Which PC application are you trying to use for the connection with the 49g+?
As Crawl noted, Conn4x (the "Connectivity Kit" designed for the 49g+) isn't designed to work with IrDA. On my system, attempting to "connect" temporarily breaks the already established IrDA connection, and by the time that it's re-established, Conn4x has already timed out. I suggested getting IrDA working to Conn4x's developer, but he didn't seem to think it important enough to bother.
However, using MS Windows 98SE, my RS-232/IrDA converter is seen as a "virtual COM port", and I can use HPComm (the "Connectivity Kit" designed for the 49G) or HyperTerminal to connect with the 49g+.
Note that the 49g+'s IrDA connection is pretty slow (at least with my PC); in terms of bytes per second, the average througput is even slower than a 9600 bits per second connection with the 48 series. That said, I'm not absolutely sure that the "bottleneck" is in the 49g+; I suppose that it could be in something on my PC, including in the RS-232/IrDA converter.
Of course you can use a USB connection with the 49g+ for Conn4x.
Another alternative is to use an SD card or MMC (MultiMediaCard) to transfer objects.
Regards,
James