iTunes 10 won't recognise my iPod 3rd Gen anymore.

Here is a basic step by step that might work. YMMV, as I did all of these things in various order and I am not sure what ultimately made the difference. One interesting thing - when my iTunes was formerly working, my iPod Touch would be recognized as a camera by XP. However, when I upgraded to iTunes 10, it stopped being recognized this way. I suspect some driver update occurred, and this might have been the source of my problem. I disabled the Apple drivers (Step 3 below) and now my iPod is recognized as a camera again and all seems good.

1. Uninstall iTunes 10
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925
2. Install iTunes 9.2.1.5
3. Rename and add a ".bak" extension to all of the files here:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers
4. Put the iPod Touch into "recovery mode" - not sure if this is necessary
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808
5. Synch the iPod touch with iTunes. Note this was not working for me in XP after recovery mode, but I was able to sync with a Vista machine. After that, it was visible in XP as well.
6. Once you see it in iTunes, right click on the iPod in the left pane of the software and "Restore from backup." Note that my most recent backup seemed corrupt, but I was able to restore from a slightly older version.

Again, I am not sure that all of these steps are necessary, but this is what worked for me.

I have the same problem. Tried to uninstall and downgrade to 9.2.1 but that didn't work either. I am out of ideas. Running XP with Service Pack 3, and all of the latest iTunes and iPod updates. Tried a hard reset but still no joy. All I have now is a prompt to connect to iTunes on the main screen of my Touch.

I should also mention that my iPod was recognized on a separate Vista computer running iTunes 10, so I suspect some sort of XP driver problem. I assume the iTunes 10 might have overwritten some of the 9.2.1 and earlier USB drivers or something.

Same here. Ipod Touch 32g worked great with iTunes 9.x. Upgraded to 10 is a disaster. Windows sees iPod as a camera. Have followed Apple instructions to removed everything and reinstall. No difference.

I have the same Problem. When connecting my iPhone 4 or my iPad, Windows recognizes these as a camera, in iTunes the devices do not appear. Only my old iPod is normally recognized.

After searching in the net and trying the reinstall iTunes 10 many times, I think I identified the problem: In the folder "Mobile Device Support" under "Programs/Common Files" the folder "Drivers" is missing. On an older Computer with the old iTunes Version, this folder still exists, with the "usbaapl.sys" "usbaapl.cat" and "usbaapl.inf" in it.

That's why Windows cannot find the apple-drivers and alternatively installs the devices as a camera.

I will try to reinstall the good old iTunes 9 to get the old driver-folder ... let's see ...

SOLVED IT. For some reason, installing iTunes 10 messed up the Apple iPod USB device driver. It was using a Microsoft driver instead of Apple's. Here's how it was resolved: Plug iPod into USB. "Apple iPod" shows up in Windows Device Manager. Right-click "Apple iPod" and select Update Driver Software. Select Browse my computer for driver software. Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. Click Have Disk...
In my Windows 7 environment the Apple drivers are found here: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers paste that into the Copy manufacturer's files from field and click Browse. Select the usbaapl.inf driver file. After the update I unplugged the iPod for 10 seconds, put it back in, Windows recognized it - good. Started iTunes and it was there. I hope this works for you too.

THANK U soooo much, that just saved my ***!
i tried updating my iTunes to ver10 but it didnt recognized my iPod Touch 3gen. i tried reinstalling itunes 9.2.1.5 but sadly my library wasnt recognized anymore coz of version 10 and iPod is still not recognized. so i lost my data and cant connect my iPod till now coz of ur advice. THANKS again

Well - I'll give a bit of a long-winded follow-up. The issue as I have figured it out seems to be Win XP specific.

I tried to downgrade from iOS 4.0.2 to 4.0. Could not roll back the firmware since I have never jailbroken my iPod. Uninstalled iTunes 10 and re-installed 9.2.1.5. At that point, iTunes could still no longer recognize my iPod. Did a full restore (many times), but could never re-synch with either iTunes 10 or iTunes 9.2.1.5.

I finally restored the iPod touch on another computer running Vista Home Premium and iTunes 10. It synced fine with that machine!

Once I had completed that restore and sync, I re-sync-ed with my XP Pro machine. The iPod was finally visible in iTunes (still running v9.2) this evening after restoring it on the Vista machine.

I tried to "restore" from backup on my XP machine and was unsuccessful (restore crapped out with a vague error message when part way complete). But I was able to copy all of my apps back to the iTunes library. Any now I can sync again on my XP machine - I have just lost all of my settings and app data.

Crappy workaround but at the moment things are better than they were.

I have exactly the same issue, running windows 7, snyc's fine with my ipod classic but no go with the touch??

When I follow JonNichols advice I get "The folder you specified doesn't conntain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems"

Message was edited by: chrisrhill

My environment is 32 bit. However, perhaps this will help:

If using a 64-bit version of Windows, this folder may be stored in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers

The usbaapl.inf file will be called usbaapl64.inf if you have a 64-bit version of Windows.

Good luck!

Thanks Jon,
No go, the file I had found was C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers\usbaapl64.inf which brought up that error, there was previous version which I restored but also came up with that error?

Have reinstalled itunes, guess I'm stuck unless someone has it working and can send me the files?? Guess I could try the 32 bit version of itunes?

hey, i have the same problem but i cant seem to find the ipod in the device manager, and it charges it, but i cant locate it, except from my computer, then i can see the photos, that i have saved, and that i have synced to it. i have 2 3rd generation ipods, one for me and one for my younger sis, we need to update them, because we havent for a while, about a month, and im having issues with itunes not finding them, but they charge when i put them in a USB port... please help me walk thru what u have discovered on how to fix the driver please. i need to update them asap.


***UPDATE:
i found how to do it! the instructions were a bit confusing but i figured it out! thank you so so so much!!!

Message was edited by: Bre'

Yes please, would it be possible to share a Step by Step?? I tried to do the steps described by JonNichols for Windows 7 but got confused since I am on Windows XP and dialog boxes seem different... It seems that you Bre' were able to solve the problem with XP. Could you pls share more info?

For info, it works perfectly with my iPod Nano. Not for the Touch.

Thx

I am having same problem it wont let update the it keep give the error it not comptible software driver for your device if the folder contains a driver make sure it designed to work with window for x64 base system. i runniong window 7 x64.Help me please.

Hi Bangor72,

For Windows XP: You should right-click on your computer, then select Manage. A window named "Computer Management" opens: in the navigation tree on the left, under System Tool, you will find Device Manager. There you should find your iPod (Universal Serial Bus controllers)

I guess you try to follow instructions shared by JonNichols above. I don't want to discourage you but I followed it and it didn't work... Maybe it is because it is for Windows 7.