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Hi
Just got this thing the other day (O2 XDA Mini S) and am pulling my hair out with ActiveSync. A google and a look round these forums convinces me I'm not alone.
I'm now at the point where notes will sync, but Contacts and Calendar will not. This appears to be most likely because I'm not using an Exchange Server.
I give in. Can anyone advise whether this some alternative to ActiveSync that I can use to back up my contacts list? I'd hate to have to do it all over again.
I have a memory card, so adding software from that is no problem if necessary.
Thanks
You can try the backup tool Sunnysoft
in advanced mode is an option Backup PIM databases
lansalot said:
I'm now at the point where notes will sync, but Contacts and Calendar will not. This appears to be most likely because I'm not using an Exchange Server.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you just trying to sync with your pc over the usb link? You don't need Exchange Server for that - it sync's with Outlook directly. Have you set up what information you want to sync in ActiveSync's Tools->options?
Another possibility for not syncing is any firewall you are running - although, if it was that, you wouldn't even get Notes to sync.
John
yup
Thanks for that John, yep I've done all I can see that I need to do. Missing Exchange was about the only thing left I could think of. I think I might uninstall Outlook and reinstall it to see if that helps. Though I *hate* having to install that POS just so I can backup some settings !
Perhaps there's somewhere within the phone that will export the various settings somewhere. Or perhaps I should dig out VS2005 and attempt to write one myself. Backing up to storage card would be the best option I think, and from a look around the .net mobile CF, it would appear to be pretty well supported.
And I had to disable Zonealarm despite having all the appropriate configurations set up to allow it. I even put 169.254.x.x in the trusted zone, to no avail.
ActiveSync is a shocking piece of software - and I know from owning other phones that there's things like MobiExplorer and MobiManager that tends to work much better than the usual manufacturer-supplied stuff.
Chak, thanks for the lead with SunnySoft.
Copy the pim.vol file from the root directory of the device. This contains all your pim info (contacts, call history, tasks, calendar). You can't really make anything out of it if you try to view it, but when you hard reset, you can just overwrite the new one and soft reset to restore everything. I copy mine to my storage card every time i add something new that has to do with pim stuff.
guttrhead said:
Copy the pim.vol file from the root directory of the device. This contains all your pim info (contacts, call history, tasks, calendar). You can't really make anything out of it if you try to view it, but when you hard reset, you can just overwrite the new one and soft reset to restore everything. I copy mine to my storage card every time i add something new that has to do with pim stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in my case, pim.vol file is protected, so copying & replacing it after hard reset does not work. i have other workaround for backuping contacts (as my activesync with outlook simply does not work) - each contact via irda to computer. it saves contact as .vcf file that you can send to wizard back again after hard reset.
Try using total commander to get to the file.
I yust transfered the file via email inside my home WLan to the PC.....
Hey, is this a common problem for HTC devices or Windows mobile in general?
I just started searching because my calendar won't sync. (3 palm devices and 3 pda's later, I have 1,400+ contacts.)
Are there any workarounds that anyone knows?
I tried setting up the sync settings whilst the device was disconnected, but the calendar entry just disappears when I re-connect.
-Worried of Sheffield.
thanks
Thanks eva_d, I had already hit on the idea of bluetoothing all my contacts over (thankfully, there's not that many) from my nokia 6600. Luckily, the XDA didn't require my SIM to be in it during the transfer. It even took over the mini pictures I had for some of the contacts, quite smart.
But it would be some chore with more than the couple dozen I had.
I'm reading up on the windowsmobile classes in dotnet, I reckon the answer would lie in there somewhere. Writing an app in VS to back things up to some funky open format would be the ideal, even if it does just drop a directory full of VCF files for example.
Once I'm sure VS2005 is installed and working correctly (http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=41155), I'll throw some serious effort at it.
Re: thanks
lansalot said:
Thanks eva_d, I had already hit on the idea of bluetoothing all my contacts over (thankfully, there's not that many) from my nokia 6600. Luckily, the XDA didn't require my SIM to be in it during the transfer. It even took over the mini pictures I had for some of the contacts, quite smart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
copying contacts to other handset is bit risky, because various producers are using various interpretation of .vcf file format. for instance, when i copy contact from siemens s65 to wizard, email field is always ripped off the contact and polish national characters are also absent. copying contacts to computer via irda is quite safe, however personal ringtones assigned to contact and voice dials are sacrified. all other data within a contact are still present, including contact picture.
A bit more info on the missing calendar link:-
I have one laptop using activesync V.4.1 this was where i first discovered the problem.
Just tried laptop #2 running a/sync v.3.7.1 which has an older copy of my appointments in outlook. Calendar doesn't sync to this either, so it must be something inside the MDA.
Tried to search microsoft support to find a solution, but no entries found. This seems to indicate that it is a HTC issue. I had a MDA Pro briefly sync-ed up which worked Ok. The problems are with my MDA compact running WM2003.
pim.vol not only saves the contact but also the assigned ringtone and pic. only way to do it is copy to storage card.
then after hard reset it won't let you overwrite the new one but if you rename it to pim.vol.old it lets you do that. then you can overwrite it.
laich71 said:
pim.vol not only saves the contact but also the assigned ringtone and pic. only way to do it is copy to storage card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
contact pictures are NOT saved in pim.vol. when i restore contacts via irda from .vcf files on my laptop, pictures are already there.
I know this thread has moved on a bit, but I've just got my calendar to sync. again and I'm soooo relieved!
Take a look at this forum to find out how:-
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync
Look at 'Cannot get calendar to sycnhronise' and the second reply.
Backing up the Contacts with Mail2Web Live Mail Service
I basically use the mail2web live mail service, and use its exchange server as the server source in Activesync. I only choose synching Contacts with this server (but you can choose others).
This way, all my contacts are always up to date in mail2web servers, and even if I need to hard reset, I can reget all of my contacts back very quickly.
Highly recommended...
Fast
please use the search PLEASE! ....search for PPCBckpContacts.exe
damn it!
This is really starting to do my head in... its so frustrating...
Since switching from my old trusty (?) Blue Angel on WM2003 to my new Wizard on WM5 this week I just can't seem to get anythingto work properly...
First off Avantgo and ActiveSync... I've tried 4.1 as supplied with the phone. 4.2 and 4.5b2. I've tried the latest AvantGo6... but 9 out of 10 times when ActiveSync tried to synchronise my AvatGo stuff it just sits there for hours and hours pretending to sync (the display claims 0/1 in the progress in ActiveSync).
Then there's TomTom (Navigator 5)... I finally got it to install by manually clicking each .cab file in the 2577 folder.. but now none of my POIs show up on the maps. THey are not TomTom POI files so they are not locked to a product code, and the POIs are searchable, so the files are being read..
Then there's getting the thing to work as a bluetooth connected GPRS modem.. or not as the case may be. Haven't got anywhere with that one.
The GPRS monitor software supplied with the phone by O2.. somewhow didn't install the Today plug in part so I had to contact spb and get them to give me a serial number for the latest version (which they did - thanks guys!).
Bluetooth connections to things just seem shoddy under WM5 altogether. The WM2003 way worked perfectly for me, I just don't get the new way.
I might even have to come back and add more to this rant as I discover more annoyances! Not really Wizard specific stuff I guess, but WM5 stuff in general... arrrggghhh.
-FM
A tip for your personal safety:
Have someone else take all firearms and any sharp objects out of your house! Also any medications that you could overdose on.
If you are not already seriously demented, the use of both Windows Mobile 5 and Activesync in any version 4 and greater can be extremely hazardous to your mental health!
You may find yourself crying uncontrollably and unexpectedly at times.
AS4.X and WM5 are not for the weak of heart!!
And I have been using the PPC/Windows Mobile platform since it was introduced. The sync speed - once you do get it to sync - is about the only improvement that I have found.
Wait till you realize that:
You can no longer sync wirelessly - no WiFi sync support at all.
You can no longer sync a subset of your contacts; it's all or none. (I have >2000 contacts, but I always synched only about 450 to my devices by keeping them in a separate Outlook folder and designating that as the Contacts folder to sync with... No longer supported!)
You cannot sync Contacts Notes.
You can no longer designate where to install programs in Activesync; only on the device itself.
CAB files on WM5 are automatically deleted after you try to install them - even if the installation fails for any of the many reasons they do with WM5, particularly on HTC Wizards. (TIP: Keep a separate copy of all CAB files you intend to install in a separate folder on your storage card).
WM5 auto-uninstalls any program for which you try to install an update. And most of the time the installation fails, leaving you with a lot of files but no working program. (TIP: Always uninstall any application that you are going to update, and perform a soft reset to reclaim memory immediately before the installation).
This should start you off on your road to total insanity!! Good luck - you'll need it! :shock:
J-Mac said:
Wait till you realize that:
You can no longer sync wirelessly - no WiFi sync support at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can however sync wirelessly using Bluetooth.
I successfully sync every time using BT so I can leave the USB cable n my car with the charger.
Thanks J-Mac, at least I know I am not going mad I was positive that there was a way of specifying a particular *.pst file from Outlook to sync with (I have a lot of business contacts in Outlook at work that I don't need/want on my phone) and have spent hours trying to find the setting.
At least now I know it isn't me and is in fact the newer version of Activesync no longer supporting this facility (how disappointing, it was so useful )
Nicky said:
Thanks J-Mac, at least I know I am not going mad I was positive that there was a way of specifying a particular *.pst file from Outlook to sync with (I have a lot of business contacts in Outlook at work that I don't need/want on my phone) and have spent hours trying to find the setting.
At least now I know it isn't me and is in fact the newer version of Activesync no longer supporting this facility (how disappointing, it was so useful )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, though that still effectively takes away any long-distance synching other than using Exchange. If a particular device or wireless operator is not offering that capability, and a user is not technologically adept at or comfortable with flahing a modified ROM onto their device, it ties you to your own personal PC like the very early days of MS's Handheld OS.
I had been using a small BT dongle - looks just like a USB flash mem key drive - for a while to sync w/my Dell inspiron notebook, but that died a while back. The connectivity, that is.
Not sure why. Devices pair up OK and start to connect, AS starts spinning its green disc as usual, COM ports are properly set, firewall either with proper permissions and ports opened - or even off altogether, and I suddenly get a dialog about security verification on that device, blah blah. Can't remember exactly now, but after spending a good part of each day for a week I just gave up and starting using IR. Probably the Dell, but I don't really know.
J-Mac said:
CAB files on WM5 are automatically deleted after you try to install them - even if the installation fails for any of the many reasons they do with WM5, particularly on HTC Wizards. (TIP: Keep a separate copy of all CAB files you intend to install in a separate folder on your storage card).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there is a registry hack to keep the cab files and not delete them.
But we want WiFi sync M$ :!:
I've had a catastrophe where I made the mistake of removing "sync profiles", not knowing that this is code for "erase your contacts from view". This is on an HTC Tornado, WM6.
I've tried everything, but I cannot get the phone to recognize the contacts any more. Everything is blank. Yet, my pim.vol (by hexediting) has the contact info in there - i can see it!
I've tried renaming /pim.vol and copying the old one over it, waiting, then soft resetting. I've tried repeating the above after a hard reset.
Why is this happening? How do I fix it?
Are there cmd line tools to simply parse the contents of my pim.vol so I can reenter by hand?
malefactor said:
I've had a catastrophe where I made the mistake of removing "sync profiles", not knowing that this is code for "erase your contacts from view". This is on an HTC Tornado, WM6.
I've tried everything, but I cannot get the phone to recognize the contacts any more. Everything is blank. Yet, my pim.vol (by hexediting) has the contact info in there - i can see it!
I've tried renaming /pim.vol and copying the old one over it, waiting, then soft resetting. I've tried repeating the above after a hard reset.
Why is this happening? How do I fix it?
Are there cmd line tools to simply parse the contents of my pim.vol so I can reenter by hand?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use resco explorer to replace pim.vol from the ppc, then reset and everything is ok
That doesn't really work. In WM6 it just freaks out on boot and causes the phone to re-init itself.
This is an utter nightmare, and makes me actually viscerally hate microsoft for building software like this. The genesis of this is that outlook simply would not work (and still doesn't, despite about 5 hours of searching/attempting to fix/reinstalling). So, I give up and try to sync with another laptop. I'm informed I have too many sync profiles, and you know the rest.
This is nothing short of ridiculous. I asked questions on a microsoft-monitored WM forum, and all I get back was some blurb about "pimbackup" and "managedpoom". The former would be great if I could get to my contacts, and the latter if I felt like writing a full application in C# with the sole purpose of extracting my contacts from a pim.vol, but meanwhile I'm screwed.
Thanks M$. I'm going Symbian/Linux in the future.
malefactor said:
That doesn't really work. In WM6 it just freaks out on boot and causes the phone to re-init itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works, after copy you should go back and delete the first pim.vol (the smaller one), after that reset, and all will be ok.
I don't know why; maybe I'm more determined now, but it did indeed restore it to its former state this time. I'd changed the ROM image to a newer WM6 one, too. Maybe that helped.
Thanks.
I have a problem with my HD2 forgeting passwords and account details for a number of apps and system settings. Now I know the Facebook login has been mentioned on another thread (although not sorted), but my HD2 is also fogetting the following after every soft reset or flat battery etc: -
Data Connection. It needs to be set as if it is the first time I have used the phone
Email. It forgets the passwords for the accounts, the download schedule/settings, and the signatures etc
Wi-Fi. Forgets all keys
Other Apps. Forgets passwords, and Facebook will never remember the details even though I check the remember my details box.
If this has been covered and I have missed it my apologies, but I can't find a thread, and if there has been I would be greatful for a link to it.
This problem is really causing me a headache at the moment. This (as always) seems to happen just at a crucial moment at work when I am in the middle of something and I have to soft reset; that would be enough of a pain usually, but now I have to reset the data, add the settings to my email accounts, re-enter wi-fi key, change my signature.....
I have been thinking that a hard reset might fix this, but thought I would ask on here first because I am not looking forward to the prospect of re-instiing my Tom Tom and everything else.
Thanks.
I've started getting the Facebook app problem in the last day or so, why won't it remember me?!?!
Losing email and data settings
Searched but can't find a solution to this problem, It's just started to happen to me on a 6 month old phone. Can't see anything I've altered in the last few days. Did OP find a solution?
The problem stopped and has not happened since. I did not find a solution, it just seemed to sort itself out.
OK. Thanks for the reply, will see if mine resolves itself
any idea of a fix for this problem?
Swype keyboard when installed sometimes has a tendency to wipe the passwords.
i found disabling sense and installing spb mobile shell fixed this issue for me. prior to that it was brutal. hard reset after hard reset.
jason
didn't get this problem in a while already.
I have this funny theory that MAY be true or not: if you need to softreset, before doing that make sure that all the applications that use those data are closed.
i.e., before softreset close with a task manager pocket outlook mail, and wireless properties if they're open
ephestione said:
didn't get this problem in a while already.
I have this funny theory that MAY be true or not: if you need to softreset, before doing that make sure that all the applications that use those data are closed.
i.e., before softreset close with a task manager pocket outlook mail, and wireless properties if they're open
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
indeed, it is not a theory. the key-db is shared between apps (at least the one for wifi+activesync keys), and a softreset may corrupt it.
ephestione said:
didn't get this problem in a while already.
I have this funny theory that MAY be true or not: if you need to softreset, before doing that make sure that all the applications that use those data are closed.
i.e., before softreset close with a task manager pocket outlook mail, and wireless properties if they're open
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. My HD2 has had this problem (again!!!) for the last couple of days now, and it seemed to start when the phone locked out and I had to remove the battery to reset.
And this time I decided to stop attempting to fix it and just bite the bullet and do a hard reset with the stock rom, which did nothing. Yesterday I changed rom to Energyrom and it still hasn't fixed it. Surely a hard reset/rom change should fix this issue?
Anyway taking the positives, forcing me to hard reset made me try a custom rom for the first time
Has anyone put in a complaint to HTC regarding this? I can put up with most niggles using WM/HTC, but losing exchange details and email account passwords all day is beyond a joke for business users.
Hi,
Need some help. Computer does not detect the phone anymore when connected. When i tried to launch activesync on the phone itself, It will start and shutdown immediately.
This is the second time it happened... First time, called up the service centre they told me the only option is to do a hard reset. Which I did... I really dun wish to do that again.
Anyone encountered the same problem?
I had the same problem, after some searching I discovered that if you open up the active sync on your HD2 (tools folder), click on menu, then on option, at this point you have a list of all the items you can sync with your windows outlook. As odd as this seems unclick the "task" and/or "notes", reset your HD2 and try to sync. That was the problem with mine and hopefully it's the same with yours. Hand it over to M$ for yet another glitch in there OS.
Hope it works out.
nope.. i can't even launch activesync from my phone...
Well that is beyond my knowledge a this point, if you can't even access the activesync prompt from the phone even when it's not plugged in, then I think you might have bigger problem than just a glitch. May I suggest flashing the phone... only other option I can think of besides a hard reset; which you say you've already done. Have you tried using a different pc?
Had same problem, had to disable fast usb on phone!!
just try a soft reset? has happened a couple of times to me and the soft reset fixed it.
Mike
soft reset doesnt help... its not with the " enable faster data sync " also.. other computers does not activate active sync too..
Seems like the activesync software on the phone is busted... it will start halfway and terminate itself before the program is fully loaded.
I have the same problem. I had to change outlook profiles on my computer (different issue) and when I tried to sync them, error. So deleted the PC set up on both PCs, and active sync would hang. So tried to remove the PIM file (rename it actually) and now AS will flash briefly and disappear, won't start. Woudl LOVE if someone had an answer...
try creating a new windows account with administrator access that's what do it for me
OK, figured this out, and now that I did I remember going through something previously with my TYTN II just like this. If you need to (bad program exit, Outlook locked, etc) reboot your PC. Also soft reset your phone. Use some file explorer to go to your root directory and rename PIM.VOL to something else. DONT RESET, Pim will reconstitute somehow...
Delete your autosync profile on your PC.
Connect the USB
You will have to go through all the stuff of a new sync, but at least it gets things reconnected. And it beats a hard reset.
PS, as other mentioned, notes can be problematic, best if you can delete all pwi files in your phone\my docs and resync. If some HAVE to be kept, move them elsewhere and sync, then move them back.