Darnitall!
04-03-2007, 05:02 AM
Excuse the length of this but I felt detail was essential to hunting this down.
I have tried finding an answer at apple.com but there is a strange silence given it seems that my problem is one of several hundred that remains unanswered and I am fed up with dealing with this. If anyone has a thought I would welcome it. The search engine on the apple disscussion pages has no useful results to offer that I have been able to find.
So here it goes...
Have a 20GB 4th Gen. iPod. Approximately 4100 songs - 18.2 GB in Library. Consistently after restoring with latest download as of this writing Apr.2 2007 experiencing again what I have been struggling with for weeks with this; As of today after a complete low level formatting of the hard drive - fresh reinstallation of Windows XP and all apps from scratch! 14 hrs of work dear apple folk, Having run a Complete virus check with Kaspersky IS 6.0 (trial), eTrust IS (Trial), and Norton IS 2007, Spy sweeper, Hitman Pro 2, Root kit revealer and a few others I am relatively convinced that there are no mal-spy wares on the system or iPod.
My iTunes library is on another physical drive. I have had no issues syncing from this drive when this did work.
Tried to reinstall the original iPod/iTunes software as per the disk shipped with the iPod # 2Z691-5715-A it failed at 99% to load due to an MSI error. - This confounded me and I am prepared to try again if I could get this to install.. or find a downloadable version...
Tried sync again using the most recent version of iTunes/QT and as previously posted by others without reply and experienced many times, repeat-many times over, have had the sync stall at no consistent point though roughly anywhere from 700 -1700 songs reportedly having been transferred only to stall.
The iPod transfers only play lists no songs are transferred or listed though upon reboot and reattachment it shows data other than audio present but is obviously corrupted and the chkdsk message appears. Chkdsk finds no physical errors and I'm back to the restore loop. The iPod is restorable under Windows most of the time. Sometimes it is unable to do so.
I have the luxury of a MacG4 Powerbook but my HD can't store those songs as it is for work use only but iTunes reformats it as a windows iPod or sometimes I have gone to restore it to Mac and then re-restore it to Windows format again on the PC. This I think eliminates the possibility that it is an issue with the USB connector or fire wire cables. I should be clear all sync is done via USB on the PC.
I have tried this on both the separate USB card installed on the system as well as through the USB ports available on the motherboard. Problem remains consistent.
I have experienced occasionally but for the most part infrequently, a report from my Konica/Minolta 2400W Colour Laser printer monitor - connected by USB on the Motherboard USB port, a sudden loss of communication with the printer preceding the iTunes sync stall.Again this has not been a problem in the past - I have yet to try with the printer turned off and the monitor software removed but will report results in a further post - though this has never been a problem in the past.
Stall means that iTunes shows the sync in progress but no advancement from the song it is stuck on for hours. Task manager reports that the CPU is engaged at nearly fully utilization varying from 88 -99% of available resources. From iTunes an attempt to eject the iPod stalls with the eject button in pushed down state and hangs - the only way to proceed is to physically disconnect the iPod and close iTunes from the task manager.
I have tried reducing the priority level of iTunes and the iPodhelper to see if I could buy time to eject the iPod without corruption but to no avail. Consistently, iPodhelper service and itunes.exe remains open even though the window closes. Of note those services remain running despite efforts to shut them down through task manager. This lead me initially to believe that the software was hijacked by a virus root kit or other malware but I have been unable to find any evidence to support that notion.
Further - i tried after restoring the iPod for the umpteenth time to try another software MediaMonkey. It too experienced the same bloody problem stalling out through the sync at 300 songs or so and same result with task manager unable to close process despite window being closed.
My conclusions:
Problem exists with iTunes software or some yet undeterminable windows process;
a) USB communications seems fine as am able to restore iPod through connector. Windows XP Pro detects iPod as a drive in explorer.
b) Song Database is fine and iTunes will play everything on hard drive(s) and in library.
c) iPod is okay - able to sync and list a few sample songs off MAcG4 Powerbook when formatted Mac or PC.
d) The R's all work - iPod reports no diagnostic issues
e) No viral, spy ware, root kit or malware detected after comprehensive scanning.
So what next?? I am completely at a loss... and missing my music..
About ready to throw the blasted thing from great heights..
I have tried finding an answer at apple.com but there is a strange silence given it seems that my problem is one of several hundred that remains unanswered and I am fed up with dealing with this. If anyone has a thought I would welcome it. The search engine on the apple disscussion pages has no useful results to offer that I have been able to find.
So here it goes...
Have a 20GB 4th Gen. iPod. Approximately 4100 songs - 18.2 GB in Library. Consistently after restoring with latest download as of this writing Apr.2 2007 experiencing again what I have been struggling with for weeks with this; As of today after a complete low level formatting of the hard drive - fresh reinstallation of Windows XP and all apps from scratch! 14 hrs of work dear apple folk, Having run a Complete virus check with Kaspersky IS 6.0 (trial), eTrust IS (Trial), and Norton IS 2007, Spy sweeper, Hitman Pro 2, Root kit revealer and a few others I am relatively convinced that there are no mal-spy wares on the system or iPod.
My iTunes library is on another physical drive. I have had no issues syncing from this drive when this did work.
Tried to reinstall the original iPod/iTunes software as per the disk shipped with the iPod # 2Z691-5715-A it failed at 99% to load due to an MSI error. - This confounded me and I am prepared to try again if I could get this to install.. or find a downloadable version...
Tried sync again using the most recent version of iTunes/QT and as previously posted by others without reply and experienced many times, repeat-many times over, have had the sync stall at no consistent point though roughly anywhere from 700 -1700 songs reportedly having been transferred only to stall.
The iPod transfers only play lists no songs are transferred or listed though upon reboot and reattachment it shows data other than audio present but is obviously corrupted and the chkdsk message appears. Chkdsk finds no physical errors and I'm back to the restore loop. The iPod is restorable under Windows most of the time. Sometimes it is unable to do so.
I have the luxury of a MacG4 Powerbook but my HD can't store those songs as it is for work use only but iTunes reformats it as a windows iPod or sometimes I have gone to restore it to Mac and then re-restore it to Windows format again on the PC. This I think eliminates the possibility that it is an issue with the USB connector or fire wire cables. I should be clear all sync is done via USB on the PC.
I have tried this on both the separate USB card installed on the system as well as through the USB ports available on the motherboard. Problem remains consistent.
I have experienced occasionally but for the most part infrequently, a report from my Konica/Minolta 2400W Colour Laser printer monitor - connected by USB on the Motherboard USB port, a sudden loss of communication with the printer preceding the iTunes sync stall.Again this has not been a problem in the past - I have yet to try with the printer turned off and the monitor software removed but will report results in a further post - though this has never been a problem in the past.
Stall means that iTunes shows the sync in progress but no advancement from the song it is stuck on for hours. Task manager reports that the CPU is engaged at nearly fully utilization varying from 88 -99% of available resources. From iTunes an attempt to eject the iPod stalls with the eject button in pushed down state and hangs - the only way to proceed is to physically disconnect the iPod and close iTunes from the task manager.
I have tried reducing the priority level of iTunes and the iPodhelper to see if I could buy time to eject the iPod without corruption but to no avail. Consistently, iPodhelper service and itunes.exe remains open even though the window closes. Of note those services remain running despite efforts to shut them down through task manager. This lead me initially to believe that the software was hijacked by a virus root kit or other malware but I have been unable to find any evidence to support that notion.
Further - i tried after restoring the iPod for the umpteenth time to try another software MediaMonkey. It too experienced the same bloody problem stalling out through the sync at 300 songs or so and same result with task manager unable to close process despite window being closed.
My conclusions:
Problem exists with iTunes software or some yet undeterminable windows process;
a) USB communications seems fine as am able to restore iPod through connector. Windows XP Pro detects iPod as a drive in explorer.
b) Song Database is fine and iTunes will play everything on hard drive(s) and in library.
c) iPod is okay - able to sync and list a few sample songs off MAcG4 Powerbook when formatted Mac or PC.
d) The R's all work - iPod reports no diagnostic issues
e) No viral, spy ware, root kit or malware detected after comprehensive scanning.
So what next?? I am completely at a loss... and missing my music..
About ready to throw the blasted thing from great heights..