Linux Format forums

[kilikopele]

So for the most part I get along well with my Treo 650. Recently it stopped hot-syncing. I tried both my M$ machines. (Haven't gotten around to trying to sync it with *nix yet.)

I tried a hard-reset. Then I went as far as a zero-out reset. Still no progress. Tried cleaning contacts on phone, then on cable. No dice.

I saw a random post where a guy said he fixed the problem--and I'm serious here--by licking the connector, attaching immediately, and syncing the phone.

I was getting ready to send a post calling the guy an idiot until my damn phone synced! Of all the dumb things, I licked the cable and hit the sync button.

Has been syncing fine on both machines ever since! I just had to share that.

[bigjohn]

Where theres a will, theres a way.

Don't forget, that the sync connector is those tiny sprung gold plated connectors. The licking probably produced enough moisture to pierce the film of scuzz that coats the small flat connectors on the device.

You'd probably have achieved the same if you'd sprayed it with switch cleaner and compressed air.

Ha! as you say, it does seem laughable that such a trick should work.

Oh and as for syncing it with a linux distro, I use kde/kontact - some distros I've tried have worked out of the box, others have needed a bit of meddling - but it seems to work well.

The only thing I haven't managed to do under linux is flash the firware - I had to connect to my partner Clares' laptop (W98SE) to do that.

regards

John
_________________
"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away". Tom Waits

[kilikopele]

Yeah, the odd thing is that I had tried the old eraser and alcohol, but the Treo contacts are set deeper than their plastic surrounds. I have a feeling the plastic was preventing the eraser and swap from actually making contact in there. Then, like you said, the spit on the springy contacts broke through whatever film had accumulated.

Still a pretty funny series of events in retrospect.

In terms of sync, my work is an M$-exclusive shop (much to my dismay) and the other machine I sync with is my wife's which is also Windows due to proprietary software needs. It's my laptop and my son's machines that are Linux. I've never felt the need to sync on those.

Cheers!