corrupt Address Book file

[hotboy_10c]

Mooseman. I Got the Tx, and followed your wonderful directions. It mostly all worked fine (or at least fixable). Now however, the desktop would partially open up and then I get the message that an error has occured and Palm Desktop has to close, and do you want to snitch to Windows about Palm's booboo. I am able to absolutely define the problem as being the address.dat file. As soon as I delete it (after saving a copy, of course), the desktop works perfectly, especially if I turn the conduit off. As soon as it syncs, it takes one name and that's it, and I get the same error message trying to open the desktop. I have even changed the first record to make sure it was not that specific address, but no change. It just syncs one name (the new one) and wont open up the desktop completely. By the way, I was able to isolate the .dat file because I searched the Palm support site for the file that the error message mentions. I am at work and forgot to bring my note with me, but it is a .dll file and support says it relates to an address book issue. Their recommendation in the FAQ was to delete the .dat and resync with Handheld overwrite desktop after testing the Palm copy that it works correctly. That only got the results I mentioned above. Please dont tell me I have to re-enter my address book, it would take years, but any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Oh yeah, I also tried to repair the installation (using Add-Remove Programs), even uninstalled and re-installed. No soap. Also, during the installation, the process got to the register your software part and malfunctioned. Now if I load the CD it shows a "word" file of unintelligible computer gibberish. So during the re-install I downloaded a fresh version from the Palm web-site. If you need, I can add more precise info after I get home tonight. Maybe we had a corrupt CD and/or some other issue besides. Thanks in advance for your help.

I am home and the file name is: mfc42.dl, hope that means something to you. Thanks again,in advance, for your help.

 

[Courtandrach]

Ok, if you followed my instructions - did you make a copy of your AddressBook.dat file and it's in a safe place?


Try to open it in Excel - if you have that on your PC. Then save it as a csv file and then delete the "corrupted" address book .dat and then launch Palm Desktop and import it into their. This might restore your file.

If not - email me your backup copy of your dat file and I'll try and work some magic on it and get it back to you in CSV format. This might be a leap of faith but I can promise you that I've done the same for others and never looked at the data nor kept it.....I've got my own 2600 address book entries to deal with....try the Excel trick but it may not work. I'll be out most of the rest of this evening but I'll be around over the weekend. PM me to ping me as I don't subscribe to any of the threads here - just to keep my inbox clean.

 

[Lottie. x]

I just got a note from drbaer that my little trick worked out for him.

Now for all of you to "learn":

I highly recommend that before you "upgrade" your device you do the following as an addition to the normal backup procedures you may or may not use from the Palm Desktop:

Export your Address Book, Calendar and all other PIM databases to a CSV file. This is easily done by going to the file menu while in each database and then choose Export - change from archive to CSV and then be certain to check the box that indicates the "range" as "all" and not just the single record.

I've attached a screen shot showing this function.

BTW - if you ever think you have corrupted records - this is a good way to clean them up. The process of exporting your records, deleting your current .dat file, and then importing your records back - will clean out the errant information that's causing the corruption without data loss.

Then just be certain to set your hot sync to Desktop Overwrites Handheld for the first hot sync after you've accomplished this process and be certain to return the hot sync to "sync" after you've restored your data.

Another BTW - never, never ever set the Backup or System Hot Sync to Desktop overwrites the Handheld. This is a no no unless you know what you are doing and if you aren't certain.......then you don't know.

And one last thing: When installing software, particularly Palm Desktop, be certain to shut down all other programs. Particularly any Antivirus software. AV along with Firewall software looks at the installation of the Hot Sync Manager as an attack - and will often prevent this from being installed without warning you so be certain to turn off AV and Firewall - if you are concerned about an attack on your system while installing the software - just unplug from your high speed connection. But if you are running via a router - there is no need to worry.

 

[Kunmui]

Brilliant advice, and although I think I've read it from you before, it is once again immortalized in the "Palm File."

Thank you Moose Man. GREAT "you never know" advice, and I believe I used it myself to clean up after the umpteenth datebook planner audition and all those "@@@@s," some time back.

Cheers.