ishasha

I just purchased a minisync from boxware.com:

miniSync - Axim X51v Retractable Cable / Dell Axim X51v Retractable Cable / Axim X51v USB Cable / Dell Axim X51v USB Cable
But when I plus it into my laptop (USB on the laptop, not via any extension hub or docking system), the system stray popped up a message saying there is a power surge, the USB device has exceeded the power limit. And I was asked to unplug the device and reset the port. At the same time my Axim x51v started to flash. I followed the instruction to unplug and reset, and tried again same thing happened. My Axim fortunately is still OK, but what is wrong with the cable???

Has anyone experienced this problem? I thought this is a pretty popolar sync cable.

Does this mean this is lemon and I should request an exchange or what? Please help. Thanks a lot!

fjbailey3

The Dell x51v was designed with separate power lines to run (sync) and to charge. This was because the USB specification doesn't provide enough current to do both. The boxwave minisync cable ties those two pins together. Your laptop probably was designed to the spec, and it can't provide enough current to both run the PDA and charge the battery. The message is telling you it's shutting down the USB port to protect it. The cable is working the way it's designed.

You might try with the Axim fully charged. I find with my laptop I can synch my Axim OK so long as the battery stays above about 95% charge.

Most desktops I've tried don't seem to have this problem. Their USB ports can supply more current than the USB spec.

You're lucky your laptop tells you what is wrong. With my Toshiba e830 I got no message, and the only way to reset the USB port was to reboot the laptop. It took me several weeks to figure out what was wrong.

ishasha

Originally Posted by fjbailey3

The Dell x51v was designed with separate power lines to run (sync) and to charge. This was because the USB specification doesn't provide enough current to do both. The boxwave minisync cable ties those two pins together. Your laptop probably was designed to the spec, and it can't provide enough current to both run the PDA and charge the battery. The message is telling you it's shutting down the USB port to protect it. The cable is working the way it's designed. You might try with the Axim fully charged. I find with my laptop I can synch my Axim OK so long as the battery stays above about 95% charge. Most desktops I've tried don't seem to have this problem. Their USB ports can supply more current than the USB spec. You're lucky your laptop tells you what is wrong. With my Toshiba e830 I got no message, and the only way to reset the USB port was to reboot the laptop. It took me several weeks to figure out what was wrong.

How can they have a design like this???!!! I don't necessarily need to charge but I'd like to be able to sync with an easy to carry cable.... Is there an easy way to modify the cable to seperate the two pins? I can go ahead and try it on my desktop later today but I use my laptop a lot!

Thanks for your quick response though. This cable sucks.

tpatrickokeefe

Did you talk to boxware support about this issue? Your laptop can't be the only one with this USB port issue, and if it is a common problem then they need to state so on the product discription!

SteveFLHTCI

Try this....turn the Ax off as soon as you plug it in. Then reset the port, keeping the Ax off. Let it charge fully, then turn it on to sync.

I have a similar issue....if my Ax is below 70%, it won't sync and the Ax flashes (the flashing is going from full backlight to where I have it set for battery power). If I do as above and let it charge to over 80-85% then it will continue to charge and sync at the same time.

BTW, I have a standard battery....this would change with a hi-cap battery as it takes more current to charge.

The entire reason for this is once your Ax gets below a certain charge, it takes more then 500mA to charge it. Most laptop USB ports are current limited to 500mA. A work around would be to connect through a powered USB hub that may provide more power.

__________________
Lizard_weasel (Steve)
Axim X51V A01 Hardware A12 Rom
Kingston 2gb cf card
PNY 2gb sd card
Globalsat BT-338 GPS Receiver 3.1.1 Firmware

bigdave240

try connecting it with the ax turned off. does it still do the alarm? if not then try turning it on. It might work that way as it would probably have less 'surge' current than plugging it in while turned on. Also like everyone else said, if the battery it below about 85% it will be more likely to have this problem. Other things: turn down the brightness before you plug it in. the screen is one of the biggest power draws.

__________________
Big Dave

Upgraded to X51v ROM L11 Successful
AS 4.5 and also Vista
Extended battery
Innopocket Magnesium Case - Sweeeeet
PPX3k Rocks! I wish they would get back to work on it.
http://www.ppx3k.com/index.php?page=home


X5 (now belongs to my wife)
PPC2002 Upgraded to WM2003
AS 3.8
3800mAH Mugen Power Battery

ishasha

Thank you guys for the information. I appreciate it. Plus, I should've noticed the sticky thread "USB sync/charge cable warning " which discusses this issue in great details.

I did contact Boxwave, and got an email reply the next day. They didn't explain any technical details but did offer an exchange. However, after some research in this forum and some experiments I decided to keep it.

I tried it on my desktop and it does work, which means the desktop USB outputs more current than my laptop.

I then waited the battery of my x51v to go to about 90%, and switched to my laptop. Now it works: sync and charge at the same time. Just as everybody is saying ---- it uses less amps to charge when the battery is above certain percentage. Though I haven't done a lot of experiments to find out what exactly it is. I feel I can live with it.

The thing with turning off x51v while connecting to my laptop is that everytime I connect it, it automatically turns on and starts to sync. I played with my ActiveSync a little bit and finally decided to disable USB connection everytime I finished syncing. This way the next time the axim is connected it won't automatically sync until I manually check that box in ActiveSync. This way I think I can garantee it charges to the safe percentage before I can sync.

Again I haven't done a lot of experiments but I feel like I can make it work so that if I have to bring my laptop and Axim on a trip, this minisync cable is all I need to sync and charge. It's not super but oh well.

tpatrickokeefe

For you convience, there is a free program called "activesync toggle" that you can put on your desktop and use it to manually turn on and off activesync. It works really well. Here is the link, Micrologics / Library / ActiveSync Toggle.

ishasha

Originally Posted by tpatrickokeefe

For you convience, there is a free program called "activesync toggle" that you can put on your desktop and use it to manually turn on and off activesync. It works really well. Here is the link, Micrologics / Library / ActiveSync Toggle.

Thanks! I'll give it a try later.

Marceline

I have the same cable/same problem/same solution.

Turning down the screen brightness also helps.