I periodically have problems HotSyncing my Palm PDA with my Windows Small Business (SBS) 2003 server via a USB connection. I plug the USB charging/synchronizing device into a USB port on the system and plug the Palm into the other end of the cable. The green light on the Palm lights and it charges, but it won't synchronize. It is as if the Palm wasn't really connected when I try to synchronize it.
I've found I can get synchronization to work again by going into the Device Manager and then disabling the Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller and then re-enabling it. You can do so by the following procedure:
- Click on Start.
- Type devmgmt.msc and hit enter.
- Within the Device Manager, scroll down to the Universal Serial Bus controllers section and click on the "+" sign to the left of that section to expand it.
- Right-click on Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller and choose Disable.
- You will see a warning that "Disasbling the device will cause it to stop functioning." Click on Yes to disable it.
- After the entry shows a red "X" through it indicating it is disabled, right-click on it again and select, Enable.
I've found that once I've disabled and re-enabled the USB controller, I can then successfully HotSync from the Palm.