Palm nightmares

Life Technology
#1

Can anyone help with this?

I upgraded from a Tungsten T to a Palm TX.

I am trying to import my old address book from the Tungsten T into the Palm TX. For some reason it isn’t working.

I’m a bit confused myself as to what has happened here. I hot-synced my old palm with the new computer to get all the data in there. For some reason certain data just didn’t sync (i.e. ‘to do list’, and ‘address book’). Well the data was all still there on my old laptop so I’ve been trying to import it to the new one.

I exported the address book data as an ‘.aba’ file. Put it on a flash disk then imported from the flash disk into the new version of palm desktop on the new computer (I’m running the one they recommend as compatible with Vista on the new computer). It imports to palm desktop fine. I can read all the entries. Then when I go to hot-sync it all vanishes!

What is going on here? I’ve checked the application settings within the hot sync manager. It is set to ‘synchronize files’ (not ‘palm overwrite desktop’ or something). Exporting as a vCard also doesn’t help matters.

I only have about 100 contacts in there so I could conceivably just type them all out - in fact if I’d cone that route I’d probably be finished by now (spent nearly two hours searching around online to fixes and not finding much). . . but damn. . . why won’t the technology just do what it’s supposed to do?

  • I also had data just vanish recently during a hot synch. . . Not idea where it went to. A couple of memo that I fairly regularly update just vanished at some point (possibly before I even updated to the new palm).

** I’m also getting an error in the hot-sync log each time I sync (this is since I put a Chinese dictionary in I think). Reads “Possible database overwrite problem”, then gives details related to ‘MFpanlsdalChineseGB’. Then says it failed to backup one file and "protocol error, handheld file could not be opened’. This seems unrelated to the addressbook problem, though also no idea how to fix it.

Any suggestions appreciated.

#2

Can you export your contacts in a electronic card format (.vcf) directly from device to device, device to computer via bluetooth, or maybe just save them on your SD card? Then I think you can open the .vcf files with palm desktop, hotsync, and maybe there you have it. Just a thought. I have not heard of a .aba file. G’luck.

#3

[quote=“Kiwi”]Can anyone help with this?

I upgraded from a Tungsten T to a Palm TX.

I am trying to import my old address book from the Tungsten T into the Palm TX. For some reason it isn’t working.

I’m a bit confused myself as to what has happened here. I hot-synced my old palm with the new computer to get all the data in there. For some reason certain data just didn’t sync (i.e. ‘to do list’, and ‘address book’). Well the data was all still there on my old laptop so I’ve been trying to import it to the new one.

I exported the address book data as an ‘.aba’ file. Put it on a flash disk then imported from the flash disk into the new version of palm desktop on the new computer (I’m running the one they recommend as compatible with Vista on the new computer). It imports to palm desktop fine. I can read all the entries. Then when I go to hot-sync it all vanishes!

What is going on here? I’ve checked the application settings within the hot sync manager. It is set to ‘synchronize files’ (not ‘palm overwrite desktop’ or something). Exporting as a vCard also doesn’t help matters.

I only have about 100 contacts in there so I could conceivably just type them all out - in fact if I’d cone that route I’d probably be finished by now (spent nearly two hours searching around online to fixes and not finding much). . . but damn. . . why won’t the technology just do what it’s supposed to do?

  • I also had data just vanish recently during a hot synch. . . Not idea where it went to. A couple of memo that I fairly regularly update just vanished at some point (possibly before I even updated to the new palm).

** I’m also getting an error in the hot-sync log each time I sync (this is since I put a Chinese dictionary in I think). Reads “Possible database overwrite problem”, then gives details related to ‘MFpanlsdalChineseGB’. Then says it failed to backup one file and "protocol error, handheld file could not be opened’. This seems unrelated to the addressbook problem, though also no idea how to fix it.

Any suggestions appreciated.[/quote]Hi Kiwi,

Firstly, Forumosa’s probably not the best place to ask about this. I think I’m the only regularly-posting Palm user here, and though I’ve been using Palm OS PDAs/smartphones for four years, I haven’t used the T/TX. I think you’d get better answers by asking Palm Support. I’ve found the support from Palm US and Palm Asia to be quite useful and clear. Also, you could try asking on the Palm user forums.

Still, I can give you a few general tips. You’re clear on the normal procedure for upgrading, right? In case not, it’s something like this:
1 Backup your Palm user data folder. You can usually find that at C > Program Files > Palm. The user data folder is named according to your username, though usually in SurnameInitial format.
2 Install the NEW Palm desktop software on top of the old installation.
3 Hookup the device, and Hotsync.

Did you make a backup of your user data folder? Even if not, it’s probably still worth making a backup now, as it seems some or all of the data is still on the desktop.

Did you install the new desktop software correctly?

Anyway, I recommend you contact Palm support first, before trying anything else. Otherwise you could lose the data altogether. As a last resort, you could try something along the lines of what circleback suggested – exporting vCards or a .csv file. In fact, do that now anyway, but don’t do anything with the exported files for a while until you’ve found out whether there’s a better solution.

By the way, did you see my further reply to your post about Chinese characters in pdfs? As I said, I think it should be no problem if you install the latest version of CJKOS.

#4

Unfortunately, I used to love Palms, but somewhere along they really screwed up…

No longer a fan of Palm… Now Asus Eee… That’s gotta be worth something!