Error -50 with Palm desktop (in clone!) 1

[Savoy]

OK, here's the setup:
-Starmax3000 (which means, Tanzania MB)
-Sonnet G3 processor upgrade
-Mac OS 9.1

Everything WAS working beautifully together, then, all of a sudden, we can't open Palm desktop 4.0. As you try to open the program, all the menus suddenly gray out and you get "unexpected error-50" We've tried reinstalling Palm, reinstalling the OS, rebuilding desktop, zapping PRAM. We ran TechTools which thought it found a problem with our (admittedly ancient) version of Stuffit, but we deleted Stuffit and still have the problem! When we attempt a conflict test with Conflict catcher, we can't really test whether Palm works or not, because we get an "InterfaceLib missing" message. Now of COURSE InterfaceLib can't REALLY be missing, because the whole machine wouldn't work!

Another variable that may have changed. We have a Brother MFC multifunction printer (a USB printer that uses an add-in USB card), and we recently installed the updated software to it. Could this be the problem? If so, how??

More broadly, what causes a -50 error (yes, I know it's an error in the user parameter list, but what the heck does THAT mean, and what causes that?)?

Thanks so much for any/all help.

Savoy

 

[Savoy]

ALSO: Palm runs on regular old serial port, not USB. Only the printer runs on USB.

 

[Savoy]

OK, so no one answered. But that's OK, all is solved.

What LOOKS like a Mac OS error (given that it's got a Mac std. error code) turned out to be a Palm error, easily fixed by deleting the user file and re-creating it. So.

 

[gListen]

Help! This same thing just happened to me on my Ti running OS 9.2. Can you please describe exactly what you did to get Palm Desktop running again? I get the "unexpected error #-50" three times when I try to launch the app, and then it quits out. Thanks...

 

[Savoy]

1. Back up your user folder (located under Documents/Palm/username).

2. Trash the user folder.

3. Start up Palm Desktop again. Name your new user folder the same as your old one. The desktop wil start again.

4. Now go to File> Merge... Select the user file in the folder that you backed up. All your stuff should come back.

Alternatively (though this is riskier), if your handheld is up to date, you could just trash the user folder and use the handheld to get your info back.

Hope that helped.

 

[gListen]

That did the trick! Thanks a million...

 

[shimspace]

Unexpected Error #-50, Mac OS 9.2, Palm OS 4.0

Have deleted the user folder as helpfully listed by savoy above, re-ran Palm Desktop 4.0, but I am still getting the "unexpected error #-50". Have since reinstalled Palm OS, created a new user (both at Palm OS setup wizard), and also just by remaking user folder as suggested, but neither have worked. When I go into the hot synch manager, it seems to be hot-synching fine, but can not get into Palm OS 4.0 desktop software.

Please help!

 

[Capacis]

problem has been temporarily fixed (using OS9.1 on a G4). my question is: how often should I expect this to happen? I'm forced to use Palm Desktop 4 'cause of my new Treo, but this error happened after only 3 days.

 

[kirblam]

Shimspace,
I also tried the same advice from savoy and still had the symptoms you describe. I then deleted (moved out of the way at least...) the Palm Desktop Info file from the preferences. This was in addition to moving the User folder along with the Documents/Palm/Palm Users file.

I then opened Palm desktop and went thru the simple steps for setup. After that was complete, I went to File->Merge and located the folder I had moved. Everything looks healthy.

I prefer to move stuff around rather than deleting. Usually programs are looking for items along a path so immediate deletion is more risky than just moving it somewhere unexpected. The program will still usually act like the item is "gone".

Good luck.
k