OK, first please understand that I'm posting this for a friend and I don't know much about the m515 or PDAs in general. Here's the what's happening. We just did a fresh install of win98se, have installed some HP usb drivers and a camcorder driver for usb too. For some reason we can't get the palm os m515 to hot sync... it seems windows doesn't even know the device is conneted. All the software is installed and in fact is the same software that worked before the reformat. Also this pda is not working on a WinME laptop that was working just a week ago. Nothing on the laptop has been changed. The pda hot synced with the laptop on the 18th and the only thing that has changed was that the pda had to be "soft reseted" once since the pda refused to turn on. (I have very limted knowledge of what all that was about). It seems that though windows is setup right, the pda isn't due to the soft reset... but we not 100% sure. If you need anymore info please ask, I'll get you anything you need. Since this pda isn't working with 2 computers (one of which was setup right just a few weeks ago)... We are leaning towards the soft reset that was done. We've also tried a different cradle but that had no effect. Thanks for any info and help you can provide.

I ran into sort of the same problem myself. It turns out that certain USB controllers [the hardware inside your computer that makes your USB port go] don't recognize the palm cradle. This being said, no matter what you do to the palm, the computer is not going to know that it exists. How to know if this is the case: Place palm in cradle. Press HotSync button. Did the palm respond and not the computer? If yes, this is your problem. What to do: Buy a serial cradle. They are much cheaper than the USB cradles and are more universal. I scored one from WalMart for $12. Why this is the case: If you have Windows update or have reinstalled any sort of usb software or have updated your drivers or ... the list goes on. Basically any form of update will bring your USB port out of compliance. Here's a very useful website in terms of helping you out. It deals with all the specific issues involving USB ports.