Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

I had been able to sync my Visor Deluxe for about a year. All of a sudden, it would not sync. Handspring sent me first a cradle, then a new Visor. Problem still not solved.
I've deleted all of the software and re-installed it, including removing the key in the registry(many times.) I installed the software on my laptop and it syncs fine.

Any ideas, Handspring hasn't been able to help as of yet.

Thanks.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

Have you added any new hardware to the desktop (Windows 98 with USB?), specifically USB devices? If so, what?

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

No new devices, in fact, I've deleted any USB device and associated drivers. I was on the phone for 45 minutes this morning with Handspring. Deleted software, registry keys, drivers, and reinstalled them all. No sync. There seems to be a connection, when the registry keys are deleted and the PC rebooted, it installs the hardware again. When syncing, there is an hourglass for about a second, then nothing happens and it times out.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Modesto, CA USA
Posts: 599

Check the modem and local connections (tabs) under the hotsync setup menu. Be certain that your serial com port does not match your modem com port. Also, turn off the check mark under the "local serial" connection on the hot sync menu options.

If the com ports are the same on the serial and modem connections you'll get a time out error because of the conflict- had it happen to me. Also, had this problem occur when I had both USB and Serial Hot Sync connections checked when transferring to Handspring from Palm. Also, make certain that you are using the latest hot sync manager/desktop from Handspring it should be 3.1.0H from Handspring if tech service didn't check it.

Hope some of this helps. I have a com 3 setting for my modem, a com 1 for the serial connection, and a com 2 setting for USB.



[Edited by RSGMOOSE on 12-26-2000 at 11:33 PM]

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Moose Man
I may be from the LEFT coast but that's not the correct political view in my mind!

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Posts: 151

really random, but...

I had been syncing fine with my Visor Deluxe (USB) until a couple of months ago. All of a sudden, I could not sync. I had recently installed Windows ME so I thought that might be the problem, so I downloaded the most recent Handspring Palm Desktop update. No help. I deleted and reinstalled Palm Desktop and deleted the USB registry keys. No help. Soft reset. No. Warm Reset. No. Hard Reset. No. Disable all hacks. No. Everything. No. So I resorted to using fusionOne to sync to my computer at work which I sync my Visor with via serial cradle.
So tonight I am sitting at my computer trying to think of anything I may have missed, and I decided to try to sync with the IR port, using the Visorcentral news post from a few weeks ago as a guide. I downloaded BeamSync, and read the readme file, which explained how to sync via USB with BeamSync installed: press the hotsync button and the "up" button at the same time on the Visor. I thought, what the hell, I'll give it a shot. So I just put it in the cradle and press the hotsync and up button just in case. It worked! I have no idea why, but I thought I would pass it along.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 137

I have a VDX also and have had occassional times where I was unable to sync.

After experimenting a bit, I was able to make it work by doing the following:

Force quit the Hotsync Manager program by doing a ctrl-alt-delete.
Rerun the Hotsync program (found in the Palm Desktop directory).

Try to sync again.

I know this helped me a few times.

Good luck!

Mike

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

I've tried all of the above, no luck yet. I did install the Visor on my laptop and everything syncs fine. This may be a new excuse to get a new computer.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Modesto, CA USA
Posts: 599

mmmmmh! wonder if it just might be a bad USB connection off of your motherboard? Tis the season to run up the credit card bills - maybe it is time for a new computer.

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Moose Man
I may be from the LEFT coast but that's not the correct political view in my mind!

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

I thought it may be the USB port, but when I delete the registry keys, reboot, then hit the hotsync button, the computer finds the device and installs the software for the Visor. It doesn't make sense. I know three other people who developed hotsync problems the first part of November, maybe it's a conspiracy to get people to buy the new Pentium III machines?

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

If you're not running any other USB devices, here's an extreme measure you can try.

Go to Control Panel, System, Device Manager, Universal Serial Bus Controller. Look for USB Host Controller or USB Root Hub and remove them. Reboot the machine. When Windows reloads, it should relocate the USB hardware and reinitialize it. Assuming that is successful, try another sync. It will probably reinstall the Handspring drivers.

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

I've deleted all of the USB devices also from the device manager, root hub & PCI USB controller. No luck either. I appreciate everyone's ideas, I was hoping that there was some magic that I had missed. I've already started to backup all my data to swap computers with a faster one in the office anyway.

Thanks for the ideas.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 99

I have no idea if this is of any use, but what the hey, I'll post anyway. I've found that when the PalmOS preference file gets corrupted it can cause all sort of hotsynching problems. The only way a bad pref file can be deleted is using a freeware program like Preference Editor (PrefEd for short) to delete the bad pref file, as the regular delete command doesn't handle pref files. I've had to use PrefEd twice to restore hotsynching, and in both cases it worked. Anyway, hope this idea helps someone, other than this I'm all out of ideas .

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garinballbarin

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

A dumb question. How can you tell which preferences are bad? I downloaded the software, and had no clue what I was looking at. In the unsaved preferences, there are three items for the Hotsync.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 99

Nah, that's not a dumb question!

Hi cbradford,

Actually, that's not a dumb question, as deleting the wrong file might require reentering info, such as registration keys, user settings and other whatnot. Strangely enuf, tho there is a unsaved set of pref files for hotsynching, I didn't even notice that the unsaved selection button was there, the file that got my Visor going was the saved file labeled psys PalmOS. When I had hotsynch problems, I noticed that I had more than one such file, so I figured one of the extra files must be corrupted, as you normally are supposed to have only one saved PalmOS pref file. When I deleted the extra files my Visor ran OK again. I have to warn you tho that I'm not a Palm guru, I don't even fully understand what the difference is between the unsaved and saved prefs are (like why I have 3 unsaved hotsync prefs, and no saved ones), so if you want to try my suggestion it should be as a last ditch effort. Also, if you don't have multiple saved PalmOS pref files, then my suggestion might not even apply to your Visor, in which case I'm sorry for not being able to help. Anyway, I think I said all I can say, hope you get your Visor to hotsync, I know how irritating that problem can be .

PS-If you have multiple saved psys PalmOS pref files, then maybe you're in luck, deleting the most recent PalmOS pref files from the bottom of the saved prefs list will force your Visor to use the older (and hopefully uncorrupted) pref file at the top of the list.

[Edited by kamizuno on 12-28-2000 at 10:44 PM]

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garinballbarin

Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 2

I too can no longer hot sync

I too can no longer hotsync. I have a Visor Prism os v3.5.2h, serial cradle, chapura pocket mirror conduit v2.0.5, outlook 2000, nt 4.0.

Everything was fine and now it ceases to hotsync. I soft reset many times, restarted the computer, etc.... to no avail. Finally I reinstalled the visor software and it hotsynced one time then ceased again. I have been a palm and visor user for many years (palm 2, 2+, 3, visor, now the prism) .... but this has never happened to me before. I read of many users having hot sync problems. This sounds like a bigger problem needing to be fixed by Handspring. Also, the http://www.handspring.com site seems down all day today. What gives? Any help is certainly appreciated. Thanks!

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Kona, Hawaii ,USA
Posts: 40

Two things to try:

I had the same problem, was HotySyncing fine then stopped on both Macs, one with MacOS 8.6, the other with MacOS 9.0.4

Here are the two things to try in order of severity:

1. Update to Palm Desktop software 2.6.1, you can find it at the Handspring website. You may want to ask tech support on how to do a clean install of the software instead of just doing the update so you can protect your data.

2. Get a backup module, backup your Visor, then do a hard reset. This will wipe out all your Visor info, then restore from the backup module. Try a HotSync.

Step one worked on one of my computers, step two worked on the other one.

Good luck

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

Re: I too can no longer hot sync

quote:

---

Originally posted by pjm5
...serial cradle...

Everything was fine and now it ceases to hotsync.

---

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 11

I finally gave up and swapped computers. When I first setup the software & Visor, it wouldn't sync. I swapped to a travel USB hotsync cable and everything worked fine. It looks like I may have had two bad cradles, it seems strange to me to have the replacement cradle be bad also, but stranger things have happened.

Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 2

I tried with two different serial cradles

Thank you for the response and thoughts.

Regarding the serial cradle, I have two of them. They both give me the same result.

Here is another interesting :-( fact

1) The problem is sporadic. Every so often (1/20 lately) the unit actually hotsyncs (either cradle)

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Posts: 151

ahhhh, pref ed

Thanks, Kamizuno. I removed the older psys preference from my saved preferences, and it synced fine. Weirdly enough, it then started not syncing again, even though there was only one psys in my saved prefs. I checked the unsaved prefs, and there were 4 or 5 psys prefs. I deleted all but the oldest, and it synced fine. I synced it many times to check it and it worked every time. Of course, I backed everything up before trying this.

I have no idea why this happens; the only thing I can think of is if my sycning serially at work somehow interferes with my USB sync at home.