What causes those recurring webOS updates and how to fix it

Since webOS 1.2.0 landed, many readers have reported to us that they keep getting webOS update notifications, even though they installed the update the first (or second or third) time it asked. We’ve been puzzled for an answer and the only thing we could think of was that somehow their update installation had gone screwy and the Update app had detected that something was wrong and decided to redownload and reinstall the update just to be safe.

As it turns out, we were thinking in the right area, but not quite specific enough. Our man Chuq von Rospach of Palm chimed in on our forums with the answer: something that you installed (i.e. a homebrew app) put a file (or files) into the root folder and the Update app is seeing that as something wrong.

Sadly, deleting the app won’t fix the problem, nor will installing that update the phone keeps begging for. Even running the WebOS Repair Utility won’t make it all better, as that only looks for changed files, not added files. The only way to fix it is to run the webOS Doctor and start from scratch. The Doctor is available from Palm.com - be sure that you get the version applicable to your carrier (we wouldn't want you to flash an O2 Pre with a Sprint ROM and have a shiny, but worthless, paperweight).

Now don’t be afraid of homebrew apps, as only a few apps actually install things into the root directory (we’re advising our developers to update their apps accordingly if needed), but if you’re having this problem, there’s your depressing solution: doctor your phone. Hopefully future webOS updates will include and update to the Updates app that will only check for corrupted installs and not construe new files as broken files and try to download a new update (too many updates in this sentence).