Unable to load provider data from Sync Services

skidney wrote:
I have upgraded to iTunes 7.7 and since I have every time I plug my iPod Touch in to sync I get the message "iTunes was unable to load provider data from Sync Services. Reconnect or try again later".

Has any one seen this? Also in the iPod info tab I now have no options in any of the dropdowns...

I had this problem with my iPhone 3G for a week or so and tried many times to completely install Quicktimes and iTunes and reinstall everything from scratch to no avail. I spent 3+ hours on the phone with Apple tech support and got nowhere as well. FINALLY, I got the error message to go away by performing the following steps on my *Vista 64 bit PC*:

1) Uninstall all Apple related applications (via Control Panel->Programs) in the following order:

Apple Mobile Services
Apple Software Update
Bonjour (opt NOT to stop services that it lists)
Safari (if you have this installed on your PC)
Quicktime
iTunes

2) THEN, and this is the most important part, you need to get rid of EVERYTHING that relates to Apple iTunes installer in all folders n your hard drive except the library / music files themselves, and there is a plenty still leftover after the uninstall. Delete the following folders completely (in Vista - you have to find the comparable places in XP yourself):

C:\ProgramData\Apple
C:\ProgramData\Apple Computer
C:\Users\(Your Account Name)\Appdata\Local\Apple
C:\Users\(Your Account Name)\Appdata\Local\Apple Computer
C:\Users\(Your Account Name)\Appdata\LocalLow\Apple Computer
C:\Users\(Your Account Name)\Appdata\Roaming\Apple Computer

3) Reboot the computer

4) Download the 7.7.11 version of iTunes and reinstall

5) Reboot the computer again before you launch the program

6) Launch iTunes and resets all of your preferences

7) Delete any past backup you have in Edit->Preference->Sync and reset the synching of all devices under that tab

8) *Reauthorize the computer* (don't forget this step otherwise everything that has DRM will be erased from the device)

9) Plug-in your iPhone / iTouch and everything should work perfectly again

Note that you do NOT have to get rid of you library and album cover art files in the Desktop\Music\iTunes folder, so you library should be intact when you call up iTunes for the first time after the reinstall. But backup this folder before you do anything anyway just to be safe. 🙂

I hope this helps others as well.

Tony

This worked for a day, then the problem came back.

I performed a process similar to the one you describe (not as complete) and was successful in syncing to Outlook. But as others have described the "fix" was temporary. Since that time, I have been experimenting with different procedures. The steps that seem to create the most reliable success are (without reinstalling any software):

1) reboot
2) Open iTunes and leave it open for 5 minutes (waiting may not be necessary)
3) Connect your iPod and wait for the "start sync services" message)
4) ** I think that this is the most important step ** Do not respond to the above message right away. Wait 5 minutes or so. It appears to me (watching WinXP task manager processes) that one or more services are not ready to sync right away.
5) After a delay of 5 minutes or so, click OK to connect.

I have gotten this process to work reliably as long as I do not "start sync services" to quickly after the message appears.

OK THIS IS HOW U FIX IT
1.GO TO WINDOWS TASK MANAGER
2.LOOK FOR SOMETHING THAT SAYS SYNC PROCESS OR SOMETHING THAT START WITH THAT
3.THE ERROR WILL GO AWAY THEN WILL GIVE YOU CHOICES ON HOW TO SYNC YOUR IPHONE
4.WALA FIXED HOPE THIS HELPED

SOORRY I FORGOT END THE PROCEEESSSS OF THE SYNC THINGY OOPS HOPE IT WORKS IT DID FOR ME

With my 32 GB iPod Touch, I've run into the problem that Outlook was not showing up in the "Info" tab during sync with iTunes. The only fix that I've found to work is the above:

1.) Start iTunes
2.) Let it warm up, it's like a little old lady; she needs some time to herself; about five minutes should be fine
3.) Now plug in your iPod
4.) Magically, Outlook once again appears in the "Info" tab, just like cookies in your grandma's cookie jar; you're not sure how it got there, but sure are happy that it's there.

Good luck - hope this works for you!

I know this sounds weird, but it often works for me.

1) Close iTunes
2) Plug in iPhone
3) Then start iTunes.

If that doesn't work, disconnect and do a hard power off (hold both buttons down and switch off) and then repeat above.

Sigh -- I'm scared to death of trying Mobile Me again (i tried it and then uninstalled it) until they get this solved. I mean, if they can't figure out how to sync it via wire...

I get this just about every day too...I find that if I just ok past the error, I eventually am able to sync up, although it tries to do a backup each time. I basically wait for the backup to start, and cancel past that step...then the true syncing begins, although sometimes it skips all the contact and cal updates as I too notice it forgets which mail profiles are associated with it...all in all the itunes sync exercise is truly painful. I typically need to sync many times a day to be able to get my cal up to date with the latest changes. Maybe I need to tweak my updates to include just cal for during the day? There has to be a better way.

Here is a simple solution until Apple fixes iTunes:

Check in the Task Manager, and if you don't see SyncServer.exe running, launch C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\SyncServer.exe and wait a minute for it to settle down (i.e. disk stops chattering). Then launch iTunes if not already launched, doc the iPhone, and sync.

The problem is quite simple.

The newest version of iTunes has not properly installed the Apple Mobile Device Support files.

Using either Winzip or WinRAR, open the latest copy of the iTunesSetup.exe file. It will contain a couple *.msi files. Copy the AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi file to a directory, and run the install. Use that file to repair the current installation of AMSD and voila!

Fixed.

This solution did me no harm, but did me no good, either.

I figured out that this error was appearing because I had a bricopack / shellpack installed (a patcher that changes system icons by messing with the .dll files). I uninstalled the pack and everything works. I realized this when I went to manually run the syncserver.exe and it threw up an error saying the shell32 file had been moved.

JJSwank wrote:
With my 32 GB iPod Touch, I've run into the problem that Outlook was not showing up in the "Info" tab during sync with iTunes. The only fix that I've found to work is the above:

1.) Start iTunes
2.) Let it warm up, it's like a little old lady; she needs some time to herself; about five minutes should be fine
3.) Now plug in your iPod
4.) Magically, Outlook once again appears in the "Info" tab, just like cookies in your grandma's cookie jar; you're not sure how it got there, but sure are happy that it's there.

Good luck - hope this works for you!

========================================


This is what worked for me. I read all the other responses and I went with the simplest.

I plugged my iPhone 3G (just got 2 weeks ago and applied the 2.0.2 update, and running iTunes 7.7.1.11) and only after the 2.0.2 update did I begin to see this problem.

But I let iTunes warm up for 5 minutes, plugged my iPhone in, and it worked like a dream.

Had task manager open to see if the "SyncServer.exe" process started up, and it spooled up fine...and after the sync was complete it shut down and went away.

Hopefully this will work for the rest of you.

Message was edited by: gosforth

Has anyone been able to successfully solve this issue?

My message of August 21 is holding. If you start sync services, as described above, and give if a minute, you will not see the dreaded "unable to load...." message.

This is not a fix. Apple has to fix iTunes. But as a workaround, it's ok.