its worth a try, anyway.

hmm, i was hoping for something a bit more scientific
renamed /system/media/audio/ui/camera_click.ogg and at least its stopped people looking round when i plug the phone in
thanks anyway...

gazzacbr said:
hmm, i was hoping for something a bit more scientific
renamed /system/media/audio/ui/camera_click.ogg and at least its stopped people looking round when i plug the phone in
thanks anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I haven't messed around with a huge number of custom ROMs, but I've never used one that played a sound when connecting USB.
I was thinking (hoping) there was a sound file more specific to the USB connection; as I assume that renaming the camera click also disables the actual camera shutter sound when taking photos in the stock camera app. Not ideal I suppose; but on the other hand the camera shutter noise isn't really all that necessary.
There must be something in the ROM that points to that sound file when connecting to USB. But I can't think of what, or how to change it.

what i have noticed in the past (previous HD2) is that my Alarm Clock Plus will sometimes lose the alarm settings. i think its when i change the alarm tone and happen to pick a sound file on the sd card.
(i usually would have the sound file on the external card first before copying it to the phone)
if i remove the card the alarm will not work even if i have the same named file on the phone, it will show a number instead of the alarm sound and not play.
maybe its similar and somehow the usb connection is linked to the file but not by name.
this is annoying me now, not knowing how to solve what should be a simple problem
EDIT: ok, so found this on modaco:
Adjustment : build.prop ........... find local\system
Add: new line under #Additional: persist.adb.notify=0
To edit build.prop, you need to be rooted .
which i havnt tried yet but i am sure it would work.
i dont want to actually disable the sound, just change it to something that isnt camera_click...

Bumping my own thread, but it happened again. the sound went away before when the camera 'click' file was deleted.
Now the usb disconnect sound changed to 'Mum' which is nice enough but goes on really long.
Once again, its gone away by deleting that file. Which is not ideal.
Anyone have any better solution? I have heard different sounds on custom roms before on my old HD2 so the file name or link must be in a data file somewhere?
I still don't know what caused it to happen again anyway.