Unable to check for available downloads. The network connection timed out.

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Unable to check for available downloads. The network connection timed out.

I downloaded iTunes 10.1.2 last week, and attempted to upgrade some music to iTunes Plus. I'm showing 35 items in my download queue, but when I attempt to download I get a message "Unable to check for available downloads. Network connection timed out."

I e-mailed Apple Tech Support multiple times, and received their standard list of links for things to try. So far I have reinstalled iTunes, turned off my Norton Firewall, checked the program rules settings, flushed the dns cache, and unchecked the "allow simultaneous downloads" box. Still no luck.

Apple's last e-mail requested I send them my account info so they could reset my password, and check my system. I'm still waiting for that to happen.

I'd appreciate any user suggestions for this problem.

HP HDX, Windows 7

Posted on Feb 13, 2011 5:50 PM

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Answer 1

=bg=

Level 1

30 points

Feb 13, 2011 7:09 PM in response to BigVU

this is absolutely on Apple's end- I have erratic connections too. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I can get into the main store OK. Just search times out.

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Answer 2

jhcooke

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Feb 14, 2011 1:28 PM in response to BigVU

I'm having the same problem having just spent $300 upgrading to DRM free music. And now I can get any!

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Answer 3

BigVU Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 16, 2011 11:06 AM in response to jhcooke

I went through 5 different tech support people with no solution. I sent Apple iTunes an email telling them I had disputed the billing on my credit card. Within minutes (coincidence??)a Senior Advisor emailed me back that he was able to duplicate the problem from their side, he emptied my download queue and reloaded it with half the purchased items. I had to reset my password following the Apple tech work.

The new partial download worked fine. Still waiting for Apple to reload the remaining half, as well as getting an explanation of why this happened. This is OBVIOUSLY an Apple issue that seems to have become worse with the addition of iTunes Plus. Hope this helps...be persistant!

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Answer 4

n0f8r

Level 1

0 points

Mar 3, 2011 2:50 PM in response to BigVU

Fundamentally it is an apple itunes server issue - if you have a lot of downloads the "check for downloads" request can take longer than the default windows internet connection timeout setting - which is 30 seconds on more recent versions of windows.

You can work around it though - without requiring apple to "segment" your download list, by adding a windows registry setting.

Apple re-enabled my downloads after I was burgled and then I was stuck - my "check for downloads" was always timing out - and the support guy had no clue - so I went digging, and found a a microsoft article here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/181050 which tells you how to change change that default timout value by adding a registry setting. Besides adding the ReceiveTimeout setting detailed on that page - I also changed the KeepAliveTimeout - just in case.

HKEY CURRENTUSER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ReceiveTimeout
which I set to 180000 milliseconds (3 mins)

HKEY CURRENTUSER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\KeepAliveTimeout
which I set to 181000 milliseconds (3 mins and 1 second)

Use regedit to make the change - both settings are DWORDS with decimal values. You'll need to restart your PC to apply the change.

After the change and restart and one initial failed attempt the request for downloads worked - when the apple itunes server responded after 2 minutes !!

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Answer 5

gflagg82

Level 1

0 points

May 13, 2011 10:25 AM in response to n0f8r

Thank you for this registry tweak suggestion. This fixed my problem. I purchased some iTunes Plus updates for my music and ended up with 65 downloads that were not downloading. I contacted Apple and they gave me the typical canned e-mail response to check all my network settings. However, this obviously wasnt the problem because I could connect to the internet, browse the iTunes store and download podcasts, just not my 65 new downloads or any app updates.

However, after tweaking the registry settings, everything went smoothly.

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