This is driving me mad!

[VinnyTheFish]

I am beginning to feel I am jinxed by the technology world.

The hard drive on my home pc went (Kapput) and getting it repaired has so far taken three months - in and out of various repair centres who seem to know no more than I do. Forget that story it is too long and tortuous.........

In the end frustrated with lack of home computing I bought a reconditioned box on the cheap. The thing is it has WindowsXP preinstalled.

For the life of me I can't make it find my IPAQ.

To start with I know that my modem is attached to Com1 though it doesn't actually use the com port on the back of the computer - I thought I could designate this Com2 and use that for the IPAQ but I am not sure how to and when I start activsync it says Com1, 2 and 3 are all unavailable. Eventually I managed to install a com port driver and can now make either come 2 or 3 available but it still doesn't recognise the machine.

I have also tried using a usb port (my cradle has both on it) but activsync says that usb is available but does not recognise the machine. In my system settings it refers to an unknown usb device.

I reckon this is probably something to do with the settings on the XP machine?

Can anyone help or am I truly jinxed?

Thanks

Vinny

PS - I have found some posts referring to problems with firewall settings so I have tried disabling this but that didn't help either

[stormbringer]

I need to ask a really stupid question... so don't take it personal. Have you installed ActiveSync on the new computer? If not then do that first. If you have already try uninstalling and reinstalling following the on screen instructions exactly. Don't have the PDA connected until told to do so. Sounds like it's not recognizing the device so it may be that the drivers included with Activesync aren't loaded.

Good luck!

[VinnyTheFish]

Not a stupid question at all but yes I have installed Activesync. I have installed, uninstalled 3.5 at least three times and 3.6 (I can't remember where I found the link to this - another bulletin board somewhere) at least three times.

I promise I have religiously followed all on screen instructions about what to plug in when but still no joy.

That's why I think maybe it's an XP-specific problem

Vinny

[stormbringer]

I run XP Home on my laptop and have no problem at all syncing with my iPAQ. I'm clueless then.

Sorry

[VinnyTheFish]

Thank for trying.

Vinny

[RichBoston]

I had similar problems with connecting to Windows NT in the office. Compaq support solved the issue by having me do two things - don't know which and/or both - worked.

First they had me disable my old Palm software (I was still able to sync my old Palm unit which was frustrating!) and secondly they had me slow the baud rate to 57600 on my iPAQ (ActiveSync/ Tools/ Options) I also made the same change on my PC (Start/ Settings/ Control Panel/ Ports)

ActiveSync automatically seeks and finds an available port so that shouldn't be an issue.

Hope this helps!

Rich

[cryo-man]

Have you checked your bios setting to make sure that the usb port is enabled ?

Also check to make sure that the com ports are setup correctly in the bios.

jr

[amd]

if you have access to another PC or laptop, you could just plug in your usb cable with ipaq attached, it should try to activate immediatly or at lease ask you to insert disc. You do not need to add the software. If the new pc recognises the ipaq, you can cross off the ipaq & cable as the problem.
If the problem is in your pc, go to the add hardware section & while the ipaq is connected try & activate it from there, or just follow the instructions as it just might give you some insight as to what is wrong. If worse comes to worse, you may have to reinstall xp. A pain!

good luck

amd

[destinyy]

The exact same thing is happening to me. Windows XP Professional. I have the iPAQ 5450 and it will recognize (sometimes) and other times I'll get "unknown device". It works on other machines just not this one. I'm using the universal cradle here at work (the one that 'came' with my iPAQ is at my home machine and it works fine -- on Windows 2000). I don't know why it keeps losing the device though. Also, even when it does recognize the device, it will only charge the iPAQ when the power is off -- when the iPAQ is on the charging stops. I'm at my wits end.

destinyy@destinyy.com

[dwinget]

You need to run the add hardware wizard on Windows XP before ActiveSync is installed.

[cmedford]

I had a lot of strange problems with my IPAQ when I converted to Windows XP. I downloaded a new ROM --from
www.compaq.com

You could get connected as a "guest" on another PC (that's not on XP operating system), and then go to this site and download the rom.

I understand it's critical that you set the IPAQ so the light/power, etc. stay ON the entire time -- and connect it direct to electricity -- the ROM upgrade may take a few minutes--and you must not touch it until it's entirely done. This upgrade made an incredible difference in my IPAQ -- and I now have no problems connecting to my laptop running Win XP. I'm no expert--but this fixed it for me. (you might want to check with HP at www.hp.com before you do anything.

[mfasano]

Did you install the Compaq USB drivers that came on the companion disk?

[boathon]

This may be a moot point now, but the Activesync software that is coming with the most current of iPacs does not work for the XP. If you go to the microsoft website, there is an update that you can get for free. Imagine that something free from the evil empire.

[silver24]

I had problems when i first got my 3835 with XP, I went to MS download site and did a search for USB and downloaded there USB driver and installed it and all is well, I can now sync my Ipaq and my UniPro at the same time.

[Mongoid]

Do other devices work on your USB ports? If they do not. try refreshing the drivers for your USB port by removing them from device manager and rebooting. Windows will reinstall them automatically. Try looking for updated USB drivers for your chipset. XP does not sync well through the serial port so I would concentrate on the USB. Go to device manager right click on My Computer and choose Manage, Go to dev manager and see if there is windows CE device listed under(below) the Universal Serial Bus controllers. If there is does it have a yellow exclaimation or question mark on it? If it is there try leaving the companion Cd in the drive, click the plus sign beside windows ce device, right click on the unknown device or ipaq usb sync (whatever it says) and choose update driver. When the wizard comes up point it at the CD.If there is nothing in dev manager like windows ce device or unknown device and other usb devices work fine, suspect the cable or cradle. Take it to a best buy or somewhere and have it tested with a known good.
If the device shows as fine in dev man, check for software interfering.
As the other folks pointed out , Palm software can definitely interfere with activesync.Also, firewalls like Norton Internet Security and Mcafee firewall can also interfere. If you have a firewall running try disabling it before syncing.Right click on the icon in the system tray and choose disable.