"critical communication services" error

I cannot get "search" working here, lately. I have a jornada 680; it used to sync just fine with my Windows xp (of course can't use it with vista). Now, I get the little green thingy going, but when I try to "explore", I get "Critical communications services failed to start." Also, it doesn't allow for me to set up the partnership. I have tried uninstalling 3.8, and reinstalling, soft reset, hard reset. Can anyone help? tia, Clare

Hi, Eclare 99, you don't say what happened between the time you used to sync and the moment you cannot get connected. Any special event or happening?

Do you actually get the message "Connected" when you connect the Jornada to the desktop PC? the sync cable is OK? is the Jornada AC power plugged? Is the Jornada correctly attached into the docking cradle?

If your Jornada gets connected (Active Sync tells it is) use Windows Explorer on your desktop to see if it detects your Jornada (PC:\Mobile device\My Handheld PC-> double click).

You could try to delete the partnership (see Help section on the Active Sync dialog window) .

Hope it will help, other wise it's a matter for the experts in this site.
Best regards

Tx for your reply. There was no special event or happening; it just quit syncing................it seems to connect, but then immediately the little sync thing quits circling. I have tried everything, even another computer. I'm now getting "no partnership"; it doesn't let me "delete the partnership";on another computer, I get critical error (error 10054).

Have a look at your firewall settings, AS needs full client and server access, as well as a valid access range of 192.168.55.x for a private network.

Thanks, for your answer; I still can't get it working.

I think I need to do this:
"To restore your ActiveSync installation to version 3.8 from 4.x.

Close all applications
Close all running Microsoft Office processes
Uninstall all instances of Microsoft ActiveSync
Using Windows Explorer navigate to:
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\System32
-or-
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Winnt\System32
Locate and Delete the file:
RAPI.dll

Reboot your computer " (info from your site)............but I cannot find %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\System32

tia, Clare

You definitely need to delete rapi.dll. Just replace "%SYSTEMDRIVE%" with "C:" and you'll have the location you need to go to (C:\Windows\System32).

Tx again!

When I uninstall activesync, the rapi.dll file is no longer there.

If I reinstall, it of course appears again, but then I can't delete it........."cannot delete rapi; Access is denied."

sadly, Clare