iPAQ Cradles Going Bad?

[ntractv]

For some reason the cradle for my iPAQ 5555 stopped working all together. It started loosing/dropping USB connections about a couple of weeks ago so I was synching by serial. So over the weekend I had to do a system restore on my PC and I re-installed Activesync 3.7. Still no luck with the PC recognizing my device through USB, but, now, Activesync would not recognize via serial connection. I tried four or five times and nothing. So out of frustration and general curiosity, I unhook that cradle and connect the cradle from my iPAQ 3835 to my desktop and WOW, Activesync recognized it immediately even through USB. I did not think that cradles could go bad. Anyone else have cradle problems?

[Jason Dunn]

It's quite rare, but it does happen - could be one time the cable was tugged too hard and one of the internal wires came lose, or it might have been compromised to begin with. Sync 'n Charge cables are your best friend. ;-)

[charliew]

I ran into the same problem with my HP5455. My computer would not recognize the cradled ipaq as a Windows CE device. The device manager on my PC listed it as unknown USB device.

After scouring the internet, I finally used the HP instant support active chat. After a lot of things I had already tried, they said it was either the cradel or the Ipaq. They wanted me to do a hard reset on the Ipaq. I told them I would go purchase another cradle first.

The new cradle from circut city recognized the first time as a Windows CE device. HP support said it was rair, but cradles did go bad.