We are often asked what causes the message XM TIMEOUT to appear.

This message means simply that weather data has not been received within the past three minutes.  If no data is received after 3 minutes the XM TIMEOUT warning appears to notify the user to begin troubleshooting the problem.

One possible cause of XM Timeout is that the antenna is not well placed and there are too many data errors for reliable data reception.  Under such circumstances, the system will either not receive weather or will receive it intermittently.  The solution is to position the antenna so that it has a clear view of either the south-east or the south-west sky.

Another cause of the XM timeout message is that the Bluetooth link has been broken between the Ipaq and the XM receiver module, or that the power to the XM module has be glitched.  If the power is not clean and reliable, the complex data interchange between the XM receiver and the PDA can be interrupted, resulting in the failure to receive weather data, or the bluetooth link being broken.   Under such conditions, verify that the cigarette lighter cord to the XM box is securely connected and RELINK the PDA to the weather receiver.

Another possible cause of a broken BlueTooth link is that the PDA is critically short of memory.  If your computer is short of memory, the weather software will start but may quit unexpectedly or the bluetooth system may be shut down to save memory.  Please see the article on memory requirements to run Anywhere WX for more details.

Any time you get the XM timeout message the best thing to do is to verify the power connection to the XM box is good, then call up the WX Settings screen by double tapping on the weather age, or by selecting File > Settings > WX Settings, or by using the big buttons.  On the WX Settings screen there is a button labeled XM WX.  Press this button.  If you recently received an XM Timeout message, the next screen will say "The system does not seem to be receiving data from the XM radio..."  At the bottom of this screen is a button that says "RELINK".  Tap this button and the interface to the XM receiver will be reset. This will normally fix any link problem.

If your reciever is bluetooth, you should see a steady blue LED that shows that the radio is linked to the PDA.  If your receiver is hardwired to the PDA (or computer) the bi-color LED on the receiver box should be GREEN.  If the receiver is not linked to the PDA, the blue light will blink and the bi-color LED will alternate between red and green at about one blink per second.