Comments on: How To: Possible Fix for m500 Series USB Problem

I started the power drain around noon on Friday. I started charging about 7 AM on Saturday. After 2 hours of charging I tried the USB hotsync ... and it worked again. Although I'll be getting a refurbished unit tomorrow (per Airborne's webpage), at least I shouldn't have to get a 3rd replacement if this happens again.

I haven't noticed a problem with the battery since the drain, (only one day, however).

I am hoping that this will help. Unfortunately, I have found out that the USB hot sync cradle has fried my USB integrated with the motherboard. A glimmer of hope here is that I have a Dell PC, still under warranty and Dell is generously replacing the MB. I am having serious doubts about using this device again, since I fear risking the health of my PC. This entire experience has resulted in my confidence level dropping to zero regarding using a PDA again. More worrysome is the complete lack of help available from Palm. Best of luck to everyone, but I am blowing the dust off my Sharp Wizzard and thanking God I bought a Dell PC.

If the CPU registers determine the speed of the USB syncing, wouldn't just changing the registers with a specially written ASM hack do the trick without having to drain the battery and hard reset (Which BTW, when the battery is dead a hard reset often occurs anyway as the RAM loses power)?

Palming away.....

Well, without intending to, I got to try this fix, and the good news is, it does work. The bad news is what led me there, and I'm wondering if any of you have had the same problem...

Sometime yesterday, I noticed my 505 heating up, physically. Like, hot to the touch. I turned off afterburner (just in case) and turned the system off for a while. It cooled down. Then it started giving me low battery warnings. Every time I put it in the cradle to charge, it would get warm to the touch again, and the battery level would DROP. Last evening I left it, powered down, out of the cradle (for fear of how hot it would get - I keep my desk quite a mess.) When I woke up, it had drained its own battery. I came on here looking for a similar story - instead I found this, and learned that I was privy to the one small respite of a working hotsync again.

If anyone could tell me what's going on, I'd appreciate it.

My m505 has sometimes hotsync problem and when I heard a rumor about static charge as malfunction cause, I tried to do an experiment: when I push the hotsync button on the cradle, at the same time I touch a metal pipe connected to the 'ground' of my house and I noticed that the hotsync perform well.

Friday evening I read the posts and decided to try it. I used BackupBuddyVFS to back up to my MMC card. Forgetting that I should hard-reset my m505, I then went into the memo pad and entered the "shortcut.1". By morning I had a totally unresponsive m505. I let it recharge, then made a big mistake. I tried to hotsync it (after all, that was why I was doing this, right?). It worked, but then my Palm was back at October 24 (my last hotsync).

I then used BackupBuddyVFS to restore my Palm. It warned me that it couldn't restore my palm unless it copied BackupBuddyVFS from my Palm to the MMC card. I agreed to let it. Big mistake number 2. Everything restored OK except for the databases for AllTime. Not good. I hadn't billed my smallest customer yet for my December work, and everything since 10/24 was gone. I was not a happy camper. Multiple file deletes followed by restores failed to give me back my data.

As a last attempt, I downloaded McFile and discovered that the Backup files for AllTime on the MMC card were dated Friday. The ones on the Palm were dated Saturday (post-hotsync). I copied them from the card to the Palm and all my data was back. Major relief. Dear McFile, my registration is on its way.

So here's my suggested process (based on my experience):

1. Backup to SD/MMC card.
2. Skip the hard reset. I figure if I recharge it and it hasn't done a hard reset on its own, then I didn't wait long enough, and I'd better try again.
3. Turn on your backlight, if it isn't already on.
4. Go to memo pad and enter "shortcut.1".
5. Wait until the Palm is dead, and no button pushing shows signs of life.
6. Charge it up. I only charged it for around 30 minutes, but I did the rest in the cradle.
7. Turn it on, and follow the first-time prompts.
8. Insert your memory card and restore (you did remember to put a copy of BackupBuddyVFS on your memory card, didn't you?)
9. Check out all your applications (or at least all that have data that you care about - I still haven't checked to see if all my wife's winning Yahdice scores are still in the hall of fame).
10. Hotsync
11. Hold off on your next memory card backup for a couple of days until you're sure everything is back in one piece.

mike d

P.S. Saturday I got an email from Palm that they had finally shipped the advance replacement m505 that I first requested on 11/26.

i did this, and now my palm freezes up all the time, exactly like it did when i hit the .1 thigny in memo. how do i unfreeze my palm. hard resets just delayed the freeze to a couple minutes after the reset

Hi!

I just wanted to tell you that it worked with my brother's m505 .. it synchronizes well now ...

Kudos to the conceptualizer of the workaround :)

I allowed my m505 battery to drain from 85% for about 4.5 hours. I then charged it for 30 min. and tried the USB cradle and it worked. I just wonder how long before it happens again?

Test of "Possible Fix for m500 USB Problem"

My M505 developed the USB Sync problem on Saturday afternoon. HotSync via the IR port still worked but was painfully slow. I read about your Fix on Sunday and decided to give it a try.

1.) Performed an IR HotSync.
2.) Did a complete backup of the memory using BackupBuddyVFS.
3.) Powered off the M505 and removed the SD memory card. At this point the battery was showing an 50% charge.
4.) Performed hard reset and started the power drain at 8:30 PM.
5.) At 10:30 PM the unit and backlight was still on.
6.) Monday morning at 6:15 AM the M505 battery was dead. I pressed the reset button (a faint flow could be seen on the power switch) and put the unit onto the cradle. The LED on the power switch came on at the normal bright green, but the Palm could not be turned on.
7.) At 7:00 AM I tried to power up the Palm again. This time the Palm logo appeared and I followed the normal configuration steps. The date, time and country all needed to be set to the proper setting (a hard reset alone does not reset the date and time, so this is a good indication that the battery was drained).
8.) I powered off the Palm and inserted the SD memory card. I ran BackupBuddyVFS did a complete restore. At the end, BackupBuddyVFS resets the M505.
9.) I hit the HotSync button and was back in business. Everything worked perfectly!

Thank you Mr. Omahen and PalmInfocenter.com

I had the same problem with my Clie, suddenly the USB connection quit. I accidentally let the battery run down over the long holiday and viola! it "magically" works again. Sounds familiar; it may be a common issue.

Just wanted to post as a non-anonymous user - It works, at least it appears to have done so. This is my second m505 to have the problem, and I am so excited to avoid Palm's customer support this time around that I am posting only seconds after confirming that the USB function is up and running (and all my data is back, thanks to BackupBuddy). I don't know if this is a long term fix or not, but it definitely works.

Wow, one week fighting with hotlines and support-chats. German tech-support hotline: 'We never had a case so far, where a USB-Cradle didn't work! This should be caused by Windows 98SE, you have to go back to Windows 98. Than she hang up!' They even didn't want to exchange it here in Germany!! Only on palminfocenter.com I found that I'm not alone an there is fact a big issue with the USB-cradle. And thanks to Mr. Omahen and PalmInfocenter.com I don't have to call Palm anymore. This is the second time, Users fix Palms problems (or at least find a workaround). In a similar proceeding like this one, I fixed my battery problem as well!

Thanks again from Germany!

Peter

You will see this message also in a reply to my own.

As mentioned in my original message, it DID work. However, after syncing I left the palm in the USB cradle to complete my charging from the drain. After a few minutes, I noticed the battery indicator light "fluttering." I removed the unit and did a soft reset. The Palm logo never appeared, only a fuzzy screen. Then the BAD part, my m505 began getting hot and smelled like buring circuits. Well you can figure out the rest. The unit is FRIED! Palm is replacing it, but it's causing me 2-3 days without. The repair location happens to be in my hometown, so I hand delivered it. The technician there said it was the cradle causing the problem.

Does anyone nkow if the m125 is also affected by this problem?

Every once in a while my visor would stop USB hotsyncing and the only way I could fix it was to remove the batteries and let the unit sit for about 30 minutes or so and then when I reinstalled the batteries and reset everything would work fine.

-Eric

Thanks for the work around. A little too late though; I've already switched to the Clie 610. At least I now have a working 505 too.

then look at this one.
http://www.geocities.com/helphand1/faq_pg6.htm

I did a hard reset, did the short cut and left my palm for exactly twenty four hours. It was so dead that only the charging light remained just faintly lit.

I charged it in the cradle for about 5 minutes, and then Hotsynced and sure enough, success!

The guy that came up with this is my hero.

I did the operation yesterday and was able to USB sync in the evening. The guy that figured this out has my greatest thanks. Palm should float him a nice big check and post this solution on their support page. I am awaiting a response from palm. I just sent them an message regarding my USB problem through their Palm Checkup program. Needless to say, when I hear from them, I'll just tell them to $%^%@ and that I found the solution elsewhere.

Palm is one pathetic company if such a prevalent problem in their FLAGSHIP model, after 8 months or so (yeah, that's when my USB died) comes to be solved by a USER. What the **** are their engineers doing all day?

Even worse, tech support is still acting like they don't know what's going on. Perhaps there is some warehouse, somewhere, with hundreds of Palm m505's being discharged and put back in boxes to be sent as replacement units. I hope they aren't actually opening up these units to repair them. If so, someone should have their head served on a platter.

Makes me feel like dumping my stock.

well, the fix worked for me, I was able to fix my girlfriend's 505, but i hope it breaks again within 30 days so they can send her a new one. I've heard too much about the refurbished crap they're sending out. As for me, it looks like a Clie is in my near future...

I'd like to thank EVERYONE for their help and insight about the battery drain hot-fix!

I've had my Palm since day one and have not had a problem since. I've also been reading about all the hotsync problems so many people have been experiencing with their m50x's in the past few months. I used to think to myself that I was one of the few lucky ones!

That's when I knew I should've knocked on some wood.

As soon as I came home from work yesterday, the hotsync failed. Not only that, I've lost everything through a hard reset because it wouldn't allow me to soft reset (complaining about some Memory Error). Good thing I backed up in the morning, so not much was lost.

Thanks again to all, and for PalmInfocenter for keeping us up to date.

Its is increidible, I didn't know about the Hotsync problem until I saw it here, and then it stopped working. I followed the process and it worked. I really thank the guy who came up with this.
BTW:
"what you don't know doesn't hurt you"

I have two working 505s. My original unit got the sync bug in June. Palm said it was the cradle and offered to send me a new one, but they sent a 505 instead. That was fine, but I still had a 505 that didn't work. I tried the fix this morning, and now have two working 505s! I let the batteries drain overnight, and charged about a half hour before I tried a sync.

Now, can anyone point me to instructions on how to keep the two palms in sync? I'd like my husband to be able to carry the same information I do.

I see that alot of people have been using the fix of draining the palm completely to fix the USB issue. Firstly I would like to say that the fix probably works because of the fact that the users are getting rid of the ESB(electro-static-discharge). This is not new for the palm handheld(there were cases in the past where people's motherboards were fried because of ESD. I would think that this is probably not a pedrmanent fix for the issue(if it is in fact caused by ESD) Palm is currently offering "enhanced" unitsa for customers that suffer from this problem. Also I see that alot of people are saying that this supposed fix is frying the battery on the handhelds. Although this seems like a logical work around. I would dissagree that this is any sort of permanent fix.

Please help, This is my second 505 in four months and somehow within the last two months my hotsync manager is in another language. When I go to sync a yellow triangle warning pop up says:
"Impossibile aprire la porta Verificare che sia disponibile e apportare le modifiche desiderate in Imposta Manager HotSync."?? I have tried the possible fix and to no aveil, and have spoken to palm support but they just tell me to uninstall then reinstall desktop 401 which I've done a billion times.
I do notice that you are suppose to right click on the hotsync icon and it should have the usb port availabe to check, but mine doesn't it only has local (or in my case "locale") . I dont think its my usb ports because I have a digital camcorder and it can sync with either port. And the wierd thing about it is I can go to my brothers house (30 mins away) and usb hotsync with no problems. I feel like Im stuck. Any suggestions or help would greatly be appreciated. Sincerely, Brian C

m505 #1 - May 2001 - Nov 2001 - Fast/HOT Discharge Battery Death - Made in USA

m505 #2 - Nov 2001 to Dec 2001 - Fast/HOT Discharge Battery Death - Made in Hungary

m505 #3 - Dec 2001 - Jan 2002 - Sudden Crash - then OFF Screen - Can't Power Back up - Made in Hungary

I tried hard, soft, warm, in-cradle, out-cradle resets on all of these all to no avail. I would get a Clie 760 if I had USB support, but I don't so it looks like I have to go for m505 #4. This is really getting ridiculous.

I had no problem to use that fix. Thanks to Mr Omahen !

Denis Guérineau

How do I get this to work??? Please help I can not sync and it is starting to piss me off

I tried and it DIDN'T worked!!!
I started the procedure sunday at 5.00 pm and i left the palm discharching till monday 22.00 pm. Then i started to charge, i tried after half an hour to turn it on, but nothing. I waited for an hour... Still nothing. After two hours... The same. I left it on the cradle all night and in the morning... Guess?
Well, now i don't know what to do! Please help me! I don't want to be the only one who didn't succeed in it!
Stefano

Someone else suggested trying to disconnect the battery to see if that works. I've had the dreaded USB problem for about a week now, so I decided to try that out. I took my case apart and disconnected the battery for about 30 minutes (I got sidetracked...a couple of minutes would've completely discharged the RAM and had the effect). After reassembling, I had no problem hot-syncing.

I happen to have an SD card, so I did a backup first of course since I lost everything when I unplugged the battery. This seems to be the quickest way to fix the problem and you don't have to worry about damaging your battery. I'm sure I read somewhere that deep discharging of these batteries was not good for their health. With this method, you don't have to worry about that...but you do have to take the unit apart.

I got my new m505 right before Xmas (merry christmas to me) syncs went fine till last friday night...then nothing!!!

Drained the battery Friday night recharged Saturday morning now working fine (thank you BackupBuddy)and THANK YOU Ales!!!

I use an m500 and I thought that I had this very same hotsync problem. The PDA stopped hotsyncing inexplicably. I debated what to do for a month. I was considering trying the fix posted here, but was nervous about deep discharging the batteries because of possible future battery life issues and the remote possibility of frying the battery altogether.

I did quite a bit of research on the web before attempting any fix and am wondering how many other people who think they have a defective PDA actually have a software issue involving a corrupted registry. In failing to hotsync, I kept getting a hotsync error 8009. I found this fix posted on the web -- which helps you correct a corrupted registry on your desktop -- and am now back in business. Data, batteries, everything intact!

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/3216/faq_pg6.htm

This procedure did not work for my palm m500. The last successful sync with my desktop-computer was on dec. 21th. So my workpad is out of order for a whole month! The only thing the palm-hotline tells me is to use this fix. I'm really annoyed about the policy of palm not to repair or exchange the defective units. And the tip to sync via serial-interface is not really useful as the unit is sold with the usb-cradle, and a serial-cable isn't available in vienna. What can I do?

For those having problems getting the reset done right:
- The Shcut sign looks and is written like the greek sign alpha. It is resembling the anti-AIDS-campaign tie.
- If the magic sequence doesn't work the first time, try again and all you get is the sequence replaced by [Lithium Ion] (after timeout it shuts down as usual), try sequencing it again, immediately.

I don't have a problem with not being able to hotsync, but a Google search on "battery drain problem Palm" led me to this discussion. You people seem really knowledgeable, so perhaps someone can anyone help me? I'm on my second Palm m500; my first one had the same problem and Palm replaced it. The problem is that virtually overnight, the battery drains to nothing and I can't turn the unit on. Palm says it's third-party software, and I've tried uninstalling everything extra but with no success. I can't find any information on this problem or what might be causing it or what I can do.

It might even have a complete different cause.

See the page below.

http://www.pstec.de/ppp/pppqual/m500qual.html

I have been trying to get Palm to respond to my support request for over a month. This is my second M505 with the same problem. I am so happy that this fix solved my problem. I didn't believe it would, but I'm glad I tried it.

My M505 stopped hotsyncing about 2 weeks ago. It took me a while before I figured out which device caused the problem (my coputer, cable, cradle, palm). When I knew for sure that the Palm was the problem I contacted the Palm Helpdesk here in the Netherlands and they advised me to go this site and follow that procedure!!
And it worked. Thank you Ed! All systems are hotsyncing again except for one important item; "the date book" does not hotsync. Memo, To Do, Address, the whole works synchronises but no date book, and that is what it is all about!! I guess a complete uninstall/install procedure of the desktop software should do the trick.

Lum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I live in Colorado, where static electricity really builds up. I am on my third m505, until I wised up. Now, before I reach for my cradled Palm, and before cradling it, I touch my lamp, get a good shock, and know I just saved that jolt from going through those USP chips.

Hi all. Thanks a bunch for all the information posted here..

Same story: My WorkPad quit on me on HotSync. Mr. Omahen's fix worked just fine. I followed
the procedure described in Palm Infocenter: Hard reset, short cut . 1 with backlight on, ...

Details
PC: IBM 390X Laptop with W2K Pro, Palm Desktop 4.0.1
Handheld: IBM WorkPad c505, USB Cradle

6 hours to drain the battery (turned off completely)
Charge for 5 minutes
Hard reset
*HotSync : )

Thanks thanks thanks
csimsek@altavista.com

I used Omahen's fix and this morning was able to HotSync successfully. My screen appeared fine, nothing appeared unusual. However, I don't know how long this fix will last. What is the consensus as to whether to go ahead with an exchange? What are the costs incurred by waiting 30/60/90 days from purchase? Please post.

Hello!

Thank you guys so much! My m500 did the same thing and I was worried. I tried so many things then came across the article. It worked. I can tell you that I tried HotSyncing at various times during the trial--it ONLY worked after I let the battery totally drain. I am so happy now. BUT, I am going to buy a Handspring because I can't trust this baby any more. Too bad. Thank you so much!

Drained for about 20hrs. The little faint green glow was still on the power button but I figured what the heck. USB synced without issue and all the data was back.

First began just after a "fatal error". I really thought I was hosed.

Thank you all.

I cannot make my m500 unresponsive, any ideas?

I am preety sure i am doing everything right, make the shortcut sign.. make a point . and then write 1

am i doing something wrong maybe? cant be... can anyone help?

I have two cradles, one at my computer and one at my secretary's. After 7 months of normal function, my palm suddenly would not sync on either, so I knew it was a problem with the Palm. Soft, warm and hard resets did nothing, nor did reinstalling software, and a bit of other finagling (sp?).

After draining the battery dead overnight, and charging for 20 minutes, I synced normally on both computers. Hurray!

Will this last, anyone?

I have been having problems with my USB and have noticed that they seem to occur when I stick my mobile (Ericsson SH888) and the my Plam M505 in the same pocket. It just hot me when my Palm failed to synch for a third time!

I have been though the exchange route... but have found a double or triple complete reset also works!

UK Palm user

I am another very happy user of my M505. Not really.
It just stopped syncing 2 weeks ago. Delt with Palm customer support....they are terrible. I was told last week my replacement palm would ship, now it is "possibly" this week. Palm Inc should be ashamed of their "support" policies they have in place.

Ok, off the soap box. I tried to to this fix. It does sync....but now I have a totally blank screen with no Icons. I can tap, and seems like there is something under there. I have tried to sync, it did. A soft and hard reset...but still no screen....

Any suggestions. I wouldnt mind fixing it asap. Considering who knows when Palm will actually ship my replacement.

Thanks
email: nancyb_rn@yahoo.com

restoring it is no fun. I am using CardBackup and after the unit is fully charged, I copied the CardBackup from my SD Card to memory and when I try to run it, I get a fatal error. I kept getting this error until I do a hot reset on the unit.

If this was not frustrating enough, I sent the following to Palm's Tech Support, and their reply is to dock/undock with the PC off! If you can imgine doing that 3 - 5 times a day! You would think they hire people who uses the Palm daily! And if that does not work, they advise me to uninstall and install Palm Desktop - like I want to do this every time the unit chokes! I got the email if anyone wants a copy of it. You can reach me at seow@charter.net. Also has anyone consider filing a class action suit on Palm? I am a registered use and I never get any notice about this defect.

Yup... my m505 refused to hotsync like the others... and with no previous warning! Reading these threads, I decided to try the fix. I did and it worked, but I took the advice of a previous individual. Instead of draining the battery all the way down to near zero (which may injure the battery), I removed the back cover and disconnected the battery from the motherboard. I waited five minutes, reconnected the battery, reinstalled the back cover, and it hotsynced beautifully! I liked this fix much better than draining the battery, although the end result is the same. One comment to anyone who wants to attempt this: you will need a torx tool to remove the screws. The tool size is a T5. Good luck!

Yesterday I went to hot sync my m505 to my Mac, nothing. I tried everything - it wasn't even lighting up the connection light on my USB hub. I tried my cable (instead of cradle) and I tried syncing to my PC instead of my Mac - nothing.

I was pointed to this report by a friend. I started the drain at 1:30 yesterday. Around 6:30 the screen went off. I was only going to give it another hour but inside that hour the green charge light came on. So obviously it had _some_ power left. I let it go until 9:30 this morning (20 hours total). The green light was still on (unbelievable - that light must draw almost no power) but I went ahead and charged it in the cradle, did a restore from the card, and hot-synced. So far, it's working fine. I'll post back if I have any problems.

Sean

I let the battery die over night, charged it for about 5 mins, and the HotSycn feature is working just fine. If I had known how bad Palm customer service was, I would have not purchased a Palm.

I agree with some of the other comments. This problem will most likly come back. The next time I will dis-connect the battery, instead of draining it. I believe you should ground yourself, before touching the HotSycn button. I'm going to remove the Palm from the cradle before doing a power reset to my desk top computer. Thank you for the great advise. Good luck to others.

Jamie

GRRR... My Palm stopped hotsyncing earlier this week and after testing another friend's m505 on with my cradle we figured it was my Palm. I was going to call Palm tech support (ack!) but figured I'd Google search first. And then I found this page.

THANK YOU for posting the workaround. Even if it doesn't solve the problem in the long term at least I have a usable Palm for the time being.

p.s. I did try draining it for only about half a day and this fix only worked for 2 hotsyncs before the USB failure came up again. But now after having making it drain for 2 days it seems to be in better shape.

Having e-mailed Palm about HotSync problem, I tried their fix first: unplug the Palm cradle from the computer, uninstall the Palm Desktop software, reattach the Palm cradle, and reinstall the Palm Desktop software. Palm's fix didn't work. Their next suggestion was to call their support line. Yeah right, and pay $25 for the privilege??? Instead, using Google, I found this possible fix at palminfocenter.com and it worked. I am very relieved and most grateful to its originator.

I had the problem. I knew it was not my cradle as other people with M505's could use my cradle to hotsync.
First I backed things up to my MMC card. Since I didn't want to run the battery down, I got a Torx T5 (that's small) screwdriver and took the back off. Came off fine. I unplugged
the battery and only waited about 2 min. before plugging it back on. I then put it back together
and tried to hotsync. YES! I stopped the hotsync and restored from my MMC card. I was
then and still am able to hotsync.

I had the DragonRegs program on my palm before hand, so I wrote all the Register information down
and then wrote them down afterwards and compare them. On my palm it appears only 2
changed from when it was not working to when it was. Here are the changes:

Reg    USB NOT WORKING   |   USB WORKING
PLLCR        0480         |         1C80
PWMCNT2    4A06          |         4E26

So if anyone wants to try a hack to fix them.....go ahead.

---Eric

I too had trouble with the shortcut.1. Repeated it many times and it never worked.

Palm's advice is that the reset is unnecessary before running the battery down, but I found this was the only way to get the shortcut.1 to work. I must have screwed up my shortcuts somewhere along the line I guess.

Fix works v fine. For those that are interested it seems in some cases it is important to do the reset.

I had 2 periods with problems, the first time it didn't wanted to sync with my PC but it did with others, after installing the hotsync-upgrade etc... (avaible from Palm.com under support), the problem was gone...

Then a couple of time later I had an problem with USB syncing again, it just didn't wanna sync, then I tried on a different PC and it just worked.... after trying *every* single thing possible I later found out that the extra usb-ports I've plugged in in my PC were not properly connected and were mal-functioning my PC (d'oh!).

so, don't forgot to check your PC as well...

I drained the battery completly, but after having charged my m505, the screen was really weird.
Everything on the screen had been moved half-a-screen to the right.
The touch screen registers taps where the image should normally be. :/
Any ideas?

(Sorry for my bad english.)

I tried it and it worked. I let the battery drain for about 17 hours and then attempted the
hot sync. Everything is working fine (for now). I am on my 3rd M505 (original and 2
replacements).

asactor@umd.edu

In getting an m505 replaced in Canada, Keating Technologies (Palm Canada's agent for repairs and replacements) suggested this as a fix for the USB problem. E-mailed me instructions right down to how to do the shortcut .1 command.

I've got the cradle/USB problem and am trying to reset the Palm, but the shortcut isn't doing anything. I must be entering it wrong. What is it supposed to do? Any other way to accomplish this?

I drained the battery exactly as the procedure calls for - it took about 4 hours. After recharging for about 15 minutes, I was able to synchronize again, and amazingly the backup on the PC restored the palm to it's prior configuration. Thanks so much for this tip!

-tony

m505 that exhibited the same symptoms as others have laid out.

No sync w/USB cradle (Mac G4 w/OS X), but ok w/serial cradle (and Keyspan USB adapter).

Did a backup to a 64mb card. Drained the battery...took about 4 hours. First sync'd to an old set, then restored from the card and sync'd again. So far, so good.

This is after going months without being able to use a USB cradle. Palm support (Singapore as I am in Korea), sent me a new USB cradle, at my request. This had no effect, and I was stumped. I was contemplating buying another serial cradle. I have one that I use at the office, for syncing w/NT. Since Palm Desktop is currently beta under OS X, I couldn't get any answer out of Palm.

I'm confused why they don't know about this issue and how to fix it by now...they must know, in which case, it is a shame they don't help us out.

The login would bring up the "rase all data" ater i do the power reset.

I'm on my 4th m505 so to avoid waiting for Palm to send a replacement with the same potential problem this fix is great! The shortcut .1 was not working for me but shortcut .3 always does.

The .1 shortcut puts you into debugging mode and it stops the automatic shutoff. The .3 shortcut just stops the automatic shutoff. The goal is to totally drain the battery so turn on the backlight as well.

See this site for more information
http://oasis.palm.com/dev/kb/faq/1428.cfm?print=true.

I'd rather not void the warranty or risk screwing it up by opening the case. Now if they decide to send me an m505 as replacement I'll gladly send it in!

looks like it will work ;-))

Thanks a lot for the hint

chris H.

ne palm-505-user

Thanks a lot guys! Like all the others, I encountered this problem some time after hotsynching went just well, when all of a sudden it no longer would. First of all I thought, it was because I removed the hotsynch cradle from my PC whenever I was on the road (to be able to charge up the batteries). After I put it back in place it refused working. I never imagined that the problem lay within the m505 itself (and not the hotsynch cradle)!

Now the question remains how long I will be able to use it before it happens again and if it truly doesn't affect battery life in my case (I read above that in some cases it did).

This is really disappointing, me being a loyal Palm user for years. Hotsynching is all a PDA is about. What is a PDA good for if you have to worry about your data?

Thanks again,
Stefan (Munich, Germany)

Good news folks. It looks like Palm has finally begun to properly address this issue. It seems the real culprit is indeed Electro-static Discharge. Read this new article on Palm's site for their answer to the problem. Finally they've posted some very useful information on this issue.

http://www.palm.com/support/m50XUSBcradle.html

Regards,

Chris W.

For those of you who thought(or hoped) that Palm fixed the hot sync USB problem on the new m515, think again.

Last September I bought an m500, which stopped hot syncing after 30 days. Palm sent me a "new" unit(i.e. reconditioned) and replacement cradle, and I had no further problems.

When I recently bought the 515, I naively thought that the hot sync problem would have been solved--until my 515 stopped hot syncing just 9 days after I got it(incidentally, this was my second 515 I returned the first one after it repeatedly crashed within hours after I started using it--so much for quality control). Thank goodness for the fix described here, which solved the problem. Palm tech support is worthless. They actually told me that 99% of hot sync problems can be solved by reinstalling the desktop software. Yeah, right.

This is what I did:
1. I backed up my data onto a multimedia card using Backup Buddy.

2.I put my backlight on high, and then followed the directions to "freeze" the unit so the backlight would stay on. The unit was fully charged and it took about 7 hours to drain.

3. I charged the unit until it was fully charged(about an hour) and then hot synced. Voila! It worked.

As with any program on your desktop, the hot sync program can malfunction if there are registry or other errors. Therefore, if you experience hot sync failure, before you go through the battery draining procedure, try the following:
a. Run scandisk to fix errors
b. Run a program like Norton Utilites to fix errors that scandisk doesn't cover.
c. Check to make sure that your hard drive doesn't need to be defragmented
d. Clean out your internet cache and temp files
e. After doing the above, shut your computer off(not a restart) and then reboot.
f. make sure your hotsync cable is securely in your USB port. By the way, I use a USB hub, and it works fine. Another "myth" that Palm tech support tried to feed me is that hot sycn failure will occur if you use a hub.

I hope that I will not have to use the battery drain fix again. I am curious if anyone has used the fix and then has had to repeat it, and if so, how long the original fix lasted.

I didn't try the battery drain method, but I did go to this link

"http://www.palm.com/support/downloads/40update.html"

and downloaded a fix from Palm. Fixed my problem in less that 3 minutes.

I would like to drain my palm. Could someone tell me the meaning of:
The shortcut sign is made by drawing what looks like a cursive L??

I don't know how to write on the memo pad.

thank you.

Sophia Nguyen at nguyen_pharm@hotmail.com

Hi, I hope someone can help me...
Yesterday, suddenly the screen from mine Palm m505 get´s clear. Now I can´t switch the m505 on. Neither in the Cradle nor without cradle. In the cradle the LED is green. After a Soft- or Hard-Reset the screen shows the Palm-Logo, then for 2sec the Digitizer-Screen and then the Palm switches off. The device won´t go in "Debug-Mode" (Page down button + Reset). I think the m505 must be running in the cradle?!
The technical hotline (Germany) told me, that the device must be send to Palm and I must wait for 25 workingdays to get it back!!! What a good (and fast) service from Palm-Germany :-(
On my device is only "normal" Software installed, like e.g. ThinkBD, Metro, DigiMap.
Thanks, Olli

My fifth (!) M505 arrive on Monday. The previous four all succumbed to SUDS. The last one (#4)was a brand-new one they sent me, with an enchanced cradle (The "E" on the bottom). It lasted a little over a month. The newest (#5) did not sync even one time in the USB cradle. Since it had a slightly brighter display than #4 (I am now an expert in sample variation in these things), I sent back #4 and used the battery drain method to fix the SUDS problem in #5.

I tried the battery drain solution but after a while, it stoped working again. I read in this page that if I open the Palm and disconect the battery it will work but I don't want to take the risk. For a third solution I looked for a Serial Cradle and it works PERFECT! I spent $30 USD but, it was worth it. Now I don't have the problem again. The bad news is that Palm is no longer distributing this kind of cradle in some stores like Office Depot.

Since about 4 weeks I cannot hotsync anymore. I tried to drain the battery. Shortcut .1 does not work. Shortcut .3 gives the message [no auto-off] but still shuts the display off. I left the device untouched for 4 days and nights - the battery won't go dead.

I got a new cradle from palm (E at the bottom) - no success. The USB connection still is not working. Is the only chance to open the palm an disconnect the battery while loosing the warranty? Or using the slow serial connection?

Palm's idea to my problem: they were sending instructions for reinstalling the desktop software ...

I received my replacement cradle from Palm last week. I took it home, following the instructions provided to install it, and then attempted a hotsync. Nothing. I'm assuming that I still need to do the battery drain fix in order to reset the USB values. But why didn't Palm tell me that when they sent me the replacement cradle?

It works (almost)
My M505 is doing a hotsync but it stops suddenly
I have to find out wether the hotsync manager (MacOS 9.x) is the problem

My 45 day old m515 stopped syncing with the "enhanced" USB cradle this week. After a Google search I found the "battery drain" solution, tried it and it worked.

So much for the Palm theory that the m515 and the new cradle solve the SUDS problem....

Mark

Well, I started the drain process before bed (around 11pm) and put it back on the charger in the morning (around 8am). I let it charge for about 20 minutes then tried the hotsync and it works fine. Not sure how the battery is going to react yet, I just did it this morning. I'll let you know if I have any problems! Thanks for the help!

I did the battery drain thing.. Now my computer recognizes my palm but when i hit the hotsync button my computer freezes soon after that.WHAT DO I DO NOW???? I cant put all the info back onto my palm.. I need it ASAP.. NOW I have to carry books around with me in the hospital. My white coat is too heavy now.
HELP

Drained the battery for a full three days (the power light kept on shining faintly nevertheless, but I figured three days was enough). Followed the instructions and everything's cool now.
Much thanks to the dude who came up with this fix.
Rizwan.

It worked the first time. I did not know what was the causing the problem. At first I thought it was the unit itself. It took about 3 hours to drain the battery. Then re-charged the battery and starting synching and update my AvantGo. Thank you for the information.

Thank you very much for the info. I have an m500 with the apparent SUDS problem. I let the battery drain for 24 hours, and then recharge for 2 hours the next day. Tried the HotSync button and BINGO I was back in business. I didn't realize that stupid little tone could sound so good.

As a side note - I emailed the Palm tech dept about my problem (before I found this posting) they emailed me back about some B.S. in going into my Windows registry and removing files.

I had already told them that my co-worker has an m505 and was able to connect to my computer just fine - so I knew it was not a software or registry issue. Duh

Thanks Again !!!!

Hi: I was previously ok doing a hotsync via >serial< cradle with M505 to my Thinkpad running WinNT. I have had my laptop os upgraded to Win2000, and now can't get hotsync to work.
I have tried all the suggestions here, got the battery to drain, etc, but nothing works. Even followed a clean uninstall of PalmDesktop with regedit to ensure no residual entries.
I happen to still have access to an older Win98 laptop periodically. With the >same< serial cradle and same M505, I can do a successful hotsync on Win98.
What I would really like to do is hotsync on my Win2002 system!

So far so good. I just finished hotsyncing my palm for the first time in 2 months. I didn't reset it before I let the battery drain. I let it drain for 2 days, then left it in the cradle for a half hour before I hotsynced it. My computer had to update its driver information, but it didn't ask me for any disks (palm nor win 98). As far as I can tell all the files and programs I transferred to flash memory were conserved, as expected. Only time will tell if I did any damage to the battery. Just one other comment, before I tried this solution, I let a friend try hotsyncing my palm on his computer and now his m505 doesn't hotsync. It seems odd that a static build up/discharge, that secifically affects usb functions, could be transfered from one palm to another via the cradle. It almost behaves like a virus.

As an engineer reading these threads its apparent what is happening.

A small Electrostatic Discharge ESD causes the palm to corrupt its memory, with (sometimes) IR port enabled instead of the USB !
1. Try disabling the IR and re-enabling the USB ports.
2. Try the desktop reg hack at the end of this posting.

The problem with Shorcut.1:
Is it obviously causes the palm's battey circuit into discharge mode, But it doesn't always reset itself to normal mode when the palm appears "dead".( due to a small residule charge across the CPU) especially then it has NOT been left for min 24 hrs).
So when you put the palm back into the docking unit, the battery controller circuit is still in discharge mode, thus the battery is still being drained. It is this that overloads the USB port by trying to charge the plam's short-circuited battery, causing your desktops USB ports to burn-out.

Sorry Guy's but it looks like your shortcut.1 is destroying your motherboards USB.

So Before You Risk Frying Your Battery:

Hotsync Error 8009
Symptoms
"An application on the desktop failed to respond to a HotSync notification. Please check the desktop for details. (8009) "
Cause
You might have a similar message if you try to open the File Link portion of the HotSync application. What this seems to be connected to (among other things) is having a Registry entry which points to conduits or Palm programs on your PC which aren't working or aren't on the Palm yet. Basically, your Registry entries for the Palm and HotSync don't agree with what you actually have on your computer, on your Palm, or have gotten corrupted in some way.
Solution
WARNING! Please, don't mess with your Registry if you don't have a backup of your computer, don't know what you’re doing, or don't like living on the edge. You could experience tragic results if you make a mistake.
You can try editing the Registry by hand if you want (and can stand the pressure) but these instructions simply delete the corrupted Registry entries, and rebuild that section of the Registry. Here are the step-by-steps:
Close HotSync on the taskbar.
Close any and all windows, applications or processes running.
Open Regedit (go to Start menu, "Run" and type 'regedit'
Export the Registry (all, not just a branch) in case you need it as a backup
Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
Open "Software".
Find the US Robotics entry and expand it.
Select Pilot Desktop folder and delete it.
Quit Regedit.
Open Run on Start menu, enter "C:\Palm\hotsync -r" using your correct path to the HotSync.exe. Be sure to add the " -r" after it. This is what will rebuild the Registry entries. After a few moments, you should see the HotSync icon appear in the System Tray on the Taskbar.
Before doing anything else, restart your machine.
Everything should be working now. The basic HotSync should work. Then you can replace, reinstall, and re-setup your other applications.

Palm On Dudes.

PS I don't nor have I ever worked for 3Com, USR or Palm.

I used this procedure and it worked just fine. I left the handheld out of the cradle for about 12 hours, then put it into the cradle for about 5 minutes before trying to hotsync. The unit synced fine, after which I fully recharged the battery. So far I haven't noticed any degredation in battery life. So thank you for posting this work around.

I can't tell you how much time I wasted trying to recover usb hotsync, which unfortunately was lost about the time I upgraded to OS X 10.2 . The culprit was actually the M505 SUDS, but there was zilch useful information on the Palm site. (I found the cradle replacement tech note, but understood it to be a problem with the cradle. Bought another cradle on eBay (my unit out of waranty) but of course it didn't help.

Took me a while to get the shortcut straight. You must actually get a period to appear (tap twice)before the palm goes into the developer mode.

Would have prefered to disconnect the battery, but where the heck do you find that dinky T5 torx screwdriver?

Anyway, malice to Palm (may their stock drop back to $.50 again) for hiding this problem (and this solution). What a waste of our time. Thanks to all...

The statement that discharging does not hurt the battery is incorrect - a lithium ion battery does exhibit memory effect (although slightly) if it suffers deep charge/discharges. That is why palm recommends you charge your device very often. Lithium Ion cells perform best with quick charge/discharges, so if you do deep discharges often, you are losing battery life. Incidentally, lithium ions do not last more than a couple years, three years at most so use the hell out of it while you've got it! Another interesting tidbit is that early lithium ions were unstable and a sharp shock to them would cause them to light on fire or simply cook until they melted their casing. Encasing the electrolyte in a polymer gel (hence polymer lithium ion) is supposed to prevent that, but that could be the reason why some of the units got really hot and then failed.

To the purpose of this mail.... If any of you have a Torx T5x50 wrench, you can open up the m505. First unscrew the four torx screws. The back pops open with careful prying and be careful not to let things fly. Inside you will find the white connector that mates the two wires from the battery to the unit. Disconnect that wire and wait 5 minutes, then reconnect it. Close up your palm.

This also opens up the possibility of replacing the polymer lithium ion cell when its life has decreased. Does anyone know the part number for this? Does Palm even sell it separately?

-Chris

I beleive the instructions to drain the batterry will work, but I preferred to call PALM Support and have the unit replaced, no questions ask. You just have to be aggressive with PALM support and tell them you are aware of the problem even when they don't want to admit it
This problem still happens with PALM 515

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INPUT THE SHORTCUT CHARACTER + . + 3
reAD THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ON HOW TO IT
http://oasis.palm.com/dev/kb/faq/1428.cfm?print=true.

VERY iIMPORTANT: THE SHORTCUT ONLY WILL WORK IF YOU USE YOUR PEN AND NOT TYPING IT MANUALLY FROM THE KEAYBOARD

I previously had the m500 and had the cradle replaced to fix the sync problems.

I purchased the m515 and although it died once the syncing work fine. That was until last week when it just quit.

This technique worked. I bet I would have had to pay Palm $$$$ because I was about to call before I found this.

It does perplex me why the Palm will not work if I have another USB device plugged into my USB hub. It just seems that Palm does not really understand USB.

I have my m515 for about 2 months, i have the "E" cradle, but that's only a print, not meaning that it will protect the palm for the problem. I applied this fix and after 1 hour (my palm wasn't charged on 2 days) it powers off. I then charged it for about 2 minutes, and power on again, and do a full recovery (before that i do a full backup using a serial cradle).

I have now a fully functional palm again. BTW the next time i will buy hardware i will check for bugs, problems and fixes instead of only check reviews.

I was reading through these forums and I did the shortcut dot 1 trick to drain it. Then I kept reading and there's a potential issue with killing the battery doing this. So I decided to stop the battery drain by doing a hard reset.

Then the palm m505 said it the battery was low and to charge it. Then the screen went out. Panicking, I thought the worst... I put it on the USB cradle remembering I have read posts here that it was NEARLY dead when they put theirs on the charger and it worked for them.

While on the charger, I did a hard reset to make sure (hopefully) that the palm wasn't still in a development mode (I am under the impression that the shortcut .1 enters the palm m505 into some kind of development mode). I tried to HotSync, but it didn't work. I did a hard reset again off the charger because I am paranoid. Tried it again and it didn't work. So I upgraded the HotSync Manager to 4.0.1 and tried again. No HotSync still.

I'm past warranty, I bought a refurbished one (because they are just too expensive in the first place), and it's my first PDA. I'm not having a positive experience here. I agree with one of the other postings... I'm going to look for issues on some expensive tech products and not just the reviews. I'm NOT going to buy another Palm for many years to come (if they last that long). I am not going to buy it within the first year it's out. I don't have this much money to be throwing away and starting over.

I bought the T6 wrench to disconnect the battery (I found it at Lowe's for under $4). Incidentally, at my work we have several m505's and I'm the first one to have this issue. We also discovered the screw size on some m505’s was a T5 while on others it was a T6 (not been covered here).

I took the back off (it's hard to pop off, be careful), disconnected the white plug that has two wires coming out of it going to the battery (it looks like a flattened 9-volt battery), left it disconnected for 5 minutes, reconnected it (go slow, because if you bend the prongs that the white plug slides onto - you toasted your Palm), it started up on it's own, I popped the cover back on and turned the power off. I then grounded myself, plugged it into the USB cradle, and it WORKED!

I'll re-post to myself if I have another issue, but if you don't see it... all is still well.

I appreciate all the people who have posted here and thanks for the info. Best regards.

Raven

"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire

After my Palm stopped communicating with my PC, I tried everything in the book to try and troubleshoot this problem only to get nowhere. I gave up and searched in Google for this problem and it brought me to this web site where I found the fix to the problem. I applied the fix and "bang" my Palm was fixed. Just make sure if you drain your battery completly, charge it for 24 hrs. to avoid battery problems. Thanx!!!

I am on my second m515 in a month. The first one lasted two weeks before hotsyncing problems, its replacement, a mere two days.

I am wondering, can damage be done while simply carrying my palm around in my pocket (or using it after putting on a fleece), or does the damage only occur when placing it in the cradle? I am worried because I am a veritable static magnet, but I like always having a pda on hand.

Also, if the palm is safe in my pocket, would touching a ground while placing it in the cradle be enough to protect from future damage?

Thanks!

I searched amd found this site. After a few hotsyncing failures and replacement m515 units by Palm, I was certain I would find my own remedy on line. And here I have. The battery drain time took approx. 4 hours. After about an hour charge, I gave it a try. It worked. Now all I need to do is wait until my next replacement arrives and decide which one I should keep. The last time was prior to the Christmas holidays and took 6 weeks. To who ever first found this fix and decided to share it - Thank You.

how do i get backup buddy onto my palm if i have suds and it won't hotsync?

Like many others apparently, my Palm M515 stopped syncing abrutly and without cause. I went through all the Palm suggestions, resets, uninstalling and reinstalling and nothing worked.

Well, the battery drain did work!!! I was skeptical at first, since this is my first Palm and I'm not much of a techie, but it worked. Thanks to Brighthand.com and Palm Infocenter for the help.

I have followed the battery drain method to the letter, but the palm does not stay on. I write the cursive L and then type in the .1 The palm does not become unresponsive and shuts off. Any suggestions?

I must admit, I wasn't confident that this would at all fix the problem. I thought the internals had been well and truely fried. But loan behold it did the job.

You must make sure you COMPLETELY discharge the unit. So it will no longer power on at all. This can be achieved by using the discarging method at the beginning of this post. Then to finish the last bit of charge off, do a hard reset and when it askes you to press "up" to erase data simply leave it. Mine stayed on this screen for a couple more hours before it was completely flat.

It now seems to be working fine. I'm well chuffed! Hope this helps.

Regards,

[URL=http://www.alola.org]Graeme Lawton[/URL]

I had the same non-syncing USB problem on my Visor Edge last week when I found this post. Drained my battery as instructed. (Figured it was the same OS, should be ok...) Had a low-pitched hissing sound emanating from my Edge which was a bit unsettling. But I let it drain all the way.

Long story short--it doesn't re-charge when I put it back on the cradle. :( Guess the batteries are different between the companies.

Just wondering if anyone has ever changed a battery in a Visor or if I should just give up and buy a new PDA. They're disposable items these days; I guess 6 months is a good run.

Drained battery for about 15 hours (blank screen, dim button light), charged for about an hour then reset. Worked straight away.
I was dreding having to stuff about getting support, but this worked and I couldn't be more relieved.
Thanks!

I spent days unloading and reloading all my software, checking my USB connections, sifting through Palms "help" pages and nothing would help me figure out why my 14 month old Palm suddenly wouldn't sync. Thank god I found this forum!!!!
I drained the battery and that solved the problem. Upon further investigaion, looks like there was a class action law suit agains Palm for the m500 and m505 not being able to sync due to static. My m515 was new as of early 2003 - you'd think they would have solved the problem. Shame on my for not being more thorough in checking out Palms before I purchased. Wish I had a Dell:(

I have had my Palm M515 for a few years. It has never had any problems at all. Until... recently it refused to sync. I have two USB cradles connected to two different computers (home and work) and it would not start on either one. I happen to have a serial cradle. I got it out and tried it and it worked fine. I wrote Palm technical support and described the problem. I got suggestions to replace the cradle, and later to reset the USB sync parameters on the desktop. I tried google and it brought me to Palm InfoCenter, where I found how to solve this problem. I thought I would recap what I learned.
There is a problem peculiar to Palm M500 series PDA's, where it will happen that a register value deep within the PDA itself is changed to an incorrect value, and USB sync is disabled. USB sync will not start at all, no matter what you do. Neither a hard reset or a soft reset or any changes in any desktop or PDA parameters will help. If you happen to have access to a serial sync cradle, it will work just fine.
To fix the problem, there are two ways--
One is to totally drain the batttery, so that the PDA loses everything. (Actually I think it does not "totally" drain the battery; once the voltage from the battery is low enough, the PDA turns off the connection from the battery to the PDA so that the PDA is seeing zero power). If you accomplish this, the errant setting will go back to the default and then USB sync will work again.
To accomplish draining the battery, open the memo pad and open a new memo. Then write the shortcut symbol. If you write a cursive lower-case L, it reliably brings up the shortcut symbol. After the shortcut symbol, write a period and then a numeral 1.
Once you do this, the PDA will stay on, and it will not respond to any buttons or touch screen input. It will just stay on. (To get out of this status, if you want to, put a probe of some type in the reset hole on the back and push the reset button.) Once the battery is low enough, the screen will turn off, but you probably need to wait a few more hours, so that the battery voltage gets low enough that the connection is cut off and the Palm loses everything. If you are successful in doing this, the Palm loses even the date.
Another way to drain the battery sufficiently is to somehow get a card from Palm that has a program on it that runs continuously and keeps the Palm on. Palm made some of these cards just for this issue. The card also had enough memory to back up the entire Palm and the backup program.
Once the battery is sufficiently drained, put the Palm back in the cradle and charge it for a couple of hours, and then try to sync.
If it doesn't work, make sure you didn't do something like unplugging the USB cord, or maybe unchecking USB sync in the the Desktop HotSync Manager in the course of earlier problem solving.
If sync still doesn't work, try draining the battery again, and wait longer this time after the screen turns off.
A second way to accomplish the same thing (resetting the errant register) is to take the back off the PDA, unplug the battery, wait a minute, and replug it in.

Some people say the problem is caused by Electrostatic Discharge carried in via the cradle. The say if you have a cradle with a letter H sticker on the bottom, those are improved models to try to avoid this ESD. Others say that the "improved" cradle doesn't help. Some say it is because of the metal back, which it is easy to transfer ESD to from your person; they say this doesn't happen with the plastic case models.

There has been some discussion that Palm technicians have been told not to admit to this problem. I doubt that though; I think more likely is that there is just a variable level of awareness among the Palm technicians of this problem. The person I corresponded with at Palm seemed to not be aware of this issue.

I hope this might help some Palm M500 series users!

I followed the battery drain instructions and my Palm m505 discharged for 20 hours. After recharging, the USB HotSync worked flawlessly! For several months, I have been unable to HoySync, rendering the unit useless, in my opinion.

I requested a new cradle from the court settlement, but I haven't heard back yet. HAS ANYONE HEARD BACK FROM THE COURT SETTLEMENT? I would 1st prefer to have a handheld that worked properly. However, it sounds like the back-up and drain memory card solotion would also work. Any luck?

I had everything backed-up on an SD card, but the first HotSync restored EVERYTHING, including the 3rd party software that I anticipated reinstalling.

Don't drain your battery or screw up your motherboard USB! See an extensive 3-part posting on the thread titled "M505 Hotsync Quit", located here: http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26592

For two years I was synching without issues, then it stopped. My PC now won't even recognise the fact that I've plugged in the cradle into the USB, recently formatted my laptop as well. Before I buy another cradle, cause I think that's the issue, can anyone suggest anything else to try ?

Took my M515 out of my pocket and the power light was on and the unit was unresponsive. Nothing. Did a soft reset and was greeted with the date and time screen and then the digitizer. Ugh. I knew what this meant. I tried to hotsync by USB and no response. Sounds like SUDS to me. No data on the handheld to worry about losing so I'm currently draining the battery by .1 while I ask around for a T6x40mm Torx driver so I can pop the back and disconnect the battery (and clean out what has to be the largest in-palm dust bunny ever. I pulled one of those out of my old PIII when I had to repair it when a connector had come lose.).

Hopefully, I'll be posting a successful outcome later tonight. I'm sure I'll have the typical reinstall problems and need someone from IT to login as admin before it's all over though. Meanwhile, I'll be pricing replacements. Any suggestions?

Jonathan