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iTunes 8 Doesn't Recognize my iPhone

Since upgrading to iTunes 8, the application no longer recognizes my iPhone -- so I am unable to sync it. It still shows up in the Windows Explorer and the phone appears perfectly functional. My 80GB iPod video shows up no problem when I plug it in. Additionally, every time I plug in the iPhone, a Windows dialogue box pops up saying "Camera connected" and asking me if I want to launch any of a variety of listed programs. This also happened before I upgraded iTunes; however, I would just hit cancel and there seemed to be no ill effect as it would connect to iTunes with no issue.
Any suggestions?

On a side note, I really should learn not to upgrade to the latest version until a patch to it has come out... this has bitten me far too many times for me to agree to install a new version right away.

Additional info: I just tried it on another computer that has the previous version of iTunes installed. It recognized the iPhone just fine and told me there was a firmware upgrade to 2.1 available but that I would require iTunes 8 to install it. I don't think 'upgrading' both machines to version 8 at this point is a good idea...

Message was edited by: mindspan

PC, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Sep 16, 2008 10:32 AM

Reply
11 replies

Sep 18, 2008 9:32 AM in response to mindspan

I found the answer to my problem:

Apparently when you plug your iPhone in to your computer, Windows will "sometimes" install the drivers as a camera, putting them in the wrong place. This is why it will pop up in Windows so you can take photos off, but iTunes can't see it. SO, what you have to do is move the driver file (USBAAPL.SYS) to the correct location. Follow the directions I found below & your iTunes should be fixed (worked for me):

What works is to just force the drivers on what windows thinks is a camera, i.e. to ‘update’ the device to use the correct driver. There are some hints on how to do this already listed on this forum, but I’ll try to give some more detailed information:

1. First off you need to have iTunes installed and the ipod touch plugged in
and recognized as ‘something’ e.g. digital camera (it shouldn’t really
matter what it’s recognized as, but it needs to be found by windows).

2. Search for usbaapl in the C:\WINDOWS system folder:
o open windows explorer (e.g. Right-click Start and then click ‘explore’)
o right-click the WINDOWS folder and select ‘Search’).
o type in usbaapl and hit Search – try to ignore the dog!
You should find the driver info in a sub folder of
C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRVSTORE e.g. C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRVSTORE\usbaapl_A65621D65F5B7 507DD7B22331826547BDD2D206B
Remember that location (either leave the search box open or copy the folder
name into note pad – you’ll need it later)
If you don’t find usbaapl.sys, usbaapl.inf etc. then your drivers have not
been installed with the iTunes install and you’ll have to reinstall iTunes.

3. Locate the ipod-camera device:
o Open the device manager, e.g. using Start > Control Panel >
Performance and Maintenance > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager
o Look for a device called ‘ipod’ - if your ipod shows up as
‘digital camera’ it will be under something like ‘imaging devices’.

4. Update the driver:
o Right click the ‘ipod-camera’ in device manager and click on
‘Update Driver’ – the Hardware Update Wizard will open.
o Check the ‘Install from a list or specific location’ then click ‘Next’
o Check ‘Search for the best driver in these locations’. Un-check
‘Search removable media’ and check ‘Include this location in the search’.
In the text box below type (or better copy and paste) the folder
containing the ipod driver information found in step 1 (in the example
above it was C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRVSTORE\usbaapl_A65621D65F5B7 507DD7B22331826547BDD2D206B),
then click Next.
You should now see something like ‘Apple ipod device driver’ or so. Continue
installing that device. Once the driver has been installed the ipod will come
to life and iTunes (if you have it open) will show it.

Sep 30, 2008 10:45 PM in response to mindspan

Hi, the problem I'm having is not so much like what's described above, but I wanted to repost it here as there seems to be a lot of very knowledgeable people around these parts.



After installing iTunes 8 (or probably before, I did not keep track), I noticed that my iPhone just mounted as "Jeff's iPhone" in Windows Explorer. I did not install any third-party application that would have caused it to mount as an iPhone, but I found this quite fancy:



User uploaded file



Now, following a clean operating system reinstall (because one day iTunes just decided to keep crashing MobileDeviceHelper or some other process every time I plug my iPhone in), I installed a clean copy of iTunes 8, but now my iPhone just mounts as a camera:




User uploaded file



I initially thought it was a Vista thing, so I ran Windows Update, but still, nothing. Anyone knows a way to get back to the first picture? The instructions about didn't do it 😟 Thanks in advance!

iTunes 8 Doesn't Recognize my iPhone

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