Unable to send email using gmail app

Lately I was unable to send emails using the gmail app on both my Android phone and Xoom tablet. They happened at different times but happened after installing a rom or updating to a newer software version. I presume this problem is pretty widespread.

I tried re-syncing as well as deleting my gmail account and re-adding. Nothing worked. Finally I tried going into settings -> manage applications -> gmail. I selected clear data and voila, it worked!

Note: once you clear data any emails in your outbox that were not sent will get deleted. You should copy the text or try saving the email before clearing data.

Android Homescreen Icons Disappeared -- Fixed

Have you ever picked up your phone and noticed that all your homescreen icons and widgets disappear? Well it happened to me a few times and I figured out what causing it and a better way to get the icons back than restarting your phone.

Droid with no icons showing up. Closing the "Home" Application fixes the issue

What was causing it? I downloaded some junky weather app and the widget randomly caused the "Home" application to crash. It seems that there could be many widgets that cause this issue. Remove any newly installed widget from your homescreen and hopefully the problem will go away.

How to get your icons back?

• Go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications 
• Menu Click and Filter for "Running"
• Find "Home" and click on it
• Click "Force Stop"

Your icons/widgets should now reappear.

Thanks Jenn for the great suggestion to start a list of the offending widgets. Please note that just because these apps crashed the home process on some phones/versions of android, it does not mean it will happen to you. Also, developers may have released updates to their apps to fix the issue. Please leave a comment if you want to add any additional widgets.

• Weather Widget (thdroidgeek)
• Gentle Alarm (david)
• Gmail Unread Count (use Gmail Unread Count instead - grellanl)

Android Stopped Vibrating - Fixed

For the second time my droid has stopped vibrating for notifications. My settings had not changed and all of a sudden i would not get notified for emails, IMs or text messages. I know its a software problem because the phone still vibrates for phone calls. I also verified the settings in my email, IM and text settings that vibrate option was checked. The only way I have found to fix this is by downloading an app called Sound Manager. Goto the Menu -> Vibrate Settings -> Notification Settings and change "Don't Vibrate" to "Vibrate Only When Silent". It works like a charm! Give it a try and let me know if you have any issues.

BTW i think the reason my phone stopped vibrating is from using Timeriffic. I put my phone in silent mode at night but it never properly put it back. If you use this application be sure to configure it properly.

Download Sound Manager