As of last Monday or so, my Ax stopped syncing with my laptop / Vista Home
Premium. Up until that time it was working like a charm -- better than any
version of ActiveSync. I installed nothing or changed nothing on the Axim.
AAMOF, I did not even remove it from its cradle other than to soft-reset.

The sync would fail with the message "Synchronization cannot be started because
you are not able to log on to the network and access information. Restart
your desktop computer and synchronize again. If the problem persists, contact
your network administrator."

I have restarted the laptop and the Axim many times and I have also re-installed
the drivers. I have checked and WMDC and the WMDC Host Services are both
running. The laptop and is up to date as is the Axim. I went to the WMDC
Home page and ran through the troubleshooting option that was closes to my
issue -- no joy.

I am able to browse the Axim from the laptop and also browse the Internet
from the Axim. So there is a viable connection via the USB cable and cradle.
I can also access the Internet and the intranet in my house, so I have no
clue what network this message is referring to.

I deleted the partnership and re-established a new partnership and right
off the bat the same message came up after the sync failed.

I am using MS Office Professional 2003 on the laptop and Pocket Informant
2007 Rev.4 on the Axim.

McAfee
=====

Now this bit of information might assist the diagnosis. Around the same time,
McAfee downloaded an update and corrupted itself. Details of this SNAFU can
be found in the Announcement here -- http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1

Well this led to various components of McAfee not working and despite my
using their cleanup tool and patch, McAfee could not be repaired and after
I uninstalled it I could not reinstall it.

I have since installed Windows Live OneCare on a 90-day trial and that installed
easily and is working perfectly. So much for McAfee.

Firewall
=====

During the course of my many searches on the Internet I cam across suggestions
that the firewall might be the issue. I thought of this also, but then figured
the firewall would not allow browsing or a pass-through to the Internet as
previously described.

Still I have verified that I only have 1 firewall active -- the Windows Live
OneCare firewall (Vista's firewall is turned off) -- and that firewall has
been set up to explicitly allow ActiveSync and WMDC.

Technical Support
==============

I called MS Tech Support and their WMDC team only works M-F, and besides,
the call might cost me since this sort of thing is supposed to be handled
by the device (Axim) manufacturer (Dell). Dell's web page explicitly says
that free support only extends to hardware-related issues and issues such
as this woudl also cost me money. So I am left in the lurch except for (hopefully)
the experts in these NGs.

Services or a Registry Hack
=====================

I suspect that the solution lies somewhere in the enabling of a service or
in hacking the registry. However I am not sure what this might be.

If not too tired from reading this epistle, can anyone help?

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texas

At 11 Aug 2007 22:23:10 +0000 Wayne Moses wrote:

> Now this bit of information might assist the diagnosis. Around the
> same time, McAfee downloaded an update and corrupted itself. Details
> of this SNAFU can be found in the Announcement here --
> http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1
>
> Well this led to various components of McAfee not working and despite
> my using their cleanup tool and patch, McAfee could not be repaired
> and after I uninstalled it I could not reinstall it.

Let me preface this with the information that I'm not a Vista/WMDC user,
so take any advice of mine with several grains of salt.

Having said that, I don't believe in coincidences- if this McAfee snafu
happened around the same time, it's extremely likely to be the culprit.
However...


> I have since installed Windows Live OneCare on a 90-day trial and
> that installed easily and is working perfectly. So much for McAfee.


Are you sure about the timeline here- did the error start before or after
the OneCare install? Others have posted that they've had to manually
open the OneCare firewall to let WMDC work if OneCare was installed after
WMDC. So we probably need to figure out if the sync problem occured
before OneCare to place the blame on McAfee or OneCare.

If you did have the troublebefore, then McAfee might not be completely
uninstalled, and manually removing all McAfee references from the PC's
registry might be worth a try, followed by a reboot (insert all "dangers
of modifying your registry" disclaimers here.) The fact that McAfee
won't reinstall is a good indicator it's still messing up the works
somehow.

If you're positive the problem didn't crop up until after OneCare was
installed, you might try uninstalling/reinstalling WMDC so OneCare "sees"
it and allows you to let it through the firewall, or search the
microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync NG for a post about the four WMDC
services to manually configure OneCall to let through. (There was a
thread about this maybe a month ago, IIRC.)


Best of luck- tracking down a sync problem is a b*tch, partially because
no one wants to reproduce your issue on their own PCs just in case! ;-)

--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures or double
as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for all the bells and whistles,
but I could communicate better with ACTUAL bells and whistles."
-Bill Maher 9/25/2003

Hello Todd,

Thanks for responding.

TA> Having said that, I don't believe in coincidences- if this McAfee
TA> snafu happened around the same time, it's extremely likely to be the
TA> culprit. However...

I have not at all ruled that out, espeically since I cannot be sure if the
McAfee SNAFU occurred before or after the Axim stopped syncing with the laptop.
All I can say is they happened about the same time.

TA> Are you sure about the timeline here- did the error start before or
TA> after the OneCare install?

Absolutely certain it was before the OneCare install. I was having the two
issues at the same time -- the lack of synchronicity between Axim and laptop,
and the antivirus software problem. Since the latter was more important than
the former, I concentrated on that until I managed to get the laptop to a
point where it is no longer vulnerable and I can concentrate on the Axim
sync problem.

Incidentally, after I uninstalled McAfee and before settling on trying OneCare,
I tried installing the trial version on Norton Antivirus 2007. What a joke.
It would not activate so I could not even get it to install properly let
alone work. I called their Tech Support and the chap I online chatted with
said essentially that I would not have this problem with the purchased version!
I asked him if he was saying that the trial version was useless then, and
he said yes! Still desperate for protection, I bought it from WalMart and
installed it -- same issue ... would not activate. So I uninstalled, ran
its cleanup tool and checked the Registry personally. That is when I decided
to look at OneCare.

TA> Others have posted that they've had to
TA> manually open the OneCare firewall to let WMDC work if OneCare was
TA> installed after WMDC.

Yeah, I read that, but doesn't apply in this case since I had the same problem
before OneCare.

TA> If you did have the troublebefore, then McAfee might not be
TA> completely uninstalled, and manually removing all McAfee references
TA> from the PC's registry might be worth a try, followed by a reboot
TA> (insert all "dangers of modifying your registry" disclaimers here.)

Did that. More than once. After each attempt.

TA> The fact that McAfee won't reinstall is a good indicator it's still
TA> messing up the works somehow.

That is my feeling .... the ghost of McAfee .... actually I think it is all
gone but before going, it screwed some setting or the other. That is what
I believe is causing this problem.

TA> Best of luck- tracking down a sync problem is a b*tch, partially
TA> because no one wants to reproduce your issue on their own PCs just
TA> in case! ;-)

I agree. Funny enough, I had it with ActiveSync, and that is why I upgraded
to Vista .... just so I had WMDC, *despite* what some people said about WMDC
at the time. I had a bear of a time getting Vista to see my Axim, and even
had the MS Research Department (like level 3 tech support) call me daily
trying this and trying that, when all I wanted was a Registry tweak that
would get the two talking. Eventually I solved it on my own, after researching
and all it took was 5 minutes. I shared this fix with him and he was grateful.
Now ask me if I remember what it was!

Anyway ... thanks for your help. I am hoping that someone else who might
have had a similar problem with this error knows what the fix is.

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texas

At 12 Aug 2007 01:20:44 +0000 Wayne Moses wrote:

> Anyway ... thanks for your help. I am hoping that someone else who
> might have had a similar problem with this error knows what the fix is.

Good luck! Posts like yours are why my Vista Upgrade package still sits
in my desk unopened! (To be fair, I think I ran Win98SE for at least two
years after XP came out, so I figure I'll give Vista a good year or two
before I take the plunge!)

I keep telling myself at my next Activesync disaster (and we all know
there will be one eventually!) I'll just give in and get a hosted
Exchange account for $7/month (or try Emoze) for my PIM data and "sync"
my files manually with File Explorer over Wi-Fi!


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures or double
as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for all the bells and whistles,
but I could communicate better with ACTUAL bells and whistles."
-Bill Maher 9/25/2003

Wayne Moses <wayne.moses@comcast.net> wrote:

>As of last Monday or so, my Ax stopped syncing with my laptop / Vista Home
>Premium. Up until that time it was working like a charm -- better than any
>version of ActiveSync. I installed nothing or changed nothing on the Axim.
>AAMOF, I did not even remove it from its cradle other than to soft-reset.

If you can identify a specific day, you might want to do a system
restore to before that day and see if that fixes it. It could be
the McAfee issues below caused the problem and aren't easily
fixed otherwise.

>The sync would fail with the message "Synchronization cannot be started because
>you are not able to log on to the network and access information. Restart
>your desktop computer and synchronize again. If the problem persists, contact
>your network administrator."
>
>I have restarted the laptop and the Axim many times and I have also re-installed
>the drivers. I have checked and WMDC and the WMDC Host Services are both
>running. The laptop and is up to date as is the Axim. I went to the WMDC
>Home page and ran through the troubleshooting option that was closes to my
>issue -- no joy.
>
>I am able to browse the Axim from the laptop and also browse the Internet
>from the Axim. So there is a viable connection via the USB cable and cradle.
>I can also access the Internet and the intranet in my house, so I have no
>clue what network this message is referring to.
>
>I deleted the partnership and re-established a new partnership and right
>off the bat the same message came up after the sync failed.
>
>I am using MS Office Professional 2003 on the laptop and Pocket Informant
>2007 Rev.4 on the Axim.
>
>McAfee
>=====
>
>Now this bit of information might assist the diagnosis. Around the same time,
>McAfee downloaded an update and corrupted itself. Details of this SNAFU can
>be found in the Announcement here -- http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1
>
>Well this led to various components of McAfee not working and despite my
>using their cleanup tool and patch, McAfee could not be repaired and after
>I uninstalled it I could not reinstall it.
>
>I have since installed Windows Live OneCare on a 90-day trial and that installed
>easily and is working perfectly. So much for McAfee.
>
>Firewall
>=====
>
>During the course of my many searches on the Internet I cam across suggestions
>that the firewall might be the issue. I thought of this also, but then figured
>the firewall would not allow browsing or a pass-through to the Internet as
>previously described.
>
>Still I have verified that I only have 1 firewall active -- the Windows Live
>OneCare firewall (Vista's firewall is turned off) -- and that firewall has
>been set up to explicitly allow ActiveSync and WMDC.
>
>Technical Support
>==============
>
>I called MS Tech Support and their WMDC team only works M-F, and besides,
>the call might cost me since this sort of thing is supposed to be handled
>by the device (Axim) manufacturer (Dell). Dell's web page explicitly says
>that free support only extends to hardware-related issues and issues such
>as this woudl also cost me money. So I am left in the lurch except for (hopefully)
>the experts in these NGs.
>
>Services or a Registry Hack
>=====================
>
>I suspect that the solution lies somewhere in the enabling of a service or
>in hacking the registry. However I am not sure what this might be.
>
>If not too tired from reading this epistle, can anyone help?
>
>Regards,
>Wayne Moses
>Houston, Texas
>
--
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Ed Hansberry (Please do *NOT* email me. Post here for the benefit of all)
What is on my Pocket PC? http://www.ehansberry.com/
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices www.pocketpc.com
What is an MVP? - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Hello Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices,

Thanks for the reply.

E> If you can identify a specific day, you might want to do a system
E> restore to before that day and see if that fixes it. It could be the
E> McAfee issues below caused the problem and aren't easily fixed
E> otherwise.

I agree. However, I made another post on the vista.general newsgroup regarding
the lack of acceptable history in the System Restore. Believe me -- that
was my very first option. However when I checked a day after discovering
the McAfee SNAFU, not only was there only a handful of restore points, but
none were for before the day in question.

In my post to the vista.general newsgroup I noted that XP has a calendar
with many days to choose from and within each day sometimes several restore
points. Not so with Vista. Then someone pointed out that there was a setting
for showing restore points older than 5 days, but I must have missed that,
and continue to miss that feature which does not exist on my laptop. When
I installed OneCare, it wiped out even those useless restore points and started
over.

This is now going for the 5th day without synchronicity. This morning I noticed
that on one occasion, after it said it failed (in the Sync Center) and the
progress bar was all red, it suddenly changed to green and said that it was
successful. Then it synced again and failed again. I tried disabling some
content choices (Avantgo, Cash Organizer, Notes) and this had no effect.
It is as if it _wants_ to sync but something is stopping it from completing
the operation.

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texas

Wayne Moses <wayne.moses@comcast.net> wrote:

>Hello Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices,
>
>Thanks for the reply.
>
>E> If you can identify a specific day, you might want to do a system
>E> restore to before that day and see if that fixes it. It could be the
>E> McAfee issues below caused the problem and aren't easily fixed
>E> otherwise.
>
>I agree. However, I made another post on the vista.general newsgroup regarding
>the lack of acceptable history in the System Restore. Believe me -- that
>was my very first option. However when I checked a day after discovering
>the McAfee SNAFU, not only was there only a handful of restore points, but
>none were for before the day in question.
>
>In my post to the vista.general newsgroup I noted that XP has a calendar
>with many days to choose from and within each day sometimes several restore
>points. Not so with Vista. Then someone pointed out that there was a setting
>for showing restore points older than 5 days, but I must have missed that,
>and continue to miss that feature which does not exist on my laptop. When
>I installed OneCare, it wiped out even those useless restore points and started
>over.

Yeah, by default, it only shows the 5 most recent. if you don't
have the "Show restore points older than 5 days" option, they
don't exist. I think OneCare does wipe them out, sort of like a
service pack does.

>This is now going for the 5th day without synchronicity. This morning I noticed
>that on one occasion, after it said it failed (in the Sync Center) and the
>progress bar was all red, it suddenly changed to green and said that it was
>successful. Then it synced again and failed again. I tried disabling some
>content choices (Avantgo, Cash Organizer, Notes) and this had no effect.
>It is as if it _wants_ to sync but something is stopping it from completing
>the operation.

Got time? Call Microsoft. WMDC is their app, unlike ActiveSync
which they made you call the OEM of the handheld for. I think you
get 1 or 2 calls with Vista - though wouldn't swear to it. Start
at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/assistsupport and see where
you get. They have email and chat too - at least with Vista
ultimate. I think the ultimate solution is to totally remove WMDC
manually and reinstall. I don't know how to do that, but MS
should.
--
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Ed Hansberry (Please do *NOT* email me. Post here for the benefit of all)
What is on my Pocket PC? http://www.ehansberry.com/
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices www.pocketpc.com
What is an MVP? - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Wayne Moses <wayne.moses@comcast.net> wrote:

>This is now going for the 5th day without synchronicity. This morning I noticed
>that on one occasion, after it said it failed (in the Sync Center) and the
>progress bar was all red, it suddenly changed to green and said that it was
>successful. Then it synced again and failed again. I tried disabling some
>content choices (Avantgo, Cash Organizer, Notes) and this had no effect.
>It is as if it _wants_ to sync but something is stopping it from completing
>the operation.

See if the steps at
http://modernnomads.info/wiki/index....roubleshooting
help. That document isn't final though.
--
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Ed Hansberry (Please do *NOT* email me. Post here for the benefit of all)
What is on my Pocket PC? http://www.ehansberry.com/
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices www.pocketpc.com
What is an MVP? - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Hello Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices,

E> See if the steps at
E> http://modernnomads.info/wiki/index....bile+Device+Ce
E> nter+Troubleshooting help. That document isn't final though.

Thanks Ed.

Update -- yesterday I got an email from MS (Download Service newsletter)
which informed that there was a significant security update to various software
(Excel, IE, Vista etc), and sure enough last night I installed the updates
that were "ready to install".

Since that time, the PPC has been synching perfectly again! Well, with the
exception of Cash Organizer and my MS Money 2007 file that is located on
another PC in my home intranet. But that it a permissions issue outside of
WMDC and my PPC.

So while it was not apparent from the 13 listed updates that this was in
any way going to fix any WMDC problem, something did the trick and I am happy.

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texas

Wayne Moses <wayne.moses@comcast.net> wrote:

>Hello Ed Hansberry, MS-MVP/Mobile Devices,
>
>E> See if the steps at
>E> http://modernnomads.info/wiki/index....bile+Device+Ce
>E> nter+Troubleshooting help. That document isn't final though.
>
>Thanks Ed.
>
>Update -- yesterday I got an email from MS (Download Service newsletter)
>which informed that there was a significant security update to various software
>(Excel, IE, Vista etc), and sure enough last night I installed the updates
>that were "ready to install".
>
>Since that time, the PPC has been synching perfectly again! Well, with the
>exception of Cash Organizer and my MS Money 2007 file that is located on
>another PC in my home intranet. But that it a permissions issue outside of
>WMDC and my PPC.
>
>So while it was not apparent from the 13 listed updates that this was in
>any way going to fix any WMDC problem, something did the trick and I am happy.

Cool. One of two things probably happened.

1) In all of the installation procedures the updates did, one of
them probably worked with WMDC to some degree (IE, XML Core
services?) and corrected any corruptions
2) The Malicious Software tool removed something that was
malicious.
--
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Ed Hansberry (Please do *NOT* email me. Post here for the benefit of all)
What is on my Pocket PC? http://www.ehansberry.com/
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices www.pocketpc.com
What is an MVP? - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

Mine also stop working. Basically everybody has or will have same problem.

"Wayne Moses" wrote:

> As of last Monday or so, my Ax stopped syncing with my laptop / Vista Home
> Premium. Up until that time it was working like a charm -- better than any
> version of ActiveSync. I installed nothing or changed nothing on the Axim.
> AAMOF, I did not even remove it from its cradle other than to soft-reset.
>
> The sync would fail with the message "Synchronization cannot be started because
> you are not able to log on to the network and access information. Restart
> your desktop computer and synchronize again. If the problem persists, contact
> your network administrator."
>
> I have restarted the laptop and the Axim many times and I have also re-installed
> the drivers. I have checked and WMDC and the WMDC Host Services are both
> running. The laptop and is up to date as is the Axim. I went to the WMDC
> Home page and ran through the troubleshooting option that was closes to my
> issue -- no joy.
>
> I am able to browse the Axim from the laptop and also browse the Internet
> from the Axim. So there is a viable connection via the USB cable and cradle.
> I can also access the Internet and the intranet in my house, so I have no
> clue what network this message is referring to.
>
> I deleted the partnership and re-established a new partnership and right
> off the bat the same message came up after the sync failed.
>
> I am using MS Office Professional 2003 on the laptop and Pocket Informant
> 2007 Rev.4 on the Axim.
>
> McAfee
> =====
>
> Now this bit of information might assist the diagnosis. Around the same time,
> McAfee downloaded an update and corrupted itself. Details of this SNAFU can
> be found in the Announcement here -- http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/?siteID=1
>
> Well this led to various components of McAfee not working and despite my
> using their cleanup tool and patch, McAfee could not be repaired and after
> I uninstalled it I could not reinstall it.
>
> I have since installed Windows Live OneCare on a 90-day trial and that installed
> easily and is working perfectly. So much for McAfee.
>
> Firewall
> =====
>
> During the course of my many searches on the Internet I cam across suggestions
> that the firewall might be the issue. I thought of this also, but then figured
> the firewall would not allow browsing or a pass-through to the Internet as
> previously described.
>
> Still I have verified that I only have 1 firewall active -- the Windows Live
> OneCare firewall (Vista's firewall is turned off) -- and that firewall has
> been set up to explicitly allow ActiveSync and WMDC.
>
> Technical Support
> ==============
>
> I called MS Tech Support and their WMDC team only works M-F, and besides,
> the call might cost me since this sort of thing is supposed to be handled
> by the device (Axim) manufacturer (Dell). Dell's web page explicitly says
> that free support only extends to hardware-related issues and issues such
> as this woudl also cost me money. So I am left in the lurch except for (hopefully)
> the experts in these NGs.
>
> Services or a Registry Hack
> =====================
>
> I suspect that the solution lies somewhere in the enabling of a service or
> in hacking the registry. However I am not sure what this might be.
>
> If not too tired from reading this epistle, can anyone help?
>
> Regards,
> Wayne Moses
> Houston, Texas
>
>
>

Hello Raymond,

R> Mine also stop working. Basically everybody has or will have same
R> problem.

This is a really old thread ....

Since that time, I have had no problems at all with synching. I finished
my 90 day trial of Windows Live OneCare and was pelased enough to buy it.
installed it today. McAfee is gone. Too much of a PITA.

Regards,
Wayne Moses
Houston, Texas