Broken contacts database? Strange stuff on Cingular 8125 - 8125, K-JAM, P4300, MDA Vario General

Hi all,
I have tried several add-ons to improve my Cingular 8125's contact management capabilities. Here are a few:
- mNotes to sync with Lotus Notes (didn't work, removed it)
- Inesoft Addressbook (wanted bigger contact pics)
- PhotoContacts (wanted bigger contact pics)
- finchSynch (for Thunderbird integration)
- couple other things, forgot...
I'm still not entirely satisfied, but it's better than before. THe one thing that is really messing me up right now is that I think I have a problem with my contacts database. When the PDA soft boots up, it gives me this error "Error: open database failed - contacts database". I click ok and go on. I'm still able to browse my contact list and contact people on it. But when I edit a contact and press ok, the phone locks up. It ends up automatically soft booting. This has happened with Inesoft as well as PhotoContacts.
So I'm wondering:
1) What is the underlying problem? My best guess is somehow a messed up contacts db
2) What can I do to fix it? Assuming it's a db problem, any way to rebuild?
3) Has anyone seen a problem like this?
Thanks!

Sorry to hear of your problem. Is you phone synced with outlook on your pc? - if so you should be able to restore from there. Your contacts\appts are kept in a file on the root directory of your device called pim.vol. Copy that to your storage card or desktop then rename the original - say to pim.vo and then try to restore from outlook.
Have fun

Related

Activesync error

Finally I have a proper error with Active sync, and it's been going on for a couple of days now. No matter what I do it's screwed!
Problem is that when trying to sync with my home or work PC's, my JasJar freezes once the contacts have gone across - only a soft reset does anything, so obviously the rest of my syncing can't be done...
If I untick "Contacts" then the other information - Calendar, Files, Tasks, Notes, Favourites - sync perfectly.
Ok, I've tried all of the following to fix this:
a) Soft Resets
b) Removing all Partnerships from both PC's and JasJar
c) Hard Resets
d) Re-flashing the ROM
e) Completely uninstalling Activesync and reinstalling 4.1 on both PC's (including removing all registry settings, profiles, rapi.dll, etc)
f) Removing pim.vol to force a new one to be created
g) Rebuilding my Outlook .pst and mapi.dll files, and importing my contacts from a .csv file to ensure there's no rubbish in there.
Having done all that I have now moved all of my Outlook "Contacts" into another Outlook folder (called - rather unimaginatively - "Contacts 2"). I have connected via a clean Activesync install which has successfully synced all Outlook information (including my empty contacts folder).
I have then started copying each contact back into my original "Contacts" folder one by one...After copying a single contact, Activesync kicks in and synchronises with my JasJar. All good so far, second contact syncs correctly, third, fourth, etc. Then after copying in the 24th contact I get the following error message:
"Synchronisation could not be completed. Try again later.
Support code:80070008"
My question is...What the hell does that mean!? Neither Google, nor microsoft.com have come up with anything helpful on this subject, so does anyone here have any bright ideas, or maybe suggestions on a different approach I could take to sort this problem out, short of formatting my hard drives!?!
get the latest activesync 4.1 maybe??
sorry didn,t read the post good 8)
Hey Sub69,
This is definately a funny error and one which I think might only be solved with a ROM update, not the same ROM you have but a new one of a different version.
It appears you are the only one with such a problem as there are no others mentioning anything so strange. The fact you can sync some items shows it's not a connection issue. But to be sure check that you have followed this http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/help/activesync/default.mspx and have all PORTS open?
Also you hint at 'e' that you have 2 PC's? Is this corrent and if so what are the OS's on them? And when you get to the 24th contact does it fail no matter who the 24th contact is?
Gavin.
sub69 said:
g) Rebuilding my Outlook .pst and mapi.dll files, and importing my contacts from a .csv file to ensure there's no rubbish in there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From your description, it sounds like corruption in the contacts records.
1) By "rebuilding", are you saying that you created a totally new .PST file, before importing data from the .csv file?
2) Did you also check (and repair) the .PST with ScanPST.exe. Typically you'll find it in the path:
"C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033\"
last part will change depending upon the language.
3) As GavinN said, would be interested in knowing if your 24th contact is always the same one, and what happens if you manually create the 24th contact rather than copying it.
4) what happens if you export just the contacts and then import those into a new profile (new .PST file). Can somebody else correctly import and sync with those contacts?
Well, I tried the whole process again, and it allowed me to gt past the 24th contact, so it's not specifically a problem with that contact. In fact, if I reset my device, delete all partnerships, and connect again, it will sync those contacts straight away with no problems. I can then start copying the next lot, one by one, from "Contacts 2" to Contacts, and it'll sync them to my Jasjar, before giving the same error down near the 50th contact. I can then do the same thing again, etc, etc. So I now actually have all of my contacts on my phone. Not the most elegant of solutions, and there's clearly something quite wrong, but it'll do for the weekend, until I can be bothered to figure out something more permanent.
I have a second problem now, in that my Calendar items keep disappearing from my JasJar for no apparent reason. They sync fine, as I mentioned earlier, but if I leave Activesync connected, it kicks in about five minutes after the initial sync, and removes all calendar items, whether they have been entered on the PC or the device. This is clearly getting ridiculous! I'm going to have to put a bit of time and thought into this, but it'll probably have to wait until Monday, otherwise I'll be in trouble with the wife for wasting a weekend!
BTW, I did scan the .pst, when that didn't work I created a new one. Extracting the contacts to .csv and importing them alone into a new .pst before syncing gives the same error. I am now using the latest version of ActiveSync 4.1, although I was previously using AS 4.0 when this problem started. And I'm 99.9% certain that I completely removed absolutely everything AS related in between the two versions.
I think my next plan is going to have to be to completely erase all data, and input it all manually into a fresh .pst. Can't see why this would be any different from importing it from a .csv, but I'm rapidly running out of ideas. The most annoying thing is that this randomly happened in the only week since owning my JasJar where I haven't installed or uninstalled ANY software, changed a setting, or anything! Just as it was all pretty much perfect, look what goes and happens!
Ok, I now feel like a complete idiot, but at least I know what the problem was.
Smartfilter 1.3 is a fantastic piece of software, but it appears that if you keep it running in the background while trying to sync, then your sync won't work (obviously something to do with the way that it loads the contacts)
I could have sworn this was one of the first things I'd tried when I started having this problem, but obviously not...
In case anyone else comes across this problem, here's your answer...At least now you won't have to reset and reflash your device a hundred million times, and destroy / rebuild Outlook and ActiveSync like I did
I'm using smartfilter 1.3 & didn't face that problem while syncing, but mine is Dopod 900. Maybe because of different ROM... just guessing...
I take it back.....I spoke too soon. It synced once, now it's doing the same thing again. :evil:
Aaaaaaaaaaargh! I've even flashed the latest O2 ROM to my JasJar out of desperation, and it's still doing the same thing! This would be funny if it wasn't so frustrating. It was all working perfectly until last week...Why me!?
I've had the same problem once i think. I dont remember what I did that time to get the same error code you posted though. But I restarted my pc and I was able to sync again. I hope i wont face that same problem again... Goodluck...hope you can sync soon...
Well, I can now sync...I'm still having the same problem when there are a few changes (~25+) to sync accross in one go, but if I kill all running processes with "pocket task manager" and remove all plugins from my today screen, it works flawlessly.
So, it's still not back to normal, but it'll do for now...
Just to wrap this up:
I exported my e-mail to a new pst file, and everything else to .csv,
Opened the csv's in Excel to get rid of any extraneous data,
Started again with a blank pst file on my Win2K machine and imported everything to it,
Synced everything to my JasJar,
Started again with a blank pst file on my WinXP machine,
Synced everything from my JasJar to my XP machine,
All ok now.
Edit: Wow, this is an old post! People are still having very similar problems in the Kaiser forum though, and the solution is still the same. So just wanted to say, if you searched and found this as an answer, don't discount it just because of the age!
i know this is old but i had the same problem, i fixed the problem by doing the following steps
START -> SETTINGS -> SYSTEM -> MEMORY -> RUNNING PROGRAMS -> STOP ALL
did active sync again and it worked fine.
my device is an IMATE Kjam, running the MR CLEAN ROM, 2.3 i think,
hope this helps someone.
Cheers
Connecting to Activesync but not able to Sync
Hi,
I am having a strange problem with Active Sync.
When I plug in my mobile with USB and use active sync. it does not synchornise.
I have tried all the options liek chaning schedule, changing the settings and diabling advanced network functionality still I am not able to make the diamond synchronise.
Finally, I download the active sync. 4.5 even then my problem remains the same.
It always shows the message "connected" and fails to synchronise.
Second, i tried copying music files to my diamond and it did not ask for any conversion to mobile format which was not the case before
thanks for any help..
Edit/Delete Message
Hello,
I'm having a problem syncing my contacts and such. I get an error message stating that I have to install Outlook and retry. I have searched both pcs and they both have outlook on them. Any I deas? I'm using Tomal 8.2 ROM and a work box with XP PRO.
Thanks in Advance.
I appreciate the replies and I will try them out when I get back to shore and will report them here.

alternative way to backup contacts?

Hi
Just got this thing the other day (O2 XDA Mini S) and am pulling my hair out with ActiveSync. A google and a look round these forums convinces me I'm not alone.
I'm now at the point where notes will sync, but Contacts and Calendar will not. This appears to be most likely because I'm not using an Exchange Server.
I give in. Can anyone advise whether this some alternative to ActiveSync that I can use to back up my contacts list? I'd hate to have to do it all over again.
I have a memory card, so adding software from that is no problem if necessary.
Thanks
You can try the backup tool Sunnysoft
in advanced mode is an option Backup PIM databases
lansalot said:
I'm now at the point where notes will sync, but Contacts and Calendar will not. This appears to be most likely because I'm not using an Exchange Server.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you just trying to sync with your pc over the usb link? You don't need Exchange Server for that - it sync's with Outlook directly. Have you set up what information you want to sync in ActiveSync's Tools->options?
Another possibility for not syncing is any firewall you are running - although, if it was that, you wouldn't even get Notes to sync.
John
yup
Thanks for that John, yep I've done all I can see that I need to do. Missing Exchange was about the only thing left I could think of. I think I might uninstall Outlook and reinstall it to see if that helps. Though I *hate* having to install that POS just so I can backup some settings !
Perhaps there's somewhere within the phone that will export the various settings somewhere. Or perhaps I should dig out VS2005 and attempt to write one myself. Backing up to storage card would be the best option I think, and from a look around the .net mobile CF, it would appear to be pretty well supported.
And I had to disable Zonealarm despite having all the appropriate configurations set up to allow it. I even put 169.254.x.x in the trusted zone, to no avail.
ActiveSync is a shocking piece of software - and I know from owning other phones that there's things like MobiExplorer and MobiManager that tends to work much better than the usual manufacturer-supplied stuff.
Chak, thanks for the lead with SunnySoft.
Copy the pim.vol file from the root directory of the device. This contains all your pim info (contacts, call history, tasks, calendar). You can't really make anything out of it if you try to view it, but when you hard reset, you can just overwrite the new one and soft reset to restore everything. I copy mine to my storage card every time i add something new that has to do with pim stuff.
guttrhead said:
Copy the pim.vol file from the root directory of the device. This contains all your pim info (contacts, call history, tasks, calendar). You can't really make anything out of it if you try to view it, but when you hard reset, you can just overwrite the new one and soft reset to restore everything. I copy mine to my storage card every time i add something new that has to do with pim stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in my case, pim.vol file is protected, so copying & replacing it after hard reset does not work. i have other workaround for backuping contacts (as my activesync with outlook simply does not work) - each contact via irda to computer. it saves contact as .vcf file that you can send to wizard back again after hard reset.
Try using total commander to get to the file.
I yust transfered the file via email inside my home WLan to the PC.....
Hey, is this a common problem for HTC devices or Windows mobile in general?
I just started searching because my calendar won't sync. (3 palm devices and 3 pda's later, I have 1,400+ contacts.)
Are there any workarounds that anyone knows?
I tried setting up the sync settings whilst the device was disconnected, but the calendar entry just disappears when I re-connect.
-Worried of Sheffield.
thanks
Thanks eva_d, I had already hit on the idea of bluetoothing all my contacts over (thankfully, there's not that many) from my nokia 6600. Luckily, the XDA didn't require my SIM to be in it during the transfer. It even took over the mini pictures I had for some of the contacts, quite smart.
But it would be some chore with more than the couple dozen I had.
I'm reading up on the windowsmobile classes in dotnet, I reckon the answer would lie in there somewhere. Writing an app in VS to back things up to some funky open format would be the ideal, even if it does just drop a directory full of VCF files for example.
Once I'm sure VS2005 is installed and working correctly (http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=41155), I'll throw some serious effort at it.
Re: thanks
lansalot said:
Thanks eva_d, I had already hit on the idea of bluetoothing all my contacts over (thankfully, there's not that many) from my nokia 6600. Luckily, the XDA didn't require my SIM to be in it during the transfer. It even took over the mini pictures I had for some of the contacts, quite smart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
copying contacts to other handset is bit risky, because various producers are using various interpretation of .vcf file format. for instance, when i copy contact from siemens s65 to wizard, email field is always ripped off the contact and polish national characters are also absent. copying contacts to computer via irda is quite safe, however personal ringtones assigned to contact and voice dials are sacrified. all other data within a contact are still present, including contact picture.
A bit more info on the missing calendar link:-
I have one laptop using activesync V.4.1 this was where i first discovered the problem.
Just tried laptop #2 running a/sync v.3.7.1 which has an older copy of my appointments in outlook. Calendar doesn't sync to this either, so it must be something inside the MDA.
Tried to search microsoft support to find a solution, but no entries found. This seems to indicate that it is a HTC issue. I had a MDA Pro briefly sync-ed up which worked Ok. The problems are with my MDA compact running WM2003.
pim.vol not only saves the contact but also the assigned ringtone and pic. only way to do it is copy to storage card.
then after hard reset it won't let you overwrite the new one but if you rename it to pim.vol.old it lets you do that. then you can overwrite it.
laich71 said:
pim.vol not only saves the contact but also the assigned ringtone and pic. only way to do it is copy to storage card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
contact pictures are NOT saved in pim.vol. when i restore contacts via irda from .vcf files on my laptop, pictures are already there.
I know this thread has moved on a bit, but I've just got my calendar to sync. again and I'm soooo relieved!
Take a look at this forum to find out how:-
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync
Look at 'Cannot get calendar to sycnhronise' and the second reply.
Backing up the Contacts with Mail2Web Live Mail Service
I basically use the mail2web live mail service, and use its exchange server as the server source in Activesync. I only choose synching Contacts with this server (but you can choose others).
This way, all my contacts are always up to date in mail2web servers, and even if I need to hard reset, I can reget all of my contacts back very quickly.
Highly recommended...
Fast
please use the search PLEASE! ....search for PPCBckpContacts.exe
damn it!

Maximum qty of contacts....

Hi all..
Try to sync over 1000 contacts to my KJam...
but its take hours, and does not work...
I checked it with the JasJar too, and seems this is the same problem.
First, Do you familiar with such a problem?
Is there any solution for it?
Tomer Eisner
teisner said:
Hi all..
Try to sync over 1000 contacts to my KJam...
but its take hours, and does not work...
I checked it with the JasJar too, and seems this is the same problem.
First, Do you familiar with such a problem?
Is there any solution for it?
Tomer Eisner
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using the USB cable to do the sync as i think this would be the fastest method, you could try making a copy of your contacts folder in Outlook and then delete everything from the main contacts folder. Then copy the contacts from the copy you made earlier in small batches (25, 50 or 100 whatever seems to work best) and do a sync after copying each batch in.
NOTE: you will need to make sure your ActiveSync is set to replace items on the device so that with each sync it updates with only what has just been copied to the contacts folder.
I havent tried this, but in theory it should work.
Cheers
Thanks,
but my main question is it possible to sync over 1000 records?
I have a customer who has about 5000 customer...
Is there any software which can hold it out of the standard contact program, but also, can be connected to the phone?
Is there an option to keep all the contact on the SD card?
Tomer
teisner said:
Thanks,
but my main question is it possible to sync over 1000 records?
Tomer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
I have a way over 1.700 contacts, no problem with sync (besides it is slow for the 1st time)
you can cut off the connection anytime & continue later- sometimes it even helps...
the ony problem I had with so many contacts on my xdaII, that caller ID was slow - you got the number, but not the name
but with my wizard, it is gone: caller ID works like charm
regards,
ym
Hi,
I would like to know if having over 1000 contacts slow you device as well, or just the Caller ID?
How long time it's take you to sync each time ? Short process or long one?
Tomer
Loads of contacts across different outlook folders.
I am looking to sync about 1000 contacts spread across several contacts folder (minimum 2 folders). I realise i can copy them across to my wizard device by syncing with each folder one at a time, ( it doesnt matter if they are stored in the same location on my phone as i can filter by categories) however, is there are a way for me to actually keep my device in sync with multiple contacts folders on our PC/network as business contacts are shared out and seperate from my personal ones.
I have been searching the forums with no luck so far for a solution on this.
I have seen the GAL solution from microsoft but this only works for internal contacts and is not really a solution for us.
Jass
Just a tip - when your device is sync'd with your pc make a copy of pim.vol in the root directory of your device to pc or storage card\backup. pim.vol has all the contact and appt info in it so will be much easier for you when you next have to reset your device.
hope this helps!
I have 9 folders and 6200 contacts, its almost liek a phone book. The first time it took forever, but now its quick.
What S/W do you use to sync that many folders?
I have one HTC TYTN and active sync 4.5 beta, I have 7 different folders in my outlook program, but I can only sync with the default folders contacts to my ppc is there a way I could sync all 7 folders in one shot ? I know about Pocketmirror but 50$ US is too pricey for me, I would have paid half of the price for this app.
Do I have some other possibilities ?

Recovering numbers

Hey everyone,
I usually hate posting (as most things I need is found through searching).
but here goes my little story.
I have my 8125 (wizard), I plugged it into my laptop (not my usual one), and activesync started working or something, then I notice it saying something about deleting previous information, so immediatly , I look at my phonebook while it's doing that, it's empty! So I disconnect the USB connection before anymore could be done.
I was wondering if it were possible to get back my contact info?
I copied a file off of the phone, PIM file. I opened it with notepad, looks like it has some names and numbers stored on it, even my SMS messages still have names from the people sent on it.
Is there any hope of getting all my contacts back?
Why not just connect it to the computer you normally sync with? If you sync with Outlook on that system, your contacts will re-populate automatically.
That's the problem, that pc was sent to my father in law =\
that's about 2000 miles away...
will, sorry to tell that it's hard to get back the data, you can add them one-by-one from the PIM file you have or pay a visit to your father-in-law...or file a lawsuit against Microsoft ;-)
I found a stupid flaw in ActiveSync 4.5 that if you don't sync the contacts (uncheck the contact checkbox in the list of items you want to sync), they will be deleted...so my advice to you -after you get back your data- is to use PPC PIM Backup (you can find it in the forum)
Yea, kinda sucks for me.
I was hoping since all my contacts were in outlook mobile, they would have some kind of backup file, or deleted files directory =\
Why not have your dad export your contacts and send them to you? You can then import them into your Outlook and sync it with your phone.

Double entries for all my contacts :(

I searched the Leo forum and couldn't find any answers
I'm having a not so cool problem with my contacts and people folders..
Everybody has a double entry I had the same problem before and after installing a new ROM, so the installation might not be the problem afterall. I sync my Leo with Windows Mobile Device Center and with Microsoft My Phone. What can I do ? How can I return to just one entry for everybody ?
10x all in advance
PS : I think I'm doing something, cause with my Fujitsu Siemens N520 - Windows Mobile 5 ( I dont know for sure ) I clearly remember having once the same problem
What view?
Are you viewing both sim & contacts? Need to set to view 1 or the other, not both. I view contact, it shows more info..
I had the same problem after installing new rom and syncing with my pc.
There are manual ways of fixing this, but I think the easiest way is to use Microsoft My Phone. It has an option to check for duplicate contacts and delete them.
But be careful not to be left with empty contact list on your phone. Like I did once... Hopefully I had synced my contacts on my office computer.
Try this...Go to - Phone/All People/Menu/View/ select Contacts or SIM
I use direct push from my exchange server and i had this when sycing to my pc using activesync for the first time. The problem is caused by the phone telling the pc that the contacts are more upto date that the pc's. To get around this change the activesync options to "pc overwirtes the device" (it's not exactly written like that but i guess your smart enough to figure it out) and delete all the duplicate contacts from the phone and pc. You won't get it again. If you are seeing the contacts from your sim card should notice the icon for them is differnet. If this is the case then follow the instructions given above to disable sim contact viewing.
There is free software to cope with this prob on freewarepocketpc and also in SKTools or PocketMechanic.
Del doubles on phone (check bef proceed), clear contacts complelety on PC and Myphone and then resync. Worked well for me.
use the attached, works a treat on the HD2.it can be used to remove duplicate calender entires too. Thanks to the developer, cant remember where I got the cab from.
I use dupededupe.
Work very well and is very easy.
Only 72KB
Thanks all for the responses
Sorry for posting so late, I was away for a couple of days
Eventually, I used My Phone - I entered the site, checked for duplicates - and deleted all the duplicates, and afterall, I synced my phone. Fortunately, it worked fine
10x again, Ive just downloaded the little software and I'll keep them if the problem reoccurs .
10x again!
Good luck all!

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