View Full Version : So many problems with new Dell, wish I stayed with Palm
jeffa
02-13-2003, 05:42 PM
Sorry my first post is negative but I don't know where else to turn. I have been a Palm user for about three years previous to my new Dell X5. Since I got the new Dell I have lost all my data on it three times. The first time was when I powered down and changed the main battery to my backup battery. I called tech support and they had no idea what could have happened. I thought active syncing would back up all programs the same as a hot sync on the Palm, now I know better. Next came the failure of contacts to sync with outlook, deleting my partnership fixed this and also doubled up several contacts on my next active sync. The task switcher program stopped responding after active syncing and the active sync program needed to be manually stopped on the Dell to get it working again. Soon I found that the unit wouldn't shut off when I left it on. I had it set to shut off after 5 minutes. I called tech support they insisted it was supposed to work that way. They told me the only way to fix the active sync locking up the task manager was to do a hard reset. Once I did a hard reset I found that the backup I did to my SD card wouldn’t restore. I had a second backup from a few days before but when I restored it, my inbox said I had four messages in something called IVM.Root that I couldn't find nor delete. I can't believe how buggy this thing is. I had two different Palm devices and never a problem. Is this normal for a windows CE/pocketpc device? I don't think I am asking a lot in having a pocket organizer that successfully synchronizes data and doesn't loose it.
DannyLee312
02-13-2003, 06:14 PM
thats strange...because my girlfriend has this handheld, and she is not experiencing any problems with it to my knowledge...knock on wood....how do you have your activesync settings set at???
shawnc
02-13-2003, 06:22 PM
Really sorry to hear about the issues you're having. My Axim is my 2nd PPC and I haven't experienced any of the problems you mention. I also own a Treo 300 and experienced some frustration in getting that syncing process to work.
My point is only that sometimes it may be a question of what you're familar with. I don't think I struggled with the Treo because Palm is difficult or less reliable, only because I was more famaliar with PPC.
Based on you're post, I surely would not blame you for returning your Axim and going back to Palm. But if you can work through some of the initial issues I think you will find the Axim to be one of the better values on the market today.
Rirath
02-13-2003, 06:26 PM
Methinks you're just new and messed up somewhere in the process. Stick with it. Tech support loves to tell you to hard reset, doesn't mean they're right.
And next time, use paragraphs please. Makes it easier on the eyes.
guinness
02-13-2003, 06:41 PM
Other than a flaky d-pad, my Dell has been pretty good, although I've had to hard reset 3 times :twisted: Some of which was due to some programs I've installed and one was because some fonts I copied over messed up one of the default fonts, making it pretty unusuable. ActiveSync, IMO is pretty awful, works fine for awhile, then it decides to stop synicing with your PDA, hopefully the MVP's will give some useful suggestions to ActiveSync team.
PetiteFlower
02-13-2003, 07:27 PM
You should back up to your PC, rather then your memory card. I called tech support to see if I could get a replacement because of my defective d-pad--not the biggest problem in the world since I only use it for games, but I paid for a perfect unit and I should get it! Anyway they wanted me to do the hard reset and told me to back up to my PC through activesync. It's an option under the Tools menu. I did a full backup, it took a long time to save and even longer to restore but it worked, my PPC is exactly as it was before. My contacts didn't duplicate either because I selected Replace items instead of Combine items.
I don't know why you would lose data when removing the battery unless you didn't have the backup battery(the little watch battery thing) installed or it was dead. That's what the backup battery is there for after all.
I've found that the active sync works weird with task switcher; whenever I try to close it through the switcher, I get an error message. But, I just click OK and it still closes and it hasn't caused any problems other then the weird error message.
Other then that I haven't found it to be the slightest bit buggy and it's my first PDA. It's made me very happy so far :)
Polly
02-13-2003, 08:55 PM
The Axim is my first ppc, too. I haven't had a single problem with it, other than not being able to put it down (I really do need to get more sleep)! I installed the patch to activate the d-pad, and mine is perfect in every imaginable way. It syncs up perfectly. I haven't even experienced any of the problems with Active Sync that others mention.
Hard resets will erase everything...so be very careful about doing that. Soft resets will cure most little goofie things. As Petite Flower said, the back-up battery might be defective or dead...have you checked that? I've removed my main battery...to get the serial number for my rebate, for instance...and didn't lose anything.
Sorry you've had a bad experience. Maybe they can just send you a replacement and you'll be off and running in a more positive direction.
Best wishes!
PapaSmurfDan
02-13-2003, 10:14 PM
Mmkay, lets see if I can make out half of the problems here. Next time, could you please give us a list, its much easer to reply to your issues that way ;)
Sorry my first post is negative but I don't know where else to turn. I have been a Palm user for about three years previous to my new Dell X5. Since I got the new Dell I have lost all my data on it three times. The first time was when I powered down and changed the main battery to my backup battery. I called tech support and they had no idea what could have happened.
Ok, let me get this stright here. You removed the main battery and expected your Axim to run off the backup pen-cell? You can't do that, as that is just for data retention when the main battery is dead or being replaced. Or do you have two batteries and were swapping them? Then you have an issue with the unit.
I thought active syncing would back up all programs the same as a hot sync on the Palm, now I know better. Next came the failure of contacts to sync with outlook, deleting my partnership fixed this and also doubled up several contacts on my next active sync. The task switcher program stopped responding after active syncing and the active sync program needed to be manually stopped on the Dell to get it working again. Soon I found that the unit wouldn't shut off when I left it on. I had it set to shut off after 5 minutes.
Ok, is the Axim connected to your computer at this point? If it is, it will not turn off becuase activesync is a constant syncronization (eg. make a change on your desktop, and it is automaticly sent to your ppc). ActiveSync has a lot of issues, and many of us here want it fixed badly.
I called tech support they insisted it was supposed to work that way. They told me the only way to fix the active sync locking up the task manager was to do a hard reset. Once I did a hard reset I found that the backup I did to my SD card wouldn’t restore. I had a second backup from a few days before but when I restored it, my inbox said I had four messages in something called IVM.Root that I couldn't find nor delete. I can't believe how buggy this thing is. I had two different Palm devices and never a problem.
I will echo the advice that other people have allready mentioned. Use the activesync backup to do full backups of your device.
Is this normal for a windows CE/pocketpc device? I don't think I am asking a lot in having a pocket organizer that successfully synchronizes data and doesn't loose it.
This is not normal. It sounds like you are having more issues than you should have. I had ZERO issues with activesync at first (then I installed something on my PPC which ****ed up Activesync). I have one minor issue with activesync right now, and it is that big files often crash AS on my system. Also, what software do you have installed? I have noticed that there is just as much badly written PPC software as there is badly written Palm Software.
-Dan
mike6024
02-13-2003, 10:35 PM
I've had a few issues with my Axim as opposed to my Ipaq and E125, but this was the first run of the Axims too, so issues are to be expected.
And why is everyone saying you shouldn't backup to a memory card? I have backed up to and restored from my SD card without problems several times now.
PetiteFlower
02-13-2003, 10:46 PM
I didn't mean to say that it was BAD to backup to a memory card, only that backing up to your PC is also possible, and since his memory card didn't work he should try that for next time. It never hurts to have more then one backup. He might be one of those unlucky souls that ended up with a defective Axim AND a defective memory card.
Plus my PC's hard drive has a HELL of a lot more space on it then any memory card! Why take up space on a card--even 256m is a lot less then it sounds if you want to carry music around--when your PC(or at least mine anyway) has GIGS of space that will never get full?
jeffa
02-14-2003, 04:48 AM
Wow! Thanks for all the response. I should explain the battery problem further. When I lost everything while changing the main battery I pressed the power button to shut it off, removed the main battery and promptly installed the the fresh battery. When I pressed the power button again the unit came up saying data was lost due to battery failure. I have switched the battery out several time since and have not had a problem. I don't think we'll ever know what went wrong.
This time I am not going to install any additional apps with the exception of HanDBase3 on my ppc and see if I have any problems. I will post again with the results.
TheBacklash
02-14-2003, 07:37 AM
I think a few things have been cleared up for you, But one thing I noticed that was not.
The doubling up of contacts is NOT a Dell problem... that happens on all Devices.
are you sure the Backup battery was installed correctly? not backwards... I've seen that one before, people complained like hell... until the battery is put in correctly, then everything works fine.
That would explain the data loss upon battery removal... Also could be a bad main battery. which could explain that problem as well.
I have never had any problems like you had with your Dell, This is my 3rd PocketPc. I switched from a Palm myself. (never go back)
I think your problems could have been on any PocketPc though...not just limited to the Dell.
If your thinking of an automatic backup, a Palm has a VERY limited amount of data to backup.... It's quick and easy. automaticly every sync would take a very short time. a PocketPc however is much bigger.
So an automatic backup is not set by default in Activesync. It can take a rather long time to backup everything, every sync.
Palm were are talking maybe a MB tops... a PocketPc...many.
I only backup to my PC, not a card of any type. you can... But I just think it's safer to have the backup elsewhere. but thats just me. Never had to replace the data from a card so can't help you there.
I also don't think it's a software problem, after a hard reset you can just go to add/remove programs in activesync and check all the software you had installed before, and you can install them again very easily.
jeffmd
02-14-2003, 09:05 AM
jeffa, sorry you got all those problems. you definetly got the bum end of the stick. I mean were talking worst possible scenario here. I would blame fate, not the dell. Alot of your problems seem to revolve around the active synch. we all know MS and their screwed up programs, infact just today I opened outlook 2002 and retrieved my mailboxs, and 1 mailbox would not even connect. the stupid thing was, it was 1 out of 3 box connecting to the SAME COMPUTER! all settings except the logon name were duplicated. multiple queries to the mailboxs had no problem loggig into the other mailboxs, but just this one box would not connect. I then closed outlook and opened it again and all was well.
as for the power loss, I havnt had these troubles yet but honestly, you HAVE to expect it. You are removing the MAIN power source that keeps the memory alive. bad things are bound to happen, pocket pc or not.
AirTimid
02-14-2003, 05:41 PM
I think you're having the problems a lot of people have when they switch. I've had similar activesync problems too the last couple of months. THe Dell is my first PPC after using the Palm OS the last couple of years. The greatest thing about my Palm devices were the ease of use when synching. I never had problems synching with Palm. Conversely, i've had my share of issues with Activesync the first month I had my Dell. Now I rarely have a problem and sync between 2 different home machines and use a 3 machine (laptop at work) as a "guest" to install proggies and update avantgo and my weather program. Works flawlessly.
I think my biggest problem was thinking Activesync would work JUST LIKE hotsync. It doesn't. Once I got past that, my PPC has been great. I will never buy another Palm OS device, and that's not to put down Palm OS either. I love my Dell PPC and couldn't imagine not having it. Good luck.
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