Fixing my ActiveSync connection......again!
I recently broke the ActiveSync connection to my rx1950. Now this is not really unusual since I add and remove software, play around with my PIM data and dink around with the rx1950 all the time. Since it is not my "production" Pocket PC, I really don't take many precautions with it, that is, I don't back it up very often because I know if I ever really mess things up I can just perform a clean reset and get it working again. And the truth of the matter is, the only time I've really messed up the rx1950 so bad that I had to perform a clean reset was when I accidentally deleted the notification queue when I was researching to write the Notifications & Alerts article.
I used the rx1950 extensively when I was reviewing software for the Smartphone & Pocket PC Software Awards. Since I am planning to write several articles about the software I reviewed, I have not deleted much of this software. It came as no surprise to me when I received a "memory is critically low" message when I tried to sync the rx1950 this week. So I uninstalled some software and attempted to sync. The sync failed again. I soft reset the rx1950. No go. Then I deleted my ActiveSync partnership and created a new partnership. Still no success. So I decided to take more drastic measures and used the application-that-fixes-so-many-things, SKTOOLS, to delete all my PIM data, to clean registry items, to delete junk files....you name it. Still no success. I started thinking about performing a clean reset.
One last ditch effort before a clean reset
I decided to delete the pim.vol file (this was the subject of my recent article, Backing up and Deleting PIM Data). Then I performed a soft reset, placed the rx1950 in the cradle.......held my breath........and........it synced!!!
So I've found another item to add to the list in the "Basic Navigation through the ActiveSync Minefield" article. If you are having problems syncing your WM5.0 device, and you've tried everything else, try deleting the pim.vol file found in the root folder, perform a soft reset and give it a go.....let me know if it works for you too!
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Professor,
I renamed the pim.vol file to something garbled and then turned off my iPAQ 6945 and hit the reset button.
When it rebooted, I entered my password & after 5 minutes of watching it give me error message after error message & finally locking up (I couldn't even turn off the display), And, it auto-started ActiveSync - something it had never done before. So, I hit the soft reset again.
It did the same thing, so I did another soft boot.
This time, I noticed that my contact info that it puts on the login screen was all garbled. I kept trying to enter my password, but it wouldn't even take the enter key or "OK" So, I did another soft reset.
This time, I was able to enter my password, & the 6945 took it. Whew, I let out a huge sigh of relief. After watching things go from not-so-good to bad to worse, I was thinking that I was going to have to do a hard reset, & my heart was sinking. But, things started looking like they were finally starting to turn around. It did start up ActiveSync, and it gave me the usual group of error messages, but it didn't lock up. I was able to click off the error messages & turn off ActiveSync. I was starting to breathe a little easier.
So, I put it into the cradle, and, low & behold, it sync'd!!!
Now, I didn't just do that lightly. I had already done all the other troubleshooting things that I could find, including everything on the MS site & everything on the HP site & everything in AS 4.5's troubleshooting instructions, including opening up the list of ports in the firewall and even disabling the firewall. 12 hours of this, with reboots between everything, and none of it worked until you pointed at the pim.vol file & said that deleting it solved your problem.
Needless to say, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your responding to my forum post, and with the proper answer, no less. You're my ipaq goddess! Thank you!
-> David
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David,
I'm glad the pim.vol trick finally got you syncing again. Perhaps I should append the article to recommend that all security / password options be disabled while using this technique. I wonder if you had first disabled your password, if the process would have worked without such effort......
Thanks for letting me know how things turned out!
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Julie,
I also submitted a reply on Aximsite regarding notification issues for the rx1950: about that, MemMaid did not do the trick to bring back reminder tones for appointments.
Any other ideas?
Thank you.
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I have never used MemMaid, but my impression of that software is that it is comparable to SKTOOLS in regards to editing the notification queue. You could also look at your notification queue through the Scarey Bear software that I posted a link to. If you don't find any additional redundant or erroneous notifications, you may have to perform a clean reset to get your notifications working again.
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Prof Julie,
I did have to perform a clean reset and it seems to have worked. I couldn't get mine to reset for the longest time thinking it was because I was having trouble pressing all those buttons at once. Finally I figured out that the unit must be turned off first, at least that's what it seemed since the first time I tried with it off I was successful.
I will continue to use MemMaid for the remainder of my 15 day trial period and see if I can keep it clean. It seems silly that we have to go to these lengths to have a reminder go off on our PDAs when an appointment is due. I would guess that most of us that have a PDA have it for organization of our time. If it doesn't give you that reminder tone you can't trust it so why use it?
Thanks for getting me on the right track.
Incidentally, the Scary Bear link you posted goes nowhere. I tried that link from other postings by other people and it’s the same result. It must be a recent development.
Mike
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Mike, Thanks for your message. I review my notification queue and delete erroneous notifications regularly. Todate, I have not had any problems with notifications on my hw6925.
I'll check out the Scarey Bear link and see if I can find a better link. Thanks for letting me know.
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