ActiveSync Suffers From Amnesia

[Kris Kumar]

ActiveSync is not a friendly sync tool for folks who use infrared or Bluetooth for synchronization. I stopped using the USB cable for the sync process when I bought the MPx200 and ever since the recent upgrade to the MPx220, I have started using Bluetooth.

http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-ActiveSync-ConnSetting.jpg

Readers who have used ActiveSync over infra-red and Bluetooth will remember that in the File menu -> Connection Settings, under the Allow serial or infrared connections to this COM port option, an appropriate COM port or Infrared port must be selected before the connection can be established via infrared or Bluetooth. Lets say that I want to use infrared to sync the data, so I select the Infrared Port from the pull down listing, click OK to save the settings. Next step is to align the IR ports and select the infrared sync option on my Smartphone. The infrared sync works fine till I reboot my desktop machine. The moment I do that ActiveSync forgets my port preference and defaults to COM1. :x And I have the same problem with the Bluetooth COM port. My Bluetooth adapter uses COM9 as the incoming port, but I cannot get the ActiveSync to remember the COM port setting. Every time I reboot my laptop, it forgets my selection. I have to go back into the Connection Settings and re-select the port, before I can initiate the sync process. Am I the only one experiencing this problem? Is there a way to persist this setting through a reboot? Is this a bug? Or is this a weird design feature or limitation?

[Mike Temporale]

Ya, I've been having this problem for a long time. I just assumed that it is caused by the selected COM port was not available when ActiveSync loaded at startup. My BT setup uses COM5. I'm guessing that on Startup, ActiveSync loads before my BT drivers, and thus COM5 is not recognized.

[Jerry Raia]

Same problem here with my 220 and my PDA (4705)

[Beowulf]

It was a huge pain in the neck to set mine up, and I don't think I did anything special, but I don't have this problem. I have a Linksys BT and a mpx220.

[Jerry Raia]

After you reboot your computer, it stays at COM9??

[Beowulf]

Yep it stays.

I used the activesync autodection wizard to set it up. I never went into anything to set it to com9; thats what the wizard chose. It was a pain to get the wizard to detect the phone because of the stupid mpx220 stealth serial port.

[Jerry Raia]

That might just be the key then, getting the wizard to find it.

I dont think my head could take the all the bashing it would get on my desk trying to get it to work though. :crazyeyes:

[Kris Kumar]

I am too scared to delete the partnership! And start fresh.

I am supposed to get the replacement phone hopefully tonite. Then I will be forced to do it. So I will give it a try then.

Meanwhile, maybe there is some registry entry where this is being stored?

Beowulf, can you please look into the following registry location on your desktop if possible?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\Partners

There will be nodes (with random letters as the name) under the above key, each represents a partnership. Check the one for the Smartphone.

Thanks.

[Kris Kumar]

Possible solution...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services

There are a few fields

String field named "Serial Port", assign the value "COM9" or whatever Bluetooth Port number. Quotes (") not needed. Not sure if this will work for Infrared Port.

DWORD field named "SerialBaudRate", assign the decimal value 57600.

DWORD field named "SerialNoAutoBaud", assign the decimal value 0.

Seems to be remembering the port number between reboots. But it tries to open a connection to the COM port or COM9 in my case. And if the BT adapter is not present, ActiveSync gives error messages.

Thanks Beowulf, for suggesting that ActiveSync can in some cases remember the setting. Now we know that only the wizard sets it up. But the Connection Settings box does not. :-(

[Jerry Raia]

Home Run Kris. Works like a charm :)

[Beowulf]

There's my reg settings

http://cgimfg.com/img2.gif