Hel Needed for a beginner

[Cuzer]

Evening All

I wonder if somebody can give me some advice which is causing a major problem with my PDA and especially Tom Tom Software. I've a HP 5500 PDA and I run Tom Tom 5 and active sync for updating my outlook diary for work. Needless to say my PDA is a much needed bit of kit, especially for my Tom Tom and POI Warner overlays etc

In the last 5 months I've had the same problem 3 times which has made me start from scratch and re-install absolutley everything which as you are aware is a nightmare task, especially with POI's etc

For some reason when my PDA is away from my cradle or cigarette lighter charge I can only imagine it's turning itself on, or outlook is reminding me of a forthcoming appointment etc and instead of switching itself off it must be staying on and completely draining my battery. I've been away all weekend in Yorkshire and have meetings for 2 days in Yorkshire Mon/Tue I've had to travel all the way back to the midlands today (Sun) just to reinstall everything as the exact above happened. PDA in luggage (Turned off but not on charge) 24 hours later get out PDA to check something and I'm at the boot up screen and even that doesn't load as they whole battery is dead! I plug it into my cigarette charger and it works, but from scratch and I've lost everything. I'm now in the long, long process of reinstalling all Tom Tom and Maps, POI's etc which after having to drive all the way home, to drive all the way back is a killer!

So, what, if anything am I doing wrong here? Can anybody help? Why should the PDA turn itself on and drain my battery? I notice on the PDA it has a back up option in the settings tab? Does anybody know what I need to back up to save Tom Tom (The Outlook isn't too much of a problem to reinstall/rescue) Are some of my backlight settings wrong? What should they be at? I'm at a total loss here, it's definately not been knocked and turned on when in the luggage but even if it had, shouldn't it shut itself down if it's not touched for so many minutes? Think I've got mine set at 5 mins from memory so why didn't it happen?

Sorry for all the questions but I hope I've explained my predicament, do I have a faulty PDA I wonder? Or is it a case of backing up some files and changing some of my settings? All help much appreciated as you've probably guessed I'm no whizz in this department

Thanks in advance

Cuzer

[getsurfers]

If you have WM5, then see - http://www.totalpda.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5480

Some power saving tips:

- Under settings (power), ensure device turn off after.... is enavbled and set to a really low value. IE 1 minute. Also set the slider to give more standby time. The slider allows you to have more running time, or more standyby/backup. You simply set your own balance.
- Reduce LCD brightness when on battery power.
- If you use credant, also set power off options and encryption (with close application option) to equally low values.
- Leave WiFi and BT in flight mode unless in use. If your device powers on, and these are active, your device will drain within a matter of 2-3 hours continuous use.