iPod Mini on PC acting all messed up
A friend of mine, after weeks of being on the waiting list, finally got her iPod Mini last week. She was estatic and couldn't wait to use it, but from the moment she first plugged it into her PC, she's had nothing but problems. To wit:
? She had problems installing iTunes in the first place. It would jam up on the "installing Quicktime" portion (not the first time I've seen this happen on PCs). I got it to install once I deleted all traces of the previous Quicktime installation from her machine.
? Upon hooking up the iPod, iTunes never launches on its own. She always has to select it herself.
? Songs transfer VERY slowly over Firewire, and not at all over USB 2.0.
? Her computer often locks up entirely during file transfer.
? Sometimes her iPod will list artists and albums while browsing, but when she gets to where the actual songs should be listed, none are there.
? iPod will power off USB 2.0 connection (but songs don't transfer), but doesn't power off Firewire connection (where songs... sometimes... do transfer)
? Sometimes (aside from it never starting iTunes on its own), everything works just fine. Sometimes, nothing works at all.
The parts at play here: iPod mini, Compaq Presario laptop running Windows 2000 with 320 MB of RAM, and a PCMCIA card with a Firewire port and two USB 2.0 ports.
The Genius Bar at the Apple Store was of little help. I'm hoping this one will come through. Please, help us out!
? She had problems installing iTunes in the first place. It would jam up on the "installing Quicktime" portion (not the first time I've seen this happen on PCs). I got it to install once I deleted all traces of the previous Quicktime installation from her machine.
? Upon hooking up the iPod, iTunes never launches on its own. She always has to select it herself.
? Songs transfer VERY slowly over Firewire, and not at all over USB 2.0.
? Her computer often locks up entirely during file transfer.
? Sometimes her iPod will list artists and albums while browsing, but when she gets to where the actual songs should be listed, none are there.
? iPod will power off USB 2.0 connection (but songs don't transfer), but doesn't power off Firewire connection (where songs... sometimes... do transfer)
? Sometimes (aside from it never starting iTunes on its own), everything works just fine. Sometimes, nothing works at all.
The parts at play here: iPod mini, Compaq Presario laptop running Windows 2000 with 320 MB of RAM, and a PCMCIA card with a Firewire port and two USB 2.0 ports.
The Genius Bar at the Apple Store was of little help. I'm hoping this one will come through. Please, help us out!
Comments
Does the iPod mini work on any other pc?
that would account for the hardware related weirdness, as for the software related weirdness, I have no clue, I have very little experience with windows iTunes, except that it has always worked fine on my brothers PC, but then again, he doesn't use an iPod with it.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
I can't be certain but it sounds like her firewire/USB controller card is messed up.
that would account for the hardware related weirdness, as for the software related weirdness, I have no clue, I have very little experience with windows iTunes, except that it has always worked fine on my brothers PC, but then again, he doesn't use an iPod with it.
I'm highly suspicious of the card, too. She got it off ebay at a very low price and, as far as she can remember, it didn't have much in the way of labels or markings on it. One possibility is that it's a good card with an obsolete driver, or that it's just plain ol' crappy hardware. It's going to be the first thing I check out the next time I look at the computer.
We haven't had the chance to try the iPod on another PC, but that's a great idea.