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Level 2

170 points

iCal - inconsistent data - cured it!

Recently I migrated two users to new systems as follows

User1 = iMac G4 OS 10.4.11 --------> Mac Pro (early 2008) OS 10.5.1

User2 = PowerBook G4 OS 10.4.11 ---> MacBook OS 10.5.1

Everything worked correctly except User2 could not synchronize iCal with User1 via .Mac. The persistent error message at the end of each sync attempt was

*Calendars could not be synced due to inconsistent data.*
*Confirm that your computer's data is valid, then reset Calendars on .Mac in System Preferences.*

I followed the steps in

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307052

but no joy. Note that neither user's calendar contains groups.

Here are the steps that worked. This may be overkill, but at least now I have all 16 calendars in iCal synching in both directions again.

I considered User1 to have the "gold" version of iCal data. But even though User1 could sync with .Mac there must have been something corrupt on the User1 side (I went through a lot of debug steps on the User2 side to reach this conclusion...)

So the goal was to reconstruct a clean version of iCal data on User1 and push it through .Mac to User2.

As always, make sure you have a reliable backup before poking around deleting files and folders!

1. User1

Open iCal
In the menu bar choose File -> Backup iCal...
You will want this for File -> Restore iCal... if all else fails

In iCal, in the section named Calendars, select a calendar
In the menu bar choose File -> Export...
Save the file in a convenient folder
Repeat for each calendar in your list
Quit iCal

2. User1

Open iSync
In the menu bar choose iSync -> Preferences...
At the bottom, under Advanced, click the Reset Sync History... button
Confirm you want to do this
Quit iSync

Quit all applications
Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Deselect every item
Deselect "Synchronize with .Mac"
Click the Advanced... button
Select User1 in the list
Click the Unregister button
Click the Done button

Navigate to the folder ~User2/Library/Calendars
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/iCal
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/iSync
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/iCal
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/SyncService
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/SyncServices
Delete the contents

3. User2

Repeat each of the steps in the previous section '2'

At this point you now have default data in iCal on User1 and User2. You can see this by opening iCal on either machine. There will be two empty calendars named Home and Work. Quit iCal again before proceeding.

4. User1

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Select "Synchronize with .Mac"
Set the drop-down menu to "Manually"
Select "Calendars"
Select "Show status in menu bar"
Click the Advanced... button
Click the Reset Sync Data... button
In the drop-down menu select "Calendars"
Click on the arrow pointing to the right so that the sentence reads "On .Mac sync info from this computer."
Click the Replace button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating, especially up in the main menu bar

5. User2

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Select "Synchronize with .Mac"
Set the drop-down menu to "Manually"
Select "Calendars"
Select "Show status in menu bar"
Click the Sync Now button
Respond to the dialogue by clicking the More Options button
In the drop-down select "Calendar - Replace data on computer"
Click the Sync button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating, especially up in the main menu bar

At this point, if you still have the "inconsistent data" problem you will get that error message. Swear or whatever helps, restore your calendar as in section '1', and wait for progress from Apple...

But if the sync succeeds then you are half way through the tunnel!

6. User1

Open iCal

In the menu bar choose File -> Export...
Select "Import an iCal file"
Click the Import button
Select one of the .ics files you previously exported
Click the Import button
In the drop-down menu select "New Calendar" (if your calendar is named Home or Work just select the appropriate default)
Click the OK button
Repeat for each calendar you exported

(If you are not using the default Home and Work calendars, select each and use Edit -> Delete to remove them)

Rearrange the order of calendars to suit your tastes
Quit iCal

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Click the Sync Now button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating

7. User2

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Click the Sync Now button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating

Depending on how your preferences are set in iSync, you may get a dialogue box warning you that more than 5% (or 10%, or...) of your data on this computer is about to be changed. Allow this to happen and proceed.

Open iCal

If all has gone well you should now see everything identical with User1. Do the happy dance or whatever feels good, then get ready to reinstate the other sync selections.

Quit iCal

8. User1

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Select Bookmarks or Contacts or ...

I selected only one at a time in order to keep maximum control while debugging, but you can probably reselect all of your previous categories at once to avoid time spent iterating.

Click the Sync Now button
Respond to any dialogues by indicating you want to use data from this computer
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating -- could take awhile depending on your selections and internet connection

9. User2

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Click the Sync Now button
Respond to any dialogues by indicating you want to use data from .Mac
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating

Depending on how your preferences are set in iSync, you may get a dialogue box warning you that more than 5% (or 10%, or...) of your data on this computer is about to be changed. Allow this to happen and proceed.

Open appropriate applications to confirm that data has synced as expected.

10. User1

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Adjust the drop down from Manually to whatever frequency you desire

11. User2

Ditto

That's it. For experienced users that was way too much detail, but I know others like "the recipe".

Cheers -sailhome

Mac Pro (early 2008), MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Feb 3, 2008 6:19 PM

55 replies

Shalta

Level 1

75 points

Dec 7, 2008 4:13 PM in response to Sailhome

I have this problem, except the accurate data is on MobileMe and iCal is incomplete. I have tried o overwrite in the prefs from MM over local data, tried deleting all unused calendars or subscriptions ... nothing helps.

GRR ... I HATE iCal!

Dec 16, 2008 4:00 AM in response to Sailhome

I've had this problem for ages. Thing is, I am not willing to replace my calendar on mobile me as that is actually my most up to date and 'leading' calendar.

All fixes I found so far always want me to replce the ME calendar...

Is this really the only fix there is to this problem?

Does anybody know if Apple is actually working on this problem as it is clearly something they should fix.....

looking forward to your replies

Matt

stoof1

Level 1

4 points

Dec 29, 2008 1:21 PM in response to Sailhome

i had this problem and did a Live Chat with Mobile Me support.. they fixed my problem within 1 week

Jan 13, 2009 9:46 PM in response to stoof1

Apple support solved it for me too. I went to chat with a support agent. He quickly realized it needed to be escalated. (The chat tech had me create a new user account on the Mac and try to overwrite the iCal data with the data on MobileMe.)

Got an email the next day from a tech. That was Monday. Tuesday night they had it fixed. They fixed something with my calendar data on MobileMe.

Mac218

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2009 7:35 PM in response to Sailhome

Unfortunately, not cured, not fixed.

I spent a couple of hours a couple weeks ago now "stumping" the local Genius Bar Tech. Ironically, he informed me he had the same issue when he updated from a MacBook to a MacBook Pro.

So, the issue occurs regardless of laptop (both MacBooks and MacBook Pros experience it, both NEW and OLD), iMacs, and Mac Pros ALL have experienced the issue.

My specific issue was that my MacBook's HD died (under warranty), unmountable, too. At present, the MacBook is incapable of syncing anything with Mobile Me, period. The final suggestion the Genius Bar Tech gave me was (although the Tech did "send it up, should get an email... eventually") to completely Zero out my Mobile Me, and start from scratch. Really? Silly, huh?

What's the point of having Mobile Me if you can't sync the info to your computer? What's the point of backing up if that "back up" is inaccessible?

As rampant as this issue apparently is, you'd think the Genius Bar Techs in-store would have access to and training for the solutions.

Serious quality control issue, Apple.

OrlickG

Level 1

4 points

Jan 26, 2009 11:22 AM in response to Mac218

Well after months of dealing with this I finally fixed it on my MacBook. I had tried resetting the data on all my macs with no luck. Today I deleted all of my subscription calendars, including Birthdays, then I did a reset and IT WORKED. Now all of my calendars are in sync. It seemed the hang up was in my Birthday Calendar.

Mac218

Level 1

8 points

Feb 2, 2009 2:28 PM in response to Sailhome

So... the only "fix" is to zero out the calendars on Mobile Me? How's that a "fix"? Deleting data is not a fix.

Any way to backup Mobile Me? That's the data I need to be on my laptop... not empty data.

GIPayne

Level 1

9 points

Mar 25, 2009 9:15 PM in response to Sailhome

I too had the 'inconsistent data error' and spent some time in trial and error attempts to fix the syncing process. I appreciate the suggestion offered by Sailhome and had printed it off and would have tried that next. On a whim however, I decided to try repairing the permissions on my hard drive using the disk utility in the Utility Folder. That fixed my problem and allowed me to sync my calendar files again.

May 4, 2009 11:55 AM in response to Sailhome

I AM THE MASTER OF MY OWN COMPUTER!!! Oh my goodness you've helped me fix this horrible nagging problem!!! Thank you so much for this information!! I was very nervous to go fooling around with deleting files and information but I kept on going and it worked!!! So very much appreciated!!

Now I will hunt around on here to find out why my iChat is not working when I try and reach my parents yet my brother has no problems from his. Grr!

Jul 11, 2009 5:35 PM in response to Sailhome

Thankyou thankyou Sailhome.

After around 18 months of trying to get mobileme to work, and running through loads of steps with mobileme support I'd given up on it. I thought I'd give it one last try due to talk of Apple improving reliability. Same old problems though, and mobileme support were out of ideas.

Was about to give up when I read your instructions. I first went through my iCal and deleted all duplicates (found a very handy little app to help - http://www.nhoj.co.uk/icaldupedeleter/). Then deleted all duplicated in address book using its built in function, as well as deleting all groups and any entries starting with weird letters.

Ran through your very thorough instructions and... it worked!

Syncing (touch wood) between 3 macs and an iphone now working seamlessly for 3 weeks - even dared turned push on, that's working perfectly too - thank you so much. Apple should employ you - you single handedly repaired what their whole department couldn't, and I don't have to forever sit out of nice easy mac-based sync..

Jon

Message was edited by: Jon Cotton1

iCal - inconsistent data - cured it!