| All of the sudden we've had a lot of users telling
us they were purchasing RAM Charger specifically to help synchronize their
Macs with their Palm Pilot (does everyone own a G3 these days?) This probably
indicates that Now Synchronize has diverse memory needs. While you may
be able to increase the "Preferred" size for the application, RAM Charger's
automatic solution may work better under normal "random" conditions. In
specific, RAM Charger may help in cases where the synchronization software
is unable to get a large preferred size; in such a case RAM Charger will
help it gather broken "fragmented" memory to accomplish its goals.
Whatever the reason, many users are finding that RAM Charger very specifically
helps them synchronize. Moreover, once users get RAM Charger, many discover
that this is not a fluke...this is the sort of issue RAM Charger was created
to solve!
If you are running OS 8.5 or 8.6, you should read this
page. Reports indicate 8.5 and 8.6 may not be a show stopper, since
many user have reported this working very well for them (most seem to be
running G3 machines).
Should you wish to limit RAM Charger to just helping you synchronize,
you should follow the advice given here
- RAM Charge only the Now Conduit application, so they say.
Technical support for the Palm Pilot has also written the following:
More info is available at <http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/881hq.html>.
But here're some things to try in your situation:
A few things to try before you synch:
1. Optimize your data files before you try synching. Optimize your
Contact file by opening it up and then close it while holding the option
key. Optimize your Calendar file by opening it and then choose file and
save as save the file as then same name and location as the original. Click
yes to replace the original.
2. Increase the preferred size of the Now Conduit Manager to 12,000
Kilobytes. Increasing it to more than 12K will not help. The Now Conduit
manager is in the Now Sync for PalmPilot folder.
3. If you want to clean out any corruption with Now Synch, trash
the Now Synchronize Prefs folder in the preferences folder within the system
folder. Also trash the users.dat and the audit.dat file. You will have
to re-enter the serial number that is located on the first disk of the
Now Synchronize disk set.
Now try synching. If it still fails, then:
1. First, uncheck both boxes to synchronize for Contacts and the
Calendar. When you then hit the Hot Sync button, the Pilot should backup
the memo pad. If this fails, the problem may not lie in either the Contact
or the Calendar file. It may point to a hardware issue with either the
Pilot or the cradle (see step 6 below).
2. Set the Calendar or Contact file to Completely replace the contents
with Desktop. This only replaces the specific application such as the address
book with the Contact file that you select . It will not replace other
applications like a game that you might have installed. If the synchronize
works, then in the future you can set it back to Synchronize changes. Remember,
this is to troubleshoot what the problem is. It does not have to be a permanent
solution.
3. To further narrow down the culprit, uncheck categories that you
do need to synchronize with. If you have 500 contacts in one category and
200 in every other category, then uncheck the biggest category. We recommend
no more than 500 contacts per category and a maximum of 15 categories.
If you have detailed descriptions in your event details, then this can
make the Pilot time out. Sometimes every category will synchronize by itself,
but combined with other categories, it will time out. If this is the case
then the file needs to be cleaned up.
4. Which file is larger? If the Contact file is 2,000 contacts and
the Calendar file is only 3 months worth of events, then uncheck the box
that says Synchronize Contacts. This will aide in narrowing down the problem
using a logical approach. In some cases, the fix is to just synchronize
one file at a time.
5. Some users have reported some success synching files (especially
on G3s) with Ram Charger 8. You may want to try downloading the demo version
and installing it (see instructions below).
6. If you want to test to make sure that the Pilot works then uninstall
Now Synchronize and install the Pilot Desktop. If the Pilot Desktop fails,
then you may have a malfunctioning Pilot or a bad cradle. To uninstall
Now Synchronize, trash the Now Sync for PalmPilot folder and the Now Synchronize
Prefs folder. That will uninstall Now Synchronize! If the Pilot Desktop
works and you want to reinstall Now Synchronize, reboot with extensions
disabled (hold down the shift key when the computer starts).
Lastly, some users synching on G3s have
reported success using Ram Charger 8 with the Now Conduit Manager.
If the above doesn't help synching at all, try the following:
From <http://www.RAMCharger.com/RAMCharger8.html>,
download the free demo version of Ram Charger 8. After you install it,
restart the computer.
Go to Control Panels: Ram Charger General Settings. Under the "Application"
Tab, next to "Automatically Open New Apps", set it to read "Uncharged".
Under the "Menu" tab, uncheck the Ram Charger menu.
Click on the button "Application Settings". From this window, scroll
down the list of applications until you reach "Now Conduit Manager". On
the right, make sure that "Ram Charged" is checked. Under Starting Memory
Size, click on the "Custom Size" button and set it to 12000K. Save the
changes. Now try synching.
You may receive a warning message from Ram Charger that "Now Conduit
Manager has requested more memory than is normally expected". If you do,
immediately click "Don't Tell Me Again".
Even if the first synch with Ram Charger 8 fails, restart the computer
and try it again. The first synch will commonly fail. |
