PC won't recognize iPod

June 9, 2007 3:03 AM

My PC won't recognize my iPod. What can I do?

I've tried everything on the apple website, and I've gone through several metafilter iPod trouble posts. Sadly, none of them seem to apply as in all cases, the problem seemed to be iTunes not recognizing the device, and not the whole computer.

So, I have a dandy iPod video, 30gb. I purchased it in December when I was in North America and I used my brother's laptop to upload songs. I have about 30 songs on there now.
And now I have app. 4GB of songs in my iTunes library at home and no way of getting it onto my iPod.

When I plug my pod in, it charges, but it doesn't even appear as a device in My Computer.

I have a suspicion that this has something to do with the fact that my computer's already recognized my copy of Windows XP as not being genuine.

What can I do to get my computer to recognize my iPod? Help, I'm desperate!

posted by alon to Technology (10 answers total)

I take it you've tried using a different USB port on the computer?

USB devices not being recognized is extremely common, but there isn't a cast-iron solution. I'd advise you to slip into Safe Mode and delete the driver from Device Manager, but I suspect iPods are recognized as universal storage devices, so there won't be a specific driver to remove. On the other hand, seeing what's under Storage Devices in Device Manager of Safe Mode is a good first step. Delete all that's there, and reboot to normal mode. You might need your Windows install CD when you reboot.

If you've got a dodgy copy of Windows, I suspect your quickest fix is simply to reinstall afresh. After all, it's not like you're going to have to haggle with Microsoft to get them to reactivate you.
posted by humblepigeon at 3:43 AM on June 9, 2007

Did you reboot your iPod?
posted by caddis at 4:49 AM on June 9, 2007

reload itunes, i had to do that and register the ipod to that reloaded itunes.
posted by Max Power at 6:04 AM on June 9, 2007

Response by poster: thanks, and in reply to humblepigeon, I don't think I can reinstall or get Microsoft to reactivate me because as I said, my WinXP is bootleg.

I should have also added that I had a different iPod about a year ago that worked great with this computer, but then I got a new iPod and I reformatted my hard drive.
posted by alon at 6:52 AM on June 9, 2007

Do you get the "Do Not Disconnect" message when it's plugged into the computer? That should tell you if the problem is on the ipod's end or something with cable/port/windows.

Just to check, refreshing My Computer doesn't cause it to show up? Does it appear in Safely Remove Hardware?

If you've tried the Five Rs from the apple website, I'm inclined to believe that the problem is with your installation of Windows.
posted by ktrey at 7:26 AM on June 9, 2007

Wait, you used your brothers laptop to upload songs. Was his laptop a Mac by any chance? If that's the case, then your iPod may be formatted for Mac and not PC.
posted by ktrey at 7:27 AM on June 9, 2007

Response by poster: @ktrey:
1. Yeah, I get the "Do Not Disconnect" message.
2. How do I check if it's in Safely Remove Hardware?
3. I've tried the 5 R's and they didn't help.
4. My brother's laptop is a PC.
posted by alon at 8:15 AM on June 9, 2007

I don't know if the iPod's getting that far, but in your systray (near the time) there may be an icon with a little green arrow on it. This allows you to eject removable hardware. If the iPod is showing up there, you can try ejecting it and then plugging it in again.
posted by ktrey at 10:35 AM on June 9, 2007

Response by poster: It ain't showing up there.
posted by alon at 2:58 PM on June 9, 2007

If it doesn't have a drive letter assigned to it in windows you can right click on my computer, then go to manage.

When the computer management screen comes up, click on disk management. If you have it plugged in it will list it (probably as E or F), but it will have a exclamation point on it or something signifying the drive letter it is attempting to assign to it is already taken by another device/partition. Simply click on the iPod device and "change drive letter" It'll warn you about stuff, just get past that... assign it a letter like I so that you have to install a lot more drives until it there is another conflict.
posted by ijoyner at 10:13 AM on June 12, 2007