iPod in recovery mode / constant restore loop
I have a ~1.5 year old 120 gig iPod Classic that is stuck in a restore loop of death. Using it with Windows Vista Business, have current version of iPod software, of iTunes, and Vista updates are current.
The problem:
Currently, iTunes will recognize the device when connected but will give the error "iTunes has detected an iPod in recovery mode. You must restore this iPod before it can be used with iTunes." I click "ok," then click "Restore" in the Summary tab of the iPod screen in iTunes, which is the only iPod tab that shows up. The restore appears to work properly, I get the dialogue that says the iPod has been restored to factory settings and to keep it plugged in while it restarts. The Apple logo appears briefly on the iPod screen, but then it switches to a blinking circle with a line through it and says "Do not disconnect" beneath it, in black and white. In fact, this is the same icon and font that one might see in Disk Mode, except the title bar does NOT say "Disk Mode" up top. I have tried putting it in Disk Mode before restoring, and after the restore, the "Disk Mode" disappears from the title bar.
After a while, iTunes recognizes the iPod again, and up pops the message that says it has detected an iPod in recovery mode, a restore is needed, and the cycle starts over again.
Fixes I have tried:
-Restarting iPod, disconnecting and reconnecting iPod
-Restarting computer
-Putting iPod in disk mode and connecting, as well as restoring
-Formatting the drive using Windows, both from the My Computer screen and from a CMD prompt, all of which failed towards the very end because "Windows was unable to complete the format"
-After many, many unsuccessful attempts at restoring with iTunes and formatting with Windows, I turned off the iPod service and formatted the drive from the CMD prompt. It FINALLY seemed to work. Ran CHKDSK in read only (which found errors), then CHKDSK /r (which failed due to an unexplained error), then CHKDSK /f. CHKDSK /f seemed to actually work, and appeared to fix the aforementioned errors.
After the "successful" format, iTunes said it needed to restore the drive in order to work with iTunes. Sure, made sense. Tried to restore, and now I'm back in the same endless restore loop.
I'm out of ideas, and the only thing keeping me from junking this iPod is that a similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and I was actually able to format the drive with Windows, and then restore it using iTunes. It happened on the first go-round, though.
So, my question is: any other tricks out there to get it to restore? Or should I give up and move on?
Thanks for reading and for your suggestions!
Rachel
The problem:
Currently, iTunes will recognize the device when connected but will give the error "iTunes has detected an iPod in recovery mode. You must restore this iPod before it can be used with iTunes." I click "ok," then click "Restore" in the Summary tab of the iPod screen in iTunes, which is the only iPod tab that shows up. The restore appears to work properly, I get the dialogue that says the iPod has been restored to factory settings and to keep it plugged in while it restarts. The Apple logo appears briefly on the iPod screen, but then it switches to a blinking circle with a line through it and says "Do not disconnect" beneath it, in black and white. In fact, this is the same icon and font that one might see in Disk Mode, except the title bar does NOT say "Disk Mode" up top. I have tried putting it in Disk Mode before restoring, and after the restore, the "Disk Mode" disappears from the title bar.
After a while, iTunes recognizes the iPod again, and up pops the message that says it has detected an iPod in recovery mode, a restore is needed, and the cycle starts over again.
Fixes I have tried:
-Restarting iPod, disconnecting and reconnecting iPod
-Restarting computer
-Putting iPod in disk mode and connecting, as well as restoring
-Formatting the drive using Windows, both from the My Computer screen and from a CMD prompt, all of which failed towards the very end because "Windows was unable to complete the format"
-After many, many unsuccessful attempts at restoring with iTunes and formatting with Windows, I turned off the iPod service and formatted the drive from the CMD prompt. It FINALLY seemed to work. Ran CHKDSK in read only (which found errors), then CHKDSK /r (which failed due to an unexplained error), then CHKDSK /f. CHKDSK /f seemed to actually work, and appeared to fix the aforementioned errors.
After the "successful" format, iTunes said it needed to restore the drive in order to work with iTunes. Sure, made sense. Tried to restore, and now I'm back in the same endless restore loop.
I'm out of ideas, and the only thing keeping me from junking this iPod is that a similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and I was actually able to format the drive with Windows, and then restore it using iTunes. It happened on the first go-round, though.
So, my question is: any other tricks out there to get it to restore? Or should I give up and move on?
Thanks for reading and for your suggestions!
Rachel
iPod Classic 120gb, Windows Vista
