Pocketmac, Blackberry 8130, and mac

Question

Level 1

18 points

Pocketmac, Blackberry 8130, and mac

hello,

instead of getting an iPhone (which is what i really wanted), i opted to get a blackberry pearl 8130 as our family is with verizon and we would have to switch our entire family plan over to AT&T. because of my husband's work that was not possible so i got the blackberry pearl 8130. it came with the pocketmac which the verizon tech support folks assured me would sync my iAddress book and iCal to my phone. well, that doesn't seem to be happening. installation of pocketmac seemed to go just fine but when i try to sync, it kind of just hangs there with the status bar almost 2/3rd's completed. what am i doing wrong or what do i not know? i want to make this blackberry pearl work. it is the right size, has all the features i need. the other option for me, with a mac, was a palm 700p which i liked because i am used to palm software but did i just did not like how huge it was in comparison with the blackberry pearl. any advice for me out there? i am on a powerbook G4, running Tiger 10.4.10.

thanks!

PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Nov 8, 2007 5:27 PM

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Answer 1

dmg123

Level 1

0 points

Nov 8, 2007 10:30 PM in response to MDTeresa

I've spent way too many hours on this very issue, with the 8130, a new MacBook Pro with Panther, and the folks at PocketMac Support. I have had my Blackberry less than 48 hours and have had to wipe the data on it countless times, clean out the sync history, reboot, rebuild Entourage databases, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. all to no avail - Calendar and Notes just hang there like you described.

The Lesson I have finally absorbed, at 1:20 a.m.: this software is free from Blackberry, and you are getting what you pay for. I just slapped down $39.95 for Missing Sync for Blackberry (Google it if you don't know it); 10 minutes later I am up and running. I don't know the history of RIM/Blackberry's partnership with PocketMac, but they seem to have bet on the wrong horse.

It is really a drag to have to pay for what Mac and RIM should have made do-able from the start -- but on the bright side the Missing Sync conduits seem to be working like a charm.

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Answer 2

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 9, 2007 4:33 AM in response to MDTeresa

thanks for your post. i had read about missing sync but was reluctant to plunk down the $39.99 for it in case i decide at the end of all this aggravation that the blackberry pearl is not for me. at this point i wonder if i should have just gone with the palm 700p as i have never had any issues using palm software on my mac with my old palm pilot. i can see that at some point during the frustrating efforts at syncing that phone contacts on my blackberry 8130 were transferred to my iAddress book which i find bizarre. the verizon customer service rep was not at all helpful and told me to keep the phone connected and syncing because if i disconnected it, i would cause problems to the phone. but here i am more than 12 hours after trying my initial sync and it's still caught up.

i did a lot of reading and so many people have had success with pocketmac, i don't get why it is not working for me (or for you) and why verizon would have told me that the blackberry pearl is great wtih mac using pocketmac.

when you got missing sync, did you have to uninstall pocketmac before installing missing sync? i read somewhere along the way that that can be an issue. you wrote, "clean out the sync history, reboot, rebuild Entourage databases, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. all to no avail - Calendar and Notes just hang there like you described.". how do i clean out sync history and if i don't use entourage do i need to do anything else other than clean out the sync history? i am savvy enough to feel i can manage a smartphone since i have been managing a palm and an iPod for so long, but i am not savvy enough to know what "rebuilding" means.

thank you so much for your time, especially considering how much time you spent dealing with this very same issue with your laptop and pearl.

teresa

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Answer 3

dmg123

Level 1

0 points

Nov 9, 2007 6:47 AM in response to MDTeresa

+when you got missing sync, did you have to uninstall pocketmac before installing missing sync? i read somewhere along the way that that can be an issue.+

yes the first thing I did was ran the synclean utility that comes with pocket mac -- it is located in your Home folder/Library/Application Support/PocketMacSyncManager/Additional Tools.

Clicked both "Clean SyncServices Files" and Clean PocketMac Files. Confirm each choice.

Rebooted computer

Uninstalled pocketmac using its uninstall option (in the pocketmac application folder) When it asks if you want to also uninstall pocketmac syncmanager say yes.

Then I went into library-->application support and deleted the pocketmac folder.

Next I backed up everything I planned to sync with the blackberry -- address book, calendar, and in my case Entourage notes. just in case. A great thing to do before trying any synch software because if you end up with tons of duplicates or problems you can just revert to the saved databases.

If you don't use Entourage you don't need to do anything with it.

then in my bberry i went to setting folder, selected options-->security options-->general settings. clicked on the key to the left of the trackball and selected and pressed trackball on the "wipe handheld" option. you'll be asked to continue and type "blackberry" to completely erase all your data on the blackberry. DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING ON THERE YOU NEED TO SAVE FIRST. It will completely wipe out all your data, your settings, time zones, downloaded ringtones etc. and bring you back to the factory settings -- when it is done wiping it will even have you go through the startup wizard all over again.

If and when you have done all that then you can start fresh, either by reinstalling pocketmac (I did -- several times -- and it still didn't work and I had to wipe anew) or giving up on Pocketmac and trying something else. Missing Sync works for me.

Good luck!

-David

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Answer 4

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 9, 2007 12:51 PM in response to dmg123

i did all that you advised and still i am having problems. it is so frustrating. it definitely appears that my address book is communicating during the sync to the blackberry and visa versa, but nothing from my iCal is syncing to the blackberry even though the sync log says it was a successful sync. i wish i knew what else to try. at this point i am so frustrated because verizon made it sound like syncing this thing would be soooo easy.

i emailed a request for tech support from the Mark/Space folks who made Missing Sync to see if they can help. if you or anyone else out there has any ideas about what i can try, please let me know.

thanks again for your help!

teresa

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Answer 5

lepack

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2007 1:49 PM in response to dmg123

dmg 123

I'm able to sync using PocketMac with USB but cannot sync with bluetooth which would be ideal. Are you able to sync with bluetooth using Missing Sync?

Thanks.

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Answer 6

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 13, 2007 3:08 PM in response to lepack

no, missing sync is not able to sync via bluetooth. i think it's related to something with blackberry though, not with missing sync.

t.

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Answer 7

lepack

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2007 3:11 PM in response to MDTeresa

I just noticed that when I have my Bberry paired to my computer through bluetooth I can no longer sync through USB using PocketMac. I suggest you try deleting your computer as a paired device on your Bberry and see if this helps.

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Answer 8

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 13, 2007 3:16 PM in response to lepack

i have bluetooth disabled on both my phone and laptop. will i never find the solution to getting iCal and Address Book to sync to my blackberry pearl 8130? 😟

thank you so much for trying to help me, though!

teresa

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Answer 9

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 16, 2007 4:30 PM in response to MDTeresa

so, i FINALLY have achieved success using "missing sync" to sync my address book but am still perplexed as to why i cannot successfully sync my iCal to my blackberry pearl 8130. the guy at "missing sync" who has been helping me shared with me that i need to do something with the permissions on my blackberry device. does anyone know what he is talking about? i desperately need to sync my blackberry to iCal...it is one of the main reasons i even bought the blackberry.

thanks!

teresa

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Answer 10

Shapiro

Level 1

5 points

Nov 19, 2007 5:22 PM in response to MDTeresa

Missing Sync should sync calendar items with the 8130. I tried it myself this afternoon.

However, there are problems mounting the device on the desktop, so we currently (Nov 19, 2007) can't sync Photos, Music, or Files. I'm looking into that now.

It is possible that your Calendar data is subtly corrupt in some way. You might try the following:

In iCal, backup your database to a file and then restore it.

Select "Reset Sync History" from Missing Sync's Help menu

Set the Calendar plugin to overwrite the device's calendar with the Mac's calendar. This will erase all calendar items from the device, so be certain that's what you want to do.

If you have any calendars with very long names or with non-US characters in them, try renaming them something shorter.

Eric Shapiro
Mark/Space Engineering

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Answer 11

dmg123

Level 1

0 points

Nov 19, 2007 6:54 PM in response to Shapiro

Oh I am so glad you are working on the photo, file and music sync!

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Answer 12

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 19, 2007 7:17 PM in response to Shapiro

Thanks, Eric. I will try what you suggested though I think I have done that before when I was advised by Mark/Space tech support. I wonder if you can shed some light on something that Christopher in tech support said other clients had discovered which is after trying to sync, one's email address appears as the calendar name. So, for example, when I click on calendar in my device after a sync, all I see is my email address, let's say tstrahlman@mac.com. Chistopher said something about possibly needing to do something with calendar permissions on the 8130 and that was very confusing to me. I have no clue how to do that and Verizon is no help. I was really hoping with Missing Sync for Blackberry that it would be very simple to sync my iCal, Address book, iPhotos, and iTunes. I can live without the photos and tunes for a while, they are not as essential though they are features that I considered of value when I bought the 8130, but needing to sync iCal and Address Book are essential for me.

Thanks in advance for any additional assistance you might provide.

Teresa

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Answer 13

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 19, 2007 7:46 PM in response to MDTeresa

P.S. Eric, I followed your instructions to the letter, even changing calendars such as "doctor appointments" and "school holidays" to doctor and school respectively. I still had the same issue I referred to previously which is when I click "options" on the 8130 calendar, it has my email address where the names of my calendars should be. So frustrating...Do you have any clues as to why this is?

Thanks,

Teresa

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Answer 14

Shapiro

Level 1

5 points

Nov 20, 2007 7:09 AM in response to MDTeresa

I haven't seen the calendar renaming problem. I know that RIM added something in their most recent software to support multiple calendars on the device, but I don't know exactly what that feature is used for or how to activate it. I thought it was a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and/or Exchange feature.

Previously, BlackBerries only supported a single calendar at a time and that's what we sync to. ie, we put all of the events that are on your Mac into the main/only calendar on the device.

I am looking into this now along with the other 8130 issue.

Eric Shapiro
Mark/Space Engineering

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Answer 15

MDTeresa Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 20, 2007 7:28 PM in response to Shapiro

thanks, eric. please let me know what you find out. i tried syncing just one calendar thinking that if that worked i would just bag the color coding of events and consolidate everything into just one main calendar. but even when i just tried to sync one calendar, it did not work. i have to believe someone, somewhere can figure this issue our and find a resolution. it sounds like i am not the only one with this problem with the 8130. will you be posting back to this thread when you find a resolution?

thanks,

teresa

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