Sprint PCS - Ask your mother, ask your father

Author

Ask your mother, ask your father

Wooly

2007-10-08, 10:33 pm

We are at an impasse.

A few weeks ago someone provided links to a possible workaround for my
husband's Activesync installation problem. Turns out that's for an
earlier version and while it gave us some clues as to registry entries
to examine we weren't able to get the installer working.

Fast forward through several calls and several hours spent attempting to
discuss the problem with Sprint customer service and/or tech support to
what seems to be Sprint's only suggestion: Call Microsoft.

Microsoft, of course, refers us to the carrier.

And 'round and 'round it goes.

Any other ideas?

Todd Allcock

2007-10-10, 4:33 am

At 08 Oct 2007 18:34:46 -0500 Wooly wrote:
> We are at an impasse.
>
> A few weeks ago someone provided links to a possible workaround
> for my husband's Activesync installation problem.

For those of us who have both newsservers and brains with low
retention, do you mind actually telling us what the problem is? What
model device and PC OS? Any error code, etc?

--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

Wooly

2007-10-10, 10:33 am

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 08 Oct 2007 18:34:46 -0500 Wooly wrote:
>
> For those of us who have both newsservers and brains with low
> retention, do you mind actually telling us what the problem is? What
> model device and PC OS? Any error code, etc?
>
>
>

Sorry, I ought to know better.

Phone device is HTC Mogul 6800 from Sprint. Husband and I each have
one. As of yesterday there have been no updates for this device from
Sprint or from M$.

Husband has a Fujitsu laptop of some sort, running XPsp2. Activesync
will not install from the OEM CD nor from the downloadable installer
offered by M$. I do not now recall the exact error message, but it
fails to install. If we attempt to reinstall we get a "prior install
failed, please re-run the installer" error - ironic as that's what we're
trying to do! We have to clean by hand the install directory and some
registry entries before we can run the installer to the original error.
We also clean out temp directories.

This is the basic behavior no matter what sort of boot load we run:
minimal with only essential services, full load with all of his crap
that includes FW and AV and gods only know what else, anything between.

The same OEM CD and the same download from M$ ran fine on my desktop
machine and I have no problem connecting my phone device via the USB
cable. Husband can charge via the USB cable attached to his laptop,
that's it.

Husband has full USB connectivity with anything else he plugs into the
laptop: external drives, his iPod, thumb drives, our camera, ad naus.

Sprint "support" basically said "sorry, not our problem, that's a M$
product" and referred us to M$ $upport. M$, of course, refers us to the
carrier. And around we go.

Todd Allcock

2007-10-10, 12:33 pm

At 10 Oct 2007 09:20:03 -0500 Wooly wrote:

> If we attempt to reinstall we get a "prior install failed, please
> re-run the installer" error - ironic as that's what we're trying
> to do! We have to clean by hand the install directory and some
> registry entries before we can run the installer to the original
> error. We also clean out temp directories.

Obviously something on his computer is preventing the install, since
it installed fine on yours. He didn't plug the Mogul in before
installing did he? There might be partially installed drivers. He
might want to plug it in again, go into device manager, find any
references to the Mogul and delete them before trying again.

=20
> This is the basic behavior no matter what sort of boot load we run:
> minimal with only essential services, full load with all of his crap=

> that includes FW and AV and gods only know what else, anything
> between.

My guess would be the FW and/or AV blocked the original install, and
you're missing removing a reg entry or file during your manual
"cleaning."

I found the following in a blog
(http://www.mobileviews.com/blog/200...-activesync-45-
annoyances/) :

"Regarding the =93Set Up Not Complete The wizard was interupted before=

Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 could be completely installed=94 error. In
many cases, that is because Mapi32.dll (often found in Windows/System)=

is missing or corrupted. For example, Eudora will replace the
Microsoft Mapi32.dll with their own. Solution: Find another copy of
Microsoft Mapi32.dll=85 rename the current file to Mapi32.old, replace=

the file. Problem solved."

So, hubby might want to try copying this mapi32.dll from your PC to
his.

=20
> The same OEM CD and the same download from M$ ran fine on my
> desktop machine and I have no problem connecting my phone device
> via the USB cable. Husband can charge via the USB cable attached
> to his laptop, that's it.

Which tells us the issue is that AS doesn't like something on his
machine!
=20
> Husband has full USB connectivity with anything else he plugs into
> the laptop: external drives, his iPod, thumb drives, our camera,
> ad naus.

None of those devices create a new network like AS does (Activesync
essentially creates a new two-device network, complete with IP
addresses for the PC and device. This drives most firewall software
crazy!) Another blogger suggested unplugging ALL USB devices before
installing AS- particularly network-based (BT or WiFi "dongles" for
example.)
=20
> Sprint "support" basically said "sorry, not our problem, that's
> a M$ product" and referred us to M$ $upport. M$, of course,
> refers us to the carrier. And around we go.

In this case Sprint is correct, I believe. Windows Mobile licensing
is complicated- the manufacturer (Sprint) is responsible for support
issues related to the device, it's OS and software, but Activesync
itself is Microsoft's "problem," IIRC.

I'd e-mail Microsoft again, leaving the specific device out of it-
just say you've downloaded AS, got such-and-such error installing it,
etc. Leave the Mogul out, since this problem existed before you ever
plugged it in.

Now, as a practical matter, assuming you don't get this straighted
out for awhile, I'd recommend using Emoze for t
e interim (www.emoze.com.) It's "over the air" sync software you
install on PC and PPC that syncs calendar, contacts and e-mail via
WiFi or cellular. This will at least allow him to keep his data up
to date while he sorts this out.

Another suggestion I'll toss out quick, though I doubt it'll work, it
to try installing an older version of AS, like 3.8 or 4.0 (these
won't work with the Mogul- the idea is to see if we can get ANY
version installed successfully , then try "upgrading" to 4.5.)

If MS doesn't offer older versions online anymore, they're archived
at the www.hpcfactor.com website. =20

Good luck! I've used PPCs for seven years now, and Activesync has
always been a PITA! I'm running an AS 4.5 pre-release beta I
installed when 4.2 gave me trouble synching with my T-Mobile MDA.=20
I'm afraid to upgrade to the release version because it's been
working flawlessly for a year, and I don't want to rock the
proverbial boat!

--=20

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures=20
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for=20
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with=20
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003=20

Wooly

2007-10-11, 7:33 am

Todd Allcock wrote:
>
> "Regarding the “Set Up Not Complete The wizard was interupted before
> Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 could be completely installed” error. In
> many cases, that is because Mapi32.dll (often found in Windows/System)
> is missing or corrupted. For example, Eudora will replace the
> Microsoft Mapi32.dll with their own. Solution: Find another copy of
> Microsoft Mapi32.dll… rename the current file to Mapi32.old, replace
> the file. Problem solved."
>
> So, hubby might want to try copying this mapi32.dll from your PC to
> his.

This seems to have fixed the problem, for whatever reason. Husband is
now installed and was able to sync last night.

>
> Good luck! I've used PPCs for seven years now, and Activesync has
> always been a PITA! I'm running an AS 4.5 pre-release beta I
> installed when 4.2 gave me trouble synching with my T-Mobile MDA.
> I'm afraid to upgrade to the release version because it's been
> working flawlessly for a year, and I don't want to rock the
> proverbial boat!

"If it ain't borked, don't fix it" is usually a good policy :D

Thanks for the help!

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