My Palm m500 stopped syncing yesterday much to my consternation. I tried updating the sync software and Palm Desktop neither of which worked. I tried using XP’s system restore to fall back a few days which did no good. The extended service plan I had purchased from Best Buy expired three weeks ago (I had made use of the service plan already as the Handspring I had initially bought died slightly over a year after purchase, so the plan came through when it was needed).
As usual Google came through with some great search results to my query ‘m500 sync problem‘ including ‘PalmInfocenter.com: How To: Possible Fix for m500 Series USB Problem‘ which fixed the issue I was experiencing.
Apparently the m500 is susceptible to static electricity. As the weather has necessitated the use of a heater which dries out the air, we have had a good deal of small shocks. One of which was apparently delivered to my Palm Pilot. This shock threw the USB control chip out of whack so the device wasn’t able to speak with my computer.
To fix the issue I had to totally drain the battery, let it recharge and sync it up. All appears to be well with it now.
I can hardly remember what life was like without an electronic brain.