Dell Axim X51v has stopped syncing with WMDC 6.1 running on Vista Home Premium

[Wayne Moses]

As of last Monday or so, my Ax stopped syncing with my laptop / Vista Home
Premium. Up until that time it was working like a charm -- better than any
version of ActiveSync. I installed nothing or changed nothing on the Axim.
AAMOF, I did not even remove it from its cradle other than to soft-reset.

The sync would fail with the message "Synchronization cannot be started because
you are not able to log on to the network and access information. Restart
your desktop computer and synchronize again. If the problem persists, contact
your network administrator."

I have restarted the laptop and the Axim many times and I have also re-installed
the drivers. I have checked and WMDC and the WMDC Host Services are both
running. The laptop and is up to date as is the Axim. I went to the WMDC
Home page and ran through the troubleshooting option that was closes to my
issue -- no joy.

I am able to browse the Axim from the laptop and also browse the Internet
from the Axim. So there is a viable connection via the USB cable and cradle.
I can also access the Internet and the intranet in my house, so I have no
clue what network this message is referring to.

I deleted the partnership and re-established a new partnership and right
off the bat the same message came up after the sync failed.

I am using MS Office Professional 2003 on the laptop and Pocket Informant
2007 Rev.4 on the Axim.

McAfee
=====

Now this bit of information might assist the diagnosis. Around the same time,
McAfee downloaded an update and corrupted itself. Details of this SNAFU can
be found in the Announcement here -- http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1

Well this led to various components of McAfee not working and despite my
using their cleanup tool and patch, McAfee could not be repaired and after
I uninstalled it I could not reinstall it.

I have since installed Windows Live OneCare on a 90-day trial and that installed
easily and is working perfectly. So much for McAfee.

Firewall
=====

During the course of my many searches on the Internet I cam across suggestions
that the firewall might be the issue. I thought of this also, but then figured
the firewall would not allow browsing or a pass-through to the Internet as
previously described.

Still I have verified that I only have 1 firewall active -- the Windows Live
OneCare firewall (Vista's firewall is turned off) -- and that firewall has
been set up to explicitly allow ActiveSync and WMDC.

Technical Support
==============

I called MS Tech Support and their WMDC team only works M-F, and besides,
the call might cost me since this sort of thing is supposed to be handled
by the device (Axim) manufacturer (Dell). Dell's web page explicitly says
that free support only extends to hardware-related issues and issues such
as this woudl also cost me money. So I am left in the lurch except for (hopefully)
the experts in these NGs.

Services or a Registry Hack
=====================

I suspect that the solution lies somewhere in the enabling of a service or
in hacking the registry. However I am not sure what this might be.

If not too tired from reading this epistle, can anyone help?

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texa

 

[Todd Allcock]

Now this bit of information might assist the diagnosis. Around the
same time, McAfee downloaded an update and corrupted itself. Details
of this SNAFU can be found in the Announcement here --
http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1

Well this led to various components of McAfee not working and despite
my using their cleanup tool and patch, McAfee could not be repaired
and after I uninstalled it I could not reinstall it.

Let me preface this with the information that I'm not a Vista/WMDC user,
so take any advice of mine with several grains of salt.

Having said that, I don't believe in coincidences- if this McAfee snafu
happened around the same time, it's extremely likely to be the culprit.
However...

I have since installed Windows Live OneCare on a 90-day trial and
that installed easily and is working perfectly. So much for McAfee.

Are you sure about the timeline here- did the error start before or after
the OneCare install? Others have posted that they've had to manually
open the OneCare firewall to let WMDC work if OneCare was installed after
WMDC. So we probably need to figure out if the sync problem occured
before OneCare to place the blame on McAfee or OneCare.

If you did have the troublebefore, then McAfee might not be completely
uninstalled, and manually removing all McAfee references from the PC's
registry might be worth a try, followed by a reboot (insert all "dangers
of modifying your registry" disclaimers here.) The fact that McAfee
won't reinstall is a good indicator it's still messing up the works
somehow.

If you're positive the problem didn't crop up until after OneCare was
installed, you might try uninstalling/reinstalling WMDC so OneCare "sees"
it and allows you to let it through the firewall, or search the
microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync NG for a post about the four WMDC
services to manually configure OneCall to let through. (There was a
thread about this maybe a month ago, IIRC.)


Best of luck- tracking down a sync problem is a b*tch, partially because
no one wants to reproduce your issue on their own PCs just in case! ;-)

--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures or double
as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for all the bells and whistles,
but I could communicate better with ACTUAL bells and whistles."
-Bill Maher 9/25/2003

 

[Wayne Moses]

Hello Todd,

Thanks for responding.

TA> Having said that, I don't believe in coincidences- if this McAfee
TA> snafu happened around the same time, it's extremely likely to be the
TA> culprit. However...

I have not at all ruled that out, espeically since I cannot be sure if the
McAfee SNAFU occurred before or after the Axim stopped syncing with the laptop.
All I can say is they happened about the same time.

TA> Are you sure about the timeline here- did the error start before or
TA> after the OneCare install?

Absolutely certain it was before the OneCare install. I was having the two
issues at the same time -- the lack of synchronicity between Axim and laptop,
and the antivirus software problem. Since the latter was more important than
the former, I concentrated on that until I managed to get the laptop to a
point where it is no longer vulnerable and I can concentrate on the Axim
sync problem.

Incidentally, after I uninstalled McAfee and before settling on trying OneCare,
I tried installing the trial version on Norton Antivirus 2007. What a joke.
It would not activate so I could not even get it to install properly let
alone work. I called their Tech Support and the chap I online chatted with
said essentially that I would not have this problem with the purchased version!
I asked him if he was saying that the trial version was useless then, and
he said yes! Still desperate for protection, I bought it from WalMart and
installed it -- same issue ... would not activate. So I uninstalled, ran
its cleanup tool and checked the Registry personally. That is when I decided
to look at OneCare.

TA> Others have posted that they've had to
TA> manually open the OneCare firewall to let WMDC work if OneCare was
TA> installed after WMDC.

Yeah, I read that, but doesn't apply in this case since I had the same problem
before OneCare.

TA> If you did have the troublebefore, then McAfee might not be
TA> completely uninstalled, and manually removing all McAfee references
TA> from the PC's registry might be worth a try, followed by a reboot
TA> (insert all "dangers of modifying your registry" disclaimers here.)

Did that. More than once. After each attempt.

TA> The fact that McAfee won't reinstall is a good indicator it's still
TA> messing up the works somehow.

That is my feeling .... the ghost of McAfee .... actually I think it is all
gone but before going, it screwed some setting or the other. That is what
I believe is causing this problem.

TA> Best of luck- tracking down a sync problem is a b*tch, partially
TA> because no one wants to reproduce your issue on their own PCs just
TA> in case! ;-)

I agree. Funny enough, I had it with ActiveSync, and that is why I upgraded
to Vista .... just so I had WMDC, *despite* what some people said about WMDC
at the time. I had a bear of a time getting Vista to see my Axim, and even
had the MS Research Department (like level 3 tech support) call me daily
trying this and trying that, when all I wanted was a Registry tweak that
would get the two talking. Eventually I solved it on my own, after researching
and all it took was 5 minutes. I shared this fix with him and he was grateful.
Now ask me if I remember what it was!

Anyway ... thanks for your help. I am hoping that someone else who might
have had a similar problem with this error knows what the fix is.

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texa

 

[Todd Allcock]

Anyway ... thanks for your help. I am hoping that someone else who
might have had a similar problem with this error knows what the fix is.

Good luck! Posts like yours are why my Vista Upgrade package still sits
in my desk unopened! (To be fair, I think I ran Win98SE for at least two
years after XP came out, so I figure I'll give Vista a good year or two
before I take the plunge!)

I keep telling myself at my next Activesync disaster (and we all know
there will be one eventually!) I'll just give in and get a hosted
Exchange account for $7/month (or try Emoze) for my PIM data and "sync"
my files manually with File Explorer over Wi-Fi!


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures or double
as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for all the bells and whistles,
but I could communicate better with ACTUAL bells and whistles."
-Bill Maher 9/25/2003

 

[Guest]

Mine also stop working. Basically everybody has or will have same problem.

 

[Wayne Moses]

Hello Raymond,

R> Mine also stop working. Basically everybody has or will have same
R> problem.

This is a really old thread ....

Since that time, I have had no problems at all with synching. I finished
my 90 day trial of Windows Live OneCare and was pelased enough to buy it.
installed it today. McAfee is gone. Too much of a PITA.

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texa