AppleMobileDeviceService.exe is hogging up to %50 of CPU

Mmm, I just noticed today that this is happening - after updating to 10.4

(I can't say for certain it wasn't happening before - I was just investigating things as iTunes can no longer backup my iPad either...)

I'm pretty certain this has been an issue before where the Service was hogging even higher percentages of the CPU, even 90-100% in some cases.

Does anyone else have a sneaky suspicion that instead of fixing the problem, Apple have just tried to cap the CPU usage - perhaps based on the number of cores you have. I have 4 CPU cores, and this service hogs exactly 25% of the CPU.

Anyway, I have disabled the Service from the Windows 'Adminstrative Tools' -> 'Services' utility - and only Start it when I need to sync from iTunes - and Stop it when I'm finished.

Disabling the service worked on the PC to which I normally do not tether my iPod touch, in that it brought the CPU consumption down. However, since I seemed to need that to sync, I had to enable it, thus eliminating the effectiveness of the solution. Unfortunately, when I tried to sync my iPod with the other PC (Vista), it remained stuck on step 1 (backup?) for 5-6 hours before I decided to give up.

Reverted back to version 10.3.1 and it's all normal again. Got that version here: http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.php

I got the same error; here's what I did.

1. Locate iTunes folder, and navigate to it.

e.g. C:\Users\me\Documents\My Music\iTunes

2. Rename iTunes Library.itl to iTunes Library-10.4.itl

3. Open up the Previous iTunes Libraries folder.

4. Copy the last file in the folder - probably has the date that you upgraded to 10.4 on it. Modified date should show the date before you upgraded. Mine was dated 7-24 but had a modified date of 7-19 or 7-20.

5. Go up one directory, paste the file.

6. Rename to iTunes Library.itl

7. Open iTunes.

I have the same problem with itunes 10.4 running on Vista 32-bit using 50%+ of both CPUs..

Discovered that restarting the AMDS service corrects the problem, CPUs go to normal. AMDS is set to automatic.

Then when iTunes is started the CPUs go back to 50%, but this seems to be normal. When iTunes is closed, CPUs go back to normal.

If Computer is restarted, AMDS goes back up to 50%+ again.

This appears to be a problem with the way AMDS is started during computer startup.

Maybe Apple can figure that out.

I had this problem, too! Ridiculous. Followed the complete uninstall and re-install instructions, and I'm back in business. I agree though that I shouldn't have had to waste hours on this due to an automated upgrade yesterday.

Well, re-installed Safari and MobileMe, which I had deferred. Not a good idea.

Before, after the uninstall of Apple products and reinstall of iTunes 10.4 and things were OK. Had sync'd iPod and iPad several times with no issues.

As soon as I used the Updater and installed Safari and Mobile Me, AppleMobileDeviceService.exe began grinding away. Did not even try to start Safari. Uninstalled Safari and Mobile Me. AMDS still grinding, so terminated it. Started iTunes. And it looks like iTunes is now grinding away. Ugh. No access to Apple Store - that part of screen is blank.

Will see if a reboot is sufficient or if I need to make another pass at uninstalling Apple products.

onward... Reboot wasn't sufficient. Ugh. So uninstalled all Apple software , rebooted, installed iTunes 10.4

The install started iTunes before I told it not to. Not looping. iTunes Store is working.

I won't attempt Safari install this time.

Hey - me too! Have wasted so much time on this the past week. Thought I had a virus or something. Started with not allowiing Outlook to synch because CPU was at 100%. Shutting off AMDS cured it - until you reboot. Hope they come up with a fix soon.

Registered to say...

"Me too!"

What kind of way to do business is this? Every time I plug in my iPhone there's an itunes update or an iphone update, or some other apple update. Do some regression testing. Get it right.

Another user with the same problem on Windows 7 64bit. Realised something was hogging the CPU. At the moment I am right clicking on task manager, showing all users then stopping the apple synch service. CAnnot see a quick way to stop it permanently, though I assume I can probably disable it in the admin panel somewhere.

Real screw up by Apple it seems.

I have read the thread on how to fix . . . .but I am in the middle of an upgrade to my iphone. It has been backing up for several hours. The last time I unhooked it during an issue like this, it scrambled my phone, and I had to completely restore and lost everything. SO, will this eventually finish if I just leave it alone? It has 100% of my CPU taken up, but one would assume that eventually it would chew through it. Or is there a safe way to get my iphone away from my PC?

@immortaleye

If necessary, you can go in to 'Admin Tools / Services' to stop services like AMDS from starting automatically.

(Whether or not you can see this option might depend on whether or not you have Windows Personal / Pro /Ultimate . . . )

@everyone including immortaleye but excluding mandykayee

This was fixed for me by uninstalling all Apple software from my PC, and then reinstalling iTunes (which installs most other stuff by default anyway).

This even fixed my problem of an infinitely long iPad Backup.

So, I didn't do anything to my iPad - just uninstalled my PC software, and fresh installed it again.

Just FYI, uninstalling iTunes does not delete your library of music, etc.

After re-installing iTunes, all my library music files, videos, audiobooks, and iPad Apps were still visible without having to add them to iTunes again manually.

@mandykayee

Whether the above procedure will work for you when in the middle of a device firmware upgrade or not is anyone's guess? Good luck.

Second posting 😉

My original having been deleted by the thought police, who deemed my views on Apple, although containing no profanity, were so offensive they overrode any constructive contribution the above replies may have added.

I was having the same problems - but luckily I'd tried to take a manual backup before upgrading the iPhone software. The 6 step uninstall and then reinstall of iTunes solved the problem for me. But what a waste of time to have to go through all this.

@jmfc

Since Apple read your original post we can but hope that they have taken on board the legitimate concerns about their software, which although generally well designed is not perfect, as this thread clearly shows.

I am seriously so frustrated with this whole thing! My ipad2 won't update it's library because it said the file was corrupt, so I deleted it via preferences->devices and now it won't update AT ALL. I did the whole delete every apple thing on earth in perfect order, then re-installed 10.3. That worked for accessing the iTunes store, but what I didn't realize was that while this cpu hogging software was on my computer my husband used iTunes to update his ipod before going to Siggraph(a technology conference, so ironic). When I went back a version(still getting the error message) it apparently made it so that my husband couldn't even load his iTunes because his library.itl file was created with a newer version. So I've had to go back to the cpu hogging, no iTunes store version. I can't fix this ipad2 library problem, not even by trying to restore my ipad as it gives me the same error!

In a way, this is good. I have lots of gift cards, and I can't use them! They don't want me to purchase from them, so I won't. Just because we are Windows users doesn't mean they can ignore us. And if they want to delete this post, so be it, because the word is spreading on facebook anyway. Fix the dang thing and maybe you'll make some sales again, because windows users are getting very angry!