iPod Not Being Detected by iTunes or Updater

GO TO ADMIN PANEL > ADD-ONS AND INSTALL VERTIFORO SIDEBAR TO SEE FORUMS AND SIDEBAR

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
Hello. In order to give an insight to where my problem may have originated from, I will tell you of my recent issue. Yesterday when I restarted my PC, I logged in to be greeted by a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) within 10-15 seconds of having been logged in. So I rebooted a couple of times and it continued to happen. The next time I logged in, I quickly did ctrl+alt+del and closed all new processes. This was successful in avoiding the BSOD, however, the PC was very slow and unresponsive. Then Avast Anti-Virus started detecting a virus. I started moving them to the Chest and it kept detecting the same virus in all kinds of files: system files, mIRC, iTunes, AIM, MSN, Firefox, even the virus scanner itself.

At first I was just quickly adding all of them to the chest, before I realised something must've been wrong. By then I had accidently added a system file in my haste. The computer froze soon after and I was forced to reboot. Then I was greeted by a BSOD before I could even log in. This counts for safe mode also. I had to do a system restore with the Windows XP disc, and then I was able to log back in. I went into safe mode and virus scanned and found nothing. I then disabled everything in startup in msconfig, and logged in to normal mode successfully. I started virus scanning there and before long I got another BSOD.

My PC was instantly restarting before, so I couldn't get any details. But I turned that option off in boot options when my PC booted, so I wrote down the file in question and went back into safe mode. I searched for the file and the file was part of Avast itself! So, I deleted it, and logged back in normal mode, and my computer was perfectly fine. The problem was an AVG + Avast compatibility issue. It caused some sort of corruption and caused Avast to go berserk, saying viruses were in everything when in fact there wasn't any viruses to begin with.

So, my problem I'm about to describe could've originated from two areas: The Windows recovery, or the virus scanner deleting / messing up something important.

The problem is, as the topic states, iTunes and the iPod Updater will not recognize my iPod. I have a 30GB 5G iPod Video. Everything was going smoothly before, but after all of this iTunes wouldn't show the iPod. I tinkered around for a bit, then I tried basically EVERYTHING on this page: (OK this site won't let me post the URL... it's the guide on Apple's website entitled "iPod shows up in Windows but not in iTunes"

The iPod is -still- not reading. It's important to note that it is in fact displaying in the device manager. It's being read as the iPod, so this has me really confused, especially after trying all of that. I was going to simply Restore it with the iPod Updater, but it won't recognize the iPod either! It just tells me to plug in an iPod everytime, even though it's plugged in.

Does anyone have any idea what could be happening? I really want to get my iPod back working with my PC :\. Thanks.

P.S. - I'm also having an audio problem after this ordeal. My right speaker (Logitech X-230) is crackling badly and sounds terrible when playing music or anything else. The speakers are fine; I tested them on the iPod. I reinstalled the RealTek AC'97 audio codec and that didn't help at all. I don't know what to do! Today's a bad day for me. If any of you guys are knowledgeable in this area, feel free to help me with that too.
 

TheBigNewt

New member
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Messages
391
Points
0
Location
Prescott, Arizona
It could be that your usb ports need updating after the debacle. I assume you had to enter the ipod's serial number, etc when you reinstalled Itunes and the drivers and all that.
 

mjmoonwalker

New member
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
3,403
Points
0
Location
Shangri-La
Website
eminemjamesuk.com
I'm pretty surprised they didn't mention the real way to solve this. This is an extremely common problem and the solution is simple. Do a soft reset, hold down Menu and the center Select button for a couple seconds until the iPod restarts. Then plug it back in. It should be recognized by iTunes.

This is assuming that you have a click wheel iPod (Mini, 4G, Photo, w/ Video)
 

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
I've already tried this twice before, unfortunately. They say 3rd time's a charm, but I doubt it. I've yet to try the USB deal, I'll try that if the reset doesn't work. Thanks for the suggestions.
 

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
Ok guys. I appreciate the help so far, but it's still not working! The iPod (5G 30GB) is being shown in the device manager and in the 'safely remove hardware' tab, so the computer can obviously detect and see it. So, I can charge it and everything just as normal. However, iTunes and the iPod Updater still won't detect the iPod! It just sits there infinitely with the "do not disconnect" image on the screen unless I manually eject it with "safely remove hardware".

I've tried these things:

  • Reinstalled iTunes twice. (it didn't ask for my iPod's serial number; should it? If it should, could you tell me how to reinstall it properly?)
  • Hard and soft reset the iPod many times.
  • Did about everything on a guide about the iPod showing in Windows but not iTunes on Apple.com.
  • Tried every single USB port on my computer.
To one of the above posters that suggested updating my USB ports... could you please provide a link? I cannot find any USB port upgrades/drivers. My motherboard is an MSI K8N Neo4-F if that provides any assistance.

Anyway, if you can help or have any suggestions, I'll try about anything to get my iPod to work on my PC :\. Thanks.
 
Last edited:

huyi

New member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
228
Points
0
Age
41
Location
United kingdom London
Website
huyi82.1up.com
Try this:

*Clearing your registry of itunes; (it won't hurt to double check, use CCleaner it will get everything instead of doing it manually, on top of that CCleaner will also clean temp files, memory dumps and obsolete software for you and it's totally free program)

*Clearing all files on the computer that are left after uninstalling itunes; (use Ctrl+F to search the HDD for all itunes files by typing 'itunes' in the search box)

*Check to see if your drivers for ipod are not corrupt; (if you have windows xp, go to system, device manager and check to see hardware status of your USB ports)

or they may be something wrong within the ipod that itunes may have done, that's why you ipod won't recognise in itunes. if that is the case you can try to defrag the HDD of the ipod and restore/reset ipod.


as for drivers, here is a few that i found, i didn't know the exact one but have a look:

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/BIOS/Msi/Msi-K8N-Neo4-F-Bios-12.shtml
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/BIOS/Msi/MSI-K8N-Neo4-F.shtml
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=652&kind=1
 

huyi

New member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
228
Points
0
Age
41
Location
United kingdom London
Website
huyi82.1up.com
also i don't know if this will help either but i found this on apples official forums do at your own risk:

Okay, Windows XP user?

Do you have the following symptoms:

1) The iTunes and iPod Updater do not recognise the iPod. You've tried the 4 R's, but NONE OF them work?

2) The 5th R "Restore" will not work because iPod Updater hangs on Initialize and does not recognise your iPod?

3) Does your iPod appear in 'My Computer' as 'Removable Disk', but upon clicking that, it hangs and crashes?

4) Does your iPod not eject properly from PC and simply hangs?

5 Does this happen on every computer you connect that iPod too, regardless of the connecting wire?


I've racked my brains about this for a while [12 hours] and I know alot of you are having these same troubles, especially Windows XP users.

What I've come to realise is that the iPod's data has become corrupted somehow. The only way to get around this is to reformat it. Yes folks, you're gonna have to LOSE ALL YOUR FILES ON THE IPOD.

I was very adamant at first, but if you've exhausted the entire Support Troubleshooting pages and none work... this is the only way.




To DELETE ALL DATA and REFORMAT, do this:

****Make sure the iPod is not connected to PC.


Uninstall iPod and iTunes programs on your PC.


Make sure any non essential system utilities like anti-virus, IE, Firewall, Internet connectivity, MSN, AIM, whatever is OFF.


Make sure any existing iPod and iTunes services are off by CTRL+ALT+DELETE and clicking Processes. End Task 'iTunesHelpers', 'iTunes', 'ipod service'.


On the iPod, press and hold the 'Menu' and 'Centre' buttons for longer than 6 seconds. The Apple Logo will appear.


Then press and hold 'Play Pause' and 'Menu' buttons for longer than 6 seconds to go into 'Disk Mode'


Now plug your iPod into your USB.


Wait for the computer to load profiles, this may take awhile so do not do anything until its finished. It may seem like its hanging but bear with me.


Right Click 'My Computer'> Manage > Disk Management
You'll see your iPod Volume there. Again it may hang but let it work its magic.


Right click the iPod drive [absolutely make sure it's the iPod and not your PC hard drives!] and click 'Format'


Ignore the 'Volume Label' and 'Allocation unit size'
Change File system to "FAT 32".


Make sure 'Perform a quick format' and 'Enable file and folder compression' are unticked.


Then click OK.


This may take a long time to reformat on USB 2.0. Roughly an hour.


When the Status is 100%, you will notice in 'My Computer' that you can access the thing and it will not hang or crash.


Eject the iPod.


Now restart the PC.


Install iPod Updater and restart again. Don't install iTunes.


Now plug the iPod back in the PC.


Open the iPod Updater software and it will actually recognise the iPod this time.


Click on 'Update' to update the firmware. This will take 5 minutes, you can see after 2 minutes the Apple logo on the iPod and a progressive bar. YOU MUST NOT DISCONNECT, EJECT, TURN OFF PC, OR CRASH THE IPOD EVER AT THIS POINT OR YOU WILL **** UP ROYALLY.


When the 'Update' is complete, click on 'Restore' to restore it to factory settings. This will take a few mins.


VOILA, YOUR IPOD IS NOW FULLY WORKING AND UPDATED BACK TO HOW IT WAS WHEN YOU BOUGHT IT [IF NOT BETTER]

Now re-install your iTunes or whatever programs and refill it :|

Be wary about what you put on it though, maybe it was something dodgy before that could trigger the fault again.


Good luck :)


Any problems just PM me, or ask me on my email BANDANADAN___@___REMOVE___UNDERSCORES____ETC____hotmail.com
 
Last edited:

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
huyi said:
Okay, Windows XP user?

Do you have the following symptoms:

1) The iTunes and iPod Updater do not recognise the iPod. You've tried the 4 R's, but NONE OF them work?

2) The 5th R "Restore" will not work because iPod Updater hangs on Initialize and does not recognise your iPod?

3) Does your iPod appear in 'My Computer' as 'Removable Disk', but upon clicking that, it hangs and crashes?

4) Does your iPod not eject properly from PC and simply hangs?

5 Does this happen on every computer you connect that iPod too, regardless of the connecting wire?
1) Yes
2) Yes
3) No - but it does appear in the device manager as an iPod, so I guess the computer itself is detecting it fine.
4) No - I can eject it with safely remove hardware or just unplug it and it doesn't hang.
5) Don't know - I haven't tried it on another PC. That'd require me to go to a friend's house.

Anyway, I'm going to give this stuff a try in a little bit. Thank you very much for all the information.
 

MelancholyJoker

You Imagined it
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
13
Points
0
Okay, Windows XP user?

Do you have the following symptoms:

1) The iTunes and iPod Updater do not recognise the iPod. You've tried the 4 R's, but NONE OF them work?

2) The 5th R "Restore" will not work because iPod Updater hangs on Initialize and does not recognise your iPod?

3) Does your iPod appear in 'My Computer' as 'Removable Disk', but upon clicking that, it hangs and crashes?

4) Does your iPod not eject properly from PC and simply hangs?

5 Does this happen on every computer you connect that iPod too, regardless of the connecting wire?
Ok, well I had a serious case of malfunction on my iPod and my symptoms matched the ones that you mentioned so I went about performing a format. I ran into a sort of brick wall though in the fact that my ipod came up as a disk but it was listed as unreadable and therefore the computer refused to format it. I tried doing a disk rescan and then it came up formatted 18.58 GB with a 39 MB unallocated portion. I'm not really sure if that's normal or not, and if not, will formatting do any good. As we speak the computer acts like it might be formatting my disk, but without and progress bars I have no way of knowing for sure.
 

huyi

New member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
228
Points
0
Age
41
Location
United kingdom London
Website
huyi82.1up.com
have you tried to defrag the ipod to see if that helps? hmmm i think your ipod is pretty messed up, i wonder if there is a program that can defrag removable HDD for you instead of windows doing it instead?

i would think your drivers are corrupt that why it wont been seen in windows xp properly. it seems that the ipod is not formatting properly either. :(

i also found something else, i think apple are not telling us everything about the ipod....

maybe some of you don't know that all ipods have a hidden utility menu and Apple don't want to you know about.

Follow this steps very carefully:

1. Slide back and forward the HOLD Botton 7 times.

2. At the same time press and hold the Select Botton + Backward Botton |<<.

This actions will make the Ipod to load a Maintnance menu with almost 20 different options to test the entire ipod. Battery, USB, HD r/w, and more. My question is, WHY APPLE DO NOT LET US KNOW ABOUT IT..??

If any of you have any questions about following th steps, let me know.

[email protected]

Ps. I stop using my ipod for more than a month and without charging it. At that point the battery is completely dead.
When I did the 2 simple steps, I was speechless to see my ipod fully operating with a uncharged battery.
i don't know if this is true or not?
 

MelancholyJoker

You Imagined it
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
13
Points
0
The way it was acting and refusing to format I figured my hard drive was fried. It would spin up for a second and then stop and spin up again only to continue that cycle hundreds of times. It was like the hard drive would spin but forget how to seek....

Mine is out of warranty (by a month... I wonder if Apple programs them to do that...) so I figured why not open it up and have a look. I opened it up and everything looked just fine, and the hard drive made no weird noises when I gently shook it, which tells me everything was still attached on the insides. On a whim (maybe because I was ####ed as all hell) I smacked the hard drive once--gently--and layed it back into the case and plugged it back in.

Rather than closing it up I just attached the unit to my computer and mounted the disk. It read as unformatted, but it read healthy. I decided to format it to FAT32 and restore it which worked perfectly. I'm now in the process of refilling all my songs on it. I wonder if unplugging it and smacking it actually worked or if it was just dumb luck. The hard drive definitely would not seek before and now it works properly having taken a full format and now almost full again with songs.

I wonder if that was a sign though of the impending failure of the drive... should I consider buying a new drive and replacing?
 

TheBigNewt

New member
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Messages
391
Points
0
Location
Prescott, Arizona
I have come across more than a few posts where the "drop method" jumpstarted a frozen HDD player, but it's probably a sign of things to come. How did you mount the disc and read it?
 

MelancholyJoker

You Imagined it
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
13
Points
0
I used the disk management tool in windows XP (right click on My Computer -> Manage) and formatted the main partition. Before I took it apart, it said the thing was unreadable because the HDD in the iPod refused to spin up for more than a second before it would stop. Like I said, I get the feeling that this is a sign of things to come, but for the moment, it's solved my problem.

As a side note, I'm considering buying a different hard drive, will any laptop hard drive with a 1.8" profile work? I've currently got the mk2004gal in my 4G ipod.

Edit: It occured to me that it may have sounded like I mounted the disk through non conventional methods. I just plugged it back into the IDE port of the unit and used the USB dock connector to plug it into windows.

Oh, and by the way, I also love my Shure e2c's... The best investment I have ever made.
 
Last edited:

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
My frustrations are rising...

I did all you told me to do huyi, but once I got to the part to format the iPod, it says in an error message soon as I attempt to format it, "The operation did not complete because the partition or volume isn't enabled. To enable the partition or volume, restart the computer."

I had it in disk mode, and just for safety, I tried restarting too, to no avail. Also, that Diagnostics Mode works, but not by the instructions he gave. You have to reset the iPod (menu + select), then soon as the Apple icon pops up, you hold previous + select. It'll pop you into the diagnostics mode where you can see all kinds of information and test things. I ran a test on the USB ports and it gave me an ID = 0x22fa05. I learned from Google that this is an error message, but no information on how to fix it. The checksum also gave an ID = 0x1b38. I have no idea what this is.

Anyway... this is where I'm stuck at. Any ideas anyone?
 

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
NathanM said:
My frustrations are rising...

I did all you told me to do huyi, but once I got to the part to format the iPod, it says in an error message soon as I attempt to format it, "The operation did not complete because the partition or volume isn't enabled. To enable the partition or volume, restart the computer."

I had it in disk mode, and just for safety, I tried restarting too, to no avail. Also, that Diagnostics Mode works, but not by the instructions he gave. You have to reset the iPod (menu + select), then soon as the Apple icon pops up, you hold previous + select. It'll pop you into the diagnostics mode where you can see all kinds of information and test things. I ran a test on the USB ports and it gave me an ID = 0x22fa05. I learned from Google that this is an error message, but no information on how to fix it. The checksum also gave an ID = 0x1b38. I have no idea what this is.

Anyway... this is where I'm stuck at. Any ideas anyone?
Any idea what any of those error messages mean and why I can't format my iPod?
 

huyi

New member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
228
Points
0
Age
41
Location
United kingdom London
Website
huyi82.1up.com
if you are having problems to get into disc mode try this:

try to press Down and Center button straight after you press Menu and Center.

So Menu+Center for 6 seconds, immediately during this process of going black and apple logo appearing, hold Menu and Down for 6 seconds and it will go in Disk Mode. It has to be Black+Apple Logo before you can press Center and Down.

i'll try and get a solution for the other stuff later.
 

NathanM

New member
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
14
Points
0
No, disk mode worked fine. It says it's in disk mode the entire time. However, my computer still wouldn't reformat it! And if this has anything to do with it, it wasn't showing itself in "My Computer" as an accessible hard drive.
 

MelancholyJoker

You Imagined it
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
13
Points
0
Listen really closely to your iPod you plug it into your computer (in Disk Mode of course). What does it sound like? Does it spin up real quick and stop repeatedly or does it sound like it's spinning continously? Does it even spin at all? And weird sounds like scraping or squealing?
 
Top