Don't stop activesync on the Axim. There is no need to do that. When you do, the partnership negotiations are broken, so when you restart Activesync on the Ax, the Activesync on the desktop thinks it's already negotiated with the device and won't negotiate a new connection. Rebooting the desktop stops activesync there, and the new copy of desktop Activesync is willing to negotiate with the Ax. It's not a failure, it's the way it is designed. Basically, activesync is designed to start and stay in the background, constantly communicating with the host.
If you must stop activesync for any reason you can avoid the reboot requirement by using
Resync .