Ipod takes forever to sync, freezes, erases all songs. Help!!!

Hi Kathy,

No cure here, I am afraid, but I am glad that my problem is not unique: I have dealt with the very same symptoms over the past few weeks, i.e. tracks getting skipped at random, with total silence for a few seconds and then onto the next track.

Now that I've reset my iPod, which contained 21700+ tracks, and wanting to refill it with the back-up iTunes songs on my completely reinstalled Windows Vista computer, iTunes gets stuck after uploading about 300 tracks, just keeps going round and round, freezes and erases the iPod again completely after spewing some Error warnings.

I suspect the hard disk is not working properly anymore, or would it be the new iTunes 11 software version that just does not agree with the older iPods (mine is an 160 GB iPod Classic, bought about 3 years ago).

I hope some other people have had similar problems and might have some ideas how to fix them ?

I'm eagerly awaiting ideas - my iPod has indeed been my constant companion for the past 3 years, and I'd hate to have to buy a new one already !

Thanks very much already, all you bright computer people out there !

Mike

Hi

I have had *exactly* the same experience. I figured it was a hardware fault so went to the Apple Store (my Classic is only 6 months old) but they didn't think it was hardware. As I'm running it through Windows, they couldn't provide much help other than to reinstall iTunes - not good.

So I loaded all of my songs on (waited the whole time...) then removed them all by unticking them all and syncing again, then ticked them all and synced again so that everything was back on. And so far, it's worked. Fast loading, no skipping, no problems. I still can't be certain it's fixed, but I haven't had the problem in 2 weeks, so some improvement.

I'd love to know of anyone else who's had this problem!

See Corrupt iPod classic.

tt2

Thanks for the link to the test - really useful.

I had over 5000 reallocs in my SMART test - my iPod is only 6 months old - does this suggest the hard drive is failing? If it is, looks like I'll have to take another trip to the Apple Store...

mjcarroll1985 wrote:

Thanks for the link to the test - really useful.

I had over 5000 reallocs in my SMART test - my iPod is only 6 months old - does this suggest the hard drive is failing?

Yes. Compare with mine that had 12 reallocs after 2 years of daily use. Unless you've let it get too hot, too cold, or been playing keepy-uppy with it, a 6 month old drive ought not to have that many errors.

If it is, looks like I'll have to take another trip to the Apple Store...

Good luck. Hopefully they can just swap it out for you,

tt2

Thanks for your great input turingtest2, it made me establish that my hard disk has indeed been completely corrupted:

Retracts: 6

Reallocs: 16104 (!!!)

Pending Sectors: 272 (!!!)

I've sent an e-mail to www.ipodrepair.nl to find out how much it would cost to have them replace the hard disk in my iPod. Have you already done that diagnostic test, kathy_chrz, it seems the only way to make sure if we are indeed in for a replacement or not ! I've really felt a lot better since I finally know what's wrong and so can stop trying endless things that won't work anyway, I can recommend that for you peace of mind ! 😉

I'll let you guys know how many arms and legs it costs in our part of the woods (I live in Belgium, but there doesn't seem to be a replacement service here, so I have to pop to The Netherlands for a fix 😉)

Mike

PS: I'm blessed with the fact that still about 2 GB of the 160 GB does seem to work: I manage to get about 250 songs on it before it collapses and wipes everything, so I try not to be greedy and enjoy "just a bit of music" while I'm underway. But I miss my whole bunch of 21896 numbers though...

Hi, I got the same problem recently but managed to fix it. I think the problem is on the cable. I borrow my brother's cable and the itunes sync properly.