Database Users

Problems syncing with two PCs using Activesync 4.1

Hi all
I have a UK T-Mobile Vario with no modified ROMs or anything like that. I am having problems syncing with two computers using Activesync 4.1.
I'm not experiencing any of the usual AS problems, I can connect to both computers by USB or IR without problems. I don't have any firewalls other than the built-in XP firewall, and they have been disabled for the Vario connection on both computers.
From "out of the box", I set up a partnership with my home computer without problems. I then did the same with my work computer. However, when I returned home, Activesync did not recognise the device as one with which it had a partnership and started the setup wizard again. I had to go through the whole process again... then the same thing happened when I returned to work!
It's very frustrating because it takes so long to set up new partnerships, and I can't be confident that it is properly merging what has changed on the Vario with what is on the PCs.
If no-one has any better ideas I guess I will have to do a hard reset and reinstall AS on both PCs, but I'd rather it didn't come to that!
Thanks in advance

Did you resolve this problem? I have been fighting with my new 8125 to try and get it to sync with my computer at home and my computer at work. It just won't share the same partnership and you can only setup contacts and calendar with one of the partnerships. I have tried deleting the mobile devices from active sync on both computers and removing them from the sync configuration on the mobile device and starting again with no luck.
It tells me this "Your Pocket PC is already set up to synchronize with another computer (Windows PC). Please enter a name that will help you easily distinguish this computer from your other computer (Windows PC). " But if I name it something else I can only sync contacts and calendar with one of the partnerships. Very annoying.
I'm wondering if anyone has gotten the contacts and calendar to sync with 2 different computers (without configuration changes each time you sync). I had a PocketPC before (not a phone) and had no problems doing this.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I resolved the problem by uninstalling Activesync from both computers and doing a hard reset on the Vario at the same time. When everything was reinstalled it started working as it should. When doing the hard reset I also installed an updated ROM from T-Mobile for my device, so I cannot say with total certainty whether it was the reset or the new ROM that actually corrected the problem.

Does this mean you can successfully sync your contacts and calendar with 2 computers? Does it show just one item in the sync application on your mobile device?

I'm not sure if this will help you, but I have both my machines, the Universal and Wizard syncing with my work laptop and my home PC without any problems.
The Wizard is syncing Calendar, Tasks and Contacts with both machines...

impaler said:
This may not be what you want to hear, but I resolved the problem by uninstalling Activesync from both computers and doing a hard reset on the Vario at the same time. When everything was reinstalled it started working as it should. When doing the hard reset I also installed an updated ROM from T-Mobile for my device, so I cannot say with total certainty whether it was the reset or the new ROM that actually corrected the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto for me. I did a hard reset on my 8125, and reinstalled ActiveSync on comps. Original ROM, updated radio ROM only. Works like a champ syncing with 2 PCs.

That is good to hear that other people got it working.
Did you do any tricks to get this to work? Or did ActiveSync prompt you to create a multiple computer partnership?
What version of ROM do you have? I have 1.8.11.1 WWE and radio 01.09.11. I'm wondering what else is out there and I have heard about a 2.8.7.102 version, but it is prerelease.
Do you have ActiveSync 4.1 and Windows Mobile 5.0?

thomii said:
That is good to hear that other people got it working.
Did you do any tricks to get this to work? Or did ActiveSync prompt you to create a multiple computer partnership?
What version of ROM do you have? I have 1.8.11.1 WWE and radio 01.09.11. I'm wondering what else is out there and I have heard about a 2.8.7.102 version, but it is prerelease.
Do you have ActiveSync 4.1 and Windows Mobile 5.0?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't do any tricks - Activesync on your mobile is happy to have two partnerships at once. I'm also using AS 4.1 and WM 2005.

no luck yet
Well I did a hard reset on my device and reinstalled active sync on both of my computers and still no luck. Very frustrating. It still tells me that my pocket pc is already set up to synchronize with another computer and I need to name it something to distinguish it from the other computer. I do this and call it "Home" and then I can't click on Contacts or Calendar b/c it says that it is already synchronizing with my other computer. It says I can turn it on after, but only after I clear the check box for the other computer and try again.
Maybe now I'll look into updating the ROM, but I didn't really want to do this b/c I'm not sure if I want to keep the device if I can't get this to work. Maybe I'll try calling Microsoft although I've already tried and gotten three different phone numbers of people to talk to and when I had called they weren't in the office at the time. So I tried searching some more and trying some different things and came across this great forum!
I wonder if my problem is because my 2 computers are synchronizing with different exchange servers. I did read this:
"If you want to sync your Pocket PC or Smartphone with 2 PCs with Outlook and the 2 PCs are both synchronizing with different Exchange servers, you need to use a registry editor on the mobile device and set the following key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ActiveSync\EnableNonLocalCrossPollination] = (DWORD) 1
Source: http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/faqs/activesync/tshoot-as4x.htm
I wanted to try this but haven't found a free registry editor that works yet. I'll do this before the ROM.

FIXED
Changing EnableNonLocalCrossPollination fixed the problem.
I should have just tried that from the start. I paid the $20 for the Vidya Pocket Registry Editor 1.0.5 and changed the registry and now I can pick contacts for both home and work connections. Now to fix the problem of sync freeze

How do I delete a partnership on the Wizard?

I have had to do a restore on my Wizard.
Now when I activesync it says I already have a partnership on the Wizard and prompts for a name for the 2nd PC.
I am not using a differnt PC it is the same one.
The name of my PPC is Robin_KJAM HOWEVER when I sync it renames it to WM-robin and then DUPLICATES all my contacts, diary entries everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELP PLEASE.
Robin

GO to Active Sync on your Wizard. Then goto Menu/Options, there you will see your partnerships. Hold down stylus on the very top of the tree structure, for instance mine says Windows Mobile PC, then you will get a option to delete and your done.

AAAahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I deleted all partnerships on my Wizard (Thank YOU for the help).
I deleted all partnerships on my PC.
I attach my Wizard, setup a new partnership, tell it the computer needs to overwrite the data on the Wizard and..............
EVERY BLOODY THING GETS DUPLICATED.........
I cannot believe it, it has happened 3 times on the trot.
Please does anyone have ANY idea why this would be happening?
CHeers.
Robin

Cannot sync Wizard with more than one computer

Ok, using Activesync 4.1 I sync'd my Wizard with my home computer. That went fine (amazingly enough). Now I try to sync it with my work computer and I can create the relationship between the wiz and the computer but AS wont let me sync any catagory that has already been sync'd on the home computer. IE: calendar, taks, notes.
Everytime I try to mark one of those catagories AS gives me an error message that states...
"You cannot synchronize Tasks (or Calendar) because it is already synchronizing with Windows PC. To enable Tasks for Windows PC 2, clear the Tasks check box for Windows PC and try again."
What the!?! This same set up worked fine with my previous PDA, and it let me sync between the 3 devices without a problem. Am I missing something? Any suggestions?

Weird. I sync with my PC at home and my workstation at work. Everything syncs with no problems at all. The good thing is that by labeling my appointments (with the color-coded labels), the home stuff shows in color & work stuff in white at home, and the opposite at work. Makes it easy to tell the difference.
Maybe the issue is operating system on the second machine? Try uninstalling AS4.1 on the second system after removing the partnership. Reinstall & try again. Whatcha got to lose?

I had the same problem when I first connected my new Wizard to my PC.
Actually the problem is not that a given Wizard cannot synchronize with more than one PC, but rather that AS does not allow you to synchronize a given PC with more than one PDA.
I suggest that you just delete the entry for you previous PDA (the one that's apparently named 'Windows PC').

Dual Synchronisation

Apologies if a similar thread has already been started - please direct me!
The single biggest improvement I could see in a Mobile PDA now would be to enable 'dual synchronisation'. In effect to have 2 seperate sets of data within a single device.
Currently I have to carry 2 devices at all times - 1 which syncs with Work via Exchange, and a home phone which syncs with my home PC.
These have 2 seperate diaries, sets of email accounts, contacts, tasks etc.
It is not currently possible within Windows Mobile 6.1 to sync with 2 different PCs without ending up duplicating every appointment etc.
I understand the iphone can do this to a certain degree, but is anyone aware of a way to do it on Windows Mobile?

The Problem is th WM 6.1. The WM 6.0 works fine. I have two computers too, and on the one I have Vista and the other habe XP. And that`s works.
I don`t know how, but it works.

For me it works. I have wm6.1 and i have home laptop with vista and work laptop with xp. In my sync profile on PDA there are two sync profiles created one is Home PC and one is Work PC and it syncronises eveyrthing i tell to do. You will have problem with appointments for example duplication but for that you choose what to sync and how. PC to phone, or phone to PC and avoid duplication. Also you can use tools like SKtools to remove duplicate events / contacts etc... hope it helps

HTML:
In my sync profile on PDA there are two sync profiles created one is Home PC and one is Work PC and it syncronises eveyrthing i tell to do
How do you do this? I have searched and can't find any way of setting up more than 1 sync profile on the PDA. I must be missing something...
Cheers,
Jim.

thinking back, when i connected my PPC to my works PC it said do you want to maintain a second Sync profile, i said no as all i wanted was to transfer files but you should be prompted.

I use a service called funambol, to sync contacts and calendar between my 2 outlook clients and then use exchange sync one of them to my phone

HTC problem w/ ActiveSync to second computer

I cannot get my HTC to complete an ActiveSync with my second PC (a Laptop). After more than a week speaking with HTC and surfing for solutions, I can successfully sync with my PC#1 (Tower Computer) but can still not get a complete sync with the PC#2 (Laptop). I am only syncing Contacts, Calendar & Tasks. On the laptop, I can sync Calendar and Tasks, but Contacts has failed every time and with every attempted fix. I do have a large number of contacts (3925), but this syncs OK every time on my Tower PC. After a long period the sync process stops with the following error message:
“Desktop synchronization cannot be completed. Reduce your mailbox size by deleting some items and folders and try again. Support Code:85010017”
I think this odd in that I'm not trying to sync my mail folders
Following are my specs/setup:
Handheld Device:
- HTC HD (called Blackstone in US)
- Window Mobile 6.1
- ActiveSync 4.5.0 (build 5096)
PC1 (Tower):
- Asus P5N32-SLI Premium Motherboard
- Intel Core2 Duo 6600 2.4Ghz (Socket775)
- 4GB RAM (OCZ DDR2 800Mhz)
- Windows XP Professional SP3
PC2 (Laptop)
- Lenovo X60s (Type/Model: UK16DUK)
- Intel T2400 @ 1.83Ghz
- 80GB HD, 1GB Ram
- Windows XP Professional SP3:
I’ve tried all the obvious such as disabling AV and firewalls, deleting all contacts in Outlook and even recreating a new relationship between the HTC and Laptop. One additional note; on a few of the attempts it would end with the error above, but actually sync all of the contact multiple times (ie ending up with 7850, 11,775 or 15,700 contacts which are even multiples of the number I actually have. And yes I’ve ticked the box to “replace” not add in the Connection/USB setup page on device.
Thanks in advance for any help in resolving this problem.

try disabling tf3d (start/settings/personal/today/elements and untick tf3d) during sync

If your Syncing from outlook, the message is Right. Contact in outlook are part of your mailbox.
Here is somthing you could try.
Make a subfolder under contacts and put copy a few contacts in it.
Now configure active sync to sync only the contacts subfolder under contacts.
See if that works.
Or you can move most of your contacts to that subfolder en do a sync without ajusting activesync settings. That way there is less data to sync initially. If this goes well move some more contacts from the subfolder to the contacts folder.
Once all the contacts are synced you shouldn't have the problem anymore.

Bbonzz & Stief, thank you both for the replies. Bbonzz, I just tried the your idea of unticking tf3d but no joy. Stief, your idea of chopping the amounts up into smaller chunks may work as a one-off, but I’d have to redo this sequence at later points as (no offense to any MS employees on this forum), I would never trust a MS application with all my personal and business information; so the “real” repository for this data will always be my CardScan software for which I will infrequently make new transfers into Outlook and thus would have to do this “workaround" many times
One other item that may help troubleshoot is that after an Activesync with the offending second computer (laptop) it has sometimes loaded many blank contacts into Outlook and even after stopping and unplugging the cable Outlook has continued to add more.
It is actually doing this right now and is up to 301 blank contacts for which I’ll wait till it stops and delete them all.
... open for other fixes if anyone has any ideas

maybe is stupid as idea (it did the trick for me in the past when i had Palm), but worth try since you've nothing to lose
your 2 pc's have the same contacts database? I mean, if you delete everithing on laptop you don't lose anyting, right? If so, you could try to delete the contacts database on laptop, bacup the tower in a .pst, import in laptop. In this way you'll have the same image on both pc's, and all the contacts will have the same ID. So Activesync should simply verify that there's nothing new on laptop side, and finish the sinc. And since it's only the first sync that scans the entire database and compares with the entire database on handheld, next time you shouldn't have problems anymore

I've the same problem here

Guys ....
I had exactly the same problem. The way I solved it was to sync first old phone (I have new NB and PPC ... so I needed to migrate all info from old/home PC and Hermes to NB and HD).
so the working process:
1] I synced HD with home PC
2] Sync Hermes with NB
3] Sync HD with NB
......
done
no more "mailbox size failure" appeard ....
/ said with other words .... the process recommended by Stief should work as well - or better ... just migrate all data to NB not using HD and than resync HD with laptop.

bbonzz, thanks again, I've tried this fix. I imported the PST file from computer #1 to computer #2. Then, did full full HTC sync with computer2. IT WORKED. However, when I then try to sync with computer #1, it's back to same problem.
As HTC wash their hands of any Activesync issues, we're on our own. I've found a prgramm called XTNDConnect. Does anyone know if this could replace acctivesync?

i think it is an activesync / wm6 bug, and not a bug of the blackstone.
I had the same behaviour with my mda3 (blue angel)

The last solution i can think of, is a "partial" sync. It's a pain in the a**, since you have to sync back and forth, but could work.
What i mean is:
1. you have your .pst backup. Now delete everything everywhere but contacts, say, # to C, sync with your HD and sync with the other PC: since there are few contacts, you should sync without problems.
2. Now import in pc #1 or pc#2, where you want, the .pst backup (with the filter "do not import duplicates, of course), and delete everything but contacts from # to F and sync again with both PC's. Since #-C are already synced, you shouldn't have problem, because this time should be imported only contacts D-F
3. Go on this way since all contacts have been synced.
If this one too fails, i surrender