iPod and iTunes not talking

[davos]

A lot of people have written on this topic but there does not seem to be a solution.

I have a 3Gen iPod which, until recently, connected very happily to iTunes via firewire.

After a windows XP reinstall and subsequent reinstall of iTunes, iTunes and my iPod are no longer friends. Windows recognises the iPod as a drive but iTunes does not pop up and if I load it manually, it says there is something wrong with my software and please install again.

I have tried everything suggested by apple or on this forum including:
-reinstall iTunes
-reinstall updater 2.1
-do the above after totally removing iTunes and updater (and stopping relevant services, deleting iPod folder, removing any registry references that I could locate)
-reset iPod
-start iPod in disk mode and attach
-change drive letter
-update firewire driver
-change firewire port
-have even bought the overpriced apple usb 2.0 cable and tried that, but with the same results.

Apple, if you ever look at this, please at least reassure users on your site that you are looking into the problem.

For those like me who still have a problem, I have used and recommend Anapod's software as a solution in the meantime, but I still miss my iTunes and obviously I cannot update iPod firmware. Why didn't apple make software that connects to iPod as easily as Anapod. I don't get why Anapod should be able to connect but not iTunes..

If anyone thinks of any other clever solutions, would love to hear from you.

[Ravager]

Is there a file called "Program" in the root of any of your paritions?

[davos]

Thanks for the reply Ravager. I haven't checked this but I'll do this when I get home.
Sounds a bit strange that this should cause the prob? What sort of file is it supposed to be, an exe? Do I have to reinstall updater/iTunes once it's deleted?

[Ravager]

In my case, this file was the exact program.
It's always generated for some reason by an IRC client I used to use.

The file has no extension, it's just called "Program".
I deleted the file, and I didn't even have to reboot... I just manually enabled the iPod service, and everything started working like it should.

[davos]

Thanks Ravager- I've just checked and no luck, I don't have this file. Glad it worked for you though! I'll post again if I discover any other solutions...

[davos]

SOLUTION
Well, I've finally got a working pod again!
I tried everything to make it work (see above). Finally, I installed updater 2.1 on a friend's computer and it recognised the pod. I updated the software to 2.1 and when I plugged it in at home again, iTunes and iPod were happily talking again! I hope this works for others- let us know!