Connection problems with cradles

[Dave Beauvais]

I've had my h5455 for about fourteen months now and have had virutally no problems with it until recently. A few days after I started my new job in January, the department paid for a cradle to use at my desk at work. When it arrived, I docked my iPAQ in it and noticed that I had to wiggle it around to get it to charge and have only been able to connect via USB one time. I determined that the cradle was defective and contacted the vendor for a replacement.

While waiting for said replacement, I also began having similar problems with my cradle at home. The replacement cradle arrived at work and was only marginally better for about a day and now it, too, is giving me trouble. On all three cradles, when I try to sync via USB, all I get is a bubble from WinXP stating "USB Device Not Recognized." This blows because even though I sync exclusively via Wi-Fi, I won't be able to establish a new partnership when I move everything over to my new PC, which I was going to do this weekend. I just tried and serial syncs do not work, either.

If I charge using just the AC adapter and the little snap-on charging adapter, it works flawlessly, but I now think it's a problem with the charge/sync connector on my h5455, and not defective cradles. Has anyone else noticed anything like this? Do you think it's bad cradles or is there something wrong with my iPAQ's connector?

[jimski]

Do you have, or can you borrow, something like a Sync & Go Cable to plug directly between your USB port and the iPAQ's connector? The connection is a bit tighter than a cradle connection, so it may work even if only a few times to get your new partnership set up.

[Dave Beauvais]

No, I don't have a sync cable, and don't know anyone who has one. That's a good suggestion, though, and I suppose I could order one. However, that would still leave me with one serious problem: using the cradles for charging is flaky at best. Literally, the force involved in tapping the screen while in the cradle will often move it just enough to break the connection and it'll stop charging.

This is turning into a deal-breaker for me and unless I can find a way around it, I'll have to head off to CompUSA to make use of my TAP warranty. (And hope they don't jerk me around.) I really don't want to do that even though I'd likely get "upgraded" to an h5555. This is the first Pocket PC I've been truly happy with and I was hoping to hang onto it for a while longer.

[ChristopherTD]

It could be that the iPaq is faulty. My 5450 developed a similar fault and wouldn't always charge in the cradle. With a charge cable it only worked when there was upward pressure on the cable connection. HP replaced it as faulty under my Carepaq - though it took them a month to do so, a sorry saga with a happy ending (they gave me a 5550).

[Dave Beauvais]

Well, I got a Sync & Go cable and it doesn't work, either. In fact, that charging problem has become much worse in the last week. Sometimes the thing will be sitting in a cradle charging properly and then just stop. The backlight dims as though it's been removed from the cradle. Then it'll start charging again. The cycle continues like that every few seconds until I shift it around in the cradle. As ChristopherTD said, even the charging cord only is giving me problems in the same way as his -- upward pressure required.

I am now faced with a decision. Since the h5400 series is no longer available, I'll probably have my choice of just about anything at CompUSA. (Assuming the TAP program works the same way it did when I exchanged my defective e740 in January 2003.) So my decision is going to be: h5555 or h4155? I like the idea of 128 MB RAM and the 48 MB ROM for future upgradeability in the h5555, but having seen and held the h4100 series, I really love the form factor and weight. (Though the display model at CompUSA has the yellow screen problem many others have noted, and it is quite bad.) Built-in WiFi and Bluetooth in that form factor is amazing, and I'd really like to have that.

Downsides: I'd have to give up my Vaja Morpheus case I have three cradles that won't work with the h4100 series A spare battery for the h5000 series would be useless Risk not being able to upgrade to whatever version of Windows Mobile follows Second Edition because the ROM won't be big enough.The only thing I can see me installing that would make use of the 128 MB RAM would be Gilbert Goodmate. Aside from that, all the software I have fits in 64 MB with plenty of room to spare. I've actually got about 40 MB reserved for program memory right now. Chances are, when the next Windows Mobile comes out, VGA LCDs will be the norm and I wouldn't want to upgrade my current device, anyway, so the 32 MB ROM in the h4100 series might not even be an issue. So if you were in my shoes, what would you do?

[ChristopherTD]

My faulty 5450 was replaced with a 5550 and I would heartily recommend the 128MB, it frees you from worrying about what will fit and what won't.

Coupled with a 512MB SD card I am quite happy!