Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 216

First off this problem is NOT with Mac OS 9! I'm running Mac OS 8.6.

I've never really had any problems hotsyncing before...then I set up my Mac to turn on file sharing - no other changes...and now Hotsyncs fail. Here is what happens:

I place the Visor in the serial cradle and press the Hotsync button. Visor wakes up, plays tones, hotsync screen comes up on the Mac, identifies user, then goes into "Determining Device Configuration". Here is the problem: it hangs here. The Visor times out about 30 seconds later with an error that the connection got dropped.

The Mac hotsync software will not respond to the "cancel" button. About two minutes later the hotsync software changes to "Synchronizing Install...". About another minute later the "cancel" button finally works and the Hotsync stops.

I turned off file sharing and the Visor and Mac hotsync fine again! I didn't do any resets or anything else to the Visor.

I've searched VisorCentral, VisorVillage, all the Palm USENET boards, and even all of Deja.com looking for an answer to this and I can't find one - or I missed it.

Anyone know of the fix for this? I have my two Macs networked together and it's a real pain to have to turn file sharing on and off all the time.

Thanks in advance.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 16

I have similar problems on my Mac w/ OS 8.6, but I have file sharing turned off.

The problem seems to lie with the hot sync process. For whatever reason, it takes too long to start the process. Some people have found if you turn off the back-up conduit on the Mac that it works, others if you find the Backups folder in your Palm Desktop folder and empty it, it speeds up the process.

I found what works best for me is to use the developer's back door. Select HotSync on your Visor. While holding down the down button, tap the extreme upper right hand corner. You'll get a box that says "DLServer Wait Forever is ON". Now the Visor will wait until the user identification process is complete, and begin to HotSync properly.

Whichever method you use, good luck!

__________________
Dan, Dan, the Visor Man

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

I have a similiar problem, except that in my case, the Desktop software times out before the handheld does when "Verifying handheld configuration".

Haven't been able to hotsync in weeks...I'll play with some of the above options tonight...

__________________
We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 216

Hmmm...

I'll try the developer's back door tonight.

I am currently not using the standard Palm Backup Conduit. I'm using the BackupBuddy Conduit. I suppose this could still be a problem. I'd like to keep using BackupBuddy in case of hard resets or battery problems.

I have 4532K of stuff on my 8MB Visor. Could it be the shear number of programs and databases that is causing this? (Although I can't see how turning on File Sharing on the Mac has anything to do with this.)

Also, I forgot to mention that I'm using Palm Desktop 2.6 Build 10 for the Mac. This is the latest I have found on Handspring's web site. I keep on hearing about Palm Desktop 2.6.1. Is "Build 10" the ".1"? Or is 2.6.1 really a different version?

I'll try the above ideas tonight, see what happens, and report back.

Thanks.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 216

I fixed it!

I fixed the problem.

Turns out that version 2.6 build 10 of Palm Desktop and the Hotsync Manager is NOT the same as 2.6.1. There is a update to version 2.6.1 available. I stumbled across it on the MacAddict Sept. 2000 CD. It's likely available from Palm's Web site.

I had assumed that the version on Handspring's web site was the latest. Wrong! (Handspring's customer support still stinks...)

I installed just the Hotsync 2.6.1 Update. It fixed the problem! Hotsyncs still take a while to get past the "Determining Handheld Configuration" phase. I hope the problem does not surface again.

Other things I discovered in my testing:

1) Turning on File Sharing on the Mac is definitely slowing something down while Hotsyncing that the Visor times out waiting for the computer. It also seems that a large amount programs/databases on the Visor contribute to the problem.

2) Removing the BackupBuddy conduit also solved the problem - but eliminated backups. Interestingly, simply setting BackupBuddy to "Do Nothing" would not work. The conduit had to moved out of the "Conduits" folder.

3) The "DLServer Wait Forever Is ON" Developer's backdoor does solve the problem. You just have to remember to activated it before every hotsync.

4) I read in "PalmPilot - The Ultimate Guide" that increasing the preferred memory size of the Hotsync Manager program can sometimes solve hotsync time-out problems. I did not get at chance to test this as I read the hint just as the Hotsync 2.6.1 install was completing. Oh well.

Hope this helps others with this problem!