Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

A friend was happily syncing a (serial) m105 on his Win XP Home box (AMD
Duron 1GHz). Then he got a (USB) m130, which couldn't sync under USB due
to an obsolete HotSync Manager (that shipped with Palm Desktop 3.1.1).
So he downloaded the latest Palm Desktop package (4.1.4), but now,
nothing works: the desktop crashes one second after startup and the
HotSync fails. This doesn't surprise me: I never managed to run 4.1.4 on
my Win 98 box, despite the fact I can sync my wife's USB Clie without a
problem. Suggestions welcome.


--
Luc Le Blanc

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

Luc,

I have had a similar problem, although with a IIIc. It took me several
hours, but I finally got it working. As an aside, this problem only
arose after I bought a new laptop without an IR port, and I had to
revert to the serial to USB connection. If you have an IR port,
perhaps try that first (that advice is also posted on the Palmone
website !)

Palmone website advised upgrading to PalmOS 3.5.3 and I did do this but
I don't know whether this had a material effect on the outcome.

This is my config:

XP Pro SP2
Palm IIIc with PalmOS 3.5.3
Hotsync using serial cradle with serial to USB adapter

Try this:

1: Unplug your PDA from the computer.
2: Deinstall the palm desktop software (using Control Panel / Add and
Remove Programs)
3: Download the XP USB driver kit from www.palmone.com, and unzip the
files to your C: drive BUT do not follow Palm's instructions after
that.
4: Plug the PDA into the computer. The Found New Hardware dialogue
should come up. (If it doesn't it means the previous drivers have not
been removed successfully.)
5: Select the option to define the location, and then enter the
location you unzipped the downloaded drivers from Palm to.
6: This should install the drivers - check in System / Hardware /
Device Manager and make sure that there is a COM/LPT port installed.
Click to expand and take note of the "virtual" COM port number the
system has assigned to the PDA.
7: Install the latest version of the desktop software.
8: Go to the location where the desktop software is installed, and
rename HOTSYNC.EXE to something else (like HOTSYNC.EXE.V4)
9: From the files downloaded from Palm, copy the file HOTSYNC.EXE (file
size 284 kb, date 20 December 2001) and paste into the folder with the
desktop software.
10: Stop Hotsync manager if it is running and restart.
11: Check the properties of Hotsync manager - make sure that the
version is 3.1.4.
Make sure that "Local Serial" is checked, and that the port in use the
one you noted in Step 6. If not, change the selected port so that it
is the same port as in Step 6.
12: Attempt a Hotsync operation.

This finally worked for me - although I did many other things over
several hours, so making the process reproducible is very difficult.
However, it would appear that to work you need both the drivers and the
version of HOTSYNC.EXE supplied from www.palmone.com specifically for
WinXP USB, and not the versions that come in the desktop software kit,
even kits downloaded from the web.

As an aside, I also run an iMac series 1 with MacOSX, and I have
absolutely no problems whatsoever with the serial cradle connected to
USB !! Moral - when all else fails go and buy a Mac instead.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Bede