ActiveSync, FTP, Firewall, and XP SP2

[CEGiven]

I recently encountered a weird (and repeatable) situation invloving FTP, ActiveSync, XP Service Pack 2, and the Microsoft Firewall that comes with XP SP2.

After installing SP2 I would intermittently have trouble using wsFTP to FTP files to my web server. I configured the firewall to allow that program access, plus I explicitly opened ports 21 (control) and 20 (data). Still the problem kept popping up at odd times -- like 10 minutes after I'd just successfully FTP some files! I could turn off the firewall and FTP would ALWAYS work, so I knew the firewall was part of the problem.

Then one day I realized that in between an successful and a blocked FTP, the only change had been I had docked my PPC! I did some testing, and sure enough, when ActiveSync is "on" (circle icon is green) FTP always fails. When ActiveSync is "off" (circle is grey, but still in the SysTray) then it works.

Just thought I'd mention this in case someone else was going crazy with a similar problem.

[PDANEWBIE]

What FTP server program were you using you think that could have any impact?

[CEGiven]

wsFTP is an FTP client, so the problem was not on the hosting end. I also tested using the built-in command line FTP client. The server software I was connecting to ranged in platform and software, but Serv-U was the most common server. I have 4 computers at my desk, and only the one running ActiveSync could not connect, again indicating a client issue rather than a server issue.

[PDANEWBIE]

Sorry thought you were running a webserver with activesync on it. My bad.

[Dominic]

What version of Acticesync are you using?

[CEGiven]

Same behavior for 3.7 and 3.8

[Dominic]

I had a similar problem with 3.7 but was fixed when I updated to 3.8