G4 iPod FireWire & USB2 problems

[Adlopa]

There seem to be a lot of people having problems with new 4G iPods over FireWrire and USB2 connections, both here and at other (http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=79924) forums (http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?13@62.NN6CapqmsLb.1@.68974acb/39) .

Many of the problems seem to be related to VIA chipsets but I can't establish a successful connection (FireWire or USB2) with the onboard ports on my PC with an ATI chipset. A FireWire connection dismounts after a couple of seconds, USB2 freezes the computer for several minutes at a time and iTunes syncs are very slow, before the iPod randonly disconnects.

My 2G iPod is fine, as is a friend's Mini, so this is something specific to the 4G iPod.

My plan is to fit a FireWire card and see if that works but this can only be a temporary fix for me.

So, can we start a thread to collate all of these problems in one place..? It'd help if you stated your PC's chipset (if you know it) and whether or not you can sync successfully over FireWire and/or USB2. Oh and 4G iPods only please.

[TrunksGoku]

give the firewire pathce mentioned over here a try

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@253.xKKBaVlfsVu.1@.6897a613

[Adlopa]

Tried that, made no difference. This seems to be an issue with specific chipsets and onboard ports. I just fitted an Adaptec FireWire PCI card and the iPod is now working perfectly. It also works perfectly with an Adaptec PCI USB2 PCI card. So, this is very definitely an incompatibility between the 4G iPod and certain PC chipsets.

[TrunksGoku]

ive got an onboard firewire chipset by VIA and after applying the patch it worked fine for me

[jayneyo]

this is really worrying me. Have just ordered a 4G. If it don't work I will cry! I don't understand computers at all!
If it all goes wrong I might have to ask you guys for some help alright.

[stlbud]

The patch didn't help. I believe my problem is a bit different and not related to chipset. I have a Shuttle XPC SN41G2 with a nForce2 chipset. My old 3rd gen 15G iPod worked fine on 1394. When I got my new 4th gen 20G iPod I did not install the software since I had been using iTunes with my old iPod. It didn't work as expected. iTunes would not recognize the iPod. Restore could not find the iPod and there was no drive icon in My Computer. I disconnected the iPod and restarted my computer but that didn't help. I reinstalled iTunes with the new CD but it would not "sync" with the new iPod. Subsequent attempts to use 1394 have caused my computer to hang until the iPod is disconnected. I was able to get it to connect, finally, by USB 2.0.

Is this like the USB problems where Windows installs some generic driver if it can't find a custom driver for the device. Then, you can't get rid of the association without some voodoo program that erases the setup?

I know 1394 works on this iPod because I'm able to use it on my laptop. I'd like to just use one cable, if I can.

Thanks for any help anyone may be able to offer as a solution to this problem.

BB

[Log]

The patch helped me. I have VIA chipset firewire as well. It seems that if you have a via chipset this patch it what you need.

[spinguru]

Hello all. I'm a new user to the board, as well as a newbie iPod owner.

In the last two days, I've spent numerous hours trying to get my 4g 20G iPod to work on my XP machine. I've tried a 6-pin to 4-pin adaptor for my FireWire (computer didn't even recognize that anything had been plugged in) as well as a cheapie USB 2.0 Card (before I was able to find Apple's "approved" card list). The cheapie card will allow my computer to recognize the iPod, but every time I try to do anything, it freezes up.

My question is this: Will the combined Adaptec FireWire/USB 2.0 card work with the new 4g iPod? I know that Apple approved the Adaptec USB 2.0 card as well as the Adaptec Firewire Card, but the site says nothing about the dual FireWire/USB card.

Any help you all can provide would be greatly appreciated.

~Ryan