iTunes and iTuneshelper crash when I plug in my iPhone

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iTunes and iTuneshelper crash when I plug in my iPhone

I'm out of ideas on this problem...
Beginning yesterday, when I plug in my Iphone to sync it with iTunes, both iTunes and iTuneshelper crash, and Windows gives me the option to create a crash report. As a result I can no longer sync my iPhone with my Thinkpad.
No new software in the past several days, no other change in system stability. iTunes 9.0.3.15, iPhone OS 3.1.2, Windows XP SP3 with all updates applied.
Is there a log or dump file I can upload to help point to my problem?
Thanks in advance.
Andrew

Message was edited by: fredd9999
edit: I should add that when I plug in the iPhone, iTunes doesn't even get to the point of displaying its gui...it crashes on start and iTuneshelper goes with it. If I leave iTuneshelper not running and just re-run iTunes by manually starting it, it won't recognize the iPhone but doesn't crash, either, when I plug in the phone. I know iTuneshelper interfaces the phone to iTunes, so I guess something is going wrong in the iTuneshelper-iPhone exchange.

Thinkpad X61, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Mar 20, 2010 10:48 AM

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Answer 1

b noir

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Mar 20, 2010 11:11 AM in response to fredd9999

Do you have any podcasts stored on the phone at the moment, fred?

If so, try deleting them off the phone. Are you able to connect to iTunes without the crash now?

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Answer 2

fredd9999 Author

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Mar 20, 2010 11:27 AM in response to b noir

I had three. Deleted them off the phone, plugged into the Thinkpad, same result: iTuneshelper crashed. iTunes wasn't running at the time.

Message was edited by: fredd9999
Also, I have an audiobook on the iPhone but don't see a way to delete it form the phone, or I'd do that, too.

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Answer 3

b noir

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Mar 20, 2010 11:38 AM in response to fredd9999

Let's have a look in your Event logs to see if they can reveal up any additional information about the errors.

Right-click "My Computer" and select "Manage". Click "Event Viewer" and then click "Application".

Are there any error/warning events showing up in there that are regularly correlated with the iTunes and iTunesHelper errors? if so, doubleclick on them to bring up a small window with additional information on the events.

Note down the Source, Category, EventID and Description of examples of the typical events and post back with your findings.

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Answer 4

fredd9999 Author

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Mar 20, 2010 11:45 AM in response to b noir

Faulting application ituneshelper.exe, version 9.0.3.15, faulting module msvcrt.dll, version 7.0.2600.5512, fault address 0x00037c7e.

and

Faulting application itunes.exe, version 9.0.3.15, faulting module msvcrt.dll, version 7.0.2600.5512, fault address 0x00037c7e.

and

Fault bucket 1712953355.

for each plug-in/crash.

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Answer 5

b noir

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Mar 20, 2010 12:55 PM in response to fredd9999

Msvcrt.dll

That's a Microsoft Visual C++ Run-Time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicrosoftWindows_libraryfiles#Msvcrt.dll

What version or versions of the runtime do you currently have installed on your PC, fred?

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Answer 6

fredd9999 Author

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Mar 20, 2010 3:10 PM in response to b noir

version 7.0.2600.5512 in windows/system32 from the app crash report, 6.0.8337.0 in a couple of java directories. Two other versions in non-pathed directories. System32 comes before the java dirs in the Windows path, so I assume that's what's being accessed.

I might try re-booting to safe mode and swapping the version in the java dir into the system32 dir to see what happens.

I'm getting the unpleasant feeling that something has infested the dll, and a re-partition and re-install is in my near future.

Message was edited by: fredd9999

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Answer 7

b noir

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Mar 20, 2010 3:33 PM in response to fredd9999

version 7.0.2600.5512 in windows/system32 from the app crash report

Hmmm. If it's damaged and that's the one showing in the erroe reports, the safest thing to do initially might be to try an sfc /scannow. Irritatingly user unfriendly on XP, but the following article might be of some assistance with the most common pitfalls:

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

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Answer 8

fredd9999 Author

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Mar 20, 2010 3:41 PM in response to b noir

This is interesting: when I attempted to re-boot into safe mode I inadvertently booted into the Thinkpad Rescue and Recovery partition. The first thing it does is check the core OS files, and it found that ws2_32.dll was corrupted. It replaced the file and I re-booted Windows in normal mode. After it finished booting I plugged in the iPhone and up came iTunes. The phone synced and I'm back in business.
I'm going to take a look at the article you just pointed to, never heard of that tool. Hopefully Windows remains stable and whatever corrupted ws2_32.dll was a one-time actor.
Thanks for your help here, you got me headed down the right path.
Andrew

Message was edited by: fredd9999

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Answer 9

fredd9999 Author

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Mar 20, 2010 4:24 PM in response to b noir

I ran sfc /scannow and it completed without error, which tallies with the replacement of ws2_32.dll by the Thinkpad's Rescue and Recovery software. I'll keep that one in my back pocket for the next time something like this happens.

Thanks, again.
Andrew

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Answer 10

b noir

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Mar 20, 2010 4:46 PM in response to fredd9999

ws2_32.dll

Good lord ... the Windows Sockets API? Not sure I've seen that before in this context. It sort of makes sense, though ... the iPhone/Touch is essentially a stripped down computer, so the connection between it and the PC is more like a network connection than the more traditional iPods. So if that dll is damaged, presumably an iPhone connection would have trouble.

🙂 At any rate, excellent work tracking down the trouble, Andrew. Glad you got things working properly again.

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