Re: iTunes 11.1.2 keeps crashing when sync with iPhone 5

Hi zografos,

i've the same configuration as yours, iMac with 10.9, iTunes 11.1.3, Synology NAS DS213j with the newest DSM4.3 on it, iPhone 4s with 16gig and it also stucks on step 5of6 'importing Photos'.

If I find a solution i will let you know, i will monitor this thread. 😐

Finaly, "iPhoto Library Manager" gave the solution. Although I rebuilt the library several times in iPhoto, when iPhoto Library Manager rebuilt the library, found 5 errors !!!

Anyhow, now everything is back to normal !

So, unfortunately, my advise is NOT to trust iPhoto and it's internal rebuild function, and to use iPhoto Library Manager which is really GREAT !!!

So I've gone approximately 36 hours now without a crash, after crashing mutliple times per day, and all I did was open the iBooks app (for the very first time).

Your milage may vary, but so far I'm optimistic that this has made iTunes happy.

This was solved after 53 minutes with Apple tech support... 😮

My software was totally up to date, so the latest updates (iTunes 11.1.3, iOS 7.04) didn't come into play. My sync was constantly stuck on 'importing photos' or cancelling sync'. This is what worked for me:

- Disable the automatically sync when this iPhone is connected (iTunes summary screen)

- Disconnect the phone

- Go to Library/Preferences/ delete anything starting with com.apple.itunes (about 8 files)

- Empty the trash, some files may not 'empty' as they are running in the background

- Restart in Safe Boot Mode (shut down then restart keeping the shift key pressed)

- Empty the trash

- Connect the phone and sync a small number of pics, just using the Photos tab (i.e. not the summary tab)

- If this works restart the computer in normal mode and try to sync a different small set of pictures

- If this all works, then you are ready for your full sync

Note: as the first sync is likely to be large, put your phone in Airplane mode

I have spent months dealing with a similar problem and FINALLY found out the relatively simple culprit and solution after talking with very helpful apple support people by phone (free live phone support is apparently available after upgrading to Mavericks).

The problem wasn't with iphoto. The problem was not having enough RAM to allow iphoto to do its thing. When plugging in my phone to import photos, it pushed my RAM capacity past its limit, which caused the endless spinning wheel and the computer freezing. In particular, scrolling through iphone thumbnails seemed to trigger the crashing.

To determine if this applies to you, you can open the Activity Monitor utility and click Memory tab at the top and then look at Memory Used -- if the amount of Memory Used is anywhere close to Physical Memory (available), then RAM could be the problem.

My IMac is only a few years old and came with 4GB RAM standard, but that apparently isn't enough nowadays unless you close everything else. Skype and Itunes were opening automatically and running in the background, eating up lots of memory. Obviously you can try and manage RAM by stopping those from opening automatically, etc., but regardless, I'm going to purchase more RAM.

RAM is not the issue that I've had ever since the IOS, iTunes and iPhoto upgrades. The problem for me is that iTunes does not sync photos when the iPhoto library is on a network drive (sits on "importing photos" forever, and eventually crashes after a long time). Here's my specific set-up and problem (note all computers are iMac's with plenty of RAM, and the latest OS, and versions of iTunes and iPhoto. All IOS devices have the latest iOS version. :

Computer-1: iPhoto Libarary is on a separate hard drive connected to Computer-1 via firewire. iPhoto on computer-1 connects to the library just fine.

Computer-2: iPhoto uses the same libarary that is attached to Computer-1. Computer-2 connects to the drive connected to Computer-1 via a wired ethernet network. Note that iPhoto loads the library just fine. (Also note that only one of the computers can connect to the shared libary at a time).

IOS device connected to Computer-1: iTunes sync's photos with no issues

iOS device connected to Computer-2: iTunes fails to sync photos. Hangs on "Importing Photos" forever...

However... If i put a COPY of the iPhoto library directly on Computer-2 - then iTunes will sync the photos to an iOS device with no problem.

So - the issue for me is that iTunes failes to sync iPhotos to an iOS device when the iPhoto library that iPhoto is "pointed" to is on a shared network drive.

One other note - I had the SAME setup prior to the OS 11 upgrades (and the related iTunes and iPhoto upgrades) and this all worked perfectly from either computer-1 or computer-2 using the iPhoto libary on the drive connected to computer-1.

So this problem was introduced within one of the new upgrades (either MAC OS or iLife).

Apple - can you fix this issue? You had it right before!!

RAM is not the issue for me either I have 16 GB of RAM upgraded from the original 4 GB.

Network drives isn't an issue either, as my iTunes and iPhoto libraries are both local.

The sync does actually complete successfully if you leave it running overnight (and iTunes doesn't crash) and the problem (at least in my case) is confirmed to be OS X 10.9.x Mavericks because another computer running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard works perfectly fine using the same setup.

I agree with Wilsonio above -- Apple had it right before, somehow, somewhere, it went wrong with the Mavericks setup with the ability to sync (large) iPhoto Libraries.

Moscool's suggestion does work - except once I do a full sync again it takes forever.

just tagging onto this discussion after having read everything.

i've been having this problem for months (itunes crashes everytime i sync iphone5).

my itunes also crashes whenever i do an itunes match.

went to apple genius at store.

couldn't solve. wanted to delete my operating system and reinstall (and then leave me hanging alone at home to figure out all the rest; ie how to get all my music back on itunes etc). yes, i know there's apple care/phone support.

haven't found anyone that has found a permanent solution.

if there is a solution, is there something a nontechie like myself can handle, or should i go back to the genius with the answer in hand, and ask him/her to help me with it?

thank you,

anthony

Hi, with the new iTunes 11.1.3.. Syncing with ipad2 is a problem.it just hangs .. It's frustrating..somebody please help.

Has anyone tried to repair the privileges with Disk Utility while iTunes and iPhoto were NOT running? It worked for me. Once I've done that, no more hanging at syncing photos in iTunes.

i don't want to jinx myself, and i have only tried once since all this trouble began, but since the last/most recent upgrade on macbook pro (itunes upgrade and osx 10.9.2), the last time i synced my iphone 5, it didn't crash the system.

i remember before the upgrade, i think the osx box for the upgrade (or itunes upgrade) said something like..."helps with those having trouble syncing iphone, ipad, etc with itunes crashing). i was doubtful/skeptical, because genius at apple store found "two inherent problems in my harddrive which would NOT be corrected by software upgrades". he wanted to uninstall and reinstall the operating system, which would have lost EVERYTHING on my computer, including itunes music, and getting help to get the music back is always a struggle. i didn't let him do it.

don't know if i have a true fix now, with the latest upgrades, but it iphone seemed to sync normally, at least once, since the upgrade.

I'm having a similar problem on my Macbook Pro running 10.9.2 and my iPhone 5 running iOS 7.1.1, it was freezing everytime I tried to sync a large music library. I deleted my backup and tried again and it didn't freeze but it didn't sync properly, when I go on my iPhone it shows incorrect song names under a certain artist. Any thoughts on how to fix this?

To clarify 10.9.2 is the version of OS X, and the version of iTunes installed is 11.1.5

Maybe even simpler solution, as I had the problem when iTunes would crash when it got to photos synch. I went to the iphone summary screen in iTunes and clicked "back up now" in the "Manually backup and resotre" section. Then I synched and no more crash.