Unable to sync via WiFi to desktop

[cgreer]

I just found this site a couple of days ago, it looks like a great resource. I have been a Pocket PC user for a long time - bought a Casio E-200 when it first came out, then a Compaq 3650, and just picked up a new HP 4155 yesterday evening. Anyway, on to my problem...

My old iPaq was partnered with my laptop, so I could sync while kicked back in my easy chair watching TV 8) . However, with WiFi built into the 4155, I decided to partner with my desktop in the upstairs study. This machine is on 24/7 and would be even easier to sync with over WiFi.

In order to easily get my existing contacts, etc. from the old PDA, I first partnered the 4155 with the laptop after upgrading Outlook from the installation CD and Activesync from the Microsoft download site. This went smoothly and I got over all of my information with no problems. After the initial USB sync, I set up my WiFi connection and tested it by browsing a couple of sites via IE. So far, so good.

Next, I installed Activesync on my desktop (I already had Office XP with Outlook 2000 on this machine), and partnered the 4155 with it. I had it replace the laptop partnership since I plan to use the second partnership with my work PC. Anyway, the USB sync worked flawlessly. However, I cannot get a WiFi Activesync connection to work. WiFi is definitely connected as I can still browse via IE. When I attempt a sync via the 4155, it attempts to connect until it times out with no success. On the desktop, Activesync sits at no connection, and occasionally attempts a connection with no success. A couple of times, it connected to something as GUEST, but it wasn't my 4155 as it never showed connected.

I tried rebooting / reinstalling Activesync on the desktop. I did a soft reset of the 4155. I changed a few settings on the 4155, even though they appeared to be correct and even synced via WiFi to my laptop. Nothing changed the behavior. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to get these devices syncing via WiFi?

I suspect that the Activesync connection may not be passing through the WAP to the wired LAN correctly. I wonder if the laptop synced via Comp-to-Comp as both were on the WiFi segment.

Here is my network setup:
Intel 2.6ghz P4 frankencomputer, 1mb dual-channel DDR RAM, XP Home
into
Linksys 10/100 Firewall/Router connected to Time Warner supplied cable modem
into
Belkin 802.11g WAP set to mixed mode using 128bit WEP
Laptop is an older Compaq w/256M RAM, WinME, Belkin 802.11g PC Card

The Linksys Firewall / Router is set to pass all traffic on the segment inside the firewall, so I don't think that is the issue.

Wow, sorry for the long post. I was trying to be detailed and wrote a book.

Thanks in advance for any help...
Chris

[dmacburry2003]

Here's how I got mine to work:

I have an access point/router hooked up to the web and wired to my laptop.
In ActiveSync connection settings, I had to check the box to allow a network connection.
Then, I went to ActiveSync on the Pocket PC and pressed sync. It took about 30 seconds for the laptop to recognize it but it worked.

[dhettel]

My guess is you need to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP on your desktop, reboot wait about 5 minutes, and then try syncing. You can get vxUtil from www.cam.com for the iPAQ. And it may tell us what you need to do if the above doesn't work.

Open Network connections,
right click on your network adapter, select properties
Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) click properties, click Advanced, Click WINS.

Click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP

Click OK, OK and Close.

Hope this helps
David

[cgreer]

My guess is you need to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP on your desktop, reboot wait about 5 minutes, and then try syncing. You can get vxUtil from www.cam.com for the iPAQ. And it may tell us what you need to do if the above doesn't work.You know, I'm not sure if I've got Netbios over TCP/IP activated or not. I'll check this out when I get home. Also, vxUtil looks like it'll help. I can ping my desktop to see if I'm getting round-trips through the WAP. Also, they have a sniffer with a 30 day trial that might be useful while diagnosing this.

Thanks for the help...
Chris

[dhettel]

One tip, when pinging you should be able to ping using the name of your computer in PocketPC ActiveSync. It should return the IP address of the NIC closest to the PPC, if you have more than one NIC. So it should not return the IP address of the modem, or a NIC that directly connects to a broadband connection. It should be the IP address of the NIC that connects to the WAP, or the IP of the Wireless NIC if you are using Ad-Hoc.

David

[cgreer]

You know, I'm not sure if I've got Netbios over TCP/IP activated or not. I'll check this out when I get home.OK, problem solved. Basically, I'm just too impatient :roll: I checked the Netbios settings for the lan adapter that connected to my home network, and it was set to default. This setting allows Netbios unless it is specifically disallowed by the DHCP server, and in my case it should be allowed. I changed it to explicitly allow Netbios just to be sure. Once again, I tried to connect and nothing happenned. I opened my web browser to check the Belkin site to see if they had any firmware updates for my WAP in case that would help, and while I was browsing through their site I hear the connect sound from Activesync. As it turns out, it takes 60-90 seconds for the WiFi Activesync connection to get established, and for all of that time the Activesync dialog on the desktop only shows "Not Connected'. I was expecting it to change to 'Connecting...' fairly early in the connection process, but this did not happen. Earlier, I was simply cancelling the sync attempt on my PDA after 30 seconds or so in the mistaken belief that they weren't able to talk to each other.

Anyway, it works fine...I just have to not be in such a rush.

I also bought a bluetooth USB dongle so I can wirelessly sync at work and when I travel (it's much smaller to carry than a cable/cradle). That also works like a charm. This wireless stuff is pretty cool :) .

Thanks for all the suggestions,
Chris

[__didi__]

Sorry to bother you, but I still have the same problem.
I have a iPAQ 4150 connected to my WLAN.
I can ping between my PCs and my iPAQ. Internet browsing with the iPAQ is working. I even can sync my Lotus Notes data with Commontime mNotes via WLAN.

When I press the Activesync-button nothing happens - no attempt to sync, which I could abort. I waited about 3 minutes anyway, but nothing happend.

I sniffed the network traffic on my PC to see which traffic comes from the iPAQ.
The sniff shows me that the iPAQ registrates his name via NBNS (NetBIOS Naming Service) after I do softreset. But nothing happens after that.
Cgreer wrote he cancelled his connection attempt. But it seems my iPAQ doesn't connect at all, because I cannot cancel it.

Any ideas?

thanks in advance
didi

[__didi__]

I solved my problem myself.

I checked ActiveSync-->extras-->options-->sync with this pc at manual sync (or something like that)
After that the sync worked and it was fast (10s).

In another thread they mentioned that Pocket Windows 2003 does not need pockethosts. So I did not use it.

After I inserted a host entry in pockethosts the iPAQ initiates a connection but nothing happens. ActiveSync at my PC says connected, my iPAQ says connecting). Maybe it will sync but only after some time.
This sounds to me like the problem cgreer has (he has to wait some time).

Ggreer I think it is worth a try to disable pockethosts.

[cgreer]

I checked ActiveSync-->extras-->options-->sync with this pc at manual sync (or something like that)
After that the sync worked and it was fast (10s).

In another thread they mentioned that Pocket Windows 2003 does not need pockethosts. So I did not use it.

After I inserted a host entry in pockethosts the iPAQ initiates a connection but nothing happens. ActiveSync at my PC says connected, my iPAQ says connecting). Maybe it will sync but only after some time.
This sounds to me like the problem cgreer has (he has to wait some time).

Ggreer I think it is worth a try to disable pockethosts.Thanks for the suggestion, but I am not using pockethosts so that's not the root of my problem. I'm still experiencing 1-1.5 minute connect times, but at least it works. The sync is very fast once the connection is established.

Thanks,
Chris

[Underwater Mike]

Guys,

I am having a similar problem on my X5 with WM2003. If I use PH and set the Linksys WCF12 connection to "Internet," I can sync over my Sprint phone but not over WiFi. If I disable the entry in PH and set the WCF12 to "Work," I can sync over my network but not via the phone when I go out.

Is this normal? Do I need to keep switching between the PH and non-PH settings depending on which connection I'm using? This is almost as much trouble as pre-2003 connections. :?

[Steven Cedrone]

Uninstall AS (removing everything from the registry as well), and reinstall...

That's an ugly error. Sorry I can't think of anything else...

Steve