?fatal VP7/Activesync/Pocket PC flaw

From: dlee (danglin_at_austin.rr.com)
Date: 12/02/04 

Date: 2 Dec 2004 09:33:33 -0800

I think I may have run into a fatal bug in either Activesync, Windows
XP Pro, Virtual PC 7, and/or the PocketPC 2002 software in my HP
Jornada 568. The main reason I use Virtual PC anyway is to work with
my PocketPC- there are a lot of things you can't do on the other sync
solutions- PocketMac and Missing Sync, the biggest thing being
software installs via .exe files- .cab files are not available for all
PocketPC programs. I have wondered if the problem relates to my
orphaned PPC 2002 ssystem software on teh Jornada, but I am unwilling
to buy a current generation PPC unless i know that it will work in my
setup. I am primarily a Mac person.

Finally got Virtual PC 7.01 installed on my Dual 2ghz G5 with 3 gig
RAM, including the VPC patch that allows it to work on a G5 with < 2
gig RAM installed. VP 7 is running Windows XP Pro with the SP2
installed- that's the way it comes on the VP7 install discs. I have
installed no other software on the virtual machine. Both Activesync
and Activesync Connection Manager are enabled in Windows Firewall.
Using Apple OS X 10.3.6.
I got Activesync 3.7.1 installed with the usual amount of diddling, I
got Activesync to link with my Pocket PC 2002 (Jornada 568 with latest
System upgrade) in the Guest mode to do some software installs. Have
not tried sync. The recognition of the device is good, and I can
navigate thru the PPC from the Windows side just fine.
Everytime I try to install any software (exe files), the install
progress bar stops after a few seconds, the USB activity indicator
stops showing transfer activity, and the PocketPC is frozen. The PPC
has to be soft reset to get out of the freeze. Eventually a "not
responding" indicator appears for the install program on the Windows
XP Pro side. This has happened with software from Laridian, Lexidrugs,
Skyscape, etc. Sometimes I get a dialog on Windows side that says
that "Not enough disc space on mobile device- please remove some files
and try again," like there is not enough storage space on the PPC, but
of course there is plenty of memory available. I have tried installing
on internal memory and on a 1 gig storage card.

I have done a lot of my own troubleshooting. I removed and reinstalled
Activesync several times and started over with the same result. I have
done four complete reinstalls of VPC 7.01, Windows XP Pro, and
Activesync 3.7.1 with no additional Windows system updates, with the
exact same freeze problem.
I have installed VPC/Windows XP Pro on a separate user account on my
Mac with the same result. I have set up a separate user account on the
Windows side and had the same result. I did a clean boot of Windows XP
Pro to remove the variable of conflicting software, but had difficulty
getting a link with the PPC via Activesync in this configuration.
I then did a full hard reset of the Jornada, then set up a guest
connection via Activesync without difficulty, and again tried to
install any type of software on the PocketPC- Pocket Informant,
Skyscape & Laridian software, etc, with the same result- the install
progress bar stops after a few seconds, the Pocket PC freezes, and I
have to soft reset the Pocket PC in order to recover. I used to have
PocketMac installed on the Jornada, but the hard reset got rid of
that. I also had long ago purged PocketMac from the G5 to make sure
there was no Activesync/PocketMac interference. Setting up a new user
acfcount on the Mac would remove the variable of possible Pocketmac
interference as well. I'm at the end of my rope.

Thinking there may be a weird hardware/software conflict, I installed
VPC 7 and Windows XP Pro on my G4 667hz at home, which is much slower.
Activesync took forever to install, but when it finally did, I had no
trouble getting a guest link with the Jornada, but the PPC freeze
occurred consistently on attempting software installs.

By the way, after a freeze episode, I have looked on the storage card
to see if anything was indeed transferrred- a file appears with the
correct file name, but the file size is always small, generally <
100k. I even tried transferring a file over to the PPC by direct
copying, like a cab file or a mp3 file- with the same result/freeze.
That really worried me. I have also tried using the USB port on the
computer, as well as a port from a USB hub. Have given VPC 7 512 meg
RAM to work with, and on the advice of a VPC support person at
Microsoft (who was stumped), I have tried giving the VPC machine less
RAM to work with, with the same results.
I have posted shorter versions of my problem on the VPC and Activesync
newsgroups, with no responses. I'm getting a little assistance from
the Microsoft VP7 folks about this, but they're murmuring the "not
supported" line, so I expect I won't get much help from them.

I'll stop here, at the end of my rope.
Perhaps an exorcism is in order.

David

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