URGENT: ActiveSync asking for new PPC name!

[terrypin]

Darned if I know how to proceed, so would appreciate advice asap please. Directly after a reboot of my PC, I got this:

"The mobile device that is currently connected has the same name as another device. To use the existing partnership for the current device, you must give the device a new, unique name. Otherwise, the device will be set up as a guest.
Do you want to rename the mobile device?"

I only have one mobile device. It's had the same Owner Name 'Terry Pinnell' since I bought it a year or so ago, and as far as I know the same System Name, 'Pocket_PC'.

I've no idea how this arose.

The most recent activity this morning has been struggling to get Pocket Player working, which I assume is unrelated. And the *very* last thing I recall doing involving my PPC was to close Outlook on my desktop, and say yes to the familiar question about whether I want to delete old transactions. FWIW, the reboot (fairly rare on my PC - I leave it on overnight) was because I had an error along the lines of
'can't start rna... (exe? dll?) something or other'. So rebooted for safety.

I'm nervous about accepting either of these options. So I'll leave the error window displayed and have some lunch in the hope that I get some authoritative advice by my return!

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

[acetuk]

I've seen this before with my PPC. Not sure what caused it but I remember what I did to fix it.

The problem seems to be that for some reason your PC doesn't remember that you have set up a partnership with the PPC so it is trying to do it again but with the same name. This name is already in use on the PC so you are getting the error.

What I did was find the PPC 'My Documents' folder on the PC, rename it to something else and then have your PPC sync to the PC again.

If all goes well the PPC should ask about making a new connection, it will recreate the PPC My Documents folder on your PC and then resync everything. This may cause a few duplicate entry problems in Pocket Outlook etc. but they can be fixed.

If that doesn't work then tell Activesync to delete the partnership with the PPC (File > delete partnership without the PPC plugged in) and then recreate it. You will have a copy of all of your My Document files in the folder that you renamed above so whatever happens you will be safe. If you need to these can be simply copied over to the new folder that Activesync creates.

One of the above should work. Please let us know how you get on.

[collegea]

I've had this happen each time when I immediately synced my IPAQ 4155 right after I performed the two Rom Updates. It was no big deal. I just changed the name. It did not change anything else or affect the entries in Outlook in any shape or form.

After all, what's in a name, if it's not a person?

[terrypin]

Thanks both.

Happily, I think a soft reset fixed it. I haven't rebooted again yet though, so we'll see...

If it re-occurs, I'll first try Mort's approach, which squares with soimilar advice I had over in Brighthand. However, must say I came close to accepting the rename option when the message fisrt popped up! But then I was a tad apprehensive about possible messy repercussions.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

[Sven Johannsen]

Asking for a new name for the PPC is only supposed to happen if you hard reset your PPC and try to re-partner it using the same name (PPC Name, i.e Device ID, not owner name) as it had before. That is not uncommon as the default name is Pocket_PC. If you have not hard reset, then something got confused and a soft reset and/or reboot of the PC should fix it. It is unlikely that a problem on the PC would cause a new name request, because if it doesn't recognize the current name, it surely couldn't claim it already has used that name.

The other responses would result in deleting the current partnership of the PC, and re-establishing a new one with the PPC name unchanged, or establishing an entirely new partnership with a new name.

Either can result in some duplicate entries as you are starting with Outlook fully populated and Pocket Outlook fully populated. If you think your desktop is current, opt to overwrite the PPC with PC data. The only other option is merge, you can't overwrite the PC with PPC data.

[terrypin]

Thanks, Sven. As you've no doubt now seen, my inconsistency was mysteriously caused (not a hard reset), and I reckon has been fixed by a simple soft reset.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Using iPAQ 2210 with WM2003.

[Sven Johannsen]

I was just filling in some blanks for future reference. This won't be the last time you see this happen. Many 'connect as guest', 'don't recognize the USB device', etc. are fixed with a soft reset and/or reboot of the PC. I usually just do both when i have problems.

Incidentally, I'd recommend picking a new name for your PPC. Pocket_PC actually has a character in it that is not legal in MS networking, and will cause odd issues if you get to where you want to attach to network stores. It's the "_". You can actually change he device ID any time after partnering. It doesn't require a new partnership. Active Sync will just pick up the new name. The partnership is really based on a unique ID that is independent of the name, and gets re-created when a hard reset happens. On top of that unique ID, it won't let you use the same name on two different devices you partner.