Lost installation CD/software

[bfreeves21]

I was given a Palm IIIxe as a gift from my father, who has upgraded.

He lost the CD that is needed to sync the handheld with my desktop. I have the cradle and have hooked it up to my serial port. I have also downloaded the latest version of Palm Desktop to my computer.

I am getting no response from the computer when I attempt to do a hot sync. If I work from the HotSync manager, I am told that COM1 is not available...

I have tried everything, someone please help!

BFR

[Dick Tracy]

Welcome to Brighthand bfreeves21.

Try Palm One Knowledge Base Solution 3257. Let us know how you progress.

[bfreeves21]

I have tried all of the troubleshooting tips posted on the Palm website...

I'm not the most computer literate person and I'm not sure how to work with COM ports, etc.

I've gone through all of the steps that are suggested, but I get no response from the computer (except for an occasional "the requested port is not available") and the handheld continually tells me that it is unable to connect.

How do I "turn on" my COM 1 port? Is not having the original software going to cause a problem for me?

I'm completely lost, please help!

[CLdad]

I had a similar problem and got it solved with help from BAB2000 here. You might be able to find the thread if you go back to the end of Dec/begining of Jan. Your com port might not be turned on. To check and fix it, you need to go into BIOS. To do this, do a reboot and when the screen tells you to press F2 for setup (or similar message), do that and it should take you to a DOS-type menu where you can find the Serial port listed, with Yes or No next to it. If it's NO, change it to Yes, follow instructions, and you should be good to go. Make sure you change the port name in Hotsync Manager to the one you turned on. You may have to turn off Hotsync Man. and turn it on again after that. Hope that helps. If not, there are more complex reasons why your port may be unavailable. I believe that one of the articles on the Palm site addresses those. Steve

[BAB2000]

This is the thread CLdad is referring.

Also, confirm on the handheld that below the Hotsync icon (witht HS app selected), the connection is "Direct Serial".

On the desktop, select teh HS icon from the system tray, and confirm the Local Serial is also selected. Your option to change Comm settings and ports within HS manager is via the Setup option. Any changes made should required the HS app to be closed then reopenned for the setting changes to take effect.

I hope of some assistance.

[bfreeves21]

Thanks for the help so far, but I'm helpless on my own...

When I reboot my Compaq machine running XP, I never get the startup screen you're talking about...The Compaq logo appears, then the screen is black, but no text appears.

I remember from using other machines that a sequence of commands pop up on the screen during reboot, and I had neer noticed before that my machine didn't display the same commands.

Is there any way I can check the port without having those boot up commands? I'm starting to get stressed out with this!

I have checked numerous times to make sure that the HS manager and my handheld are both set to local serial and that COM1 is the desired port.

Thanks again for everyone's help!

[CLdad]

I'm sorry but I don't know what to tell you in this situation. Maybe someone else here does. However, since this is more of a general computer question, (how to access the BIOS), you should be able to get help from other sources, like Compaq, or a friend/coworker, or another internet forum. Steve