Help syncing iCal with Palm

You have effectively hosed your iSync configuration. iSync is one of many applications installed with Mac OS X, and the iSync Palm Conduit is embedded in it. You should NOT attempt to download and install any version of iSync or the iSync Palm Conduit with any release of Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5, or later.

To proceed, you should first install—and, if necessary, update—the Palm Desktop using the downloadable Palm Desktop 4.2.1 revision D installer package, available from Palm, or—if a later version shipped with your specific Palm organizer or smartphone on CD-ROM, that version.

Then, you need to reinstall iSync from your Mac OS X 10.5 Install or Upgrade DVD using Pacifist, and then update that installation with the latest Combo—not Delta—Mac OS X 10.5.2 update package.

Once you've accomplished that, you'll need to launch iSync and select the option to Enable Palm OS Syncing… which will install and configure the iSync Palm Conduit.

Hi,
What did Apple do to iCal in Leopard? They broke it somehow. I had hard drive failure in powerbook. Replaced Hard drive, did new install of Leopard. Then installed Palm desktop 4.2 (newest from site). Setup Palm Treo 650 conduit in isync. It will only sync the addresses, nothing in iCal. Either way is bad. From Treo to iCal, and iCal to Treo won't work. Everything IS setup correctly. I used to do this in Tiger with no problems. What did Apple do to Leopard? This needs to be corrected immediately! I do all my scheduling in iCal. It is useless to me if I can't sync it to the Treo to take with me.

This has been explained many times before, and is not related to the issue posted in this thread.

iSync and the iSync Palm Conduit do not work properly with Palm devices under Mac OS X 10.5 or later. You can restore synchronization in most cases by turning off Contacts when synchronizing Calendars, and turn off Calendars when synchronizing contacts, performing two events where only one was historically necessary.

Or, you can revert to Mac OS X 10.4.11, or install and use the Missing Sync for Palm OS.

Hi Michael,
That would be fine as a solution. But how do you turn off contacts when you want to sync calendars?

Michael,
I checked, and there is no option in the "Palm" folder on the mac to turn off "contacts" or Addresses? I also unchecked "contacts" on the Treo hotsync preferences, but it made no difference. When you sync them, it says it is syncing addressdb on the screen of the Treo and the mac isync screen. I checked in isync, and there is no way to disable contacts or addresses. The only place I could find to turn off addresses is in the .mac preferences. But that only turns off the address sync between the mac and .mac. If there is a way to get the iCal to sync with my Treo 650 (Palm OS 5.4) please explain it to me. Otherwise Apple ruined a great feature of isync and iCal, regardless of what you want to call it....? Please Help, I really need my calendar on my Treo to be able to sync from my iCal. Thanks-Tom

Launch iSync and press the Tungsten icon in its main window to drop down a configuration pane where you can check or uncheck either Contacts or Calendars, or both.

If you want to synchronize events and tasks between your Palm device and iCal adequately—or, possibly at all, it seems—then you are going to have to use the Missing Sync for Palm OS and its Events and Tasks conduits, rather than iSync and the iSync Palm Conduit.

I seem to have the same problem as the previous person.
I used to be able to sync with my PowerBook until I upgraded to
the 10.4 OS. Then I started having problems. The powerbook then had disk problem so I got the iMac and "migrated " info to it. I get the isync NULL message when I try to sync and 16401 error.

I now own 10.5 Leopard and need to know if I should upgrade (install) to Leopard BEFORE working out iSync issues or fix iSync first then install Leopard?

ALSO- I have no problem buying missing sync if I need to, do I need to?

MOST IMPORTANT- I can not lose any data on my Treo 650 or my iMac. My calendar has 4-5 years of info in it and my address book is indispensable.

Lastly- I use password wallet and documents to go and rely on both heavily so I don't want to have problems with either of them.

What should I do? I really need to sync ASAP.

Thanks in advance-

Your requirement to '…lose no data' is problematic, as there is no perfect 1:1 correlation of data between the Palm environment, and either the Address Book or iCal. You should therefore start by…

• backing up your events and tasks in iCal using the built-in Back up Database… option to do so
• backing up your contacts in the Address Book using the built-in Back up Address Book option
• activating the Palm Backup conduit if it is not already activated and insure that it is set to Backup

You will not be able to safely and successfully synchronize contacts, events or tasks with iSync and the iSync Palm Conduit under Mac OS X 10.5 or later. You will instead need to use the Missing Sync for Palm OS. Instructions are provided with that application to overwrite the contents of your handheld during the first synchronization - an important step to assure that you will not later have issues with data corruption. In your case, however, that's inconsistent with your requirement to preserve all existing records on your Treo, which may or may not already reside in either iCal or the Address Book.

So, your first synchronization with the Missing Sync for Palm OS should actually be configured to merge data between your device and your computer, not overwrite the information stored on your smartphone. But, assuming that procedure completes properly, you should next overwrite the contents of your Palm device contact, event and tasks application data files by performing a one-time, one-way event that others would have initially performed. The Missing Sync will subsequently automatically revert to bidirectional synchronization, and you will have effectively complied with that instruction.

Be sure that there no limitations set in your conduit settings which might adversely impact your historical data records before you perform your initial synchronization. Read the User Guide thoroughly, and you should have no issues at all.

Michael,
Thank you so much for your answer.
It is very helpful.
I will buy & install MissingSync now.
Is there any problem doing all this in 10.4.11
now, and then in a month or so, install 10.5 Leopard?
Or should I install Leopard first?
I am trying to make it easy as possible, but I am still afraid
to install Leopard until more bug fixes come out.
However, if I need to install Leopard I will do it to get my
syncing done.
Thanks Again-

You can install the Missing Sync for Palm OS now under Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later, then upgrade when you wish to Mac OS X 10.5.3 or which ever version is then current. You should have no issues with synchronization when migrating from one operating system to the other, though it would be wise to wait until outstanding iCal 3 or later issues have been resolved.

Anyone know anything about this - Palm's own forums seem moribund, and thus no response. I have searched everywhere for information on Palm Desktop 4.2.1 and recent Mac OSs and find nothing more recent there than early Tiger.

I have used the Palm Desktop as my primary diary since Sys 9 so it has many years in it. Later I got a Palm Tungsten, but in the end never Sync’d to it and used it as a GPS instead.

Now I am on Leopard and Desktop still works fine and I am loath to give it up as I prefer it to what I have seen of iCal. However iCal works with so many other bits of Leopard and apps these days that I think I'll have to switch.

The problem is that the only common format seems to be vCal and after about 1500 records Palm just quits, leaving a zero kb vCal icon. I can also export as tab/return, but iCal does not recognise the format.

This is not just a Leopard issue, I have tried it on my iBook which is still running 10.4.11 and get the same result.

Any ideas?

Cheers, Colin

OK, I finally broke down and purchased "Missing Sync," after waiting for Apple to fix this problem. I'm sorry to say that "Missing Sync" does NOT solve this issue completely. It will sync the Address book, but will NOT work with iCal.

Apparently, "Mark/Space" (the makers of "Missing Sync") are aware of the problems, have identified the problem as Apple's, and reported it to Apple. Here are some of the issues noted on the "Mark/Space" web-page...

"This article describes situations under which The Missing Sync may report errors or perfomance issues. One error message is specific to iCal (part of Apple's Mac OS X operating system) and describes errors from iCal that are affecting the ability of The Missing Sync from performing sync functions properly."

"In ertain situations, The Missing Sync reports an error message titled 'iCal Sync Errors'. This error is often caused when iCal is attempting to share data with Sync Services. Although this error has little to do with handheld devices, it affects the ability to sync data to or from those devices as Sync Services functions are compromised."

"THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN REPORTED TO APPLE, INC. BY MARK/SPACE."

"Errors that are not reported in The Missing Sync log may be found in the Console.log file."

"Here are some of the error messages you may see in the Console:

iSDSqliteRecordMapper
SQLite locking issue
iSynceConcreteSession
NSInvalidArgumentException
ICalExternalSync
ISyncInvalidRecordException

These error are generated by Sync Services and reported to The Missing Sync."

So, for those of you hoping that "Missing Sync" will solve the problems we are having with various hand-helds, and/or cell phones, it doesn't completely. I am a huge fan of Mark/Space's "The Missing Sync" and have used it many times throughout the years. It's a great piece of software that does a whole lot more than iSync ever has, but it does NOT solve all of the problems that are being reported all over this forum in regards to iSync issues and hand-helds/cell phones.

You are right: it does not solve ALL of the issues with synchronization under Mac OS X 10.5 or later, but it does solve most. Mac OS X Update 10.5.2 correct two issues, and introduced another. The issues are, in fact, reported by the synchronization framework to the Missing Sync and other registered clients, BUT they do not originate their. They originate in iCal 3, and therefore ONLY adversely impact users of Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that the synchronization component of iCal itself was rewritten from the ground up, and the iCal team obviously didn't get it quite right.

Most errors involve recurring events, though some do not. One way to avoid the issues, which pop up less often than you might be led to suspect, is to avoid using recurring events.

Developers are aware of these issues, but everyone agrees—as does Apple's Sync Services team—that this is clearly something that must be addressed in a fix (or, in a number of fixes) to iCal. And so, until it is, everyone who synchronizes potentially will be affected by the errors thrown up during an event.