T/E2 no longer HotSyncs memos

[TungSteve]

My T/E2 has been syncing fine, but no longer with memos. That is, when I do a HotSync, at the memos section the syncing animation just goes on and on and on with no error message. So I just went into Custom and turned off memos for syncing. Now I found this forum and wonder if anyone here knows what I should do? I can convert memos to docs, but don't want to take the trouble. It should just work!

Thanks,
Steve

[potter]

This kind of error is usually caused by a corrupt data file on the desktop, or on the hand-held.

Do you sync against Palm Desktop or something else? Assuming Palm Desktop:
In Palm Desktop, perform a menu 'Tools', 'Options'.
In the 'Options' dialog box, select the 'Tools' tab.
In the 'Tools' tab, press the 'Check Now' button.
When completed, dismiss all the dialog boxes.
If the above found something, try Hotsyncing with Memos enabled again.
If the above did not work, or does not apply:
Get and install the dbScan (http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/utilities.htm#dbScan) utility.
Ack, I do not have my Palm on me at the moment so I cannot give you step by step instructions. Basically in the menus of dbScan there are entries for scanning the Memos database(s) to try and then there are also entries to remove deleted records from the Memos database(s).

[TungSteve]

I did the Tools > Check Now, and found no corrupted files.

I downloaded the dbScan utility and installed it. When I started the program on my Palm, I could find no indication that it works with Memos, other than an option called, "Delete PalmSource Memo." I'm not sure what this does and I'm not ready to let it delete any memos! There is no scans for testing the memos.

Thanks for responding!

Steve

[TungSteve]

I removed a Dataviz program, thinking that was the problem, according to another post, but that did not help. Belatedly, I cannot find all the registration info to plug into the web site, so I'll have to buy it again! Oh, well.

Steve

[potter]

Sorry about that. As I said I did not have my Palm on me, so I could not double check. I thought that dbScan did all 4 main PIM applications. Alas it only has full support for the datebook/calendar and todos/tasks.

However, a minor note: That menu entry says "Delete PalmSource Memo". That is Memo not Memos; also the related menu entries are Datebook instead of Calendar, To Dos instead of Tasks, and Address instead of Contacts. These entries delete the backward compatibility databases and not the main PIM databases.

Now that I have my Palm with me to check these things, try the following:

Pre-work:
Hotsync with all conduits set normally, save Memos set to 'Do Nothing'.
In the Palm Desktop:
Select the Memos sub application.
Perform a menu 'File', 'Open Archive...'.
In the 'Open Memos Archive' dialog box, open the 'Look in:' pull-down. Note the current directory. Example: C:\Program Files\Palm\UserID\memopad.
Press Cancel.
Close Palm Desktop.
Open up a Windows File Explorer window (Windows Key-E). In the File Explorer:
Navigate to the director noted above.
Inside this directory, you will find a file call memopad.dat. Copy this file some place else. This just in case we mess up (or we end up all the way down to trial 4), we have a backup copy of your current desktop memos to restore to.

Question:

Which do you think has the more accurate Memos, your desktop or your handheld?
If your desktop, try trial 1 and then 4 below. If neither of those work, then try trials 2.1, 2.2 and then 3.
If your handheld, try trials 2.1, 2.2, 3, and then 4 below.

Trial 1: Simple trial:

Since the 'Tools-Check Now' did not find anything, try the following:
Set the Memos conduit to 'Desktop overwrites handheld'.
Hotsync.
If your handheld, or this does not work, try the following additional methods.

Trial 2.1:
Run dbScan.
When prompted which database to scan, select 'Neither' (that is for the Datebook/Calendar scans).
Perform a menu 'Options', 'Remove All Deleted Records'.
In the 'Remove Deleted Records' dialog box, select 'PalmSource'.
dbScan will remove all deleted records from the ToDoDB, MemoDB, and AddressDB, and will display an informational dialog box about how many records it deleted. Just acknowledge the dialogs.
Exist dbScan back to the application launcher. This may take a while. If your device resets and this point, report back and I will given some additional steps to try this trial again.
Set the Memo's conduit to 'Handheld overwrite desktop'.
Hotsync.
If the Hotsync works, continue.
Set the Memo's conduit to 'Synchronize the files'.
Hotsync.

Trial 2.2:

Repeat Trial 2.1 again, but when prompted by the 'Remove Deleted Records' dialog box as to which PIM app Databases to process, select 'PalmOne'. dbScan will then remove all deleted record from the CalendarDB, TasksDB, Contacts, and MemoDB (hmm looks like a couple of typos). Continue with the rest of the steps of Trial 2.1.

Trial 3:

Run dbScan.
When prompted which database to scan, select 'Neither' (that is for the Datebook/Calendar scans).
Perform a menu 'Options', 'Delete PalmSource Memo'.
At the scary 'Delete PalmSouce PIM DB?' dialog box, press the OK button.
At the 'Database Scan Complete' dialog box, press OK.
Exist dbScan back to the application launcher. This may take a while. If your device resets and this point, report back and I will given some additional steps to try this trial again.
Launch 'Memos'. This is to verify that the main Memos database was not damaged.
Exit 'Memos' back to the application launcher.
Perform a soft-reset.
Set the Memos conduit to 'Handheld overwrite desktop'.
Hotsync.
If the Hotsync works, continue.
Set the Memo's conduit to 'Synchronize the files'.
Hotsync.

Trial 4:
Restore the backup memopad.dat file.
Using a utility such as FileZ, find and delete the MemoDB (if exists; it might not because of trial 3), and MemosDB-PMem.
Launch Memos. This will make a new empty Memos database.
Exit 'Memos' back to the application launcher.
Perform a soft-reset.
Set the Memos conduit to 'Desktop overwrites handheld'.
Hotsync.
Set the Memos conduit to 'Synchronize the files'.
Hotsync.

[potter]

I removed a Dataviz program, thinking that was the problem, according to another post, but that did not help. Belatedly, I cannot find all the registration info to plug into the web site, so I'll have to buy it again!
I do not recall if Documents to Go came with the E2 on the CD or in ROM. Some devices it was one, some the other. Someone with direct experience may be able to recall.

However, check the CD that came with your E2. There should be an installation of Documents to Go on it. I know that this will be the desktop portion. The question is will it include the handheld portion also?

If Documents to Go is in ROM on the E2, after we get your syncing problem resolved, performing a hard-reset should bring these applications back. Then performing a Hotsync will restore your data.

Another possibility, we will have to figure out which files, but the deleted document to go applications should be your Archive directory. In the pre-work section above, when we navigated to the memopad directory, the Archive directory is right next to the memopad directory.

[potter]

Pre-work:

[...]Hmm, maybe we should also backup the Memos on the handheld also. You can use a tool such a NVBackup to make a full backup of your handheld to an SD card, or you could use a tool such a FileZ to copy just the 'MemosDB-PMem' to SD.

[TungSteve]

Potter:
Bingo! Your Trial 2.1 did the job! My memos are now all backed up and viewable on my desktop. I printed out your instructions and put them in my computer binder.

Thank you very much!

Steve