New to site, hope someone can help...

[ccinoh]

I'm new to your forum so excuse any newbie mistakes... like posting to the wrong forum, etc...

I'm trying to delete my contacts database on an HP ipaq 5450 running PPC 2002 and no matter what I do, after I perform a hard reset, the contact list comes back. Any idea where this is coming from and how to get rid of it?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[Darius Wey]

Welcome to PPCT, ccinoh! :way to go:

After a hard reset? This is most likely to be caused by you synchronising the PIM information from the PC to the Pocket PC again? Does it come back immediately after a hard reset or only after your first connection with the PC?

[ccinoh]

The contact list is there immediately following a hard reset, before I even put the device back in the craddle so I know it's not getting it from my PC.

Thanks

[Darius Wey]

There are two things I can think of. The first one's a bit "out-of-this-world", but you never know. :lol:

(1) You aren't actually hard-resetting your device, or
(2) There's something in the ROM designed to auto-restore your PIM backups (but I doubt this).

Do you keep backup files at any location on your h5450?

[Busdriver]

Are you sure you're doing a "hard" reset?

From the reference manual: A full reset is sometimes referred to as a “hard reset.” You should
perform a full reset when you want to clear all settings, programs,
and data from RAM.
A full reset will de-activate the battery. The power button will not
function until the battery is reactivated.
Programs and data stored in iPAQ File Store are not automatically
deleted. You must manually delete the files.
To perform a full reset:
CAUTION: If you perform a full reset, you will return to your default
settings and lose all information not in ROM.
1. Press and hold the 1 and 4 application buttons.
2. Press the Reset button on the bottom of the iPAQ Pocket PC
with the stylus.
3. Hold all buttons until the displayed image begins to fade
(approximately four seconds).
4. Release the application buttons and stylus.
You can verify a full reset by pressing the power button. If the
iPAQ Pocket PC has been fully reset, it will not turn on.
5. Reactivate the battery by:
Removing and reinstalling the battery
Connecting the iPAQ Pocket PC to AC power
Pressing the Reset button with the stylus
6. Set up your iPAQ Pocket PC.
Perform a Normal Reset
A normal reset is sometimes referred to as a “soft reset.” You
perform a normal reset when you want to stop all running
applications. A normal reset will not erase any programs or data
stored in RAM or ROM.
A normal reset will erase all unsaved data.
To perform a normal reset:
1. Locate the reset button on the bottom of the iPAQ Pocket PC.
2. Lightly press the normal reset button for 2 seconds.
The iPAQ Pocket PC will restart in approximately five seconds
and display the Today screen.

From pages 58 and 59.

[Jon Westfall]

Are you sure you're doing a "hard" reset?

This could be an issue, but I think its more likely that the contacts database has been backed up by some other program. Sprite backup does this "PIM Syncronization", and the builtin programs may do it as well. Does your calendar database come back as well, or just contacts?

[ccinoh]

Yes. I know I'm hard reseting since I have to go through the initial setup of the device every time.

I do back up my device and I've tried backing up everything, and then when I do a restore, I deselect the contact and appointment databases to see if I can force it to leave it blank.

You can see why I'm frustrated with this thing. ....Of course if it were something I did not want to lose, it would disappear with no problems. :)

[Darius Wey]

I do back up my device and I've tried backing up everything, and then when I do a restore, I deselect the contact and appointment databases to see if I can force it to leave it blank.

Oh, so this happens after a hard reset, but only after you attempt a restore even with PIM information deselected? I was under the impression that it occurred immediately after a hard reset, even before a restore. But correct me if I'm wrong.

If that's the case, instead of deselecting certain parts of the PIM databases, have you tried deselecting the entire PIM database and all its subsets and seeing if that will work?

[ccinoh]

The contact database does remain even before I perform a restore. Of course I'm willing to try anything so I'll try the restore without selecting any PIM info. I was only restoring the Task database but I didn't think that was doing it.

To answer the other question that I missed before, Yes, the contact database appears to be the only one that keeps coming back no matter what I do.

Thank you all for the input.

[Busdriver]

One other thing you might double check: It appears from the manual that a hard reset will not delete stuff in the IPAQ File store (If I'm reading that correctly), so manually delete those files and see what happens.

I'm out of ideas. Good luck.

[Darius Wey]

It appears from the manual that a hard reset will not delete stuff in the IPAQ File store (If I'm reading that correctly)

That is correct. All content that is within the iPAQ File Store will remain there after a hard reset.

The contact database does remain even before I perform a restore. Of course I'm willing to try anything so I'll try the restore without selecting any PIM info. I was only restoring the Task database but I didn't think that was doing it.

To answer the other question that I missed before, Yes, the contact database appears to be the only one that keeps coming back no matter what I do.

Thank you all for the input.

Well it seems like aliens have hijacked your Pocket PC. 0X

So one thing you can try is to permanently delete these databases before you hard reset your Pocket PC. I don't know if it will help you, but I suppose nothing will hurt since we've come this far. See if you can use this freeware (http://www.freewareppc.com/database/cedatabaseutility.shtml) to permanently delete the databases prior to hard resetting. Whether it will work is anyone's guess, but give it a shot.

[Jason Dunn]

I don't have a 5450 here, but the older iPAQs used to have a feature where they'd back up the PIM data to Flash ROM. Maybe that's what's happening? Look in the SETTINGS panel for ths feature and turn it off...

[ccinoh]

:? I'll see what I can do about blowing everything away first then starting over fresh.

Jason: I checked but can't find any setting for backing this up to Flash ROM but thanks for the suggestion.