spygeek: Bluetooth ActiveSync headaches with iPaq 2215

December 29, 2005

Bluetooth ActiveSync headaches with iPaq 2215

For my first post in *mumble* months, here's another aha! entry that I hope someone may find useful when they have the same problem. I recently a got a new work computer, a Compaq nc6120 laptop. I already had a sweet Think Outside Bluetooth travel mouse and keyboard at home from an ill-conceived plan to use my iPaq 2215 in lieu of a laptop at E3 this past May. I never got around to using the mouse or keyboard, but now I needed a travel mouse for my laptop. The laptop doesn't have built in BT, so I either had to buy another mouse, or buy a BT USB adaptor so I could use the one I had. The bonus of buying the adaptor is that I could also use it to sync my iPaq when I was away from the office.

I got my hands on a D-Link DBT-120 Bluetooth USB Adaptor ($19.99 AR at CompUSA) and driver installation was a snap. I turned on the mouse and was able to detect it and use it right away, without any additional software, so that part was golden. I then turned my attention to setting up ActiveSync on the iPaq.

Since I'm a relative BT noob and couldn't figure out the screens, I did some Googling and came across this helpful guide from Geekzone. However, once I did the setup, I double-clicked on the ActiveSync shortcut on the iPaq and all I got was a Connecting.. dialog box and it never seemed to connect.

Some more Googling and I found that this was a common problem. Some of the solutions seemed pretty far-fetched or otherwise not really worth the effort. I set up serial port and network access connections, still no dice. I reviewed the settings again. I did some more searching. I put the iPaq in the cradle to charge and to make sure it would still sync normally, which it did.

I picked the iPaq up and tried again out of desperation and, lo and behold, it worked immediately!

I think the problem is that I failed to sync via cradle after making the changes to ActiveSync settings that are outlined in the Geekzone guide. So if you're having trouble with getting BT ActiveSync to work, make sure you've synced normally first. Hopefully it will save you some of the pain I endured.

Posted by Laura at December 29, 2005 10:43 AM