I have a PC running Linux Mint 18.3 and using Thunderbird 68.10.0. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy A40 (Android). I have General Sync v1.0.3.0, and Thunderbird G Sync Integration v 1.0.0.4.
It has all been running perfectly until recently when the contacts in the General Sync Address Book on the phone have all disappeared. The address book on the PC is still there and complete.
The calendar function synchronises but sometimes I cannot edit it on my PC, getting a 'modification_failed' message and right clicking on the calendar tab prompts 'the calendar is momentarily unavailable'.
Also, if I click on 'Tools/Add-on Preferences/General Sync Integration' I get the 'Re-establish Link with GeneralSync' dialogue box and then clicking on 'Reset connection information' tells me 'Connection information has been cleared'.
Nevertheless, both the Sync dashboard on the PC and the phone indicate that syncing is still proceeding OK.
What should I do?
Linux Mint 18.3 [...] Thunderbird 68.10.0
Linux Mint 18.3 has recently reached its end of life and Thunderbird 68 is very outdated and has known security vulnerabilities. I'd highly recommend to update Linux Mint (after verifying that you have recent backups). I don't know if that is related to the problem at hand, though.
contacts in the General Sync Address Book on the phone have all disappeared
Weirdly enough I had a similar support case relatively recently, where the theory was that the smartphone happens to arbitrarily delete data (usually that data should get restored by GeneralSync after some time, though). This was a common issue with old smartphones a few years ago – but your phone doesn't seem that old.
Did you try a restart of the Phone yet? Do the contacts re-appear shortly after that?
Do you see any warning messages on the main screen of GeneralSync (most relevant: a message telling you that syncing is disabled in Android)?
Do the contacts re-appear if you delete the address book in the GeneralSync-App, then tap on the PC's entry in the App and re-enable syncing the address book?
The calendar function synchronises but sometimes I cannot edit it on my PC, getting a 'modification_failed' message
Next time that happens, open the error console (for example by pressing Ctrl+Shift+J in Thunderbird's main window). You can usually get a more precise error message there. What is the last message displayed there directly after this issue occurs?
Nevertheless, both the Sync dashboard on the PC and the phone indicate that syncing is still proceeding OK.
If the time of the last sync is updated and the sync relations are marked as active, the actual sync between the devices is probably working fine. The issue is then between GeneralSync and Thunderbird (on PC) or between GeneralSync and Android's content providers (on Android).
Thanks for the quick response, as ever.
I will be updating Linux Mint asap and my Samsung phone is less than 2 years old.
Re-starting the phone did not make the contacts reappear, but deleting the calendar in the app and then reconnecting as you suggested worked. Great.
However the calendar still has problems - the warning message still comes up if I try to edit any entries on the PC (although I have it set to sync both ways I never initiate data on my phone). It will let me make a new entry and synchronise that with the phone, and delete the same message thereafter.
The error console has these messages in it;
Lightning: There has been an error reading data for calendar: APA Calendar . However, this error is believed to be minor, so the program will attempt to continue. Error code: 0x80004005. Description: generation too old for for modifyItem 2 calCalendarManager.js:1025
TypeError: aDocumentNode is undefined
An error occurred when writing to the calendar APA Calendar ! Please see below for more information. Error code: MODIFICATION_FAILED. Description: Application has an outdated data set, the object was changed since the last time the application pulled it.
If you're seeing this message after snoozing or dismissing a reminder and this is for a calendar you do not want to add or edit events for, you can mark this calendar as read-only to avoid such experience in future. To do so, get to the calendar properties by right-clicking on this calendar in the list in the calendar or task view. calCalendarManager.js:1022
The last 2 above had extra lines of info which I can't copy and paste.
So the problem seems related to the age of calendar entries - does any of this make sense to you?
Lightning: There has been an error reading data for calendar: APA Calendar . However, this error is believed to be minor, so the program will attempt to continue. Error code: 0x80004005. Description: generation too old for for modifyItem 2 calCalendarManager.js:1025
This error is likely caused by your old Thunderbird version. Update Linux Mint (and with that, Thunderbird), then wait for the auto-updater to update you to the most recent version of the GeneralSync Add-on (or install manually, the same steps also work as update). A restart of Thunderbird may be required after installing the new add-on.
If that should not fix the issue, try resetting the connection information again, try again and (if that is not sufficient) check if the message in the error console changed?
OK - thanks - will do, but it will be a few days before I can get round to it. I will report back in due course.
