Pulling contacts off my diamond with a dead screen.

[mmmdieselfumes]

Well I dropped the phone on my nice hard tile floor, and it basically killed the screen. No touch response, nothing shows on the screen, the screen is basically dead. But the phone underneath is still alive and kicking. I can hear calls and texts coming in, and it sound perfectly normal when I start it up. I can connect it to WMDC (won't sync, but that's a problem I've been having since before I dropped it), and can explore all my files and whatnot through windows explorer. So I'm left with a working phone with no screen, and no way to do anything through the phone.



So I got my replacement phone from sprint early this morning, already unlocked and flashed it to the RSTG 3.7.05, and got everything pretty much to my liking. BUUUUT, I am still missing my 400+ (which about 50 are very important which I call nealy every day) contacts, and can see no way to retrieve them.

I've been screwing with WMDC for the past two hours to try and get it to finish syncing up with either device with no luck.

It see's them, trys to connect, then fails saying it encountered a problem on the desktop. Which is a big improvement, because I was getting alot of errors with everything in the sync content [checked] (mail tasks calendar contacts notes etc), so I unchecked everything and just left contacts ticked. Still no dice though. I've ended and restarted partnerships probably over 100 times already. I think it's something to do with windows outlook, cause that process keeps ending and that's when I get the sync failed message.

Which is really weird because it used to work perfectly, and like I said earlier, I am still able to explore both my devices (and my cable is obviously good since I've been able to unlock and flash my new phone).

So, any thoughts?

[psycho_maniac]

maybe a dumb question but does the touch still work? maybe you can blindly use that or use the hardware buttons blindly? also, i forgot what i was gonna say here, but what do you use for backing up contacts on the phone if anything. oh, what kinda errors are you getting when you try to sync?

[mmmdieselfumes]

Nah I said in the beginning that I have no touch response. And the exact error message I get is "ActiveSync encountered a problem on the desktop."

I used to get the "Desktop synchronization cannot be completed. Reduce your mailbox size by deleting some items and folders and try again." when I had everything for sync content ticked. Now I just get the "ActiveSync encountered a problem on the desktop." error with only the contacts ticked.

[mmmdieselfumes]

I used to just use WMDC to backup my contacts, but I lost all those backups when I ended partnerships to try and diagnose my WMDC sync errors...

Wish I just had a dead screen with touch response, because then I could just use it blind with the new phone right next to it and export my contacts with the PIM Backup utility that RSTG supplies in his kitchen... Which I should have used when my old phone was working. Hindsight 20/20...

[Snoman002]

Try Mymobiler.

When I connect using my mobiler I can view my TP screen on my desktop, I can then control the phone through mymobiler, or if I control the phone normal the changes show up on my desktop.

[bmxracr96]

Only problem with that is he would need to install software on the phone. Which isnt possible without a touch screen to enter the data.

Another alternative would be to find out what file/folder holds your contact info and copy it to the other phone.

At times like this is where weekly pim backups and dashwire/myphone sync's really shine. I have all my stuff double backed up. If you don't think your phone is not important enough to backup. Try to go a few days without it. I'm lost if i leave the house without it.

[mmmdieselfumes]

Originally Posted by bmxracr96

If you don't think your phone is not important enough to backup. Try to go a few days without it. I'm lost if i leave the house without it.

Definitely. At lease my work phone has all my contacts that are vital for work. So I'm only out of the loop for all personal business.

On a side note, I figured out the issues with WMDC. For the "ActiveSync encountered a problem on the desktop." error, to solve it I went to the device manager and uninstalled the drivers under Portable Device -> Touch Diamond, then restarted the computer.

For the "Desktop synchronization cannot be completed. Reduce your mailbox size by deleting some items and folders and try again." error, you need to open up windows calendar, view all appointments, and delete all duplicates. THEN you also need to open up windows mail and windows office outlook (if installed), and delete whatever accounts you have (for me it was my 3 imap google and 1 yahoo accounts). That should clear up that Mailbox error.

Then I hooked back up my old phone with the broken screen, started up a new partner ship, sync'd all my contacts with outlook (where they're stored by default appearntly). Hooked up the new phone, started a new partnership for the new phone, and sync'd the contacts (which imports them from outlook rather than windows contacts). All seems to be good now.

Hope this helps someone with a dead screen who forgot to backup their contacts, and for those of yall with WMDC sync issues.

What would be real helpful (which I tried to look into, with no avail), would be to find which file contains the contacts on the phone, so you could copy it through windows explorer. Would be dead useful for people with dead screens, dead touch responce, etc.

[chotaBK]

Originally Posted by mmmdieselfumes

What would be real helpful (which I tried to look into, with no avail), would be to find which file contains the contacts on the phone, so you could copy it through windows explorer. Would be dead useful for people with dead screens, dead touch responce, etc.

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=62696

[Snoman002]

Originally Posted by bmxracr96

Only problem with that is he would need to install software on the phone. Which isnt possible without a touch screen to enter the data.

I dont remember installing any software on the phone with MyMobiler, its a PC application.

But anyways, sounds like you got it figured out, and if you didnt have the connection issues that certainly is the easiest way to pull contacts off the phone.

[jeffokada81]

Connect to activesync, on your PC goto the main directory on your phone and copy off 'pim.vol' .

When you get your new phone, copy and replace the pim.vol on the new phone and reset...