Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Sync problem (oh no, now I'm one of you!)

I have never in the history of my ownership of a visor had a sync problem which couldn't be fixed. Never that is, until now. While switching my batteries a few days ago, my visor hard resetted. I went on vacation for the weekend, not taking my visor (gasp!), and when I got back, I tried syncing it and this Windows XP message pops up:

USB Device Not Recognized
One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message.

Clicking this message suggests that I unplug and replug the "USB device".

Well, here's some info I can give, that may or may not relate to the problem:

My computer was unplugged for the vacation.
I just got a firewall (probably not a factor, because it synced sinced I installed it).
I noticed the cord coming from the cradle squished under my computer, pinching down on it.
Otherwise, there were no changes. Any ideas????

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Aaaaaaaaaa! It's only getting weirder! Heeeeelp!

I played with the plugs, and plugged the USB plug into a different plug. After a LOT of playing around with installing driver and uninstalling drivers, etc., the hotsync window popped up. When it does, it starts loading the programs back on for either very little or a while, then stops, just like that, before it's done. It says communications interupted. Argh! Argh, mateys, argh!

Also, I sent an e-mail to HS tech support, and got back a $10 coupon to their site. I wonder what that means. . . What should I expect from HS e-mail support? Are they good? bad? computer?

And finally, if worse comes to worse and I need a new PDA (although it's more likely that I'll need a new cradle), I'd be looking directly at a neo. I don't want to spend money. Anyone got any better ideas?

Thanks.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

Er, yuck.

Sounds like you already did the smart thing: reinstalling the drivers and the musical plug/unplug game...

Bend the cord around where it was smushed. maybe you'll get it to work.

...splice the dang thing.

Get a new cradle...

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Make sure you disabled Windows ability to axe the power to the USB device (since you switched where it was plugged in).

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

I plugged it into a hub. Does that matter? Also, I got a response from HS: reinstall Palm Desktop. Thank you Handspring .

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

---

Originally posted by ernieba1
I plugged it into a hub. Does that matter? Also, I got a response from HS: reinstall Palm Desktop. Thank you Handspring .

---

__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Also, the hub isn't powered (except for the power from the computer). Do I need to find the power cord?

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

---

Originally posted by ernieba1
Also, the hub isn't powered (except for the power from the computer). Do I need to find the power cord?

---

__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

have you tried forgoing the hub if only to make sure that the cradle still works? Just plug the damn thing straight into your box.

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Don't like somebody? Click "Profile" on a post and then click "Ignore "so and so's" posts". Voila!

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

I just tried that after following tech supp's latest e-mail, having me mess with all kinds of stuff inteh registry. Still no luck. Wah!

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

NOW, HS told me to uninstall Palm Desktop, and some extra files, which I did, but now it won't reinstall! I run the install program from the HS website, and it goes, until it says something about registery, and it freezes there. I'm reinstalling the file to see if it makes any difference. . . Wah!

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Jan 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

Try this, i know it's a pain, but uninstall the palm desktop, and make sure that you also delete in c programs the handspring folder. Make sure you also carry a backup module as well.(saved me a couple of times) Then try and reinstall palm desktop again. Ive had to do this once with xp, but after that it worked like a charm. hope this helps.

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"never under estimate your abilities, for life's horizons are far and wide, if you can live your dreams and passions to their fullest, imagine... "

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Well, unfortunately,
a. I don't have a backup module, and
b. My visor was hard reset (see original post).

This is HS's latest reply. they are MORONS!

Thank you for your email. We understand you are having trouble with hotsync.
Some third party applications installed on your Visor may be causing the problem. Please perform a successful HotSync Operation to backup all your data to the computer. Once the HotSync is completed perform a Hard Reset on your Visor. With a hard reset, all records and entries stored in your Visor are deleted.
--

Not only that, but I wrote in my last e-mail to them that they said to uninstall Palm Desktop and reinstall it, but it freezes when I try to reinstall it! I'm pounding my head against the wall because of their answers! ARGH!

I actually replied this time saying I felt like I was talking to the wall.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Last edited by ernieba1 on 02-26-2002 at 12:07 PM

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

Do you have access to an alternate cradle? Just to see if maybe it's the cradle that's the problem.

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Not an alternate cradle, but an alternate computer. The same cradle worked fine on another computer.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Mar 2002
Location:
Posts: 7

bernie look at my thread

Bernie, i posted the long and thorough response h-s sent me about a similar USB death problem on a thread. Maybe it will help you.


(me, i bought a f*cking serial cradle which works fine...)

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

I saw that, it looked relevant. I still have to talk to Handspring tech over the phone, but at some point if HS has no good ideas, I'll look at that.

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

YES! YES! YES!
Finally talked to a product specialist who admitted he had no idea what's wrong, so he sent me a new VDx and it works! YES! OH YES!

YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!

YES!

I'm happy (duh!) .

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Cartersville, Ga
Posts: 2

ernieba1

What is VDx? I am having the exact same problem as you had,... hard reset and then new computer with XP. Please help!!

Gary

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

quote:

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Originally posted by fmonster
ernieba1

What is VDx? I am having the exact same problem as you had,... hard reset and then new computer with XP. Please help!!

Gary

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Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.