iPod not being detected by Dell Latitude X200

[Earthling]

Hm. I seem to be having a little problem with my 15GB 3G iPod here. I have a PC running Windows XP Professional and a 6-pin IEEE1394 PCI card. My iPod syncs fine with my PC and I have experienced no problems with it whatsoever.

Yesterday, I tried plugging my iPod into a Dell Latitude X200 which has a built-in 6-pin IEEE1394 port and that's where the problems began.

That particular laptop runs Windows XP Professional. Whenever I plug my iPod in, Windows generates a sound alert to notify me that I have plugged in a new device and after a short while, a removable drive icon appears in My Computer. The strange thing is that My Computer (on the laptop) lists it as 'Removable Drive E:' whereas My Computer (on my PC) would list it as 'Sauron J:'.

I try double clicking the drive to access it but the My Computer window stops responding and there are 2 possible outcomes
1. The My Computer window hangs indefinitely until I bring up Task Manager to kill it
2. I get a BSOD (disk.sys or NTFS.sys)

After installed either the v2.01 or v2.1 Updater, if I try to access 'Removable Drive E:', the Updater is launched and it tells me that I would have to restore my iPod. This doesn't make sense at all when my iPod is already loaded to the brim with songs and is formatted for use with Windows.

A couple of strange things happen though. My iPod would display the 'Do Not Disconnect' message and my iPod charges itself while connected to the laptop.

I have tried EphPod and iTunes but they don't seem to detect my iPod at all. I used EphPod to manually select 'Removable Drive E:' but EphPod informs me that the directory structure is not in place and that I would need to create a directory structure. Upon attempting to create a directory structure, EphPod would inform me that it is unable to create the directory and promptly crashes.

I have tried removing the iPod via the Device Manager but the problem recurrs. After all this, my iPod is still working fine and I am able to listen to songs on it normally.

<edit> The IEEE1394 port is working fine. I have a CD-ROM drive which uses the IEEE1394 port to connect to my laptop and it works fine. </edit>

[djkatscan]

I was having the same exact problems on my PC, also running XP pro. Thanksfully I did not get to the BSOD point, but I was getting scared it was XP that was the problem. Its the firewire on the Dell. The firewire card I had was working fine with other devices too, like a DV camera...ect...But my machine would do the exact same thing when the ipod was plugged in. Ipod just does not "like" that card, whatever kind it is. Since it's a laptop...not much you can do if it's integrated. Disable the onboard and get a "certified compatible' one?

[Earthling]

Oh shucks. So a purchase of a PCMCIA FireWire card is necessary?

[ashawley]

Sadly the PCMCIA route is how you need to go.

You can tinker and try tons of different things - but it's usually not worth the time, nor does it usually work. Laptop built-in ports are notorious for this.

Adam

[Earthling]

Originally posted by ashawley
Sadly the PCMCIA route is how you need to go.

You can tinker and try tons of different things - but it's usually not worth the time, nor does it usually work. Laptop built-in ports are notorious for this.

Adam

How true. Yesterday evening, while I was on the bus, I tried plugging my iPod into my lappy. To my utter amazement and surprise, my lappy detected my iPod and it worked like a charm. But upon returning home, I tried plugging my iPod into my lappy but it was deja vu all over again. Shucks.