AppleMobileDeviceService.exe is hogging up to %50 of CPU

AppleMobileDeviceService.exe (part of Apple iTunes) may cause very high CPU usage. Typically it consumes one whole (logical) CPU.

There is an easy fix for that – restoring winsock catalog. Open Command Promt with Administrator’s privileges and run:

netsh winsock reset

then reboot Windows.

*Fixed*

So we've established that winsock reset works for some people, which is good.

However, it seems that Apple couldn't give a toss about the conflict that there seems to be with a number of brands of child protection software, for which the only "solution" has been to uninstall that software. That is NOT an acceptable solution.

I realized after I did that my network card program started to say that my LSP is wrong and asked me to change it. I said yes and it started going crazy again. I also couldn't connect to iTunes store durring all of this. So I ran the command again and it went back to normal. I have a bigfoot netwok card. I stopped the software from running. I even got improved netwok speeds after and itunes store connected in seccons. What ever it is. t has to do with the netwrk.

YES! YES! YES!

Just bought the Iphone 4S and couldn't get sync to work: finally! Thank you Madblaster6.

My CPU isn't burning out of my pc anymore!

(now solve my other problem: charger is getting very hot and smells like burned plastic: it doesn't charge. But that is another *hot* issue)

I was also struggeling several weeks with this problem. None of the above solutions worked for me.

Finally I got iTunes running after unistalling some software from Vodafone (Vodafone Connector and Vodafone Mobile Connect).

May be this info will help some others as well.

Dirk

I don't sync wirelessly because it needlessly eats power, and all my data are stored on local devices, not in iCloud. My Apple devices sync with a meticulously-maintained Windows Media Center 2002 box.

Why aren't there simple means to tune or disable the components not needed while idling? Running the latest version of iTunes (10.5.2.11), iTunes uses the following program components when it's not open, doing absolutely nothing useful for me:

AppleMobileDeviceService.exe 18 MB

distnoted.exe 7 MB

iPodService.exe 9 MB

iTunesHelper.exe 24 MB

mDNSResponder.exe 5 MB

SyncServer.exe 20 MB

These total 83 MB while doing absolutely nothing useful. That's far too much idling memory devoted to programs that are doing nothing. And the idea of an uninstall and reinstall while holding your left arm skyward and scratching your right calf with your left big toe is typical software maldesign and bloat. They should instead be shut off when they're not used, and *there should have been a pilot program that starts them and shuts them off when they're not used.* Simple idea, easy for Apple to have done. But instead they've used the Windows approach of sucking power from the machine hoping not enough people will notice or care.

No worries, Blue Planet Man. The good news is that things don't work like you think they do.

Server processes that aren't doing anything don't slow you down measurably, and memory that isn't being actively used will be paged out when something else needs it. All operating systems handle server processes and memory like that.

Apple has plenty of problems w/ iTuens and its server processes in terms of how they actually work, but neither of the things you listed is a concern. Hope that helps!

Thanks, Mike SH T: What's said to work in theory, and what happens in practice are two different experiences. If all the memory resident Apple processes I listed are shut off, the machine is noticeably faster and more responsive. I find that to be the case with memory resident bloat on any Windows machine, no matter the flavor.

In my case the command "netsh winsock reset" worked and my CPU usage gets back to normal, BUT the "filternet" Parental control service stopped working. After re-installing "filternet" the CPU was hogged again.

Filternet has confirmed this is problem they are working on.

(http://www.filternet.nl/)

God Bless you Madblaster! I haven't been able to run iTunes since October, and have spend hours on the phone with Apple tech support to no avail! This worked. Hope fix doesn't affect anything else, but at least I don't have to purchase a new computer, as was suggested to me by Apple tech phone support!

Yeah no problem

here are the instructions again so people don't miss them.

Also make sure you're not running the software that may reset it. Like my bigfoot ethernet card software kept reseting it.

AppleMobileDeviceService.exe (part of Apple iTunes) may cause very high CPU usage. Typically it consumes one whole (logical) CPU.

There is an easy fix for that – restoring winsock catalog. Open Command Promt with Administrator’s privileges and run:

netsh winsock reset

then reboot Windows.

*Fixed*

The main issue with this is it'll probably unhook your Anti-Virus software from looking at anything coming from the internet. It does usually work around the problem though. (I found upgrading my AV was a final fix.)

John

Thanks Dr Jon, but "how do I know?". In the process of trying to eliminate any possible conflicts prior to this fix,, I removed all my anti software and installed only MS Security Essentials (which is probably like the fox watching the henhouse). If I go back and reinstall my McAfee, will it start all over or should the new install work around the ntshr winsock reset already performed? ( I'm way over my head here's you can probably tell). I appreciate your help!

This is long, but it includes an *easy* solution that works for me 100% of the time...

Exactly, John. A netsh reset to fix this problem is like reinstalling Windows (albeit on a smaller basis) to fix a problem w/ one program. It will fix the program -- but can cause other hard-to-figure-out problems. I had pointed that out on a different thread: "You'll also see solutions that use "netsh winsock reset". That seems to work for some people, too. But: the downside is that a reset may reset other things and require that other programs be reinstalled, possibly reintroducing this problem. Make sure you do a "netsh winsock show catalog >c:\winsockcat.txt" first so you'll have a record. I didn't try the reset b/c I'm worried about creating other problems."

Here is my current solution for my iTunes problems, restating what I wrote above and elsewhere and adding a few tweaks. I hope it helps someone else -- it makes iTunes usable for me.

For the search engines, let me state a list of symptoms...

Symptoms -- any of the following: iTunes hangs after launch; iTunes won't recognize your iPhone, iPad or iPod after you plug it in; Apple Mobile Device service uses up a lot of CPU; your iPhone/iPod/iPad/Apple TV won't connect to iTunes via Wifi (e.g. Sync with Wifi or making your iTunes library available to Apple TV).

Workaround for when any of the above happens. A little annoying, but only 20 seconds worth of work whenever you want to use iTunes to sync w/ your iPhone/iPod/iPad/Apple TV. Works 100% of the time for me:

--Exit iTunes. Is your iTunes hung? If so, use Microsoft's Process Explorer (free, search for it) or Windows' Task Manager (search for a tutorial) to kill itunes.exe. For PE, Run as Administrator to be sure you can kill what you need to.

--Unplug your device.

--Log onto an admin account if you're not.

--Go to the Start menu and type in services.msc (in Vista and Windows 7, type it in the search box; in XP, use the Run command). [If you like, set up a desktop or QuickLaunch shortcut to services.msc for convenient access. Be sure to set the properties to Run as Administrator.]

--Scroll down to "iPod Service" and left click it once. If there is a restart link on the left top, click it. If not, right click iPod Service and select Stop. Repeat, clicking Start.

--Scroll up to "Apple Mobile Device" and do the same thing.

--Open iTunes. Wait a few seconds until it looks like it's done initializing. Plug in your device or boot up your Apple TV. That should do 'ya! It will work fine until it gets hosed again -- simply repeat the process.

BTW, I now always right click on my device name in iTunes and select "Eject" before I unplug it. I'm not sure that actually helps, but I'm trying it to see if it prevents hangs.

If I wasn't clear above, let me know and I'll restate. Again, 20 seconds for me to do the above -- it's an easy process once you have done it twice.

I suspect that the problems fixed by the above are conflicts between antimalware programs and Apple's software system that includes iTunes and the two helper services I listed. I use Webroot and Comodo. But, who knows -- I just know my solution works for me. Good luck!

MSE's okay as an AV tool (I use ESET NOD32 BTW, using v2 had the problem, upgrading to v4.2 fixed it, which I had to do anyway as v2 was coming to the end of its life - I was only using as was more lightweight than v3).

Listing the catalogue will show you what's hooked in (see the previous post, you will need to redirect it to a file as it'll be pretty long) and it's worth doing to see if anything's there that you think shouldn't be (i.e. you thought you'd removed).

You get a lot of stuff like:

Winsock Catalog Provider Entry

------------------------------------------------------

Entry Type: Layered Chain Entry

Description: NOD32 protected [MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP]]

Provider ID: {74ED6954-26D5-4C7D-8F09-2FDF977B6329}

Provider Path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\imon.dll

Catalog Entry ID: 1033

Version: 2

Address Family: 2

Max Address Length: 16

Min Address Length: 16

Socket Type: 1

Protocol: 6

Protocol Chain Length: 2

Protocol Chain: 1032 : 1001

I'd just look at the Layered Chain ones first. Also if you do try the reset game doing another catalog will show you what got nuked, then you can reinstall and see what happens.

Hope that helps...

John