A Clean Slate

Sometimes Palm devices misbehave because of conflicting applications that remain open in memory. You may find yourself unable to delete an application or document, or a Palm OS enhancement may stop working.

These problems can usually be solved by a soft reset. Similar to a soft reboot on a PC, a Palm soft reset removes no applications or data, but it does turn off a number of internal Palm processes. If the Palm reports a conflict when you try to HotSync, a soft reset may cure the problem.

To perform a soft reset on your Palm, gently poke the end of a paperclip into the "reset pinhole" on the back of the device. Do not press the green power on/off button.

If you experience fatal errors, lockups, or other problems after using or installing a third-party application, you can perform a hard reset to restore the unit to its factory configuration. This procedure will erase all of the data files and third-party applications on your Palm, but any applications or data that you've previously synchronized to the Palm Desktop can be restored with another HotSync. To perform a hard reset:

1. First put the Palm on its cradle and try to HotSync the current configuration.
   
   
2. After the HotSync operation, hold down the green power button on the Palm's front panel. While holding down the power button, use the tip of a paper clip to gently press the Reset button.
   
   
3. You should see a warning on the Palm screen that all data is about to be erased. Press the "scroll up" button on the Palm's front panel to complete the hard reset.
   
   
4. After the hard reset is completed, right-click the HotSync manager on your Windows desktop. Choose Custom and change all of the conduit settings to "Desktop overwrites handheld." Place the Palm on the cradle and press the HotSync button. After the HotSync operation is completed, change the setting for each Custom HotSync conduit back to "Synchronize" or press the Default button.