VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- How To / Troubleshooting (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=2)
-- USB Hotsync connection lost? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=2835)

When I'm doing a long hotsync on my desktop computer, I often have it fail with the error "The connection between your handheld computer and the desktop could not be established. please check your setup and try again." This occurs, for instance, when BackupBuddy tries to back up a large file such as Ancient Red or my Avantgo database. It doesn't seem to happen as often with a relatively short hotsync.

However, the same Visor Deluxe syncs with NO problems on my laptop computer, and on my desktop PC at work. It's only on my home desktop. (Running Win 98SE, whether the cradle is plugged into the USB hub or straight into the PC's USB ports.)

I've tried deleting the USB hardware entry under the System control panel and letting Win 98 re-install it. I've also tried soft resets on the Visor.

Any idea what the problem could be on this one system?

A couple of possibilities--

Are you using the same cradle? If not, then we can rule out your Visor as being a possible cause. But that sorta points the finger at---

The cradle you're using at home *or* the computing environment on your home computer. If it's the former, swapping cradles should remove/prove this possibility.

On the latter: Are there any other resident programs running on your Win98SE system? Look at the system tray-- see a lot of stuff that you don't normally have on your laptop or work PC? See what happens when the only thing that's in the tray (meaning loaded) is the HotSync Manager.

I believe you can set BackupBuddy to not backup the large files you are having a problem with. No real point to backing up these perishable AvantGo files anyway.

The new version of Palm Desktop and conduit solved the same problem for me. But I am using a Mac, so something could also be going on in your situation.