iTunes won't connect to iPod

April 14, 2009 11:46 PM

iTunes won't connect to iPod even though PC will. It claims my iTunes isn't up to date, but I just upgraded it.

Before you ask, yes I have un-and-re-installed iTunes and rebooted my iPod twice each respectively.

I've had this iPod for quite a while and it has never had problems before. My PC recognizes the iPod and opens up the F drive folder. It recognizes the name of the iPod and everything. The iPod can also still charge when plugged in, but otherwise iTunes will have nothing to do with it.

I've searched through old AskMe posts and none of the answers relating to similar problems have helped so far.

posted by c_griffin to technology (7 answers total)

If you find no other answers, you could try a reset...
posted by devnull at 12:56 AM on April 15, 2009

I had a similar problem with mine at one point. I didn't want to do a reset in case it messed up my files but in the end gave up and tried it. It fixed the problem and nothing on the actual iPod was changed (so music files etc were still intact). So yeah, if you haven't done that yet give it a try.

I didn't do the full on factory settings reset as linked above but the reset given as the first of the "five r's" over here.
posted by shelleycat at 1:14 AM on April 15, 2009

Also, if that doesn't work, when you plug the iPod in is there a popup window or dialogue box opening up underneath everything else? When I use a computer with the latest version of iTunes on it (which I'm assuming is what you have since you've just installed it) it throws this error box where something wants to scan the drive, and iTunes won't recognise the iPod until I make it go away. But it stays under everything else and doesn't always appear on the start bar so I don't always see it. Minimising the windows one by one until I find that box is the only way to deal with it.

Probably not what's going on with yours since I swap my iPod between several computers and that's probably what causes the error, but I thought I'd mention it in case an error message or dialogue box is what's breaking communication between your iPod and iTunes, given your computer can recognise it otherwise.
posted by shelleycat at 1:19 AM on April 15, 2009

Did you replace the cable recently? I had a similar problem when I bought a Belkin connector cord to use with my iPod; it turns out their cord only charges and doesn't sync, but it looks identical to cords that do both (and in fact the person who sold it to me was convinced that it was supposed to sync). Once I got a real ipod cable, everything was fine.
posted by hermitosis at 6:58 AM on April 15, 2009

If you open the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Esc) and look in the Processes tab, do you see iPodService and iTunesHelper processes running?

iPodService is what iTunes uses to communicate with the iPod's musical side, and iTunesHelper is responsible for launching iTunes when iPodService detects an iPod connection event.
posted by flabdablet at 7:09 AM on April 15, 2009

If all else fails you can try to delete your old itunes library and reopen itunes.
You will have to start from scratch.

In iTunes you may want to click Store>Deauth computer if you use itunes to buy music. Also if you want to save playlists right click and click export.
Exit iTunes.
open your Music folder. RENAME the folder iTunes to some like iTunesOLD
Open iTunes and try again.

If it failed to fix it, restore your old library by quitting itunes again go back into your music folder, delete iTunes folder to recycle bin. Then rename iTunesOLD back to just iTunes.
posted by glenno86 at 8:59 AM on April 15, 2009

Are you getting any kind of error message? I had a problem syncing before (and found a solution) but I don't know if that's what your problem is or if it is something completely different.

In any event, if you are getting the error "The iPod "Name iPod" cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found" then the bizarre solution is the following (I promise):

After you hit the sync button and begin syncing your ipod simply unplug a mouse or other device plugged into another USB port (but mouse worked best for me).

If that doesn't work, then prior to hitting sync, go to

control panel>System>Hardware Tab> Device Manager Button>Highlight your computer name>then click Scan for hardware changes button on the toolbar at the top.

Good luck.
posted by gwpcasey at 11:14 AM on April 15, 2009