Topic: Current build (338) not recognizing old-skool 3G iPod - FIXED (Read 4103 times)

bspachman · « **on:** October 04, 2007, 01:18:37 am »

I'm not sure what to try next. Plugging my old 3G iPod in no longer activates MC's handheld interfaces. I was originally on v12.1.318, but after looking through this board and seeing issues with the newest 'pods and Vista, figured that I should try the newest build.

The iPod does show up in Windows as a drive (F:) and also in the 'My Computer' section of MC.

I am making sure to run MC as an Administrator (although I do normally). AFAIK, all my UAC stuff is turned off.

I wiped my iPod with iTunes in hopes that would help--to no avail.

Any ideas? The only thing I could think of was that maybe I lost or turned off some essential services...anyone know what needs to be running? I do have the "Apple Mobile Devices" and "iPod Service" Services running and set to automatic.

Thanks for any advice!
Brad
------------------------------
System info follows...
Media Center Registered 12.0.338 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\

Microsoft Windows Vista 6.0 (Build 6000)
Intel Core 2 2666 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 2069 MB, Free - 1200 MB

Internet Explorer: 7.0.6000.16512 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.6000 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.6000 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.6000 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive Z: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive Z: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D Addr: 0:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No /

Portable Device Info
Removed devices:

Interface Plugins:
last.fm (Active)
Library Server (Active)
TiVo Server (Active)
UPnP Server (Active)
DVDSpy (Active)

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** October 04, 2007, 06:56:24 am »

Quote from: bspachman on October 04, 2007, 01:18:37 am

I do have the "Apple Mobile Devices" and "iPod Service" Services running and set to automatic.

MC doesn't use those and it's _possible_ they could cause a problem if they've changed. You could turn them off. iTunes will probably restart them.

bspachman · « **Reply #2 on:** October 04, 2007, 08:56:35 am »

Quote from: JimH on October 04, 2007, 06:56:24 am

MC doesn't use those and it's _possible_ they could cause a problem if they've changed. You could turn them off. iTunes will probably restart them.

OK...I stopped the services, set them both to disabled, then rebooted.

Launched MC as an administrator...still no iPod love.

The really sad thing is that I can't remember the version of MC I last used to sync my iPod--I'm about 60% sure that it wasn't 318, but the one before 318...

Any further ideas? Since wiping the iPod, the only 5 songs I have on it are the 5 I transfered with iTunes to make sure the DRM files are in the correct place.

brad

SwellGuy · « **Reply #3 on:** October 04, 2007, 09:31:35 am »

What is the model number and last three digits of the serial number? Is the firmware up-to-date?

bspachman · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2007, 09:58:07 am »

Quote from: SwellGuy on October 04, 2007, 09:31:35 am

What is the model number and last three digits of the serial number? Is the firmware up-to-date?

Model #: M8948LL
Serial #: ********NLY

The iPod itself says it is carrying software v2.3, and iTunes reports that the software/firmware are up-to-date. A full restore has recently been done as part of the troubleshooting process, so hopefully everything is fresh & new...

brad

SwellGuy · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2007, 04:15:00 pm »

This is pretty lame but try rebooting and/or uninstalling (remove registry entries, do not remove the database) and reinstalling build 338.

Let us know if this does the trick.

bspachman · « **Reply #6 on:** October 05, 2007, 07:52:08 am »

Nope....

An uninstall (including registry entries), a reboot, an install of 338, a reboot had no positive effects....

Is there any way that I can roll back to an earlier version of MC to see if this is an actual regression? The only versions I have available are 318 and 338--both of which are exhibiting this problem. Like I stated above, I believe the last time I personally saw iPod synching work was with the beta version that had been released prior to 318....

Unless ramping up support for the newer iPods has done something to the older iPods...

Anyone else with an old iPod having trouble with 338 and Vista?

brad

bspachman · « **Reply #7 on:** October 05, 2007, 11:35:32 pm »

Latest update...

Uninstalling iTunes (but leaving QuickTime) had no effect in solving the problem.

Anyone successfully synching an old iPod (3G) under Vista with v12.1.338?

brad

bspachman · « **Reply #8 on:** October 07, 2007, 11:30:12 pm »

Another update...

Uninstalled MC12 (fully). Deleted ALL JRiver registry keys with the registry editor. Moved the application data out of its normal location so a reinstall would recreate everything.

Installed 388. Launched program. Restored the license key. Canceled adding files to library.

Plugged in iPod. Not recognized.

FWIW, the iPod is being placed in an Apple dock that is connected to the computer via FireWire. Vista and a reinstalled iTunes continue to recognize the iPod.

brad

SwellGuy · « **Reply #9 on:** October 08, 2007, 10:12:43 am »

Brad,

Can you turn logging (to a file) on, restart MC, wait about two minutes and then email the log to me (rick at jriver dot com)?

Thanks

lalittle · « **Reply #10 on:** October 09, 2007, 02:04:52 am »

I'm having the exact same trouble on an XP box using MC 340 without iTunes installed. I don't know when this started (we haven't synced our 3rd gen iPod in a little while), but MC 340 is simply not seeing a 3rd gen iPod when it's plugged in.

Do you want a log file from me as well? Which log items should I check to generate it?

UPDATE: I got it working again somehow. I was doing various combinations of ejecting and mounting the iPod, re-starting MC, and finally rebooting the computer. The last thing I did was reboot the machine WITH the iPod plugged in. When I started up the main MC interface again (Library Server loads at startup), it saw the iPod. I don't know if the problem will return since I just went ahead and started a new sync -- I didn't want to risk not getting it synced tonight. I also don't know if the fact that the iPod was plugged in during the boot had anything to do with fixing the issue. I did notice that the sync check showed that ALL files would be deleted and re-synced, so I went ahead and did a new "initialize" before stating the sync. I'll test it sometime tomorrow to see if MC continues to see the unit, or if it is once again having this issue.

Thanks,

Larry

SwellGuy · « **Reply #11 on:** October 10, 2007, 09:46:58 am »

Thanks for the feedback, Larry. We have added a bunch of logging to try to figure out where our device sniffing is failing but that hasn't made it into a build yet. Hopefully, we will get a build out sometime today with the additional logging in it.

We can't reproduce the problem with XP or Vista so we will eventually need to see some logs to get to the bottom of it.

One interesting test in the meantime is, when the device isn't recognized, if you plug in another drive-based device (another iPod) so that you now have two devices attached, what device(s) does MC recognize.

bspachman · « **Reply #12 on:** October 10, 2007, 11:58:19 pm »

My latest update...

I tried rebooting my machine with the iPod jacked in (as Larry mentioned above)...no joy...

I really appreciate the continuing investigation. Some other thoughts that may or may not have been mentioned already:

- It doesn't seem to matter whether the iPod is plugged into a dock or plugged with a cable. Neither works.
- I am using the built-in FireWire (1394) port on the motherboard, but I did successfully sync this iPod with Vista on a build that was older than 318...

Best,
Brad

lalittle · « **Reply #13 on:** October 11, 2007, 12:42:33 am »

So the iPod shows up in the MC tree as a drive, but not as a "handheld device," correct?

Thanks,

Larry

bspachman · « **Reply #14 on:** October 11, 2007, 08:49:12 am »

Quote from: lalittle on October 11, 2007, 12:42:33 am

So the iPod shows up in the MC tree as a drive, but not as a "handheld device," correct?

Yep. The iPod shows as just a regular drive in the MC tree, and in Windows Explorer. iTunes recognizes it properly on both my Vista HTPC and my Macintosh...

brad

JimH · « **Reply #15 on:** October 11, 2007, 09:18:49 am »

Could you see if you can get it to work with USB, just to separate where the problem is?

bspachman · « **Reply #16 on:** October 12, 2007, 12:58:17 am »

Quote from: JimH on October 11, 2007, 09:18:49 am

Could you see if you can get it to work with USB, just to separate where the problem is?

Done. USB shows no improvement...troubleshooting will continue, just as soon as I can figure out a good step to take next!

brad

JimH · « **Reply #17 on:** October 12, 2007, 06:50:37 am »

If you download and install the latest version of iTunes, I believe it will update the firmware on the iPod. That's worth a try.

bspachman · « **Reply #18 on:** October 13, 2007, 10:11:48 am »

Thanks, Jim,

As an early part of my troubleshooting, I used the most recent version of iTunes to wipe & restore the iPod. At the time, it reported that the iPod firmware/software was up-to-date.

(In fact, that troubleshooting step is what has gotten me in to this mess, since now I don't have any songs on my iPod at all...

)

We'll keep at it...
brad

JimH · « **Reply #19 on:** October 13, 2007, 10:19:48 am »

Did you try Apple's advice for iPod problems? The Five R's. There's a link in the FAQ here.

bspachman · « **Reply #20 on:** October 19, 2007, 08:54:41 am »

Any news or progress on this recognition problem? The iPod itself works fine with both the Macintosh and Windows versions of iTunes (as well as other iPod utilities)...

Best,
Brad

bspachman · « **Reply #21 on:** October 28, 2007, 10:10:40 am »

A report back...

Thanks entirely to Rick's excellent work, the newest build of MC12 (357) now recognizes my old iPod. My guess is that the fix was actually implemented in a slightly earlier build, but due to my own ineptitude in not Restoring the iPod to test each build, that it snuck by me until 357 hit.

Turns out that it was also likely that I'm fighting some intermittent hardware issues as well, which only makes the troubleshooting more difficult...

Although it may be common sense, the saga has reminded me of the importance of doing ALL of the basics in trying to find out where the problem lies.

1) Begin with a freshly-restored iPod with up-to-date Firmware
2) Simplify the connection chain as much as possible (removing docks, etc...)
3) Try alternate ports on the computer if possible (although it wasn't in my case)
4) Try alternate connection methods if possible (FireWire/USB)
5) With older hardware, the diagnostic mode can be your friend--I think performing a full disk scan from the iPod's diagnostic mode helped rebuild the 'bad blocks' map on the hard drive.
6) When all else fails, rely on the programming geniuses at JRiver!

Now....on to the next issue!

Thanks,
Brad

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Author Topic: Current build (338) not recognizing old-skool 3G iPod - FIXED (Read 4103 times)

SwellGuy

SwellGuy

SwellGuy

SwellGuy