Help Windows 7 issue - Not the old one!

[jezperrott]

HTC Sync has got to be the worst official piece of software I have ever used.

First of all, when I got my phone, back in November, because I have Windows 7, I had to use the workaround to sync my phone. It worked for a while, but spontaneously stopped working. Sync just stopped synching, being able to sync anything from the phone at all. It would, however, install programmes from the pc to the phone. Just not sync.

Then, when the new HTC sync came out, I installed that, thinking it would sort the issue. No such luck. Sync stopped working altogether, no longer even recognising the phone! I can mount the SD card, so connection is not an issue. It's so dumb the way you can't ask the PC to run the wizard again!

I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything in various combinations, reverted back to the old version using the workaround, turned usb debugging on and off, everything I can think of, but to no effect.

Can anyone help? I'm beginning to regret ever going with an HTC. How can a 'cutting edge' phone be so ****ing awkward to use? For SO many people?

PLEASE HELP!

 

[itandy]

With your phone plugged in, can you see it in Devices and Printers correctly?

In my case, I can see a "Android Phone" icon. In its properties, there're 5 items on the Hardware tab:
1. HTC Android Phone USB Device
2. I:\
3. My HTC
4. USB Composite Device
5. USB Mass Storage Device

BTW, what edition of Windows 7 are you using? 32-bit or 64-bit?

 

[mez]

Hey. Your not the only one. I'm having the same problems with win 7 64bit.

This may not be of help to you but I just gave up and hooked up my old xp machine.

Hopefully it'll work with win 7 eventually. Or someone else makes a better sync app

One thing I have found tho is I don't actually use any of the sync options. If I want to install app put it on the sd card and let the phone install it, I don't really do much else.


What do you. use sync for?

 

[Malgiliath]

I also went through all the heart ache of trying to get Sync to work on my W7 lappie at home and gave up. Went to work and tried it on the XP machine and Sync install first time only for me to find that it is just a means of importing Outlook contacts which in my world I dont want my work contacts on my personal phone.

I expected Sync to look at all my files and ask which it wanted to work with like my old Sony software did so as far as I am concerned Sync is a big waste of time.

 

[jezperrott]

Interesting responses guys, thanks. I think HTC has a lot to learn from people like Sony/Nokia etc in terms of connectivity.

I used sync to sync my calader and contacts. I am, frankly, astounded that that is all you CAN sync!


mez - thanks, I'll try putting stuff on my SD card. How do you install from there? Hardly ideal and, I would think, a messy way of doing it, but thanks for the workaround.

itandy - I only see numbers 1 and 5 of your list. Nothing else... I'm using Home Premium Edition 64 bit version of Windows 7.

malgiliath - I tried doing this with my work laptop which runs xp - I don't have anything else. The results were uninspiring, to say the least! Nothing worked properly and even the install didn't work properly. It recognised my phone as a 'Dream', and then did nothing else.

What's strange about all of this is that it worked for a time, then didn't. I can only assume that a Microsoft update put paid to it at some point.

By the way, it's good to speak to people who have had the same issue! The thing that HTC need to really watch out for is that, like us, they will eventually give up! Tech only lasts as long as people's patience with it.

 

[TeleC@ster]

OTA, that's what google/android wants you to do. It's all in teh cloud.

Who wants to sync anyway? It has caused us/me a lot, i mean a lot of problems over time with WM and office. (birthdays, recurring appointmts, daylight saving)

Now with google it's real time connected in the cloud. Wunderfull.

Syncing is so 1998 ;-)

 

[jezperrott]

But I want to sync. My choice. And if using Google is what they want us to do, they should make it easier! If I am to sync with Google - apart from the massive issue I have with storing all my private details and appointments in the potentially public domain - I would have to change all 464 labels of my contacts individually from 'phone' to 'google' for it to recognise it. I'm sorry, but that's not what I expect from this phone. I expect it to sync with what I want!

Frankly, TeleC@ster, your comment is not helpful. I asked for a fix, not an opinion on whether I should sync or not. If I go to the doctor's because I can't use my right arm, I don't need them to tell me their opinion that they prefer their left instead; I would hope they would help fix my right!

 

[TeleC@ster]

HTC Sync has got to be the worst official piece of software I have ever used.

I'm beginning to regret ever going with an HTC. How can a 'cutting edge' phone be so ****ing awkward to use? For SO many people?

It's not only a "cry" for help, that's why.

 

[Slug]

And if using Google is what they want us to do, they should make it easier!

I'm with you on this. You get a nice shiny new handset, hook it up and sync your 100+ contacts from Outlook, then go to sync those with your shiny new Google Mail account and.... you can't. At least not out-of-the-box. You've got to export from Outlook as a CSV file and import that into Google Mail, then sync that with the handset. Now that's so last century!

 

[TeleC@ster]

Think ahead.
There are many good desktop synctools between google and outlook.
Start with that: create a google account, sync with outlook on your desktop.

Then buy the Hero (or any android) set it up (it takes 2 minutes) and you're done.

Don't want that? Buy a WM machine (the HD2 is neat) and continue to have fun syncing.

Stuck with a contract? Start reading from the top.

 

[Slug]

Think ahead.
There are many good desktop synctools between google and outlook.
Start with that: create a google account, sync with outlook on your desktop.

Then buy the Hero (or any android) set it up (it takes 2 minutes) and you're done.

Don't want that? Buy a WM machine (the HD2 is neat) and continue to have fun syncing.

Stuck with a contract? Start reading from the top.

Your condescending attitude is really starting to tick me off.....

If it was really that simple then this thread wouldn't exist, would it? Telling someone that "Syncing is so 1998" doesn't help when that user has a need to sync information. And if the Sync software won't work then it's a bit difficult to sync with Outlook, no? You mention "many good desktop synctools between google and outlook". How about actually helping the OP and offering alternative solutions instead of sniping from the treeline?

@jezperrott:
I'm tearing my hair out trying to work out why Sync works for some (myself included) and not others. When the handset is connected you don't have an entry in Device Manager called "ADB Dream Interface" or something like that? ISTR that others have reported that updating the driver for this by browsing to the correct HTC Drivers folder solves the problem.

Other than that I'm at a loss atm. I'll try to clean-install HTC Sync on my guinea-pig laptop to see if I can reproduce the issue.

 

[Slug]

Just uninstalled v2.0.8, deleted driver files from \system32 and installed v2.0.18 on my crappy 1.4MHz/512MB Celeron laptop running Win7 x86.... and had no problems at all. Wtf causes HTC Sync to barf on some systems and not others? Arghh... (bangs head on desk)

 

[TeleC@ster]

Your condescending attitude is really starting to tick me off.....

If it was really that simple then this thread wouldn't exist, would it? Telling someone that "Syncing is so 1998" doesn't help when that user has a need to sync information. And if the Sync software won't work then it's a bit difficult to sync with Outlook, no? You mention "many good desktop synctools between google and outlook". How about actually helping the OP and offering alternative solutions instead of sniping from the treeline?

I appreciate you being ticked off with me, but what about my reaction in post #8? If that's accepted as a cry for help here, you lost me.

1. I placed a smiley behind ....so 1998
2. as for solutions, i offered one which i really believe is the right direction:

first, if you really want to sync, look for WM, that's my opinion, and it

 

[TeleC@ster]

Wtf causes HTC Sync to barf on some systems and not others? Arghh... (bangs head on desk)

Forget about my last post. I'm on the wrong language forum.
I'm gone.

Bye

 

[kaine]

I can't even mount my SD card, the same 30 tunes are doing my nut in. No ftp software will work either.

 

[jezperrott]

Forget about my last post. I'm on the wrong language forum.
I'm gone.

Bye

Let's hope so! His suggestions of getting a WM handset - two months after I've signed to an 18 month contract with the HTC was dumb, to say the least. And his idea that Google is 'anonymous' is wildly wrong. I know two people who works for them and he couldn't be MORE wrong. It's people like him, who have selective reading, that throw blogs way off course.

@Slug

Thanks for trying that, and for keeping the blog on track.

No, there's no other indication that my Hero is recognised on my Win 7 PC, other than those two things I mentioned.

I have managed to get it to synch with my work PC now. It's running XP. I needed to both install the new HTC Sync AND use the workaround for Win7 where you make it recognise different drivers, and switch on debugging mode. SO my data is, at least, stored somewhere safe.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

 

[jezperrott]

Kaine, have you even got a USB icon on the phone?

If you have, you should be able to see the phone in My Computer. You do mount as a drive from the phone, don't you? (Pull down notification bar - mount USB - Don't forget to unmount afterwards) Sorry if this bit is all blindingly obvious, but I don't know what you've tried.

If this is not working, try going to Menu>Setting>Applications>Development and check the debugging mode. Then try again.

If that all fails, you could try a different USB lead? Is the charge light showing?

 

[Jazman]

Let's hope so! His suggestions of getting a WM handset - two months after I've signed to an 18 month contract with the HTC was dumb, to say the least. And his idea that Google is 'anonymous' is wildly wrong. I know two people who works for them and he couldn't be MORE wrong. It's people like him, who have selective reading, that throw blogs way off course.

@Slug

Thanks for trying that, and for keeping the blog on track.

No, there's no other indication that my Hero is recognised on my Win 7 PC, other than those two things I mentioned.

I have managed to get it to synch with my work PC now. It's running XP. I needed to both install the new HTC Sync AND use the workaround for Win7 where you make it recognise different drivers, and switch on debugging mode. SO my data is, at least, stored somewhere safe.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

jezperrot, I don't know what version of Win 7 you are running, but I did find a workaround for Win 7 64 bit with HTC Sync, I don't know if the below will work for you but for what its worth.....

I have also had a problem with getting HTC Sync to work on Win 7 64bit, I installed the latest 2.0.18 HTC Sync software and at first it didn't work, but after a bit of fiddling I got it working:

1. Navigate to Control Panel - Devices and Printers
2. Locate 'Android Phone' under Devices
3. Right click on the icon and select properties.
4. Click on the hardware tab.
5. Listed will probably be 'HTC Dream composite interface' or similar.
6. Highlight this entry and click on properties.
7. In the properties dialogue box under the general tab at the bottom click 'change settings'.
8. When the dialogue box reappears click on the 'Driver' tab.
9. Select the 'Update Driver' option.
10. On the first screen select the second option 'Browse my computer for driver software'.
11. In the next screen select the second option 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'.
12. You should then be faced with 2 options on the next screen under Model, either 'HTC Dream Composite ADB Interface' or 'My HTC'.
13. Select 'My HTC' and that will install the correct drivers and then you should be good to go.

I hope this helps.
Pau

 

[Xyro]

Just uninstalled v2.0.8, deleted driver files from \system32 and installed v2.0.18 on my crappy 1.4MHz/512MB Celeron laptop running Win7 x86.... and had no problems at all. Wtf causes HTC Sync to barf on some systems and not others? Arghh... (bangs head on desk)

What version of windows 7 do people usually have trouble with? From the one's I've read about, 9 times out of 10 it seems to be the x64 version. Maybe that's why it went fine on that laptop.

 

[Slug]

His suggestions of getting a WM handset - two months after I've signed to an 18 month contract with the HTC was dumb, to say the least.

I prefer the term "unhelpful in this context". I can see where TeleC@ster was coming from, but it isn't useful if you've already committed to Android. Likewise I much prefer Google's "cloud" to syncing with desktop PIMs on multiple systems, but both Google and the handset manufacturers need to acknowledge that, for some, the latter is still desired or even required.

Anyway, back on (the main) topic....

No, there's no other indication that my Hero is recognised on my Win 7 PC, other than those two things I mentioned.

Have the drivers installed correctly to C:\Program Files (x86)\HTC\HTC Driver\Driver Files\Win7_x64?

I have managed to get it to synch with my work PC now. It's running XP. I needed to both install the new HTC Sync AND use the workaround for Win7 where you make it recognise different drivers, and switch on debugging mode.

Now that weirds me out, 'cos XP-compatible drivers have been included for the last few versions. I don't have an XP system to test on unfortunately - my old PC is still in pieces awaiting a new case - but that simply shouldn't happen.

@Xtiro: most problems used to be with x64, but I've seen more recently with x86 versions of both Win7 and XP. Unfortunately (for those with problems) Sync installed perfectly on both x86 and x64 systems here so I'm none the wiser as to why it's so hit-or-miss.

 

[showshifter]

Hi Jazman, tried your method and worked a treat...thanks.....

 

[maaroc]

Jazzman, you're me 'Hero'. I've been all over the web for hours and followed every bloody instruction for trying to correct the hotsync problem with my Hero. Not one blog, article, or post explicitly told me how to get to the My HTC link to select it. That's all I needed. My Hero now syncs.

THANK YOU

 

[jezperrott]

@jazman - Thank you! You've sorted the connection issue completely! You're a star!

 

[Xyro]

Slug, do you think it could be something to do with ADB? I wont pretend to fully understand what ADB really is, , but my Win7 x86 synced fine with my hero up untill yesterday. Which also happens to be the same day I set up ADB so I could remove some things from MCR, and suddenly windows starts defaulting to the "HTC Dream Composite ADB Interface" drivers like everyone else.

Thanks Jazman

 

[Slug]

Slug, do you think it could be something to do with ADB?

I don't think so. I use ADB a lot for low-level stuff like that and the problem has never materialised. I haven't used it on Win7 x86 though, so I'll maybe try later just to check.

Thanks Jazman

+1 on that. I'll make sure this thread is "tagged" properly so that it's easily found - it's a life-saver!