Help - Not able to hotsync all Address book and To-Do records

[mickymick]

I was doing a hotsync when some Datemate alarm came up. I think it somehow corrupted some files and I was not able to silence the alarm. The same alarm kept popping up even after a soft reset. I had to do a hard reset to silence the alarm.

I initially thought that it is a pretty beign problem but I was totally wrong!

After several rounds of hotsync, hard reset and trying to bring the data back, I am stuck with a strange problem: some Address book and To-Do records are not able to sync between the desktop and handheld. The sync log is as follow:

***************************
-- Address Book
- Some handheld records were not copied to your PC. Your computer may be full or you may have reached the maximum allowed records on the desktop. To correct this situation, delete some records and perform a HotSync operation again.
Desktop = 2152, Handheld = 2109
- Some PC records were not copied to the handheld. Your handheld may be full. To correct this situation, delete some records and perform a HotSync operation again.
Desktop = 2152, Handheld = 2109
Address Book synchronization failed

-- To Do List
- Some handheld records were not copied to your PC. Your computer may be full or you may have reached the maximum allowed records on the desktop. To correct this situation, delete some records and perform a HotSync operation again.
Desktop = 414, Handheld = 325
- Some PC records were not copied to the handheld. Your handheld may be full. To correct this situation, delete some records and perform a HotSync operation again.
Desktop = 414, Handheld = 325

***************************
I even un-installed the entire palm desktop, created new dummy users and copy data files into the new user folder but was still unsuccessful to bring the desktop and handheld fully in sync.

I have already tried to the hotsync option - “desktop overwrites the handheld” and still did not work. I simply do not understand why the last few records cannot sync with the handheld.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance.

mm

[Dirk Hasloewer]

Have a look if there is an entry on or before the first of Jan 1970. If so delete this entry.

[holvoetn]

Since all indications are there your desktop seems to be more current, you should be able to do 1 hotsync setting all 4 conduits for PIMs to Desktop overwrites Handheld.
But you already tried that ...

In that case, hard reset and sync again, all will be restored from the desktop (to play safe, make an SD card backup !)

BTW an alarm DURING hotsync should normally NEVER occur !

[mickymick]

Hi Drik,

I have checked the Palm desktop - nope, there is no entry before Jan 1970. (In fact, I cannot go beyond 1 Jan 1970 on the Palm desktop), I did find a entry in 1965 with a "0" in the handheld (not sure how it got there). I deleted it, hot sync and still have the same problem.

Hi Holvoetn,

I know that an alarm should not happen during hot-sync. I was caught by surprise as well. I have already tried to hard reset, use desktop to override handheld data, but still have the problem....;(

BTW, anyone know what is the max Address and To-Do entries TH-55 can hold? Maybe I am at the max already?

Also, I have been sync-ing between my home pc and my work laptop. Every time I switch from one machine to the other (usually once a week), there is always an error message which says some records are not backup and I need to do a 2nd hot-sync to make sure all records are in sync. Since it was working, I was not too troubled by it. I am not sure if this somehow had corrupted the misc .dat files...

;((((

mm

[dragonsgames]

Well if it says you have too many, you might have too many. How many do you have? How much space do you have on the handheld?
Worst case scenario, you will have to re-create all the address entries.

[PDA Fanatic]

I'm so sorry to hear about your problem. How frustrating! I took a look at some Palm.com forums to see if I could find a solution to your problem. If you take a minute to read the forum at the link below you'll see you are not alone (misery loves company) and there are a couple of solutions listed that I don't think you have tried. Nothing is guaranteed, but you might luck out and one of the solutions might solve your problem.

forums.palmone.com (http://forums.palmone.com/pe/action/forums/displaysinglethread?nesting=0&lastPage=3&currentPage=0&rootPostID=20125149&showPostBody=&returnExpertiseCode=)

[mickymick]

Hi PDA Fanatic,

Thank you for the link you posted - it's good to know that I am not alone with this problem – I pity the other users still fighting this problem….

In reading the link, it looks like most of the people having this problem are using PalmOne products - Zires, T|E etc...I am not sure if I am the only "lucky" TH55 user having this problem.

I am a die-hard Palm OS user and it is scary to know that there is such a problem out there and no one seems to know THE right way to fix it.

Well, I am happy to inform all of you I “fixed” the problem – well, technically I did not fix it – I forced the solution: As I mentioned in my earlier post, I did many hard resets on the TH55, set desktop to override handheld data, change user names, even went to the extend of un-installing the entire Palm desktop and re-installing everything – All did not work. The hot sync during these procedures were extremely long… Then magically after one last hard reset, the Hot-sync went through, left with only 43 records in Address Book and 50+ records in To-Do did not sync with the handheld. I then created an excel spreadsheet, export all the data into excel, vlookup the records, manually copied one-by-one from a dummy user name (with completed records) into my real user records. Sync it again and all records went into the handheld with no more problem. YEAH!!!

Strangely, the system threw out more pre 1970 Date Book records which I did not enter. Fortunately they were all moved by the Palm Desktop to 1970, 12/31 date automatically. I went in and manually deleted all of them. Not sure how they got there in the 1st place. ??

Not sure why that 43 Address book record simply refuse to sync into the handheld. ??

I now have my theory why I got into this mess - I have been syncing this TH55 with 3 PC – home desktop, home laptop, work laptop. I must have corrupted the data files somehow while moving from one machine to the other. Before having this problem, I never know that I will be exposed to such problem. Now I know – through the hard way…so I will sync it with only one machine. (Maybe I will start a different thread to discuss this question separately.)

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge with me!!!

Cheers!

A happy TH55 user again – mm. :D