PC won't recognize iPod - I read FAQs, honest!

[gellmanb]

I posted this in Windows General forum but it looks like it belongs here. Forgive the newbie crosspost.

I have read all the FAQs, including Apple's at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61711 and had no joy. Really hoping for some magic from the exceptionally knowledgeable crowd here.

I bought a used Mac iPod (1G, 5GB, #8541) and want to connect it to my Dell D600 W2K notebook using an Apple branded firewire cable and OrangeLink FireWire for Notebooks (not the FireWire 800 version; it's an older card operating at 400).

I don't (yet) want to reformat the iPod for Windows, because I want to copy the music off it first. For this, as advised in the following thread, I plan to use the trial version of XPlay:
http://ipodlounge.com/forums/showth...?threadid=38171

Trouble is, Windows can't see the iPod at all. In My Computer, nothing happens when I connect the device. Even though it's a Mac iPod, I thought it should show up as a drive letter and that Windows would then complain it can't recognize it.

I've tried the obvious things, I think. In Device Manager, there are no alerts. The Orange Micro Firewire controller shows enabled and okay, as does the PC Card slot. I downloaded and installed the latest OrangeMicro drivers.

I tried forcing the iPod into hard drive mode but I'm not sure I did it right. I held down the top and bottom buttons until I saw the Apple logo, then the left and right buttons until I saw a firewire icon. (I never saw anything like "Do not disconnect".) The iPod stayed that way and didn't power down, but Windows still doesn't notice that anything is plugged in.

I could really use a suggestion. Right now I just can't connect this thing at all.....

[gellmanb]

One of our moderators, m.r.m., was kind enough to make this suggestion to me privately. I post it here in hopes others may benefit. I'm not quite sure it helps me, though, or not yet...

Here's what m.r.m. said:


i'm not familiar with the new xplay version, but in earlier times you needed macopener for a windows pc to be able to access the mac formatted ipod (because of the differing file format, hfs+ to fat32, now ntfs). after installing macopener xplay should work. also check out ephpod for managing your ipod files. along with macopener you can manage a mac formatted ipod on windows with ephpod as well. i used to use ephpod, before switching to itunes (when i got my first mac). post again, if you still have any trouble. we'll all be glad to help out with further problems.


m.r.m., the latest trial of xplay includes macopener functionality. Even if it didn't, I thought I understood from other threads here that Windows should detect a Mac-formatted iPod when it's plugged in. Windows might not know what it is -- it would complain it doesn't recognize the device, or the device has problems -- but it should assign it a drive letter, shouldn't it? Or even just show unknown hardware detected? Or shout, "Who is it?" ;-)

Absent some sign that my PC even knows about the device, I'm reluctant to shell out for new software that doesn't seem likely to solve the problem.

What am I missing here? Is there anything I should be trying to force Windows to look for a device on the firewire bus?

Thanks!

Bart

[m.r.m.]

i'm kind of stumped on this one. i've never used windows 2000, so i don't really know whether a mac hdd should be recognized. maybe someone a little more knowledgeable has the answer. i've been away from the ipod problem solving world for too long.

[gellmanb]

Thanks for trying.

Someone here knows the answer to this:

If you plug a Mac formatted iPod into a Windows 2000 computer, by firewire, shouldn't Windows notice the device and report some kind of error or unknown hardware? If not, how could I possibly reformat it for Windows?

Any ideas at all on how to make this happen?

[Inferno999]

Originally posted by gellmanb
If you plug a Mac formatted iPod into a Windows 2000 computer, by firewire, shouldn't Windows notice the device and report some kind of error or unknown hardware? If not, how could I possibly reformat it for Windows?

It should mount, assuming that it's in harddrive mode. When you try to access it through My computer (etc.) it should basically say this drive is not formatted. If that's not happening, I'd try taking it to a friend's apple computer and seeing if you can change the settings the right way from there.

I've done exactally what you're describing (Firewire card on W2K laptop with Mac format 1g 5gig) and it showed up as a drive first time. Good luck

[arrrghhh]

Wow, I have tried EVERYTHING to get my ipod to work... I was running Win2kPro, and I successfully transferred a ton of songs to my ipod, and used it like a hard drive in explorer to back up my computer. Fine and dandy, so I format my hdd on my laptop and install WinXP Pro. Hey, lookie here... ipod isn't recognized by it! Just goes to the "OK to disconnect" screen. I've tried other computers, I've tried other cables. I've ruled out the cable, because I've gotten the cable to work with other ipods on my laptop. I've gotten a mac formatted ipod to at least get recognized by my computer. So it's not my computer, and it's not the cable... only one thing left and that's the ipod itself. I tried taking the ipod and using it on a mac computer, it'll charge but it won't recognize it at all, just goes to the "ok to disconnect" screen. I've gone into diagnostic mode, firewire is 'ok' whatever that means... I've tried to force it into firewire mode and that just results in another 'ok to disconnect' screen. I'm at my wits end here, because it seems to definitely be an issue with the ipod and I have no idea how to resolve it! I am very open to suggestions, and I would really like to not loose all my music and my backup for my computer... that would be bad...

[Inferno999]

Just a shot in the dark but have you tried using the latest iPod updater software? I'm not sure but I thought I read somewhere that it is able to detect the iPod even if it' snot mounted in Windows... If so, the updater should give you the option to reinit. without deleting everything... ...of course you've probably already tried that.. just checking ;)

[arrrghhh]

Oh ya... and I just tried that today in fact :P Good suggestion tho... I thought the same thing, but that was a no go as well. I have also tried a bunch of third party software other than itunes or updater, and once again a no go. It bothers me that windows doesn't even recognize that I'm plugging it in... It is most definitely the ipod at fault, and I have NO IDEA what to do! It wouldn't be so frustrating if it hadn't worked before...

[NoSubstitute]

I'm experiencing the same thing! I have a 2g 20gig Win iPod with a WinXP SP1 PC, using ephpod 2.75. I used to have no problems transferring songs, but about 2 weeks ago, I started having problems. Whenever I plug the iPod in, the selection/main screen flashes, then the Apple logo, then "OK to disconnect". I've tried putting the iPod in Disk mode, and nothing. The PC isn't recognizing the drive so I can't update/restore anything. The scary thing is my son has a 2g 10gig, and his does the same thing. It does it on his PC and on mine. My iPod does the same thing on his PC. After approx 40 attempts of reseting the iPod, restarting the PC, etc, we finally got his to be recognized. We then wiped it clean and restored it, then updated to latest 1.4 s/w. We copied back all the songs and then disconnected. We then tried to reconnect, and got the same "OK to disconnect" message.

I highly doubt that both our Firewire cards failed at the same time. I'm beginning to wonder if there is a virus/bug in the iPod that is causing this. Or maybe something to do with WinXP and the automatic operating system updates. As I mentioned earlier, everything used to work fine and I haven't made any changes to the PCs. Somebody, anybody, HELP!

[arrrghhh]

Ya... I don't know if it's an issue with windows XP because when my ipod worked before, I had windows 2000 pro. So, just to rule it out, I reinstalled win2kpro just to test a theory. of course, it didn't work, so I seriously doubt that winxp is at fault... I think I stated above that I used another ipod with my computer and the same chord that I use, and it worked perfectly fine. So it is definitely my ipod at fault... now how do I fix it? (side note: I also tried my ipod on an apple computer, no go) I thought it could be the firewire plug on the ipod, but it charges... so I have no idea. I NEED some of that data on there... I was wondering if taking the hdd out and putting into a functional ipod, would that be a plausable solution? Any help would be freakin great!

[Orcrist]

I think I have such a problem too. My iPod is just 4 days old, but iTunes isn't recognizing it anymore. I've tried everything, and the weird thing is; my PC recognizes the iPod, but only iTunes doesn't. Anyone can solve this?

[NoSubstitute]

Update on my situtation, I tried to connect my 2g 20gig to a laptop running Win98. This connection used to work, however, it no longer does, giving me the "OK to disconnect" message as soon as I plug in. In my mind, this confirms that something is wrong with the iPod. Being that it is out of warranty, I'm not sure what options I have.

[albie4]

I'm having the same problems. I have a 1G 5Gb iPod, 2 years old, been working just fine until a few months ago when pc stopped recognising it.
I downloaded the latest iPod upgrade, MusicMatch 8.2 and still nothing. tested the cable, fine.
last night upgraded from Win2k to WinXP, not only is MusicMatch not even starting up now, but it's also knocked out my modem!

gggaaaahhh!

[Majour]

Same problem here with a 1G iPod I bought off eBay. That's is the exact same thing. Damn this sucks.

[james_holden]

same thing like orcrist...

less than a week old 4G 20gig iPod.
Am using XP home SP1.

i've done at least 5 resets and reformats on the ipod. i get to access the ipod on my pc only once - when i format it new. i can transfer mp3s, change the name.
but if i want to add new mp3s it tells me the ipod cannot be read and i need to format!

at first i thought it was itunes and a conflict with other software. i've done all the things apple suggests (i.e. reinstalling itunes, DLing the latest version, even turning off all services and rebooting). i've switched to ephpod.

the only suggested solution (to my knowledge) left to try out is to reinstall XP.

i don't think so!

am seriously thinkinig about selling the damn ipod on ebay!

[Majour]

Hey guys...Guess what? I fixed mine.


I got the Belkin 3 Port Firewire card for use with iPod and now it recognizes my iPod. It's $40 from Best Buy. Its says for iPod on the case. My iPod id a 10gb 1st Gen just for reference.

The car is in a package that can be returned so if you want to try it just to see, you can always bring it back. My computer is a brand new AMD 3400+ 64-bit HP with a Texas Instruments Compliant firewire card so I thought there was no way that it was the PC but it turns out that it was. Try it out guys, this may be the fix for this pretty widespread problem.

-Bobby

[greenie34]

Have had the same exact problem you have been having. Ended up buying a firewire card for my PC and everything was solved. I know it sucks to spend an extra $40 when it was supposed to work with USB but at least i can use my ipod.

I've searched the boards here and on apple.com and it seems as if there are numerouse people having a problem similar to ours. Hopefully Apple or maybe now HP will do something about this.

[Majour]

The firewire cards cost about $5 on eBay. the nice belkin one. i got it the other day. now I am just in the packaging from best buy and return for my $40.

So you have an HP too? I got a AMD 3400+ 64-bit HP with all the bells and whistles...but the firewire acrd doesn't see iPod...There's something up with that crap. Are we all using HP's? Let's get a list going of people who have posted here and what kind of computers they have and try and track down a common problem. Then we can tackle apple with a ####load of people. hehe

-Bobby

[greenie34]

I'm using a Compaq Presario Laptop with an SIS 7001 Chipset. All my problems occur when i try to connect the Ipod via USB.

[tommyx]

just got my 4G 20GB yesterday. having the same problem too. using a p4 2.4C

guess i will heed the suggestion and get a firewire card.hope it work this time :(