I've just finished struggling with a similar problem. After months of trouble-free usage, my PDA suddenly would not interface with my computer
I get a window saying ActiveSync 'Can't recognise the device because it is either not connected properly or it's not a Pocket PC'. Well it recognised it before, so the second isn't a problem. I have connected and reconnected it and re-installed ActiveSync several times
If I try to connect from the PDA, I get “Cannot start comms with the desktop computer. Remote Networking could not start due to critical error(Error 1).â€
The Help system on XP is very good and I struggled through the various stages. The following MS Knowledgebase article may well be of interest to some who have this problem
ARTICLE-ID: Q26469
TITLE: "Your Device Was Not Detected" Message Displayed in the Get Connected Wizard
It didn't work for me and the solution is not couched in terms related to Windows XP, so it was difficult to implement (I also have an internal USB Hub, which doesn't simplify the issue)
Finally I came to a very simple ruse which involves loading up ActiveSync, going into File/Connection Setting, unchecking Allow USB connection, close ActiveSync, reload ActiveSync, File/Connection Settings, re-check Allow USB connection, close ActiveSync, replace PDA on cradle(don't forget to remove it before you start!) and BINGO, it all works again
The full instructions are on
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/support/pocketpc/tshoot/activesync/USB_Enable.as
Hope this solves a few of your problems. I was just on the point of going out to buy a new PDA
Ze