Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 36

Hotsync stopped working - Experts please

Configuration:

- Visor Deluxe
- 3 PCs with W2K / W2K / Win XP, one with USB-Cradle, two with Innopocket USB Hotsync Cable

Hotsync has worked fine for months on all PCs. Now, without changes in PC or Visor software configuration, it doesn't work anymore, on neither PC, with none of the cradle/cables.

What I tried:

- Hard reset, to exclude all Visor software problem
- Fresh batteries
- Stowaway keyboard works, so the serial connection looks OK
- I removed the Visor driver from one PC and reinstalled it. When I retried to sync ("Connecting with the desktop ..."), the "New hardware found"- message came, so there was a working connection between the Visor and the PC, but Hotsync didn't start (no message or CPU activity)

So it seems as if the hardware is working but the Visor refuses to sync. It cannot be a misconfiguration of the hotsync apps, because hard reset did not solve it and it happens on 3 PCs.

Any help would be much appreciated. Unfortunately the warranty has expired just a few weeks ago.

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Carlo

Last edited by Carl0 on 01-12-2002 at 09:10 PM

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

Re: Hotsync stopped working - Experts please

Man, if a hard reset and a full re-install doesn't fix it, I don't know what will. Maybe cleaning the leads?

My only guess is that it is, in fact, the serial/usb connector on the visor. Although the Stowaway works, it only uses a few of the leads--it may be that a lead that is vital is somehow fried.

...Advice? I've got three;

desperation level 1) (unlikely, but what the hell), another hard reset and reinstall on another machine, clean the leads and shake it three times before trying.

desperation level 2) Take the gd visor apart and see if anything looks funny.

desperation level 3) got a hammer?

Hopefully, somebody with a bigger brain than I can help you out here...

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 36

Thank you dietrich for your quick response.

- Cleaning the leads of the Visor did not help, with none of my 3 sync cables.

- I have already tried hard-resetting several times. In case anyone wonders how I installed a keyboard driver: I have a Compact Flash springboard and a CF reader.

- Take it apart: I have never dropped it, so I don't think there can be some internal damage.

I wouldn't really bother about my Deluxe, which served me well, if there was a much better replacement for it. But the Pro doesn't offer much improvement. and the Prism's autonomy is too short for my needs. But that's another subject ...

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Carlo

Last edited by Carl0 on 01-12-2002 at 09:33 PM

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

yeah, I didn't think cleaning the leads would do a thing...

...as for the internals, it unfortunately doesn't take a drop to damage a VDX, it could be that the 3rd party cradle didn't properly shield the visor from some current and burned something out, if you opened it up you may find that the board is not a happy camper...

But to be honest, I can't help ya... let the thread sit and see if some of the actual experts have got some ideas.

re: new visor... me, I like the pro. I tried to trade my prism in for one but didn't have any takers...

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carl0
the Pro doesn't offer much improvement.

---

Twice the speed... twice the memory... rechargeables built in.... and, now only $249. I'd say that's a lot of improvement over the VDx.

Now if my wife would only spring for an early birthday present...

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Chicago
Posts: 67

Solution: Serial Cradle! Worked for me and many others.

Does this apply to all of suddenly-stopped-syncing-USB-Visor people?

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2785

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2569

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 36

quote:

---

Originally posted by MarkEagle
now only $249

---

still $390 in Europe

When I bought the Deluxe in December 2000, I imagined that my next PDA would have more memory AND a better display (resolution, color) AND a significantly improved OS, at a similar or lower price.

The greatest innovation Handspring has produced since then is the Edge design.

P.S.: unfortunately a have no serial cradle to try hitman's advice

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Carlo

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

There is a "Win2k USB Patch" on Handsprings website. You may want to try that.

On Win2K and XP, if you load the desktop software while being logged in as "administrator", and then reboot and relog on as a user, strange things can happen. I have only proven this on a Clie, but I assume the same thing would happen with a Handspring.
Here are some hints that help me when my clients run into this problem.
1. Make sure your user account has administrative rights when you install the software.
2. Make sure you have upgraded to "Palm Desktop 4.0.1" from Handsprings website.
3. Install the "USB" patch from Handsprings website.
4. Reboot your machine into "Safe Mode" on the Win2K systems. Go to "Device Manager", Click "View", and then "Show Hidden Devices" - You may find a Handspring Icon with a question mark next to it...a Phantom Visor... Delete it, reboot and re-sync again. It should work now.

Doug

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 36

It's working again!

I don't know how it happened, maybe the hotsync section of the Visor had taken a weekend off.

I have tried all the tricks given above, except the serial cradle and the hammer but nothing worked (I attempted hotsyncing at least 50 times)

This morning everything was back to normal. It's working fine on all 3 PCs.

Thanks for your tips. Now I can postpone upgrading until the Prism II (or something else truly innovative) arrives.

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Carlo

Last edited by Carl0 on 01-14-2002 at 05:34 PM

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Luxembourg
Posts: 36

My Visor stopped hotsyncing again a week ago and I was already looking for a repair or replacement.

But I finally found a method to revive it: Do a soft reset while the Visor tries to hotsync

I have yet to wait until it fails again to see if this works all the time, but for the moment everything is fine again. Maybe it had crashed the last time while in the cradle, which would produce the same effect. It is strange that such a trick is more effective than a complete hard reset.

I hope this can help other people who have the same problem.

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Carlo

Last edited by Carl0 on 01-23-2002 at 08:31 AM

Registered: Jan 2002
Location:
Posts: 8

here's what to do...

Okay, do this:

On a Win 2000 machine, remove the driver again... by that I take it you mean you are using the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard to uninstall/unplug the Handspring USB device entry. You may notice more than one Handspring USB device. Get rid of all of them. If you see, near those entries, a generic term that just says "USB Device", get rid of that too. Don't remove anything your are completely unsure of.

Then unplug your USB connection and reboot the PC.

Open Windows Device Manager.

Have your Visor firmly connected to the cradle or cable and you plug into the USB port.

Observe the Device Manager, see if anything changed, even a flicker for a moment as you plugged in.

Now try to HotSync. Again, watch Device Manager carefully... after building drivers you should see "Handspring Handheld" or some such in Device Manager while the HotSync is being attempted. If it shows up as "Unknown Device" you have probably damaged your Visor or the USB connector and need a hardware repair.

If you see no change in Device Manager at all, even after using some of the other cables or cradles, the last thing that could be wrong is that you have the imfamous Intel 82801AA or BA/BAM USB to PCI Host Controller (see if it's there under the "Universal Serial Bus" section of Device Manager). These are the worst USB junk put out by Intel, they are not fully supported under Win XP or 2000 -- they are a real scandal because you will find this junk on even very new budget computers from major manufacturers trying to trim production costs. In this case, the USB transceivers on these 3 PCs has, each one of them, slowly degraded in the signal range... you'll be able to use low bandwidth uni-directional USB devices like a mouse, keyboard, etc. but any demanding USB device will fail. The solution? Treat yourself to a USB 2.0 add-in card, re-install your software and plug your Visor cradle into that and you'll be fine again.

Lastly, if you can borrow a serial cradle and try the Visor with that, you'll gain some insight into the nature of the problem.

Most or all of this info is on Handspring's web site and a senior tech support agent at Handspring will know all about this stuff inside and out, up and down, left and right. Those are the experts.

Best of luck!

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 4

Hmm. I've been having all of these problems and more. USB Visor Prism won't HotSync with Win2K. Went through install/reinstall drivers, Palm 4.1 etc. about 10 times. Hard reset (it was new, just out of the box & no data on it), soft reset, no luck.

The Win2K USB fix isn't really a fix exactly - it just removes duplicate instances of the cradle USB driver which can get messed up when it is re/uninstalled too many times. I was on the phone to level 1 tech support when this happened to me. The driver got installed several times, uninstalled several times and went funky, froze up.

Every time I installed the device, Win2K would recognize the new USB device and then I'd get a message that the driver was successfully installed but may not work correctly. "OK". Handspring's solution was to uninstall, reinstall again and again and again. Can we say "design flaw"?

The error I still get (on the Visor Prism) despite all my efforts is that there has been an error and the device "cannot communicate with the desktop".

Sure it could be a USB issue, I've tried it on another computer and it worked once, but naturally not on the computer with the data that I want to sync.

Tech level 2 never calls back. Handspring won't refund my money. I've got an expensive paper weight now.

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