iTunes 11.4: Sync button grayed out and shows only "other" as device content

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iTunes 11.4: Sync button grayed out and shows only "other" as device content

iTunes will suddenly not allow us to sync any of our devices (running iOS 7.1.2). When we plug them in, it shows them by the correct name, but the sync button is grayed out and it lists only a whole lot of "other" as content. We have an iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad mini 2. They all work fine (apps, music, etc.). We tried resetting the iPad mini, but it did not fix the problem. We then tried restoring it to factory settings through iTunes and then re-installing the latest iOS through iTunes. All of that seemed to work, but the sync button is still grayed out and the apps now have to be downloaded directly onto the device individually to get them back. We tried checking the box for "sync over wi-fi", but iTunes would not apply that change to the iPad. Since iTunes is also not allowing us to sync the iPhone and iPod, we assume trying any of these things will equally unsuccessful with them. We are at a loss as to what to do.

Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 16, 2014 10:14 AM

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Answer 1

bhadash Author

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Sep 17, 2014 5:29 PM in response to bhadash

Still having the same problem with iOS 8.

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Answer 2

bflo12

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Sep 20, 2014 1:25 AM in response to bhadash

same problem here. Once I updated to iTunes 11.4 my problems began. I can no longer sync devices, manually add music nor can I enable iTunes match on my 5s.

I've read around and haven't been able to fix the problem. iOS 8 didn't fix the problem.

Have you had any luck since your last post?

cheers

Mac OS X (10.6.8)

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Answer 3

Jay_836

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Sep 21, 2014 5:28 PM in response to bhadash

I've been searching for a fix for this for days and getting incredibly frustrated

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Answer 4

bhadash Author

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Sep 22, 2014 2:02 AM in response to bflo12

Hi bflo12,

We've still had no luck in finding a solution. We did get one device to accept "sync over wi-fi", but that did not help. I found a video that many people left positive comments about and that suggested deleting all backups. But all that did was eliminate our backups. It did nothing to solve the syncing problem. I back-uped the iPad mini 2 to the cloud, reset it completely through Settings, and then used wi-fi to reinstall everything. That did not help either. I have not tried uninstalling and then reinstalling iTunes because I don't want to risk losing all the music and audiobooks, although I can no longer access any of that at this point.

So, if anyone out there has a solution, it seems as if there are numerous people with the same (or similar) problem and we'd love to find out how to solve it.

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Answer 5

bhadash Author

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Sep 22, 2014 2:12 AM in response to bhadash

Hello Jay_836,

I know the feeling quite well. At this point, we have all the devices set up to automatically download new podcast episodes and app updates over wifi, and we're backing up the Cloud (which we would much rather not do). But we still can't sync with iTunes (not even over wi-fi), so we can't access any of the music we added to iTunes, and are also quite frustrated.

The first time we noticed a problem was after an automatic Apple software update that came with an error message about some item not installing correctly and to try again. But we don't remember what was downloading or what failed to install correctly. And checking for software updates did not result in a new download of whatever failed to install.

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Answer 6

Jay_836

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Sep 22, 2014 3:19 PM in response to bhadash

After restoring my devices, uninstalling and reinstalling Itunes and all components and no help from apple tech support I did my own research and everyone is saying the same thing... It seems to be a problem within Itunes 11.4 itself. hopefully they release an update with a fix soon or if anyone else finds a solution, Please let us know

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Answer 7

bhadash Author

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Sep 24, 2014 5:04 AM in response to bhadash

I found a different discussion that seems to be about the same issue.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread/6527594?start=0&tstart=0

The entire discussion is very long and I've not read every post, but what I have read indicates that iTunes 11.4 does not work with older Macs with a 32-bit OS because iTunes 11.4 has an AppleUSBEthernetHost.kextis that is 64-bit only. One person in that discussion posted detailed instructions on how to find and remove the specific iTunes 11.4 files needed to delete that upgrade so one can then reinstall 11.3.1. Some people reported that worked for them. I noticed that at least a few said they still have issues. I don't know if iOS 8 will work with iTunes 11.3.1. I have not tried installing 11.3.1 because it is beyond my tech ability.

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Answer 8

Sep 24, 2014 8:48 AM in response to bhadash

Habe eine Lösung für das Syncronisationsproblem gefunden !

Ich habe sämtliche Dateien, die was mit iTunes zu tun haben, von Hand gelöscht.

Danach dem guten alten Mac mit 32Bit von 2006 neu gestartet und iTunes neu installiert... und siehe da, iOS 8 macht keine Zicken mehr beim Synchronisieren... alles läuft wie man es kennt.

iPhone 5 und iPad 4 jeweils mit iOS8 laufen nun perfekt mit meinem alten Mac.

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Answer 9

bhadash Author

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Sep 26, 2014 7:02 PM in response to bhadash

The solution is to download and reinstall iTunes 11.4. Apple appears to have done a fix. See the discussion

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6527594?start=0&tstart=0

And you can get a link to download the corrected iTunes 11.4 at

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1614?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

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