TX failure to sync Mac OS X 10.3

C

cH1Qu1tAMaMa$iT@

New member
:eek: Hi to everybody: I am new to the forum and I found many interesting topics and a reason not to cry on my TX crashes!! This is the chain of events.
I bought the TX (my Tungsten E has served me well, but one day did not turn on anymore!!) and installed the Palm Desktop on my Mac Cube OS X 10.3 Panther. I also had the Missing Sync installed on the Mac. The application iSync has never recognized the TX: it doesn't exist and communicate at all with the computer (either via cable or via BT). I uninstalled the Missing Sync, but nothing really happened. As of now, I tried to reinstall Palm Desktop 3 times, but no success. Bottom line: there is no communication btwn Mac and TX. The program ePocrates also has never been able to update and crashed the HotSync Manager.
Thanks for your help.

Pierpaolo

the ghost in the machine!!!!

PS: I am waiting a reply from ePocrates team for help :confused:
 
I use a TX with OS X 10.3.9. I also stated using Missing Sync since the Palm HotSync manager seams to be so helpless at times. It works fine when it works but if something goes amiss such as a corrupt file on the TX perhaps caused by installing an app on the TX that does not work on the TX, then HotSync Manager seems to get confused and cannot do anything but mess its own pants as well al the TX's.

What I like about Missing Sync is that it is very easy to do a hotsync with ALL conduits unchecked to see if everything wroks that way. Then you can one by one check the conduits that you want to synchronize until you find the culprit(s).

Also, I find it essential to backup my entire TX onto an SD card using BackupMan. Then using a card reader (10 to 20 bucks) you can put a copy of your entire card on your PC. Now you are safe to completely Trash your Palm's backupfolder and everything else Palm for that matter and reinstall starting with Missing Sync and Palm Desktop.

The if you Hard Reset your TX you can next do a hotsync (with Missing Sync) and all should work. Now you can go to your BackupMan program on your SD card (inserted in the TX) and individually Restore files one or a few at a time, again do a hotsync, etc.

This may be laborious but it may also be the only way, i.e. start from scratch with all things that you know should work (clean, Hard Resetted TX) and go from there.

One thing I advise is if you do this or a similar procedure, and if you find the culprit, try to reproduce it a couple of times at least. In otherwords, don't jump to a premature conclusion when adding apps to your TX and finding a clinker. Backtrack your moves as required and double or triple check to be sure you know what is causing the problems. It can be that all things will work well until you instal application "xyz" on your TX, and you jmay think that "xyz" must therefor be the bad guy. It may be that an earlier app you put on is really the bad guy but only acts up once "xyz" is on your TX.

(I am too lazy to proof read so please forgive typo's etc.)
 
I loathe Mac OS, for these types of reasons, but am forced to use macs at work. It seems all major software companies consider mac products as an after thought and don't seem to care whether updates are timely or even work very well. The problem I've been having is not so much with syncing the TX as much as it is that the hotsync insists on reinstalling ALL my software each time I hotsync. If I set the hotsync to "do nothing" with installing files then things work just fine except that the hotsync takes forever, as if it still has never done a hotsync. When I turn install files back on everything works as normal and the hotsync does not try to resinstall files. I've only had this problem since upgrading to the TX and installing the new desktop 4.2. I'v never had a problem with my Tungsten T and desktop 4.1 Any thoughts?
 
What do you mean "When I turn install files back on"? The Install conduit is for installing a new app or database etc. It is not the same as the Backup conduit.
 
:eek: well, this is the Epocrates team suggestion, which I implemented and worked for 2 syncs only!!!:

"The iSync 1.2 Palm Conduit installer changes the ownership and permission settings of some Palm folders to Read Only. Epocrates Rx Pro for Mac requires these folders have Read & Write access.

The following instructions are from the Palm support site. Please note that if you encounter difficulties or are unable to carry out the suggested correction, you will need to contact Palm directly as supporting this issue goes beyond the scope of Epocrates software support:

Mac OS X 10.2.x and 10.3.x
1. In the Finder, select the "/Library/Application Support/Palm HotSync" folder. Note that this is the Library folder at the ?root' level of your hard drive, not the Library folder in your user Home folder.
2. Select "Get Info" from the File menu.
3. In the "Get Info" window click on the arrow next to "Ownership and Permissions" to show the details. In Mac OS X 10.3 you may need to click on the arrow next to "Details" to show all owner/permission info. 4. Select the lock icon next to the "Owner" name to unlock it.
5. Select the Owner menu and select your username (or a user with Admin privileges). You may be asked to enter your password at this time.
6. Change the Owner's Access to "Read & Write"
7. Select the "Group" name and change it to "Admin"
8. Change the Group's Access to "Read & Write"
9. Repeat steps 2 through 8 for the following two folders: "/Library/Application Support/Palm HotSync/Conduits"
"/Library/Application Support/Palm HotSync/Disabled Conduits"

The Hotsync manager and iSync work well until Epocrated Autoupdate starts: it lasts 20 sec and then Hotsync exits with no update of Epocrates.
I checked the Palm website but I wasn't able to find any suggestion to this problem.
Thanks to all of your efforts!! :D

Pierpaolo
 
That's right. To explain a little better, whenever I hotsync it acts as if it is hotsyncing with a NEW pda. It doesn't ask me for a username, but reinstalls every backedup file onto my TX. If I plug it in and push hotsync button is says "Installing agendus...etc." I usually abort at this point preventing reinstallation. Now, if I then hotsync a second time, it only syncronizes files it does not attempt to install anything, unless I have files to be installed in the install manager. By setting the conduit to "do nothing" with regard to installing files it helps me avoid the whole problem. I think I am having this problem because I am hotsyncing the same device on two different macs, a desktop and a laptop, I know lucky me... anyway, this was never a problem under the old palm desktop and my Tungsten T. I may just need to stick with one computer, because then it doesn't seem to have the problem. Any of you hotsync with more than one PC?
 
urloony,
I had this problem once. AvantGo was causing the problem. Try uninstalling AvantGo on the Palm and computer. BTW, are you syncing with Palm Desktop or iSync?

Yes, some developers treat the Mac OS version as an afterthought (like AvantGo) but the vast majority of developers realize that Mac users will only accept and pay for quality applications. I've had very few problems with poorly coded apps. In fact, using iSync+The Missing Sync, I believe I have more control and fewer problems than my PC using brethren.
 
By the way, this is the way I solved the problem.
After various email from Epocrates and Palm support, I did the simplest thing that nobody has addressed: check whether the epocrated conduits where in the right folder: well, they were in the "disabled conduits" folder (how they got there, I don't know). So, after moving the epocrates conduit to the "conduits" folder, I synced the TX and....my, my, it worked!!!
Pierpalo
 
Back
Top