No longer activesync with Sony Viao laptop

[h3seaking]

Troubleshooting a friends laptop. Activesync quit working one day. It just sits there saying connecting. I have tried his Dell x30 and my 2215. Says the same thing for both ppcs. I unplugged all usb connections and left just each cradle when I tried it.
Both PPCs work fine on my laptop (dell) and desktop(home built). I just installed the USB hotfix from MS on his laptop, and no help. Any advice out there?

[Sven Johannsen]

What did he load, or do to his laptop that 'one day' it quit working? Turn on a firewall (third party or Windows built in), load XP SP2 by any chance? Not always something you did, but a good place to start.

You might try http://www.cewindows.net/faqs/t-shootactivesync.htm for a complete set of options.

[h3seaking]

He instists he did not load anything new. I will check his firewall settings. He is one of those typical users that doen't know much about computers.

[Jereboam]

Vaio's often have the USB ports tied in with other widgets, for example on mine my USB ports are linked to the Memory Stick reader. The power management is flaky too.

The only way I can get AS to work consistently is to unplug all other USB peripherals and plug in a powered USB hub, then plug the cradle into that. It's ridiculous, not very portable, and a real pain.

However, if you get rid of the Sony Bluetooth stuff (Bluespace etc), install XP SP2, you should be able to get AS working over Bluetooth. Of course that only applies if both laptop and Pocket PC have built-in Bluetooth...

Note that AS over wifi through my router is flawless and much quicker than other methods. But again, only applies if you have a router and a wifi network...

I don't think my next laptop will be a Vaio. Superb design, poor drivers and crippled, proprietary software...

J'bm