My daughter has a relatively new (purchased in May) iPod and a relatively new (purchased in March or April, I think) laptop computer (PC). Both have been working just fine.
Yesterday, when she went to sync up her iPod, her computer gave her the message that it was unable to sync and that the iPod must be “corrupted.” So far she’s tried rebooting the computer, reloading iTunes, and swapping out cables, but no luck.
Today we took the iPod to Best Buy, and they tried it on their computers (first on a Mac and then on a PC). It worked fine for them. So the problem probably isn’t with the iPod. The Best Buy folks thought it must be a software problem. The question is, what kind of software problem could cause something like this to just start happening, out of the blue? The computer is otherwise behaving normally.
Anybody out there have any thoughts? I’m just drawing a blank.
The quickest way to check if it is a software issue is to use System Restore.
You will get System Restore in the Accessories - System Tools and select a restore point prior to the problem occurring.
If this cures the problem then it is probably software. If not try the USB port on something else, like a camera, as it could also be a fault in the hardware, like a dry joint or broken pin on the motherboard (USB ports take a lot of abuse and can get damaged).
You might want to try rebooting the iPod, too. The apple site will tell you how to do it for each model.
With the ipod plugged in to it’s USB cable, does it display the “connected - eject before disconnecting” screen? If it does, can you browse to your ipod with Windows Explorer?
Try uinstalling and reinstalling iTunes on the computer. I’m guessing it could be the library database on the laptop that’s corrupt rather than the ipod itself. Least you don’t lose any music or anything by trying it.
Sharepod is a shareware front end for an iPod database. If you have MS’s ActiveX on your computer, you can save a copy of Sharepod anywhere on your iPod’s drive, and then plug it into any computer and run sharepod from the drive. It’ll work on any system which has ActiveX, making it a useful way to move files around while bypassing some of the iPod’s annoying security features.
However, this will also tell you if the iPod dbase is corrupt. If Sharepod can read it, it’s OK.
Try the help section of the Apple website. I think they may even have live tech chat to walk you through the process (I may be wrong about that). iPod forums are usually full of people who are very helpful too-- some of them may have had the same issues.
I went to the support forum on the Apple website for the iPod Classic, and guess what the very first message thread was about? Six pages of people wailing that their iPod was corrupted and offering advice that worked for some, but not for others, or that worked temporarily, but eventually went south again (going back to 2008!). Evidently this is a known problem, and not one that Apple has really addressed yet. There’s some suggestion that it may be related to the latest rev. of iTunes, but nobody seems entirely sure yet.
On the upside, when I asked Anna to try to sync her iPod again, so I could get the error number, it worked just fine…no indication that anything was ever wrong. The other good news is that, given that so many people are experiencing the same problem, there probably ISN’T a problem with the computer itself (which is always a relief!).
I have to say that this is so frustrating. She got her first iPod three years ago, and it had to be replaced four times during those three years for various technical problems (the first time, just a week after she got it, when it suddenly shorted itself out)…good job we bought an extended warrantee! The last time it went south, it was the headphone jack that was fried, and the warrantee had expired, which is why she decided to use some of her own money to buy a new one. Here she’s had this one just a couple of months and all of a sudden there’s a problem. You’d think that, by now, Apple would have the bugs worked out of these things…heaven knows you pay enough for them. Grrr. And people wonder why I still muddle along with a CD player!
Thanks for the input, all. I’ve bookmarked the support site, as I’m sure we’ll need it again.
That’s nice to see! I really hate this culture of planned obsolescence we have now. If something breaks, I’d much rather fix it…not only because it’s cheaper, but because the idea of throwing something away because of something that could be fixed just goes against the grain. My daughter bought this new iPod, as it happens, because we found out that, working through Apple, it would cost more to fix the headphone jack than it would to buy a new one. She would have rather kept it…she gets attached to things like that (as do I).
The gentleman that was interviewed on NPR said
he started repairing iPods for that very reason.
The screen on his iPod broke, and he couldn’t
believe how much Apple wanted to fix it. So he
bought a broken one off of eBay and used it for
parts to replace the screen himself. Then he
realized he was onto a business opportunity.
Apple no longer makes anything. All the manufacturing and assembly is jobbed out to other manufacturers, and while Apple is happy to demand a premium price for it’s products, mk 1 of any new product has tended to have some serious flaws that Apple has not been honest about. The iPod, for instance, shipped with specs that made claims about battery life that were flat-out false, as well as an easily damaged display screen.