You are installing two different pieces of software:  (1) Sidekick and (2) HotSync.  They have to be loaded in a particular order; i.e., one HAS to be loaded before the other.  I do not remember what the order is, but I most certainly remember that I have your kind of problems when I load them in the wrong order.  (There is a further issue that the HotSync that comes WITH SK might be written before there were USB ports.)

So I would suggest that you uninstall both SK and Palm 4.0.1 (with the HotSync 4.0.1).  The reload first SK and then the Palm 4.0.1.  If this does not solve your problem, uninstall both programs again and reload them in reverse order.

If the above suggestions don't work, the problem, depending on the age of your computer, could be with the USB drivers.  So you may want to try to install or re-install the latest USB drivers.

thanks gyula, I appreciate you answering, but it doesn't really help. first of all I'm actually insalling 4 programs, not two-- sidekick and truesync (the only software that will synch sidekick) as well as palm and hot synch, and, you are right, the truesync software was written before USB ports. But, somehow, in the past I've been able to get around that and get the hotsynch options to include a usb port and successfully synch. I've tried every possible order of installation-- uninstalling all programs, then installing palm (hotsynch), then sidekick, then true sync/ or sidekick/true sync/ palm (hotsynch)/ etc. etc.

but no matter how I've tried it this time around, when I try to synch for the first time, the truesync software wipes away the hotsynch usb option.

any ideas?