I am sinking with my 650: hot sync exhaustion

[PalmPowered]

Well, I have been unable to now sync my Treo 650 since August 13th. Between 2-4 weeks after using my 650 on my Dell with Windows XP Media it became very user unfriendly. It got to the pint where I had to uninstall, and reinstall the 650 software everytime I wanted to successfully sync.
I was content as I was just happy it would sync. It is said that Windows XP Media is not compatible with the 650, but also said that it can be used with no issues.
Anyway I overloaded my PC, and got locked out of it to the point where I had to "hard reset" my Dell. The hot sync failure was happening several days before the PC reset, I mean to the point where even an install, and uninstall would not help.
I think I corrupted the original installation cd by mistakenly saving a file onto it.
I bought a new installation CD, and it arrived today, so I hoped it would solve any issues. It is not a Cingular 650 installation CD, but just a regular 650 CD. So maybe that is the issue. My phone is an unlocked Cingular. But I use TMobile Internet, and phone on it.
Also I purchased a brand new cradle to go with the other 3 sync cables that I have for this phone.
A message appears in the Palm desktop underneath local, and modem sayin "The selected port, COM1, is not available at this time, HotSync Manager will open the port when it becomes available."
This is the only thing that I cannot remedy. There are no options for putting any name of any port in the blank box.
For the latest uninstallations I also delted all Palm related stuff on my PC to help with reinstall.
My PC will charge my 650 with all four of my Cable/cradles.
On the HotSync screen of the Treo 650 it is set for Local, cradle/cable. On the task bar on the PC Local USB is checked, and nothing else is checked.
I have gone into prefs on my Treo 650's app screen. From there I had it set on Cradle/Cable. I also tried it on custom where it says Connect to: I chose PC Via: "Cradle/Cable".
Thanks for sifting through this rather lengthy post.
I also looked up some threads about (configuring?) the COM1 port, but the solutons offered in those threads were not available to me on my PC.
I am guessing that this "COM1" port issue is my problem.
I have two front USB ports, and 5 in the back. All of my other USB devices work including my Treo 270. In the back my keyboard, and mouse run out of USB ports. They only work in the two ports that they ar ein, and not in any other of the 3 ports on the back.
Basically my PC is not recognizing my 650. As said my Treo 270 will sync.
Thanks for reading this.
Sorry for any Type-O's this is a lengthy post, and spell check is not working for me. pheww..........

[Medicineman]

I have a 650 that syncs with a Dell XP Windows computer. No Problem. Have you contacted Dell support via internet. I had a problem with the url's in my email. Had to contact Dell. They fixed it via remote computer. Worth a try on your com port.

[AlexFreire]

Hi PalmPowered. Try this (worked for me): open the HotSync setup dialogue window, by right-clicking on the tray icon; on tab 'Local', change the Serial Port to COM7; then hit Apply, then Ok.

Also, make sure that when you right-click on the tray icon, the options 'Local USB', 'Local' and 'Network' are checked.

You can also buy o Bluetooth Dongle (if your Dell does not have it already), and perform the HotSync operation via BT.

Hope this will help.

Best regards,
Alexandre
Brasil
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Treo 650 Unlocked GSM