Need urgent help with shuffle-computer can't see the device

I've had a 2nd generation Shuffle for almost a year and it's worked perfectly. I just bought a second one (1 gig) for my wife, but my XP computer won't recognized it. I've tried everything suggested, plus some other things, but only my older Shuffle is recognized. I just exchanged it for a "non-defective" unit, but the replacement behaves exactly the same....neigher iTunes nor my computer can see it. I even copied the XP drivers from the Shuffle that works on the XP, but the new Shuffle won't accept them when I attempt to manually install the drivers. I'm guessing Apple made a recent change in the Shuffle software that prevents some XP computers from installing it. There are zillions of similar complaints on the internet, so hopefully Apple will come up with a fix. Good luck.

I just got a 1g shuffle and I had to restore it, how long does this normaly take?

It may depend on the speed of your computer, but it takes mine less than a minute to restore and install the latest iPod software (1.0.4). Good luck.

Patrick - Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have 2 Shuffles and the one I bought 2 weeks ago has been driving me crazy. My Vista computer will recognize it, but not my XP computer. I've spent an hour on the phone with Apple, as well as trying everything suggested on many websites to solve this problem. I even "assumed" I got a bad one, and had it replaced, but without success. I'd come to the conclusion that unlike my other Shuffle, this latest model (1.0.4) just wouldn't run on my XP laptop, probably because of insufficient USB voltage. I just tried your first link (305136) and BINGO! Pointing to C:\Windows\INF to manually load the USB drivers did the trick. Wouldn't you think the Apple tech folks would know about that solution? Again, thanks. - Dave

Those are the "exact" symptoms I experienced with my new Shuffle. Did you try the solution in the first link he previously suggested? It worked for me. Good luck.

I faced the same problems when I purchased iPod shuffle, though my iPod video worked fine!
I tried everything I could, I contacted both Apple and Microsoft, there is a problem with the drivers.
You can do 2 things here,
Reinstall iTunes, updated to the latest version, also update the iPod to the latest version using another computer.
The other, which I had to resort to, reinstall the computer. Update it then connect the iPod.
This problem happens sometimes with some computers, but when it does strike, there is little you can do!

I am having the same problem. I am on my second shuffle (brought the first one back) and on my second laptop to see if that was the problem. None of the suggestions worked. Can't seem to find a nice litte 800 number so that I can talk to Apple about it. I have spend way too much personal time on this. Hopefully someone from Apple will take a look at this discussion during regular business hours and give us a hint what to do!!

Well there is a hard way to do it, it includes messing up with the drivers and updating some files in Windows, but, one, its cumbersome and you may mess up Windows and, second, it may work, or it may even fail!
In my case after 2 hours of dicissions with an Apple engineer and going into the iternals of Windows, it failed. so i won;t post that here.
Your only bet is to update the shuffle using another computer, reinstall iTunes on the computer or reinstall windows.
in my case it worked only after reinstall.

"Well there is a hard way to do it, it includes messing up with the drivers and updating some files in Windows, but, one, its cumbersome and you may mess up Windows and, second, it may work, or it may even fail!"



With all due respect, you don't know what you're talking about, and you don't understand the problem. Your solution to reinstall Windows is like suggesting you rebuild a house because there's a missing door knob. The USB drivers are missing, and yes reinstalling Windows will reinstall them. But, it's a lot easier to just re-install the drivers. Why don't you just invest a few minutes and READ the solutions that have already been posted before your spend more time misleading others on this forum.

Oh! Sorry if I have said something wrong!
But the drivers don't update that easily, either you copy the files from another PC or you update them on the same computer.
Now, both these options may or may not work.
I am fully aware what other posts say, but the thing is that its like either you find the right knob or you do not, and most of the times you do not.
I had faced this problem and had many times re-intstalled the drivers, which did not work, then I even tried copying the files off another computer, on which it was working fine, but that also failed.
Do inform me if the posts above, or any such methods work for everyone with this problem and let you use your iPod again, I shall most humbly accept my mistake in this part.
What I said is just beacause thats what I had to do.

Have you precisely followed the instructions in the "Update the USB driver" section of the above mentioned article? Did you specifically request that your computer look for those drivers in the C:\Windows\INF folder? Did you then uninstall the USB mass storage device and ask Device Manager to look for hardware changes? Uninstalling and reinstalling Windows is a far more time consuming, and risky, procedure than solving a driver problem. Good luck.