USB Troubles

KILKENNY -- One element of collateral damage in my battle against spyware is that the USB port on my XP Pro laptop fails to communicate with my Sony Clie. I get the message "the connection between your handheld computer and the desktop could not be established." The Device Manager shows the USB Controller from Sony (Location 0, Palm handheld) is not installed. There is a hidden challenge in this error message because Palmsource did not standardize the Palm Universal Connector--the Sony Clie would be a lot more accessible if it integrated the PUC. You cannot assume that if a product has a USB port, it can magically connect to any other device that has a USB port. That doesn't work with the Clie. It doesn't work with most Bluetooth devices.

I can only use the USB cable with the Clie when on sync. The Cie doesn't like wires. From an engineer's point of view, wired connections defeat the purpose of pocket portability. The Clie USB cable can be a generic one with a Type A connector on one and and a Type B connector on the other will work. You do not have to buy Sony's cable. I use the one that came with my Clie at work and a camera cable at home.

Microsoft says, "When you plug in a USB device, the computer should load and then configure the device without ever requesting a device driver (assuming that the device falls within the defined and supplied class drivers). If the computer prompts you for a device driver, check with the manufacturer of the device to determine if a driver is available." Sounds like a plan. Sony tech support confirmed I have the latest driver for XP Pro on the Clie installation disc. They asked me to "retry to update the driver and point to the cd-rom folder /driver/hotsync/."

While digging into the Sony Clie USB discussion, I discovered Surplus PDA makes a clever case into which you can plug in the UX's USB cable. There's a connector inside the leather case that routes the power from the USB cable to the charging contacts on the bottom of the UX. It works well, and it's a nice case too.

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Microsoft -- "General USB troubleshooting in Windows XP"
PDA Street -- "Sony Clie UX forums"
Clie Link e-support case 1250730
Sony updates for drivers.
Luis Romero -- "Solved Sony Clie Hotsyn with Windows XP"
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