Hmm that's a possibility, I'm not sure how the chat pad is wired. I do know that the 'button A' is also a USB data line when in programming mode. So if the chat pad also uses the 'button A' line, then the USB would be disabled while the chat pad is connected.
Its nothing that can't be fixed by simply removing the pad, but I just tries to sync like 5 times with no success, removed the pad and everything went swimmingly... just giving some heads up... maybe collaborate all this info and make a FAQ ...