Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Chicago
Posts: 67

USB Problems...Anything new?

OK... we all know about the USB problems that many people (and me!) have been having - the sudden no syncing. It seems as though many people are experiencing this and we all buy serial cradles and thats it.... which I can live with.
But I was wondering if there has been any updates or progress on this situation...

Has anyone tried this fix?:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2785

I really think it is a visor issue.. here's a quick summary:
PC at home - USB stops working.. tried everything from other posts including a GoType USB as cradle.
Serial cradle works fine.

Tried both USB cradle and GoType with my iMac at work.. nothing....

Thanks!
Hitman

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Chicago
Posts: 67

Well.. I emailed support around a week or so ago and I finally got a response. They gave me a number to call with a case number. They're sending me a new USB cradle.. I told them I've tried a GoType as a cradle and they said to try this new cradle... May as well, it's free... The support person was very friendly, which makes the experience less painful!

Hitman

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 4

USB not HotSyncing

That was very helpful. I've been trying to get my Prism's USB HotSync to work since Christmas. It was a gift and as you might imagine this is causing problems that go beyond technical...

One of the links I found from hitman's link to the palminfocenter.com board went to a german site where someone was actually looking at the quality (or lack therof) of the Dragonball boards (m500, Visors, clie even) and how they are causing some of the HotSync troubles people are having.

http://www.pstec.de/ppp/pppqual/m500qual.html

The workaround suggested on the palminfocenter site - drain the battery 1-24hrs, recharge it for 5 min, then a hard reset - is giving some people success. But the german site suggests that the problem goes deeper - it's a handheld motherboard issue that won't go away just by tweaking the battery. A piece of solder gets loose and causes ESD (electostatic discharge) et voila! Things go haywire!

My Prism is funky - it worked on 2 Dell compters and failed on the other 2. The ones it doesn't work on both have SCSI devices. Seems like the only thing in common. All are Win2K, onboard USB.

I'm at my wits end and would just like to get my money back from Handspring. It was a gift, and I've spent most of the 30 days trying to get it to sync with my computer, but have not had much luck, and am not able to return it. Handspring won't exchange/refund it, Best Buy won't take it back, as I read Office Depot is dumping the Handspring line... these sound like real HotPotatos. Handspring announcing they are "getting out of the organizer business" sends shivers up my spine. These guys are out to rip us off!

As always, I must keep going. I'm going to try the serial cradle next.

It really makes me mad that Handspring has a policy that they won't swap out the USB cradle for a serial one and charge 50 bucks extra for it. I am extremely dissappointed with their service, support and product and have been telling everyone not to buy one. Use 3x5 cards instead. They don't have as many compatibility problems.

Grrrrr. I could be spending this time solving the worlds' problems, and instead this!

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Reading, MA
Posts: 28

I had a similar problem when I had an irq conflict between the usb root hub and my scsi ata/66 controller. You might check to see if that is the case. That should theoretically be harmless, but wasn't. Actually, all my usb devices were broken in that configuration, not just the prism.

Registered: Jun 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 108

I have found that sometimes a "Ghost" Visor driver pops up in the Win2K device manager, and this causes the Hotsync to fail. Reboot your Win2K machine in safe mode, go to device manager, click "view" and "show hidden devices". You may find a phantom visor in the list. Delete it, reboot in normal mode, and then try Hotsyncing again. This has worked for me when My Prism stopped syncing once.

Don't give up on Handspring. They have a great product and good support. You may just need to find someone with PDA experience and pay them to solve your problem. It may be a problem with your PC and not the Visor.

Good luck,
Doug

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 5

I have a Visor Neo with the USB cradle. I also have a Logitech USB optical mouse. I have found, at leat when installing applications on the Neo , that if I am moving the mouse around, that I will lose the hotsync connection. I'm assuming, that at least with installing the applications, that using other USB devices causes problems. Don't know if that helps, but I thought I would throw it out.

David

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 4

sent it back

Thanks for the ideas. I've alreay been through all my IRQ's and COM ports. No problem there.

Early on I tried the HotSync without the cordless mouse (Logitech MouseMan) with no luck. That's the only other USB device I have on the system.

I went out and bought a serial cradle for 50 big ones thinking if it's a USB issue it would go away with a serial connection. No luck.

I haven't tried the reboot in safe mode and hunt for duplicate entries of the Handspring. I am assuming that the same info will show up when you click the "show hidden devices" in the regular uninstall hardware box. I did find that the Handspring USB didn't uninstall after I removed it in regular mode.

I'm using the Adaptec AHA-2940U2/U2W PCI SCSI Controller. I've got a SCSI Zip, Jaz, Epson Scanner and one internal IBM SCSI hard drive. I can't exactly disable all the SCSI devices without really screwing things up. How bad do I really want this Handspring that I have to rip open my system to get it to work? Do I have a life? (Early votes say not...)

On handspring's web site faqs they say to update the Iomega drivers. With fingers crossed, I updated to version 3.1. I've already been through the IomegaWare 3.06 fiasco (the earliest versions of 3.06 kill your CD burner - Iomega even removed the download because of this little problem).

I'm starting to think it's a driver issue. When installing everything from scratch for the umpteenth time, I always get this kind little message that says the new devices were installed, but may not work correctly.

I really wouldn't pay someone to fix this Handspring problem especially while it's under warranty. (cheap gene) I'm stubbornly going through all the steps myself and will find a solution. Besides, as a freelancer I have to know my system well or I'm out of a job!

Handspring ought to have the most up-to-date information about their own products and a good tech ought to be able to answer my questions easily. That's my hope anyway. They were supposed to call me again today and all I heard was the ringing in my ears from frustration.

OK, maybe I'm being a bit of a drama queen. It really is frustrating. I am sending the old one back to Handspring and will receive a new one on Monday. Until then. Solving the world's problems will just have to wait.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Chicago
Posts: 67

I really think it's the Visor - similar to the Palm USB problems. My Platinum wont sync via USB on my PC or iMac. All other USB devices work great and I can sync via serial fine.
Handspring sent me a new cradle, which did nothing.
Well, it made me angry as they told it was free and then charged my credit card $25.. Im not happy with Handspring at the moment....arghhhhh.

Hitman

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 4

It's a 4-eyed monster

I finally got through to a tech at Handspring (they weren't returning calls & had to sit on hold over 20 min, NOT toll free... goes to state of mind...).

The tech said yeah there's a known compatibility problem between the USB cradle and SCSI devices. He wanted me to disable all my SCSI devices. I told him I could not because I have onboard SCSI (ASUS P2BDS motherboard).

He basically said use the serial cradle (a sold-separately product - how dare they ask me to spend $50 bucks to get the puck to sync!) which isn't working either.

He even said there are some network cards that have been known to cause problems with Handsprings (shocking!). I asked him which ones, and he asked me which one I had. He was a bit mum on the models, but my LinkSys LNE100TX doesn't seem to be a problem. I wasn't willing to dismember my system just on the off chance a bored tech was yanking me.

There's no mention of any possible USB/SCSI conflict on their web site. If I had known this in advance, I'd have returned the thing in a heartbeat, but as it is I've wasted over a month trying to get the HVP to work.

I checked out the BBB web site to get an idea of their offical standing and how much they piss people off. Only 12 have complained so far. Not to bad. In comparison, Palm Inc. is getting a "special report" written up about them because of so many unresolved complaints.

If you squint your eyes and look at the cradle with the PDA in it, it kind looks like a 4-eyed pig monster. Scary.

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Australia
Posts: 1

Win2k Onboard USB

Some of this may have been said before but, the following USB Hot Sync solution may be of use to new Visor users with Win2k and Onboard USB.

If, like me, you haven't used your USB ports before, it's pretty hard to determine whether the Hot Sync problem is with the Visor or the PC. Particularly if you don't have any other USB peripherals to test the USB ports. I assumed it was my PC and proceeded down the following path:

According to Microsoft's knowledgebase, Win2k does not support some VIA USB controller chip sets.
See: http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...b;en-us;Q233163

To determine what USB controller chipset you have, see: http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...b;en-us;Q242860

If you have an unsupported VIA chip set, go to the VIA website and download the "USB 108 Filter Patch".
See: http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=71#usb

Unzip the downloaded file, run the set-up program and restart your PC.

If you are as lucky as I was you will now be able to Hot Sync your Visor.

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Chicago
Posts: 67

I have a Dell with Win98 at home. All my USB devices work great (no hub). My Visor synced for over year before suddenly not syncing via USB. I tried syncing to my iMac at work. That will not sync via USB either.

I can sync with a serial cradle just fine with my Dell... I dont think its a Windows issue. I think its a Visor issue... since I tried to different computers / operating systems.

Hitman