Most software is imperfect. It’s true, I know it may comes as a shock. The Verizon sync software for Outlook, formally known as Wireless Sync PC Monitor by Verizon Wireless, is certainly no exception.
The software is designed to offer wireless sync capabilities between your desktop PC email program, (in my case, OUTLOOK) and your PDA or smartphone device (in my case, TREO). It does this by providing a conduit. Outlook stays on and open all the time, and the sync program monitors it, updating a web-hosted email/calendar/contact/task account on the Verizon Wireless storage facility at www.wirelesssync.vzw.com. That account pushes and pulls information to your TREO in almost real time.
Pretty slick…until it doesn’t work. The error messages are hard to decipher, and nobody, but nobody can really help you. Call Microsoft to troubleshoot Outlook, Call Palm to troubleshoot your TREO, call Verizon to troubleshoot the PC Monitor…unless you get luckier than I did, you are on your own.
Often, when the communication between Outlook and the PC Monitor is down, for whatever reason, you will receive an error in your inbox, subject “SYNCLOGC”, text something like “SYNCLOGC:)V1/VZPg0wXH0e+Qvg94xv2nEw1tapvomcpV-h/Z(:CGOLCNYS”. If you see this often enough, as I did, it gets annoying.
You may be tempted to create a rule to send it directly into a subfolder, or mark it as spam. This was my reaction, since I was receiving so many work emails that these repetitive error messages seemed like clutter I could do something about. Only after creating an Outlook rule to remove the email from my inbox, did I discover the true nature of this error message.
WHAT IS THIS ERROR CODE?
The “SYNCLOGC” error is actually a marker that a recent sync attempt has failed. Who knew? It is a message that actually TELLS the PC Monitor that you are out of sync, that changes are waiting on the server, and that it should try again. The possibilities for the lack of communication have endless variables. In one case, I changed a password on a synced email account and forgot that I needed to update the information at www.wirelesssync.vzw.com. In other cases, it is more simple…your DSL connection is down, your router needs to be reset, Outlook is closed, stuff like that.
A common problem for me was that I would walk away from my running computer, having given it certain instructions that were not so compatible with walking away. Example: I automatically downloaded important system updates, patches, virus definitions, etc. If those required a reboot, I gave it permission to do so right away. But after the reboot, I failed to tell my computer to start Outlook and the PC Monitor automatically, and in that order. 4 times out of 5, if I got the SYNCLOGC error on my TREO, that is what happened. Conversely, if I got the error in Outlook, it was the TREO that was the culprit, needed the famous every-other-day reboot.
BUT, and the most important thing to remember is, you have a pathway problem. Often it is at the user end, but if you troubleshoot and find nothing – don’t fret. Leave the error messages in your inbox and it can sometimes fix itself. This will be the case if perhaps the problem is with your account at www.wirelesssync.vzw.com, or maybe at your email hosting (Gmail, Yahoo, Sonic, AT&T, etc.). One way to know for sure is to log in to these two places and compare their data to yours. The site that has the most incomplete will be the one experiencing the communication problem.
NITTY GRITTY
So your troubleshooting path will be something like this:
Desktop Outlook àß PC Monitor àß Router àß Modem àß www.wirelesssync.vzw.com àß Email Client àß Wireless Sync, TREO àß TREO email program (PIM)
These double arrows represent a two-way communication – it’s not enough that Outlook sends, it must be also receiving.
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Check to see that Outlook is open. If you’ve had a reboot you may need to start it. Also, make sure you are not working offline.
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Check to see that you have the PC Monitor icon in your tray, and that it doesn’t have the blinking X, indicating that it’s in error state.
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Check to be sure that you have an internet connection.
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Be sure that your Router and Modem both have active lights. These may also need to be reset.
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[Since you've done all that, and we're good so far] Open your internet explorer and logon to your vzw wireless sync account. Go to the settings page and check the log for errors. If there are errors, clear those now. Check to see if the emails you find in the inbox there are matching and up to date with the ones you have in Outlook. If not, and you cannot find an error to fix, your problem MAY be here, and you MAY need to contact Verizon.
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Logon to your email internet interface – everyone has this, if you are unsure, check with your administrator or service provider. Make sure the email you find in the inbox there match what you find at Verizon and also in your Outlook. If not, and you cannot find an error to fix, your problem MAY be here, and you MAY need to contact your email provider.
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[Usually you won't have to get THIS far] Make sure your Verizon cell phone bill has been paid. Just kidding, but not really…it actually happened to a client of mine.
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Then, be sure you have a cell signal. Really.
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Reboot your TREO or smartphone. Occasionally I have seen that it seems like it’s functioning fine, but a process has stopped responding that a simple removing of the battery and reinserting, or other warm boot method, as described by the manufacturer, will restart that service.
And that, my friends, is all I know about that. One of these steps, or several, is responsible for a breakdown in your cycle, and if you follow these steps, you will identify which, even if you need help resolving it.
Feedback? Any trouble I can help with? Write me here.
6 comments
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September 7, 2009 at 11:55 am
technomiser
@Marvin: Not all SYNCLOGC errors are created equal. You appear to have a separate problem with Outlook remembering your password. That can generate this error as well. Try this:
To have Outlook remember your email account’s password:
Select Tools | Account Settings… from the menu.
Go to the E-mail tab.
Highlight the desired email account.
You have to set Outlook to remember the password for each account individually.
Click Change….
Make sure Remember password is checked under Logon Information.
Type the email account’s password under Password:.
If your outgoing mail server requires a different password (which is unlikely):
Click More Settings ….
Go to the Outgoing Server tab.
Make sure Remember password is checked under My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication.
Type the SMTP server’s user name and password under User Name: and Password: respectively.
Click OK.
Click Next >.
Now click Finish.
Let’s see if you stop getting the password reminder, which if unanswered, appears to be creating your error.
September 5, 2009 at 7:33 am
Marvin Pinckert
Thanks for the info on SYNCLOGC. We run just like you but have a Motorola Q. Our problem is that when the synclogc comes up Outlook seems to forget to try again and hangs up waiting for us to click the remember password and try again and this is bad when we are out of the office, no more syncing until we return to the cffice. Any help on this would really be appreciated.
Thanks
Marv Pinckert
May 26, 2009 at 10:25 am
Michael Schiff
I have experienced all the problems you have described with wireless sync and usually after going through all the steps I can eventually get it working. Lately though, pc monitor will not sync if Outlook is open. The catch 22 is that I cannot load Outlook if pc monitor is running. In the past I have always loaded Outlook first, then pc monitor, but as I said, this no longer works since pc monitor will load while Outlook is open but will not sync until I close Outlook. Strange I know. BTW, I am using Vista and Outlook 2007. Not sure what has changed, but it just wont work and Verizon has given up – they just say they have no advice for me.
September 7, 2009 at 12:14 pm
technomiser
@Michael: When you say you “close” Outlook, are you exiting out of it via Outlook? Have you checked the Task Manager afterwards to find that it is still actually running? It’s a strange thing indeed, but it seems that while you are “active” in Outlook you don’t Sync, but PC Monitor requires exclusive use of Outlook in order to Sync. BTW, are you on an Exchange or remote server?
I know this is silly, and they’ve probably already walked you through this, but here’s what I would do first in your sitch:
Remove PC Monitor completely, including registry entries…if you’re not comfortable messing around in the registry, reply to me and I can guide you through it to the proper keys.
Repair Outlook and make sure it is working properly.
Empty Recycle Bin.
Reboot.
Open Outlook.
Dowload, install and run PC Monitor.
Let us know if that helps. The more complicated issues won’t be solved here, but it’s an important troubleshooting step.
May 6, 2009 at 8:00 am
charles dweck
i have a motorola Q, and I get about 40 synclogic emails a day.
whatever the problem is, it doesn’t bother me because the emails end up going through, even if it is a few minutes late….
the problem with these SYNCLOGIC emails is that wirelessynce only records the last 30 emails…. if 24 are from synclogic…. you can imagine!
how do I stop getting these emails from synclogic. I am on lotus notes.
Please respond to :
cdweck@hotmail.com
thanks
September 7, 2009 at 12:36 pm
technomiser
@Charles: I am going to assume that, since your sync eventually happens, you may have an issue with Outlook’s send/receive schedule. Try increasing the frequency. The SYNCLOGC messages are not ‘technically’ and error…they are packets of instructions. They only become problematic when they are not instructing the way you want them to.
So I’d check the send/receive schedule in Outlook to get more “real-time” behavior from your Sync activity, and this will likely improve your delay, which will likely reduce your SYNCLOGC messages. Great tutorial on how to do this: http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et_send_receive.htm
BTW, @all: I now use IMAP for Outlook, IMAP on Blackberry, and the sync is universally flawless. Delete messages on one system, they’re gone from the other. No need to keep Outlook open. The only thing it handles is email (not contacts, tasks or calendar), but I’ll post other solutions about that…