Lost Without My PPC!

[piperpilot]

I am so depressed! :mecry: Yesterday morning, I sent my iPAQ 5455 to HP for repairs--the sync port broke. I put off sending it back for a week after getting a case number and receiving the "casket" to mail it back to HP. However, when it would no longer charge in the cradle or with the AC adapter--I have an extra battery and charger and was having to switch out the battery several times a day--I knew it had to go. To say that I am having separation anxiety as a result of this is putting it mildly. I got home form work last night and reached in my briefcase to get the iPAQ so I could use the wireless LAN to check my e-mail, only to be reminded by an empty case that it was gone. Later, I found myself wanting to play some Everquest. No go. Finally, when it was time to settle in for the night, I wanted to read my Pocket Bible. Again, denied. It's really amazing just how dependent I am on my iPAQ to do so many things that are part of my daily routine. Hopefully, it will be back before the weekend. I shudder to think how strung out I will be if I have to go without it until next week!

[Hank Scorpio]

I've really become dependant on my Pocket PC (XDA). I've been going out with my girlfriend for 3 years, and I don't know her phone number. I wish I was kidding.

[Xianfox]

I can sympathize. I left my e310 at work one night last week. Only made it through the night by cracking open a nice merlot and holding a Casio graphing calculator.

Funny thing, I actually looked forward to going to work the next day.

[piperpilot]

Oh Happy Day! Just got an e-mail from HP saying that they shipped out my iPAQ this afternoon, so I should have it back tomorrow. Since it will be delivered to my home, I think I will have to "work at home" tomorrow. :wink: This makes my day. My husband, the dog and the cat, however, won't be so thrilled. I think they liked all the extra attention they received yesterday.

[Janak Parekh]

Good luck. :) At one point, I was without my 3870 for about 3.5 weeks in multiple repair cycles. It was terrible, and I was about to force myself to buy a new Pocket PC at that point.

--janak

[Jason Dunn]

Interesting. Whenever I called Compaq, they'd cross-ship me a device so I was never without one. HPs repair policy is sadly not what Compaq's was...

[piperpilot]

Interesting. Whenever I called Compaq, they'd cross-ship me a device so I was never without one. HPs repair policy is sadly not what Compaq's was...

Compaq never did that for me when I had to send my 3850 back for repairs last year.

[Janak Parekh]

Interesting. Whenever I called Compaq, they'd cross-ship me a device so I was never without one. HPs repair policy is sadly not what Compaq's was...
With respect to iPAQs, cross-shipping only occurs if you have a Carepaq -- this was even when Compaq was "solo". Maybe they gave you the VIP treatment. :lol: My experience was identical to piperpilot's.

--janak

[Jeff Rutledge]

Interesting. Whenever I called Compaq, they'd cross-ship me a device so I was never without one. HPs repair policy is sadly not what Compaq's was...
With respect to iPAQs, cross-shipping only occurs if you have a Carepaq -- this was even when Compaq was "solo". Maybe they gave you the VIP treatment. :lol: My experience was identical to piperpilot's.

--janak

Same here. They'd ship me a box...I'd send the unit...I'd get depressed...They'd send the unit back...I'd be happy again. :D

The longest I was ever wtihout my iPAQ was 3 days though. That's not bad in my books.

[Janak Parekh]

The longest I was ever wtihout my iPAQ was 3 days though. That's not bad in my books.
Indeed, their service is very fast. My big problem was that they botched the repair the first two times. Fortunately for them, they fixed it on the 3rd try -- I was told I could negotiate with HP/Compaq's customer loyalty or somesuch department if it hadn't gotten fixed by then, as it was nearing 3 weeks or so.

--janak

[Thinkingmandavid]

My last pda was Psion running the symbian os, I loved that thing, but someone stole it, and ever since then I had felt lost wiht out a pda. I agree with her, once you dont have your pda you feel so lost without it. I was amazed to at how much I depended on the thing when I didnt have it.
Some say they are just toys, but such is not the case, very useful tools indeed :D

[Brad Adrian]

Maybe they gave you the VIP treatment.
Could be...But I mentioned that Jason's a personal friend of mine and they cross-shipped a broken Palm III to me. :wink:

[eternalblue]

if you think you're a wreck without a ppc for 1-3 days, then what was everyone like before they had one? was everyone so unorganized? i know i was. :wink: i know i was bored too - particularly on the subway.

on a side note, i feel just as lost without my cell phone too

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

The longest I was ever wtihout my iPAQ was 3 days though. That's not bad in my books.
Indeed, their service is very fast. My big problem was that they botched the repair the first two times. Fortunately for them, they fixed it on the 3rd try -- I was told I could negotiate with HP/Compaq's customer loyalty or somesuch department if it hadn't gotten fixed by then, as it was nearing 3 weeks or so.
Yeah, I had to spend 6 weeks without mine b/c HP botched up my service like 5 consecutive times. Each time they did do service, that unit did come back in a hurry though.

The good news is that HP sent me a new 3870 in exchange for my 3835 because of the trouble.

[piperpilot]

Just got my iPAQ back from HP. My initial glee, however, has been replaced with frustration. They definitely installed a new sync port, but I still don't get a connection when I attach the AC adapter, although it does connect when I place it in the cradle. Also, I can't get my last backup on Pocket Backup to restore my system. It keeps telling me that the file is corrupted. I can't even work on restoring my system manually while I'm here at home because I can't get ActiveStink to load onto my PC. Arghhhhhhhh! :evil:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Just got my iPAQ back from HP. My initial glee, however, has been replaced with frustration. They definitely installed a new sync port, but I still don't get a connection when I attach the AC adapter, although it does connect when I place it in the cradle. Also, I can't get my last backup on Pocket Backup to restore my system. It keeps telling me that the file is corrupted. I can't even work on restoring my system manually while I'm here at home because I can't get ActiveStink to load onto my PC. Arghhhhhhhh! :evil:
Don't know about the AS problem, but is it possible that your AC adapter is bad?

[piperpilot]

is it possible that your AC adapter is bad?

No. It's brand new and worked just fine before the sync port completely stopped functioning.

As for the ActiveSync problem, I have been on line with Microsoft tech support for about an hour now, and they cannot figure out why it won't install. I could be really angry about this whole mess, but at least they're trying to help me.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

What's the error you're seeing when trying to install AS? Did you not have AS installed on this machine before or did you uninstall it? What OS is that machine running?

[piperpilot]

The files download and copy onto my hard drive, but after that . . . nothing. The program seems to run in the background because when I try to shut down the computer, I get a dialog box notifying me that a program is still running and needs to be shut down. The file referenced by the dialog box is: TRSDKd ww: I:\Docume~1\JENNIF~1 . . .

Plus, when I look in task manager to see what's running, MSASYNC.EXE is there.

It was installed previously and then I uninstalled it . . . it's a long story.

Anyway, Microsoft now seems to think that the BIOS on my PC (circa 1998) is not compatible with Windows XP and that is causing the problem.

I just want to cry! :cry:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I assume that AS never worked on your previous installations either... or perhaps it did, but on an earlier OS, before you upgraded to XP?

Sorry to hear about your frustrations.

[piperpilot]

Acrually, no, it worked just fine just a couple of weeks ago. I've had XP intalled since December. According to Microsoft, a BIOS incompatibility problem can cause an application that used to work to stop functioning. Someday, I will stop spending all my extra $$ on Pocket PC accessories and software, and buy a new PC--my 400 mhz Pentium II is really becoming a dinosaur despite having upgraded just about everything over the years.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Acrually, no, it worked just fine just a couple of weeks ago. I've had XP intalled since December. According to Microsoft, a BIOS incompatibility problem can cause an application that used to work to stop functioning.
Hmmm... that doesn't quite add up. If it worked a couple weeks ago...

I hate ActiveStink!! This is the only area in which I'll ever look back and miss my old Palm. HotSync was so effortless to work with...

[Janak Parekh]

I doubt MS's explanation is valid, though. It's far more likely there's corruption or configuration issues somewhere (with respect to installing ActiveSync). See if you can find the installer log somewhere. Otherwise, a full reinstall of the machine would probably do the trick, although it'd be painful.

Also, how long did you wait until deciding the installer wasn't running? I know ActiveSync installs slowly in some areas. (I doubt this is your problem, however; if I remember correctly, it hangs at 91%, and you aren't even getting that far).

--janak

[Thinkingmandavid]

Microsoft sucks in my opinion, :devilboy: