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-- Defective cradle (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=1737)

I ordered my Visor on opening day (9/14/99) and received it yesterday. While the unit seems very well made, I apparently received a defective cradle (tried it on two different computers and neither one will recognize the connection.) So, I called and am the proud recipient of return #47 and will send back the cradle. They are going to send me one (charged to my card until the other one gets back to them) and hopefully I will be able to post better news next week.

Are you using Windows 95 or 98?

2 things

first, the Visor driver is installed once you install the software on the cd, and place the visor on the cradle and push the hotsync button. your pc will install the .inf file for the visor and ask to reboot your system. once you reboot it should work.

second, if you're not running win98/98se. forget about the above statement. the visor and its drivers don't like 95b. upgrade to 98 and statement #1 will work like a charm.

sluggo

Yes, I am using WIN 98. Yes, I have installed the software. No, it still does not allow any connection between the cradle and the computer. By the way, what is the name of the .inf file and where should it be located?

scott,

your pc does not recognise the cradle without the visor in it and then pushing the hotsync button.

if you open your system hardware listing in the control panel, then try to hotsync, you should see the visor pop up under the usb heading.

aslo, one other thing, do you have the usb cradle option selected in the hotsync manager? i don't think it is selected by default.

sluggo

Scott,
I think my cradle is defective, too. How reasonable were they about taking it back from you? I'm a professional trouble-shooter, and I'm at my wit's end with this thing. It *must* be defective!

Have you guys tried pushing your Visor into the cradle when you put it in? I remember reading that the little nub on the cradle is there because the USB connection on the Visor needs a minimum amount of pressure to work. When I first HotSynced, it worked fine. When I removed the Visor and tried it again, nothing happened; it just timed out. I gave the Visor a firm push onto the USB contacts and voila, it worked. I think that nub just *barely* provides that minimum amount of pressure required.

Re. how reasonable HS was about the return of the USB cradle. After spending quite a long time with Habib at technical support and arriving at the conclusion that the cradle is defective, he suggested that I call customer service and arrange for the return. I did give Habib my name, etc. in case customer service wanted verification. But they were very good and took my word re. my conversation with tech support. That was on Saturday morning and I am expecting my cradles (i also ordered a serial cradle for another computer) any day. I hope they arrive soon. I really want to start using my Visor but I need my data in it first!

Scott,
That's cool. I'm going to try to bypass the tech. support call. I'm a professional Network Support Tech, so I figure I'm qualified to make the decision that the cradle's bad. I'm gonna give 'em some time before I call 'em, though. Let those lines cool down a bit.

I had to reboot again to make it work correctly (It never said to, I just did it myself).

I did have a problem where it couldn't find VMM32.vxd or something and told me to reinstall windows. Yah right. Just rebooted and when I sycned I got a nice beep noise and it's worked fine since.

sometimes my Visor just stops syncing. (did it 2 times) and if i reset it, then it works fine!

you guys try that?

An update on what I believed to be a defective cradle (as did the Tech people at Handspring). The desktop unit I tried this on needed to have the USB enabled in bios. The laptop (Compaq Presario 1255) had to have Windows 98 second editon installed in order for the USB to work properly. All is working just fine now.

scottp,
was it a matter of just having an updated USB driver, or does 2nd edition contain something else?

LugNut, I don't really know whether it is an updated driver or a new driver in Windows 98 Second Edition. All I know is that it worked for me. As far as the desktop unit is concerned, I simply had to go into the bios and enable the USB (actually, I think it said something about enabling a USB keyboard) ... again, I don't know all the technical side of it, but I do know I can now use my Cisor and sync every time without problems.