After going several weeks without syncing my Dell Axim x51v to my PC, I find msyself once again trapped in the endless loop of Activesync (4.5) being unwilling to sync with the Dell. I've been -- repeatedly -- through all the usual recommended steps, i.e., soft resets, uninstalling/reinstalling AS, deleting partnerships, etc., as well as the unusual steps that also get mentioned on some websites, i.e., turning off the firewall completely, turning off the PC's wireless internet connection.

At the moment I have no AS partnerships, and AS will start up when I connect the Dell, but fail to connect, much less initiate connection of a new partnership.

Does anyone know a truly reliable way out of this nightmare?

I had a similar problem when I was connected to my laptop via a USB hub. I connected directly to a USB port and the problem went away.

Welcome to Aximsite, cubbie! Have you tried changing the USB port attached to the cradle? Is your Axim able to get an IP address from your PC, something like 169.254.2.2?

breley | Aximsite/Mobility Site Review Staff, Administrator | Judge, Smartphone & Pocket PC Best Software Awards 2008

          

Thanks for the replies. I have now finally got ActiveSync going. The things that did not make the difference include (but are not limited to) connecting directly to the computer via USB port rather than a USB hub, trying different USB ports, specifying inbound and outbound ports to allow as windows firewall exceptions, checking to see that DHCP Client service was running, disabling Norton Antivirus, uninstalling and reinstalling ActiveSync, and all other tips I'd previously found.

Who knows why, but here are the things I did between when ActiveSync couldn't connect to the device and when it could:

I went into Administrative Tools, Component Services, and set to Manual all services I had previously disabled.

I also set to Manual a service for Apple Mobile Devices that had been on Automatic (I recently updated iTunes on the PC, and maybe that's where this came from, but I don't use any kind of iPod or other Apple device).

I rebooted the PC.

I connected, then disconnected, the Axim, and did a soft reset on it, for the fiftieth time or so since yesterday. This time it started beeping and blinking incessantly as if it was just dying to be sync'ed with something.

I reconnected the Axim and ActiveSync went straight into setting up a new partnership.

Not that I'm recommending these as steps, since clearly I didn't know what I was doing. I presume it had something to do with one of the component services.