Palm Desktop 6.2.2 on Win8.1 syncing but not displaying data

[flyfisher007]

I'm so pleased to have found this forum.  I didn't realise there was so much love for old Palm devices.  I started with a Palm V and worked my way up to a Tungsten T & palm Desktop 4.1.4 on WInXP and everything has been so good that I've resisted moving away from Palm Desktop as it does everything I need.  But I've just bought a new Win8.1 PC and am having some problems that I hope someone here can help with.

I've been through the help here about installing Palm Desktop 6.2.2 and the win8 driver and the installation was very smooth and I could hotsync via usb with no apparent problem, except that Palm Desktop is not displaying any of my palm data!

When I first ran hotsync (from the palm cradle button) it asked for a user name.  My Tungsten T was already being used on my XP PC and was full of data.  So I entered the Tungsten user name and hotsync continued.  it took a couple of minutes or so (as would be expected) and when complete it said everything was ok.  I checked the Hotsync logand it confirmed everything was synchronised correctly - but when I opened Palm Desktop there was no data being displayed.

I then checked the data files in ...documents\Palm OS Desktop\.... and the address and datebook files are present and full of my data.  I even opened them using Notepad and could easily see loads of ascii text amongst all the 'junk' characters, so it looks as if the sync process has worked correctly but nothing from my Tungsten is being displayed in the Palm Desktop.

I then added an event in the datebook in Palm Desktop and another event on the same day in the Tungsten.  I then did another hotsync.  It was reported as successful but the Tungsten event did not appear in the Desktop although the Desktop even DID appear on the Tungsten.  So the sync process seems to be only working one way! 

I've never had this happen before and would really appreciate any help.

[WyreNut]

Hello, and Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Try right-clicking on the shortcut for Palm Desktop (in the Metro or Tile screen), then choose "Run as Administrator" that pops up below in the tool bar.

See if the data appears.

WyreNut

[flyfisher007]

Hi, and thanks for the welcome.

I tried that suggestion but no luck.  I'm not altogether surprised because its a brand new PC and I have the only user account on it and am also the administrator.

I right-clicked the dekstop shortcut and selected 'run as administrator'  Palm desktop opened ok but there was no visible data. 

I initiated a hotsync via the cradle/usb and it ran correctly and reported success.  Still no visible data in the Palm Desktop.  I checked the address and datebook database files in \documents\Palm OS Desktop and their date and times had been updated to the time I just did the hotsysnc.  I even closed and reopened the Palm Desktop but it made no difference.

So, again, the actual sync operation seems to be working but Palm Desktop doesn't seem to be able to read the database files . . . . or something?

Very odd.

[flyfisher007]

OK, I've been playing around with this a bit more today.

 I wondered if the problem might be anything to do with data formats since I had previously been using Palm Desktop 4.1.4 on my winXP PC.

So, I removed PD6.2.2, deleted the files left behind and rebooted the PC.  I then restored the PC to a point before I even started trying the Palm stuff, then rebooted the PC.  So all pretty clean I think.

I then installed PD4.1.4 and tried to hotsync.  it didn;t work of course because I needed to reinstall the 64-bit usb driver.  So I did that and hotsync was ok.  The Tungsten contents were correctly transferred to the PC but none of the data was displayed in PD4.1.4. 

I made separate datebook entries for today in the PD and the Tungsten and re-synced.  The PD entry didn't get to the Tungsten and the Tungsten entry didn't get to the PD.

As PD4.1.4 was no improvement, I uninstalled it, deleted all the left over data and other files and rebooted the PC.

I then reinstalled PD6.2.2, performed a hotsync.  Again, nothing was displayed in the PD so I checked the data files and they were full of the Tungsten data.  I then made separate entries for today in the PD and Tungsten and performed a hotsync.  Neither entry was reflected in the other. 

I made another entry in the Tungsten for today containing 'xyzzz' (so it would be a unique string in the database file) and performed another hotsync.  I then opened the datebook  database file on the PC with Notepad and did a 'find' for 'xyzzz'.  Sure enough, it was in the datebook file.

I then did the same thing with a unique string in the PD but after hotsyncing it didn't appear in the datebook database file.

So everything is hotsyncing from the Tungsten to the PC but the Palm Desktop is not 'seeing' any of the database files.  It's almost as if the PD is pointing elsewhere, but I've done a search of the c: drive (the only one in the PC) and can't find any other palm files except in the 'c:\documents\Palm OS Desktop' folder.

Hopefully all this this will suggest something . . . .

[WyreNut]

By any chance is there another Hotsync account name being used?

Palm Desktop gives you the option to create a new account when it is set up.  Does the account being shown match the Hotsync name on the device?

Open the "User" pull down in the top right corner and see if another name is listed.  If so, choose it.

WyreNut

[flyfisher007]

No, there is no other account within PD.  It's a clean install on a brand new PC.

I've even tried removing the name from my Tungsten and when I hotsync'd I was asked for a new name.  I entered a different name and hotsync completed ok.    When I check in ...\documents\Palm OS Desktop\. . .  the new user folders had been correctly set up, the database files were full of my data and the Tungsten had been renamed.

In short, everything worked as expected except PD will not display any data!

I've been reading through loads of other topics where people have got PD6.2.2 working correctly on Win8.1 after fixing their hotsync problems so I'm struggling to understand what's going on in my case.  It's a brand new Dell XPS8700 PC shipped with Win8 and updated to Win8.1 before installing any of my own stuff, so pretty much as clean as can be.

I really hate to even think about it but if I'm going to have to struggle with this for much longer then I might as well put that effort into migrating all my data into another application and saying goodbye to Palm for good, which would be a great shame after all this time.   It's funny really, because my wife bought an iPad last year and had all sorts of grief with trying to sync to her stuff using iTunes and we used to joke that it was such a shame Palm's were no longer available as they had really nailed the sync process and we never, ever, had any problems in over a decade.  The march of technology eh?  😉

Thanks for your time and help.

[WyreNut · Accepted solution]

OK, try using the "Palm Hotsync Setup" program found on this page.

Since you are using an older T|T, this may be the answer.

There is a guide available from this website for migrating PalmOS data to Android, if interested.  I made that jump years ago when webOS was ended.  You can find it on their Home page.

WyreNut

[flyfisher007]

You're the man!!

I downloaded and ran that hotsync program, opened Palm Desktop and there was all my data, right back to 1999, and that was BEFORE I even ran a hotsync.  This means that the previous hotsyncs were working (as I surmised) but something was preventing PD from accessing/displaying it.  Your suggested program clearly fixed that problem, whatever it was.

I also made a datebook entry for today in the PD and a different one in my Tungsten, ran a hotsync using the cradle button and the entries were sync'd correctly to both the PD and the Tungsten.

So I may still be using 10+ year old PDA technology but I'm running it on a 2014 PC/Win8.1 platform thanks entirely to your great help.  Many thanks for that!

Thanks, also, for the tip about migration to Android.  I'll look into that because I have an HTC phone and it would be useful as a backup to the Tungsten, which surely can't last much longer!

Thank you again - your 'HP Expert' title is well founded!

Incidentally, I used to work at DEC in the UK many years ago, but left before Compaq and then HP bought the remains of the business - I'm glad to see it's still in good hands.

Cheers,

Mike

[WyreNut]

Outstanding!

Thanks for reporting back your success.

The other PalmOS diehard in this section (smkranz) has been reporting in the Android section of this forum that StyleTap has released a PalmOS emulator for Android devices.  

While that is the good news, the bad news is the $50 price tag...  😞 

WyreNut

[tglenew]

Got the same problem with Win7 64bit.  Did everything the same way, got it to sync with final message like "sync ok".  Now the weird parts:

1.) The sync log cannot be found as it is supposedly stored at "\users\username\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\palmacct" but in reality it is at "\users\username\My Documents\Palm OS Desktop\palmacct".  Whenever I change it in the registry to the latter, it reverts back to the former after hotsync.

2.) Datebook and Todo sync from handheld to Palm application on the PC initially, but Addresses do not.  All appointments are there in datebook, but no addresses at all even though there is a db-file in the address subfolder of palmacct.

3.) Next sync no updates are done, even if I select "handheld overwrites desktop".  After deleting user, we are back to first step above.

Any ideas?