Help Periodic activesync mail protocol errors

[mdw66]

On several occasions I have had the HTC Mail app stop syncing my work email from Exchange via ActiveSync. The calendar and contacts sync still appear to work, but mail stops flowing.

If I look at the sync settings I see that when it tries to process mail a protocol error is reported and the sync fails. This has happened twice so far (about 7 - 10 days apart) and each time I've tried for more than a day to get the sync to work again with no luck. I've done things like deleting mail from the server around the time the sync stopped working, changing settings to get smaller amounts of email, cut out attachments, etc... none of that fixed the probelm.

What has worked both times is to delete the exchange account and then re-add it. As soon as I do this, it starts working again. For a while. I expect I will be back in this situation in another week or two. Clearly it's not a problem on the server side or a delete/add of the account on my device would not fix it. Has anyone else run into this and found a better solution than wiping out the account?

 

[Scubadog]

Exactly what has happened to me with my new HTC Incredible. Have you been able to solve this yet???? Anybody?

I've called Verizon. Nothing. HTC. Nothing. What I noticed is that the mail function works. I can see deletes and sents and I can even send email. I just cannot see new email messages in the inbox.

I thought it might be Advanced Task Killer. But, I deleted that and had no change. I've hard reset, soft reset -- tried everything. Like you, I simply delete the account and re-create it once or twice each day.

I really want to keep this device. Somebody please HELP!

 

[hgoldner]

Experienced the same thing since last Friday. After a search through several forums, concluded it's a "known issue" with HTC devices.

Deleted my exchange account; recreated it and re-synchronized. Calendar and email came back quickly; had to redo contacts, which, of course, meant I had to redo my speedials and my VIP's, much to my chagrin.

Some suggest using Touchdown, however I bristle at paying $20 for software to do what is supposed to come with the phone.

If situation persists, will escalate with Verizon (and to HTC Incredible sites).

Harold

 

[Mischka7]

This happened to me within 10 minutes of setting up my Activesync account on the Dinc. The HTC Mail program then proceeded to suck battery like it was a bottle. Ended up deleting my account on the Dinc and moved back to the GMail app.

I really like the HTC Mail program, but the battery issue and this lag in mail delivery is just not worth it.

 

[Scubadog]

Known issue? What's the nature of it? I'm wondering what my server could be telling my Droid to make this happen. Certainly, not everyone experiences this failure. If this device sets up correctly and then works for 3-24 hours -- and then, magically, stops working correctly -- something changed to cause that. The server, or the device does something different that makes it not "see" the inbox. This is sooooo frustrating. And, I don't want to go to Touchdown either. I want Activesync to work.

 

[Nikiddawg]

I've had this exact same problem since I got the Inc at launch. Sync protocol error in the email sync. At first this happened every few days. Deleted the account and recreated it....then it happened after about 1 week....this past time it was OK for about 2 weeks.

Again, as stated earlier in the thread, deleting the account and recreating seems to open the bottle neck back up again. Nothing has changed on my end though for it to suddenly stop delivering mail. All other sync functions work just fine (contacts, calendar, etc.).

What is the solution??

 

[Nikiddawg]

So just a little while ago, after approximately 3 weeks, I now have the sync protocol error again and my email is not syncing with my activesync exchange server. Contacts and calende sync fine. I don't want to have to keep deleting my account and re-creating it every few weeks but that seems to be the only solution.

FYI - this is my second Incredible and it has the same periodic sync protocol issue as the first so I'm fairly certain it's software issue and not the hardware.

Anybody have a fix for this yet?

 

[bnastyer]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this exact same issue...thought I may have a defective phone; I wonder if this will be addressed in the 2.2 release of the Android OS? At least when you delete the Exchange account and add it back it works (temporarily).

 

[Nikiddawg]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this exact same issue...thought I may have a defective phone; I wonder if this will be addressed in the 2.2 release of the Android OS? At least when you delete the Exchange account and add it back it works (temporarily).

Yep...hopefully it will be fixed in the nw release. I'm not holding my breath though as this issue existed for other droid users prior to the 2.1 release. That, plus who even knows if/when we Incredible users will get the update. Odd that the Droid X has a date to receive the 2.2 update and the phone hasn't even been released yet while Incredible users are stuck waiting for fixes to some basic fundamental issues.

The other annoyance with deleting and then re-creating the Exchange account is that you also have some additional setting up to do: reprogram all of your speeddials, re-link all of your facebook contacts, reset your custom ringtones, etc.

 

[fidget]

Frustrating indeed. I bought the mytouchslide the day it released (June 2) and had ActiveSync working until yesterday. Thank goodness for these forums. I deleted the acct. and added it back - and bingo, I have mail again. I only sync my mail and calendar so luckily contacts wasn't an issue.

Let's hope Froyo does the trick although it sounds unique to htc phones so not the OS?

 

[A.Nonymous]

You need to start with your Exchange server and look at it for any errors in the sync logs. That will give you a good place to start as to what the issue is and whether it affects Exchange or the phone. Are you using Exchange 2003, 2007 or 2010?

 

[javajim]

I have had this problem with 3 Android phones. I switched from the iPhone (which worked fine with Exchange so I did not anticipate an issue) to the Moto Droid back in November when it came out. I immediately had this issue occur and over a couple of weeks became very frustrated. I took it in to the Verizon store and they had no clue other than saying the device is probably defective. I took it back to the Best Buy hwere I purchased it and of course they had no clue and replaced it with a new Moto Droid. Within a few days, same issue began occurring. After a few more frustrating weeks, I purchased Touchdown in hopes of just getting this issue to go away but alas, same thing happens with Touchdown. It was only better in the fact that I did not have to delete the account and add it again when it stopped syncing, Touchdown had a setting to "refresh ActiveSync settings" and that worked. Problem with all of this up to this point is, you never really know for sure when it stops syncing. I am missing important emails thinking it is working and then get back to my desk and there are 25 new emails. Anyway, jumped over to the HTC Evo 4G at launch and it is no different. It looks like it is syncing but no new emails come in, then I check my laptop and I've missed a bunch. Based on all of this, it has got to be the OS or my Exchange 2007 settings, or the way they interact with each other. I wish someone would figure this out because I sure can't. I've had to tell co-workers not to by and Android phone because of this issue.

 

[javajim]

I updated to Froyo a couple of weeks ago and no change. My Evo stops syncing just as frequently as it did on 2.1

 

[toofast]

Same issue on my Droid Incredible...fuuny thing is Verizon recommended that I use a third party app in the marketplace, not why I bought this phone.

I bought it because I was assured the activesync was working and stable...now all of a sudden it is not.

Verizon also told me that HTC does not consider this a known issue so there is no fix in the works. Who knows what the truth really is.

 

[philip3232]

I too am having this issue. I have a Droid Incredible. The issue was occurring on 2.1. Unfortunately since my upgrade to 2.2 the issue still occurs at what appears a greater frequency. The only workaround I have found to work is to delete the mail account from my Incredible and re-add it which is tedious at best.

I too will be switching off this phone as soon as possible because my business exchange mail is too important to me to have to continually deal with this headache. My plan is to wait this headache out until January when Verizon will hopefully have the iPhone. Hopefully HTC / Android comes up with a fix before then or my switch to Android will be doomed.

 

[spence341]

I have had the same issue. It appears to have happened far less often to me though. Someone I work with experiences the issue with far greater frequency (same company, same settings). wierd.

 

[toofast]

What a bummer...I tried working with HTC/Verizon and getting them to understand there is an issue, they simply REFUSE to admit there is any problem, they kept blaiming my exchange server. Which by the way works PERFECT for all the 50 iPhones and 30 Windows Mobile Devices and DOES NOT work with the Droid Incredible. I really wonder if this is a HTC issue or if this is a Android Issue?

 

[jeremy0505]

Yes this is a pain and the only way you know you have a problem is when you THINK you ought to have new mail but don't.

Could anyone suggest an app into which you can enter your exchange credentials and then this be used to delete and recreate the account settings?

 

[Morganizer]

One of my co-workers has the same problem on his D-Inc. Deleting and re-adding is the only remedy we have come up with. We have multiple D1 and DX using the same Exchange and no issues of any consequence. Based on that you would have to assume it's an HTC or D-Inc specific issue since the Moto's are all working great. Our plan is to switch him to a Moto Droid and forget about it (this after many wasted hours fooling around with it trying to get it to work). Amazing that someone doesn't figure this out.

 

[Cormac]

Is only a problem for our entire firm with HTC android devices, not Moto or Samsung. If HTC continues to deny the problem, that is the surest way to a class action lawsuit. The hundreds of thousands of EVO, D-Inc and other HTC Droid owners will make some lawyers very rich.

 

[Member275041]

So I'm assuming no one here has found a resolution yet??? this is really frustrating. I too have switched from Blackberry (After 7 years!) because I wanted better apps and a better browser. But BAM, i've lost reliable email.

I too use this for business and it's critical that its reliable. I really don't want to switch again, I sure wish HTC/Google/Whomever would see these issues, acknowledge them, and fix them.

I can't seem to find a rhyme or reason why it happens. It's not due to message size, message count, etc (or doesnt seem to be). Does anyone know of a log or two on the Android OS that I can look at? There's got to be something...

Anyway, glad I'm not the only one.

 

[boilator]

All,

My issue was with active sync not reaching out to get the new email. Is that what everyone else is experiencing?

Well... I made a discovery. If I changed the 'download past mail' to '1' day, my email sync's without issues. If it is set to anything other than '1' I need to manually sync it.

Lator

 

[Malibu LXI]

I have had the same issue in the past with the e-mail not syncing. Now I have e-mail and contacts syncing just fine, but the error relates to the calendar. I too wish there was an error log somewhere (phone or server) to check the error message. BTW, it seems as if the changes to the calendar are syncing just fine, I just get an error. I wonder if it is just one appointment that is causing the problem...but how would you find it with several hundred appointments on the calendar?

I am using Calendar Pad for the calendar app so I can read the text on the appointment--the native Calendar app is horrible!

 

[gforce2010]

As with everyone else, I am very frustrated over what has now become the 3rd time I have had to delete and reset my account in order to start receiving e-mails. It works for a few days or even a few weeks and then drops off.

I use this for business e-mail and to be forced to delete and add my account over and over is torture (especially because I must reset my signature block). I may be forced to go back to BB to get stable mail delivery.

Like another user, I called Verizon as well. What a waste of time! It is sad when you know more about the OS and error than tech support.

I really wish Google would fix this!

 

[dan68131]

Just adding my $0.02 worth. I have a new Droid Incredible bought 9/17 and by 11/1 was not syncing properly with Microsoft exchange server at my office. Like the phone, love the camera, apps are ok, battery life is poor, but this is a total deal breaker.

When I called tech support they of course suggested the delete/re-add trick (which only works a couple times before failing again, and the third party app Touchdown which doesn't work either. One guy at tech support insinuated it was a problem with Google not wanting its phone to work with their competitor Microsoft!

I guess I totally think this is probably the truth. Verizon/Google have placed a virus in the software that lets the Microsoft exchange sync a set number of times, then bam! Shuts it down. About the time your 30 days return period is up.

Hope an update comes out soon, Verizon won't exchange even though this piece of junk has known issues with its basic functionality.