iSync and Palm OS 5

Ever since I've upgraded to Tiger, I've had trouble syncing my Palm OS 5 with iCal and Address Book. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Palm a dozen times. When I try to use the iSync conduit, I get a ton of error messges and iSync disconnects from the handheld (incidentally a LifeDrive). I've tried using Missing Sync, but after the first sync that took three minutes, the second one took an hour and ten.

I've uninstalled Missing Sync, Palm Desktop and Hot Sync. Reinstalled Palm but have no luck trying to use iSync. I really want to use iCal and the Mac Address Book.

Any suggestions? All the things I've tried were recommended by Palm. I don't know how to get third party support from Apple nor if there might be something wrong with iSync.

iBook G4 and iMac Intel, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Mar 21, 2006 6:30 PM

23 replies

PalmStuff Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 25, 2006 11:04 AM in response to Michael Lafferty

It is probably my mistake, but I thought I had read somewhere that Tiger resolved the issue of syncing categories. Obviously I was wrong. I have Missing Sync but each time I try to use that I get a ton of error messages in Cal, Address and To Do. Missing Sync told me I have to turn off the automatic syncing to .Mac in preferences, however I don't subscribe to .Mac and preferences will not let me into the pull down menu.

By the way, I'd love to have just that functionality back. That is --- using Missing Sync as I had used it before installing Tiger. Maybe that's the route I should explore next, if I could get around the error messages whenever I try to sync.

Could iSync's syncservices be interferring with Missing Sync?

Anyway, it's frustrating.

Thanks

Mar 25, 2006 11:26 AM in response to PalmStuff

I think we all believed that the release of Tiger with its SyncServices engines would resolve most issues. Even I repeatedly said words to that effect—based upon pre-release information—but I was disappointed, to say the least.

I'm not sure why the support staff at Mark/Space indicated that you should turn off Automatic synchronization with .Mac, as I am a long time .Mac user, have .Mac Sync set to automatically synchronize, and have no problems whatsover. I don't understand how iSync and the SyncServices framework could be interferring in any way with the Missing Sync, as it uses the SyncServices framework itself to perform synchronization tasks. And if version 5 or later is installed, it deactivates the iSync Palm Conduit, so there is no way that the two applications would interact.

Going back to Mac OS X 10.3.9 would give you unified iSync or Missing Sync synchronization, but that seems like a huge step backward. SyncServices is clearly the way of the future in synchronization under Mac OS X. Even Microsoft has now just released a SyncServices-savvy version of Entourage.

What sort of error messages are you getting exactly? I never get any, a typical synchronization event is less than two minutes at maximum with my Treo 600 via USB, and I have long synchronized automatically with .Mac.

Did you do what they recommend and replace all of the data on your device the first time you synchronized by setting each Mark/Space conduit—Contacts, Events and Tasks—to Overwrite handheld with desktop data? If you did not do that, it is likely the root of your error conditions. It really is a critical first step.

I've been using 5.1.0 beta 18 for some time and have had no issues at all. I don't recommend that you install such beta software if the release version—currently 5.0.3—is not working properly for you, because it indicates that most such issues will also appear in the beta release, and you are not offered support with pre-release software. I had no issues under 5.0.3 either, except with regard to a couple of very minor problems resolved in the pre-release 5.1 packages. Most users would never even have encountered them.

PalmStuff Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 25, 2006 12:32 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

I tried as you advised, using Missing Sync 5.0.3. I received these error messages after attempting to sync. And I did set the appropriate conduits to Mark/Space overwrite Handheld:

Sync starting at 3/25/06 2:27 PM (14:27:28) on USB (5.0.3)
Missing Sync.prc installed
OK Install
TimeCopy: host 2006/03/25 14:27:34, palm 2006/03/25 14:27:33, diff: 1s
OK TimeCopy
NSInternalInconsistencyException Invalid parameter not satisfying: [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:path] || [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[path stringByDeletingLastPathComponent]]
SyncClient error. Mingling failed.
OK Mark/Space Contacts with 2 message(s)
NSInternalInconsistencyException Invalid parameter not satisfying: [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:path] || [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[path stringByDeletingLastPathComponent]]
SyncClient error. Mingling failed.
OK Mark/Space Events with 2 message(s)
OK Mark/Space MemoPad
NSInternalInconsistencyException Invalid parameter not satisfying: [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:path] || [[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[path stringByDeletingLastPathComponent]]
SyncClient error. Mingling failed.
OK Mark/Space Tasks with 2 message(s)
OK Note Pad
OK Media
OK Voice Memo
OK Install
Sync completed successfully at 3/25/06 2:28 PM (14:28:25)

Mar 25, 2006 1:51 PM in response to PalmStuff

Without knowing precisely what code is being executed in the Missing Sync when these errors occur, it is hard to determine what is happening. A couple of observations though:

The errors occur only with the Mark/Space Contacts, Events and Tasks conduits. This suggests that the problem is limited to Address Book and iCal information either being pushed to or pulled from the existing truth database.

Working backward, the last error condition stringByDeletingLastPathComponent defines a path error when the final component of the path and the final path separator are stripped from a path definition to shorten it. For example, if the original path is /tmp/lock/ and the code is applied, the result should be simply /tmp. The application of this code produces a pathname which results in the FileExists errors.

Have you moved the iCal and Address Book datafiles from their default locations? Have you attempted to repair disk permissions to correct these errors? Have you submitted this code snippet to Mark/Space? [Their engineers should be able to rather quickly determine why this is happening.]

One thing you can do to isolate the error is to create a new user account and attempt to synchronize iCal and Address Book files from that user account. If an event is completed without those errors, then you know that the problem is confined to your existing user account, and is not a system-wide issue.

Another thing you can do is to reset the truth database. As a user, you can do so by launching iSync and selecting the option to Reset Sync History… from the Preferences… dialog. That won't affect your iCal or Address Book data, it will simply reinitialize the truth database and force new data to be pulled from both applications to it when the next synchronization event occurs.

PalmStuff Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 26, 2006 6:55 AM in response to Michael Lafferty

Before doing anything further, I've emailed the same error messages to Mark/Space. I'll see what they have to say before taking any other action right now.

PalmStuff Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 17, 2006 6:41 PM in response to PalmStuff

Ok. I went round and round for weeks with Mark/Space. They admitted that there is an error in the software being worked on. It, Missing Sync, will not permit "alarms" set on the handheld to be synced with iCal through Missing Sync. This crashes the whole sync.

That's as far as I've gotten. I am using the regular Palm Desktop sync and that works just fine. But it does not solve my basic issue that I'd like to use iCal and Address in Mac.

I tried deleting all my date information from iCal, reset the history and tried to sync through iSync. It keeps bringing back the calendars that I've deleted and will not take what is on the handheld.

I'm unsure where to go with this any further, outside of simply using the Palm Desktop for Mac.

I'd not advise people using Palm OS 5 and Tiger to use Missing Sync.

PalmStuff Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 8, 2006 5:50 PM in response to PalmStuff

I heard once more from Missing Sync.... they indicated that an update was in the works. This was their email to me on 5/11/06. Has anyone heard anything about a Missing Sync update? They assure me this will resolve some of their more defined glitches.

ivorycj

Level 1

0 points

Jun 20, 2006 4:56 PM in response to PalmStuff

Any updates? I just bought v5.1 today, and am receiving the following error (regarding contacts syncing)

SyncClient error. Mingling failed.

Frustrating beyond belief -- this is now the 2nd time I've paid money for this program, and it still doesn't work.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

iSync and Palm OS 5