PC Suite 6.81.13.0 and the N91

Question

Hi, I'm running normal Windows XP SP2, on a stable system, admin rights, with anti-virus, the works...
My PC Suite is the latest version (6.81.13.0), and the firmware is the original, that the phone was shipped with.
I was trying to update my N91's Firmware, and it was recommended that I update my PC Suite too.
I have finished the installation, and connected my phone to the computer using the USB cable it was shipped with.
The initial connection was fine, but it refused to Backup. It would start the backup, and immediately stop. No errors, nothing... All it continues to tell me that no information about the previous backup is available.
I though maybe there was a problem with the connection, but when I tried to connect again, windows gave the error popup saying:: "USB Device Not Recognised", and that it has "malfunctioned" which it never used to display... Windows recommend I reconnect (doesn't help), and if the problem persists, I should replace my device... Unlikely
And now the same thing is displayed when I try to connect it as a Mass Storage device!? (Which is a big problem as I use it to store important data for work, as well as a desperate need for synchronisation with outlook).
Eventually after many restarts and much fiddling, it connected again... but alas, backups still present problems.
Once the Backup util decided to function, and accept that my phone was indeed connected to the computer
It told me that there was an interruption, and the connection (with a phone in PS Suite mode, connected by a physical wire to a functional USB port) had been lost.
Many attempts (about 20) later, and the problem persists (at varying stages of the operation, but never getting past 80%).
The backup log is as follows::
BACKUP LOG:
Date and time: 2006/10/31 10:07:03 PM
Backed up phone: Nokia N91
Backup saved to file(s):
Backing up the phone failed.
The contact manager however was more then happy to update its self, and display my contacts.
The Message manager refused to work, saying that connections kept being lost (and must be running out of places to hide by now, as even the internet has only so many places you can put ones connection and forget where it is...)
After a while, it decided to let me perform all functions in the phone browser,
although the message that i sent to myself, appeared to have been received on the 30th of December 1899!?! at 2:20am (current time 10:15).
When I tried to view the N91's files (in hope that I may be able to crudely update by myself) explorer froze, and had to be restarted. On the second and third attempts, the app had found even more places to misplace the connection, and eventually the phone stopped responding!?
I proceeded to disconnect my phone, in the hopes that the connection may have been lost therein, but in an attempt to reconnect, the phone neglected to display its menu of connection options, and windows failed to recognise me once more. So I restarted my phone as well as my computer, which fixed that problem.
I thought I might try a different approach to test the validity of the connection, and used the "Store images" function. This managed to transfer over 250MB of images and video clips, without a hint of a problem. So obviously the connection/cable were not problematic.
I thought that possibly, with my recent success, it might be worth my while to try and backup once more.. Alas, failure.
Would the software be happier with a Bluetooth device perhaps? One purchase later, I find that:: It cannot find my phone, even though the software shipped with the dongle found it fine.
Even after pairing and unpairing with the dongles software, PS Suite battles on... As it turns out, PC Suite is not compatible with the dongles software, and cannot access the device while the dongles software is running. After configuring both to try and run in harmony, the dongles software says that my phone no longer allows pairing?!
A reset or two later, and I finally get the two connected.
Backup once more gets it's attempt, and to my amazement, it reached "81% complete - Full backup".. And that’s where it stayed... For fear of ruining something beautiful, I left it there.. After about an hour with no change, I decided to abort. It didn't appear to be going anywhere... On further inspection, it appeared as though my phone had frozen in a way. It wouldn't show the "desktop" and wouldn't allow me to stop Bluetooth.. However, in the last two hours, I had made some progress... from connection lost at a max of 80% to freezing at 81%. I was getting somewhere...
After a reset, I tried again.. Upon closer inspection, my phone appeared to be dancing around from com port to com port. (com6, then com8. com4 etc...)
Joy... I felt a tingling sensation as the backup util reached 99%. It hung there, teasing me for about 5 minutes, until:: SUCCESS!!!
Finally, after 6 hours, a second USB cable, and a Bluetooth dongle later, I had managed to perform the most basic and important of tasks..
If it was this much admin backing up my phone (on v6.8 of the PC Suite software being this buggy), can it be trusted to use the update something as delicate as my Firmware (With version 1.1 of the updater)?
This is just a report on the difficulies I've encountered (for help with sys dev)
And also just wondering how effective this updater is (before I risk my time and money once more), and if the Firmware is even worth the trouble?

Answer 1

Bbarton, it seems that th Nokia Music Manager get's confused with the new music files you have added and does not know how to show part of them. If you have some means to remove some of the files, particularly if you have veru old MP3's or similar that you have added, if you can try to temporarily remove those and bit by bit add them to find out what is the music file than causes the problem with Music manager. Also tell what is the origin of that new music (did you get that from internet for example, did you rip CD's or...?)Message Edited by manta on 13-Aug-2006
12:37 PM