Calendar Problems

[m477h3w]

Has anyone had major problems setting up MobileMe? I am tearing my hair out trying to get it to work.

I signed up for a free 60 day trial to see how well it kept contacts, calendars and bookmarks in sync on my MacBook Pro, iPhone and iPad. I set it up on all devices using the instructions on Apples sight so I am sure I did it all correctly.

Contacts and bookmarks all seem to sync ok but I am having major problems with getting the calendar to sync. When I first set it up my calendars from iCal were loaded to me.com but with a number of duplicates. If I add an event to iCal it appears at me.com, but if I delete it from iCal it is not deleted from me.com and just stays there. Also, if I add an event at me.com it never appears on iCal on my Mac.

What's also strange is that when I view my calendar on my iPad or iPhone, some events are duplicated 100's of times, even though they are not in iCal. All calendars are doubled up as well if I view the calendar list.

Does this ring any bells with anyone? I really want it to work and thought it would be so simple.

Any help is appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[ziggyonice]

You might want to try an instant message chat with MobileMe Support. 24/7.

Just go to their site, and select what you need help with. At the bottom of the list is the option to chat with a specialist.

 

[m477h3w]

Thank you. I was in on online chat with them for about 4 hours yesterday and still couldn't get it working. I can't believe it can be that difficult to get it working!?!? I may have to book a Genius appointment I guess.

 

[miamialley]

Thank you. I was in on online chat with them for about 4 hours yesterday and still couldn't get it working. I can't believe it can be that difficult to get it working!?!? I may have to book a Genius appointment I guess.

Have you tried creating a new MMe account to see what that does? I've had my own MMe problems, too. My iDisk will sometimes stop updating the me.com iDisk, but everything else is fine. Help desk doesn't know my problem either.

 

[Red5403]

I've been a MM member since mac.com, and actually since day 1. I've never had problems with syncing, other than occasional glitches. Very recently, my iCal is also not syncing correctly. I've tried all of the normal things to do when syncing gets a little wacky, and nothing is helping. I did notice a new stream of threads at the apple discussion forums saying the same thing, so I have a hunch that something strange is going on and it has nothing to do with you, or being new, or not setting something up correctly. Something is a little screwy, and I'm not sure what.

 

[garethjs]

I've noticed a few changes made to MobileMe sync from the last few OS service updates.

10.6.2: No limit on how many syncs can be made from the MAC OS. Each time u make a change in iCal, Contact, Bookmarks it gets pushed to the cloud and then down to the device within 1 minute assuming you have it set to Automatic.

10.6.3: Limit introduced but attempt is made.
Steps (on Mac OS)
1: Add/Change/Del calender item: Item synced
2. Add/Change/Del calender item: Item synced
3. Add/Change/Del calender item: item attempts to sync but fails. Console logs show "limit exceeded in Automatic Mode. And then it throttle syncs from that application only (contacts/bookmarks will sync as per normal) for a good 15minutes. Manual sync allows it to go through.

Same thing with mm.com; log in and make too many changes and it syncs to all the iDevices except the MAC OS. Again check logs and it seems that the OS receives the change info but dumps it because it's exceeded. Again Manual sync will allow it go through.

Now if you add an item to iCal on your iDevice/Web whilst this throttle has happened, the MAC OS registers the incoming change request but dumps it. This means that u now have 2 different versions of iCal. One on your Mac and one on your iDevices & web.

Sync again in 15min and mobileme will merge them together.

10.6.4: Limit still exist but attempt is not made.
Steps (On Mac OS)
1: Add/Change/Del bookmarks item: Item Synced
2: Add/Change/Del bookmarks item: Item Synced
3: Add/Change/Del bookmarks item: No Activity... No upload/download to MobileMe even. Yes nothing is recorded in console.log even. I suppose u could say this is better than how it was done on 10.6.3 because it saves data (albeit small) Because no log entry is created I'm not sure how long you are throttled for if its still 15+min or not.

Now here is where the change occurs.

Add an item on your iDevices/Web (Safari) while you have been throttled and MobileMe syncs it to your Mac OS BUT now since the bookmark file on the MAC OS has changes as well it merges it and then syncs it back to your iDevice/Web.

This may be why some of your items to not appear to sync.

 

[Macsterguy]

m477h3w

iCal is acting strangely for me lately too (the last 3 days). iCal alarms I have set on one device doesn't work on others (Macs only) while my iPhone always works... I have no doubt this has something to do with Apple / new iPhone etc... Not you...

I have used the following method(s) for years and it seems to work syncing 3 Mac's and my iPhone and now my iPad...

I NEVER, repeat NEVER use online MobileMe...

I have found that if I am going to make a lot of changes to iCal or address book, I turn off wifi on my laptop OR set my desktops (non wifi) to sync manually, make my changes and get things just the way I want them, then turn wifi and/or automatic sync back on again and all is well. This seems NOT to confuse MobileMe... and it works for me.

It sounds like you have most of your sync working except for iCal...

Try getting one version of iCal just the way you want it with wifi or automatic sync turned off on ONE Device (your Macbook Pro).

IMPORTANT - Now Backup iCal by going to the file menu (while iCal is running) and choosing "EXPORT / ICAL ARCHIVE" and save a copy to your desktop...

Turn off iCal syncing (only) on your iPhone and iPad in "settings" on each device. When asked, DO NOT keep a copy of your calendars on the iPhone and iPad (remember you have a backup on your desktop). make sure that both devices have NO CALENDAR DATA. then shut both of them off.

Now on your MacBook Pro go to syst prefs / mobileme / sync tab / advanced / reset sync data / choose to replace calendars on mobileme. Make sure you are sending and replacing calendars on mobileme (not down to your macbook pro).

When the sync has finished go to me.com and see if your calendars are exactly as they are on your macbook pro.

If iCal is synced between your MacBook Pro and MobileMe, your sync problems are fixed and you can turn calendar sync back on on your iPhone and iPad and check that all is well...

if not STOP THERE AND REPORT BACK. There are additional steps to take on your MacBook Pro at this point...

* NOTE - there are additional options / tools for sync if you "option-click" on the sync arrows in your menu bar... like resetting sync data and history in a little hidden app called iSync (that makes all of this work). There is even a sync diagnostics tool (which I have never had to use).

 

[m477h3w]

Thanks for all the help and info guys, much appreciated

I booked a genius appointment and they were just as confused as I was. They were very helpfull though, and helped me cancel my account, and set up a new one with a different email address and debit card.

We set up everything on my Mac first so iCal was up to date and backed up, then synced with me.com. Once that was all working we set up my iPhone and iPad one at a time.

Pleased to say that seems to have sorted the issues I was having, and calendars are all staying in sync

Thanks again!

 

[Macsterguy]

Thanks for all the help and info guys, much appreciated

I booked a genius appointment and they were just as confused as I was. They were very helpfull though, and helped me cancel my account, and set up a new one with a different email address and debit card.

We set up everything on my Mac first so iCal was up to date and backed up, then synced with me.com. Once that was all working we set up my iPhone and iPad one at a time.

Pleased to say that seems to have sorted the issues I was having, and calendars are all staying in sync

Thanks again!

Glad to hear that things are sorted out