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July 10, 2008 10:30 AM PDT

iTunes 7.7: causing major iPod/iPhone connectivity problems, other issues

by CNET staff
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Apple this morning released iTunes 7.7, which enables connectivity with the iPhone 3G and installation of iPhone OS 2.0 for first-generation iPhones and iPod touches.

The new release is available via software update or as a 48.3MB standalone download.

Freezes when iPod touch/iPhone is connected Users are experiencing some significant iPod touch/iPhone connectivity issues after the update, including system freezes when the devices are connected.

MacFixIt reader Brian writes:

"So i installed iTunes 7.7 with via software update on my iMac running Mac OS X 10.5.4. Ever since I did, I can't plug my iPod or iPhone in without iTunes crashing and requiring a force quit. I have tried deleting the ipod and itunes plist files from both my user and system."

Bronson Elliot adds:

"I just upgraded to the new iTunes 7.7. The upgrade seemed to go just fine, however, when I open iTunes and try to plug in my 16GB iPod Touch, iTunes becomes unresponsive and I must force quit to get it back. The iPod Touch never shows up as a device within iTunes.

"I'm kind of stuck trying to figure out what to do next. I'm attempting to repair permissions now to see if maybe that will work. I'll keep you posted."

In some cases, this issue can be temporarily eliminated by deleting the following files:

Only way out of this is deleting the following plist files from ~/Library/Preferences/ (your user library preferences folder):

  • com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist
  • com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist
  • com.apple.iTunes.plist

In addition, try unplugging your iPhone/iPod from your system before launching iTunes for the first time. Once iTunes is launched, plug the device in.

Music missing Some users have experienced an issue in which music is ostensibly missing from iTunes after the 7.7 update. This problem is most likely to occur if you have music stored outside the default location (~/Music).

In order to resolve the problem, go to iTunes preferences and then the Advanced tab, and then change the iTunes music folder location, and click to the location where you keep your music. The library should update.

No main window Other users are experiencing a more dire issue where no main window appears when iTunes 7.7 is launched. If this issue occurs, you may need to recreate the iTunes library as explained in this Knowledge Base article.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources

  • 48.3MB standalone download
  • Knowledge Base article
  • Late-breakers@macfixit.com
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    Add a Comment (Log in or register) Showing 1 of 2 pages (28 Comments)
    by jvanlee1 July 10, 2008 12:26 PM PDT
    NO problems here, major or minor.
    Reply to this comment
    by tim.lance July 10, 2008 2:54 PM PDT
    trashing those 3 .plist files does not help me. As soon as I connect my iPhone the beachball appears.
    Reply to this comment
    by Matthew Rosen July 10, 2008 2:54 PM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by tim.lance


    I had major issues. Trashing .plist files, restarting my Mac, reinstalling iTunes, repairing permissions did not help.

    I plugged in my iPhone 1.0 and "waited" overnight...nothing. Spinning beachball in the morning.

    I plugged the iPhone into a 2nd machine...and voila! Recognized, no spinning beach ball, upgrade available. I was able to run the update from the second machine. I had to wipe all of my media files from the iPhone as this wasn't the iTunes library tied to the phone, but all of my settings and messages were backed up and restored.

    When I plugged the updated phone back into the original problem machine, all was well.

    So, I can't explain what the issue was, but if you're dying to get v2.0 loaded on to your iPhone, try getting it to work on a different machine.
    Reply to this comment
    by JeffreyRNeal July 10, 2008 3:38 PM PDT
    I had the same problem and tried deleting the pref files. It didn't appear to work. I decided to just wait and see what happened. 5 min or so later the beachball stopped and everything works fine.
    Reply to this comment
    by tim.lance July 10, 2008 3:38 PM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by JeffreyRNeal


    Thanks! Heck, didn't even take all that long.
    Reply to this comment
    by tkessler July 10, 2008 3:38 PM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by JeffreyRNeal


    Recently it seems several problems with Apple software are best fixed by "Waiting it out"...
    Reply to this comment
    by stevesol July 10, 2008 3:38 PM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by JeffreyRNeal


    Same here. The issue occurs when I load up the iPhone with media. If I have 11 GB of music/audiobooks I get the spinning beach ball and a 3-5 minute wait. If I delete the music, the iPhone shows up in about 10 seconds with no beach ball. Any thoughts?
    Reply to this comment
    by Rick Auricchio July 10, 2008 7:51 PM PDT
    Worked perfectly for me with my iPhone "classic."

    I made sure to launch iTunes without the phone connected, to get past the license agreement. Quit iTunes, plugged in phone, all's well.
    Reply to this comment
    by sleepneed July 11, 2008 2:00 AM PDT
    Tried trashing the plist files also and as soon as I connected my iPod Touch the spinning beach ball appears until I unplug it.
    Reply to this comment
    by sleepneed July 11, 2008 2:00 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by sleepneed


    I found the solution.Wait it out, after 5 or so minutes of my touch plugged in it finally read! So just wait out the beach ball and it should read. No, idea how long it could take with other devices. Good luck everybody.
    Reply to this comment
    by Richard_Gardner July 11, 2008 2:00 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by sleepneed


    I thought that the same thing had happened to me. Upgraded, launched iTunes 7.7, plugged in a classic iPod and the beachball appeared. I waited, still the beachball. Then the phone rang. After about 8 or 9 minutes went back to iTunes and everything was fine. It may just take a while to get going.
    Reply to this comment
    by revnomad July 11, 2008 7:29 AM PDT
    I do not have a tab for apps in iTunes when my iPod touch is connected and being synced. I am running 10.5.4, with iTunes 7.7 and 1.1.4 on my iPod touch. Any workarounds?
    Reply to this comment
    by Rick Auricchio July 11, 2008 7:29 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by revnomad


    The Games tab is now the Applications tab. Enable it in iTunes preferences.
    Reply to this comment
    by revnomad July 11, 2008 7:29 AM PDT
    >>
    This is a reply to a previous comment by Rick Auricchio


    Thanks. I tried it. Cannot find Games to enable in iTunes preferences. I think I need to download iTunes 2.0, but when I can get an update notice on the summary tab, and click on it, I repeatedly get an error message, "iTunes Store is unavailable. I suspect servers are overloaded.
    Reply to this comment
    by slb4010_dotmac July 11, 2008 7:29 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by revnomad


    Go into iTunes Preferences. Under General you will see Show. Listed are the different things you may want shown in your left column of iTunes. Both Applications and Ringtones were unchecked on mine after I did a re-install.
    Reply to this comment
    by revnomad July 11, 2008 7:29 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by revnomad


    Everything is working now. Thanks to those who offered help. In the end, it appears it was a complete overload on the dot.mac servers. I am updated to iPod 2.0, the apps tab has appeared in iTunes, and the apps have been loaded.
    Reply to this comment
    by Downwinds July 11, 2008 8:52 AM PDT
    Downloaded 7.7 and crashed after using it. Then downloaded iphone V2.0 and now my iphone has crashed on installation and iTunes wont connect to iTunes store. F.....g great. I can't get it back working at all. So now I have a dead phone. My Apple has maggots
    Reply to this comment
    by osmotw July 11, 2008 8:52 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by Downwinds


    I have the same issue, stuck in iTunes hell. error message is "cannot access iTunes store. connection to internet reset."

    I'm hoping it's just a traffic problem right now...
    Reply to this comment
    by yamaha5280 July 11, 2008 8:52 AM PDT
    >>
    This is a reply to a previous comment by osmotw


    I just spent 55 minutes waiting on hold to talk to a Apple Tech.......... My Iphone has the same problem connecting to the Istore.........

    He said it is a traffic problem, wait it out......

    My Iphone works great as a Ipod, just not as a cell phone

    :(
    Reply to this comment
    by doctordave July 11, 2008 8:52 AM PDT
    >
    This is a reply to a previous comment by Downwinds


    Add me to the list of bricked iPhones. The download of v2.0 went smoothly, but the install stalled halfway through, and now I can only access "emergency calling". When I try to access the iTunes store, I get the message "We could not complete your iTunes store request. The network connection was reset"

    Any solutions?

    ---
    Dave Clayton, M.D.
    Reply to this comment
    Showing 1 of 2 pages (28 Comments)
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