Active Sync & XP Problem

Steve39 · 06-19-03, 10:53 AM

Hi.

I've just got a new Dell Axim and I'm trying to install active sync on my PC (running under XP).

The installation starts ok but only gets as far as unpacking the files. After that... Nothing! The installation process dissapears and I'm back at a blank desktop...

It's only when I go to close the machine down that it asks me if I want to "end now" on a program (I assume this is one of the setup files that has stalled). Trouble is I can't see what it is as the folder/file name is too long to fit in the "end now" pop-up.

Has anyone else had any problems like this when installing active sync?

Any help would be great.

Cheers,
Steve.

06-19-03, 11:31 AM

Make sure that you have no other programs running when you try to install it. Also, you may want to make sure that you have your temp directory cleaned out. Delete any files and folders in your temp directories (under your profile name and in the Windows\temp folder), restart, and try again. Good luck!

Steve39 · 06-19-03, 12:23 PM

Thanks for the reply...

Done all that and it's still the same

Any other suggestions???

Really don't fancy re-installing XP if there's a way round it.

chog · 06-19-03, 12:43 PM

You might want to try downloading the 3.6 version of active sync from the microsoft website and trying to install that.

Steve39 · 06-19-03, 01:13 PM

I've tried 3.5 that came on the cd and also downloaded 3.7 from the MS site. Both give me the same problem. So I can only assume 3.6 will be no good to me either.

06-19-03, 03:08 PM

How about restoring your system to the time prior to installing AS 3.5 and install 3.7 at that point with nothing but essentials running in the background or possibly even installing it in safe mode? The latter option often works.

dejesj · 06-19-03, 03:18 PM

I had exactly the same problem, and this is what I did.

kick off the install, then open the Task Manager in XP (I right click the taskbar and select Task Manager)

When the install goes as far as it gets, go to the processes tab and delete the msasync process.

After the hard drive activity stops, delete the setup.exe process so that is_setup.exe can complete.

I know, it sounds strange, but that precise order has worked for me to install the initial Activesync and 2 upgrades.

Good luck.

Steve39 · 06-19-03, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dejesj
I had exactly the same problem, and this is what I did.

kick off the install, then open the Task Manager in XP (I right click the taskbar and select Task Manager)

When the install goes as far as it gets, go to the processes tab and delete the msasync process.

After the hard drive activity stops, delete the setup.exe process so that is_setup.exe can complete.

I know, it sounds strange, but that precise order has worked for me to install the initial Activesync and 2 upgrades.

Good luck.

Cheers for this Dejesj :) .
Sounds like it would've worked but unfortunately I decided to re-install the operating system. :rolling:

Not to worry, I've got down to a fine art now so I can get everything back up and running in under a hour. Active Sync installs perfect and all my main apps are still working correctly. ;)

Cheers,
Steve.

dejesj · 06-20-03, 01:55 PM

OUCH. At least it worked for you to reinstall the OS. I did that also and it didn't work for me...Adios!

airbalancer · 06-20-03, 03:29 PM

I am running XP Pro, every couple of weeks I have to do a soft reset to get the sycn to work, this has been happening still December

06-20-03, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by airbalancer
I am running XP Pro, every couple of weeks I have to do a soft reset to get the sycn to work, this has been happening still December

A soft reset or hard reset? After reading through Del's support forums (and having a similar problem to yours) I am going to try their suggestion of plugging it into a powered hub and see if that helps (I suspect it won't, though).

CaptainCanuck · 06-20-03, 07:43 PM

I had just purchased a new Dell desktop at home and setup Activesync, but developed the same problems of having to do a soft reset every time I wanted to connect and even then Activesync would connect for a second and then disconnect. This was very frustrating because Activesync works fine at my work computer and worked fine on my old computer.

Anyways, to make it short, after reading the suggestion of plugging the cradle into a powered hub, I tried it and things seem to be back to normal. Activesync so far is recognizing my Axim every time.
THANKS :D

06-20-03, 07:45 PM

Wow - if it turns out that it works consistently, please post back. I just synch'ed for the first time with a powered hub and it worked ok. I'll post back to let you know whether it actually fixed the problem.

06-21-03, 11:32 AM

No good. It synch'ed for awhile without problem and then suddenly it started dropping the connection. Nothing preceded it occuring other than a few consecutive synchs. I am now in an email exchange with Dell Support going through all the steps I have already gone through to humour them. ;)

CaptainCanuck · 06-21-03, 12:35 PM

The powered hub is still working for me, but I am only at 1.5 days trying it. Also, after all the trouble I was having I dropped Activesync back down to version 3.6. I don't know if that will make a difference, but there do seem to be a lot of complaints about 3.7.
I'll post again if this works for a solid week.

One week update:
No problems yet using the cradle from a powered hub. There has been no need to reboot the computer or soft reset the Axim to get Activesync to work. :D