Calendar entries from PC disappearing on P900

I'm afraid this is fairly common when synching with Outlook. I take it the items have disappeared when you have restarted the phone? There doesn't seem to be any way around it (other than to use a decent PIM, such as Lotus Organiser!). Thankfully, the P900 doesn't need rebooting that often so it happens quite rarely once you're up and running. It seems to be a problem with the way the synch software communicates with Outlook!

Despite all the hoo-har about lack of bluetooth handsfree support (apparantly, some people can't use the phone with the in-built handsfree units on their �50000 cars - my heart bleeds for them) and the fact that catagories don't synch (not a major issue for me, but I can understand why it's annoying), this problem seems, to me, to be by far and away the most important bug in the P900 and yet it hardly gets a mention.

You have my sympathy - I know first hand how frustrating this is (see my post 'lost agenda entries' on 25-05-2004, 02:44 PM ).

I disagree with Bassey as to the cause (although I do appreciate the response). Synching with Outlook is undoubtedly fraught with difficulties and seemed a likely candidate. However, I still get this problem even though I gave up synching long ago.

I am now convinced it is something to do with having two copies of agenda (amongst others... I assume you have been losing todo entries as well?), one in \documents\agenda and the other in \startup. I don't know what triggers the phone to copy the files to \startup (as they are sometimes out of date) nor what governs which file agenda opens with.

I am going to report this to SE support.

Outlook routinely deletes repeating entries from the phone, I have that set to phone updates PC only, and this seems to fix it.

I've also noticed that there are two copies of the Agenda file on the P900; one in the data area, and one in the startup. It seems that if the calendar is not properly closed before a reboot, you can lose recently entered events.

Generally I use the task manager in Handy Day to force close the calendar before powering down the phone, and this seems to prevent data loss.

this sounds bad! as someone who is considering getting a 900, and who uses the calendar a lot - im now scared! 😞

does the phone need rebooting after synching? i virtually never boot my current phone. is it a smartphone thang?!

i would be majorly p*ssed off if my phone kept deleting stuff

The only reason my P900 ever gets turned off is if I'm going out, for example to the pub (like tonight to watch England V Portugal - come on England!). Then, rather than carry the slightly bulky P900, I switch it off, and swap the SIM card into an old T68. The T68 is much more comfortable to carry in my trouser pocket and it doesn't matter if I lose or break it when drunk!

I think it's crashed and needed a reboot maybe four times and I've had it since before Christmas! Windows it ain't!

thanks - did it loose calendar info when it crashed?

I honestly can't remember - it happens too infrequently. The main occasions I've noticed it have been when I've switched over to the T68. So I'll synch it at work last thing on a Friday with a load of calendar reminders and notes of stuff to do over the weekend. Switch over to the T68 to go down the pub on Friday night. Restart it on Saturday morning and the stuff I need for the weekend has gone. Major pain in the butt.

Of course, now I know that it does that I just e-mail my calendar file home so I can re-synch with the home PC to get it all back again. But I shouldn't have to!

ta Bassey.

would you recommend it still though? i was looking at the sendo x, but just found out that series 60 phones dont handle reminders very well. they just disappear after 2 mins!! 😮
atleast the UIQ ones remain on the screen till you action them.

do you keep the keypad on?

ta

Definitely. But you do have to get used to it's quirks. And yes, I do keep the keypad on. I didn't bother with the P800 (useless keypad) but it is useful with the P900.

What you say sounds reasonable and seems to fit my problems. It sounds like the synch to outlook creates some sort of temporary version of the agenda - which you then use until you turn off the machine. Then when you turn it off it either deletes the temporary entries or reverts to the old version - very frustrating.

The only thing I can think of doing is ensuring you turn the machine off immediately after a synch - then restart so that you can be sure your new entries won't get lost.

I only synch very occassionally so is not so much of a headache for me.

Did you have any luck with reporting it to SE or solving it some other way.

Peter

nosibor wrote:

I am now convinced it is something to do with having two copies of agenda (amongst others... I assume you have been losing todo entries as well?), one in \documents\agenda and the other in \startup. I don't know what triggers the phone to copy the files to \startup (as they are sometimes out of date) nor what governs which file agenda opens with.

I am going to report this to SE support.

houly wrote:
Did you have any luck with reporting it to SE or solving it some other way.

Peter

No. SE just suggested updating the firmware which didn't solve the problem. But they did concede that this is a known problem.

Orange replaced the phone for me, but same problem.

As I said before, I no longer synch with my PC but the problem was still there. Somehow, the /startup version of files was being opened instead of the proper version and any entries I had made were lost. Aaargh! I missed three meetings (two with the same person!) before getting a paper diary (a present from said person) with a pencil in the spine (you remember the type?) and duplicating everything. Brilliant invention, the pencil.

I then suspected that the problem was happening during backup (because of the restart). So I stopped backing up and vowed never to switch off the phone. This worked for about two months, but yesterday I think the phone got a bit tired and decided to stop the CICs JotPro so I can't enter any more data! (in any app). Luckily I still have my paper diary, so I can jot down appointments.

It seems the phone is telling me that it wants a re-boot to rest its weary memory. I know the feeling and I don't blame the poor thing.

So I'm trying to work out how to take 'manual' backups of key files (how to close contacts app anyone?) before turning it off to give it forty winks.

btw, I had the moral dilemma about whether to switch off the P900 on flights (about 20 times since vowing never to switch it off) but since reading in the Economist that it won't crash the plane (but might give phone networks a problem) I decided just to put it in silent mode (flight mode causes the same loss of data problem as switching off... now there's an interesting line of enquiry for SE if they could be bothered to face up to this KILLER BUG!)

Why do I persevere with this? I ask myself. I really don't know.

> Why do I persevere with this? I ask myself. I really don't know

Nope me neither. Much as I love my P900, I'm getting rid of it soon purely because of SE's complete lack of support for the synch software. I think two years is long enough for them to have done something about this!

Have you updated the sync software also? I feel (but don't know really) that the missing appointments stopped missing after updating the synch software. I suspect the phone is not the one to blame here, but the synch software. Perhaps? Complicated bastards, these smartphones...

I have both the very latest firmware and version 3 of the synch sofwtare but still loose calendar entries whenever the phone is turned off and on. And it seems to be whatever was added to the phone since the last synch (though I might be wrong).

Hang on, I was just reading these posts and considered to say something.....

I switched off the phone every night and switch it on in early morning; I can�t remember I�ve ever lost any calendar entries or something. I don�t use any task manager (e.g. Handy Day) to force close any application before powering down. But, of course, I don�t use Windows (You guys already know why) and the Sync software from SE, I use Mac, hence iSync in stead. Does it make any difference?

Now it happened again. I had not synched for the whole weekend and made new entries into the phone, some of them synched, some not. Then without synching, rebooted. Now then synched and the entries that were lost in the phone, also were lost from the Outlook.

So as soon as you synch often and do not reboot in between, nothing is lost, otherwise something may get lost.... annoying.

I got my P900 last November and have been tearing my hair out over this, too. My unit has the most current firmware from the Update service. But, I finally 😮 figured it out recently.

I sync to Outlook 2000 on a Win2K enterprise laptop.

When I MANUALLY turn the unit off/on or do a reset (hold the power button down till the screen goes fuzzy and the unit turns off), the Agenda gets set back to the PREVIOUS SYNCHRONIZED VERSION of the Agenda. In other words, if I last synced on Friday at the office, if I manually reset the phone on Sunday night, all of my weekend's changes are lost. No, I don't know why.

So, here's my workaround: I never turn the phone off. I back up every weekday at the office, and let the Backup and Restore utility reset the phone. If BACKUP resets the phone, this weird problem never occurs.

If I HAVE to turn the phone on/off, I first exit Calendar and/or Handy Day 2004 and copy the Agenda file from C:\Documents\Agenda (its TRUE location) to, say, somewhere on the D Drive. THEN, I turn the phone on/off/on. Then I copy the agenda file from the D Drive BACK TO C:\Documents\Agenda. Yes, it's a pain in the ass, but it does work every time.

And now a word from our sponsor - I have found that the new V3.0.0 version of PC Suite is the first one to sync everything absolutely correctly, at least with my kit. Repeating entries, exceptions, conflicts, all are PERFECT. Hey, it only took a year, but now I FINALLY am confident that what's in my phone is what's in Outlook.

FWIW.

Nick

For the first time I am having calendar problems with Lotus Notes. I scheduled a meeting using Notes and for no apparent reason it did not synchronize on my P900.

Hi all,
possibly a stupid question, but have you checked the default folder setting in the Calendar? The P900 has folder handling and mostly the synchronized items end up in the <Unfiled> folder. So if you have the wrong folder up then nothing is shown. To be safe you should set it too <All>.

cheers,
RRG

SymbianAdvisor wrote:When I MANUALLY turn the unit off/on or do a reset (hold the power button down till the screen goes fuzzy and the unit turns off), the Agenda gets set back to the PREVIOUS SYNCHRONIZED VERSION of the Agenda. In other words, if I last synced on Friday at the office, if I manually reset the phone on Sunday night, all of my weekend's changes are lost. No, I don't know why.

So, here's my workaround: I never turn the phone off. I back up every weekday at the office, and let the Backup and Restore utility reset the phone. If BACKUP resets the phone, this weird problem never occurs.

Nick, I am glad you have found a workaround (ie never switching off) but I tried this and eventually HAD to switch off (see post above).

Maybe mine is a different problem, certainly nothing to do with synching, which I haven't dared to do for at least 6 months. But it IS to do with the way the phone is powered down.

But I too have finally figured out my problem. 😃 If anyone from SE reads this, please take note. When I backup the phone, and it shuts down and starts up during the process, the /Startup folder is created, with copies of agenda etc. If I then immediately MANUALLY power off and power on, that folder disappears and all is well (ie no lost entries or anything). But if I forget to do this, then agenda opens the /Startup version and I merrily enter appointments etc. But next time I power down... you can guess the rest. So, at least I now know the cause.

So I can now even switch the phone off on flights!

Whether this is a fault with the backup program or a firmware thing, I really don't know. But either way, I hope SE can address this problem now that we have all done the diagnosis work for them.

Hi Nisbor,

I have had same problem several times and raised 2 calls to SE. They asked me to send the phone to support center. They dont even know that it is not hardware problem

Finally I ended up using your tip. Restarting manually after backup.

I just came to know that PC Suite new is released ( 3.1.1 ) have you tried this?
is the problem fixed by it ?

Thanks

cvramana wrote:Hi Nisbor,

raised 2 calls to SE. [snip] They dont even know that it is not hardware problem

Finally I ended up using your tip. Restarting manually after backup.

I just came to know that PC Suite new is released ( 3.1.1 ) have you tried this?
is the problem fixed by it ?

Thanks

Did you suggest that SE should read this forum?! This is where all their bugs get diagnosed and they should hence regard it as a valuable resource.

re 3.1.1 - yes, I have tried it but it makes no difference.

Thanks. I have now informed this link to SE.