iPod Shuffle 2g not working with 10.11

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Level 1

9 points

iPod Shuffle 2g not working with 10.11

I have a 2007 iMac with latest Mac os 10.11.4, and my Shuffle is now working with it: does not appear in iTunes. In "System Information" it is shown as an iPod connected to usb with no additional information (like capacity), the yellow light on it blinks all the time during it is connected. Btw shuffle charges normally and after unplug it plays music (that has been downloaded long time ago). iMac's USB ports work fine with iPhones, etc, so problem is not here.

So, it may look like something is broken in iPod, BUT the weird thing is that it works perfectly (synchronisation, charging, indication) with an old laptop with Windows XP and old version iTunes, so I can suspect that Apple decided not to support such old device in its latest OS.

Has anyone faced a situation like this?

iPod shuffle, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), null

Posted on Apr 22, 2016 4:08 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kenichi Watanabe

Level 8

41,572 points

Apr 23, 2016 5:31 AM in response to Alex Ne

the yellow light on it blinks all the time during it is connected.

That's good. Blinking light means "Do not disconnect" - Eject shuffle before disconnecting. It means there's a data connection between Mac and shuffle. And it should charge normally while the light is blinking. Do you see the iPod's "disk" icon in a Finder window or on the Mac's Desktop? IF you do, right-click and Eject it. The shuffle's light becomes solid (not blinking), green if battery is fully charged, amber if still charging. Solid light means "OK to disconnect."

In case you are new to iTunes 12, the iPod appears as a device button on the horizontal bar that goes across the iTunes window. See screenshot below of my iTunes window (upper left corner) with my shuffle's device button, circled in red.

You don't see the shuffle's device button in iTunes, when shuffle is connected and light is blinking? If you do not, a few (separate) things to check and try...

- Are you using the long USB docking cable (with cradle for the shuffle) that came with 2nd gen shuffle? The ultra-short USB docking cable for 3rd and 4th gen shuffle does not work with 2nd gen shuffle. The connector is different.

- Shut down (power off) your Mac and disconnect all USB devices. You can leave standard USB keyboard/mouse connected, if used. If it's a MacBook, connect its power adapter so that it's not running on battery power. Put the shuffle's power switch in the OFF position. Start up the Mac, run iTunes, and connect shuffle to a direct USB port on the Mac, by itself. Is there any difference?

- Run Disk Utility. Does the shuffle's disk appear in the Disk Utility sidebar? (Don't do anything to shuffle in Disk Utility at this time.)

- There is a special utility just for 1st and 2nd gen shuffle. It's used when the shuffle has a data connected (light blinks), but it does not appear in iTunes. It does the equivalent of a Restore in iTunes, when doing a Restore in iTunes is not possible. Try installing and running this utility

iPod Reset Utility 1.0.3 for Mac

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Answer 2

Alex Ne Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 23, 2016 5:39 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Thank you for your reply Kenichi!

Unfortunately none of your tips helped me, but accidentally iPod was recognised by iTunes after I've plugged it several times in another usb port where I used to have a keyboard, so it was a iMac's issue.

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Answer 3

Apr 23, 2016 5:53 AM in response to Alex Ne

Any USB port on the Mac should work with the shuffle. You should confirm the other USB ports are working properly, by connecting something else to them (like an external drive or USB flash drive), if they still do not work with your shuffle.

If they are not working properly in general, you can try to reset SMC (power management) on the iMac. On your Mac, this is basically shutting down the iMac and disconnecting its cord from power (then reconnecting it), following a specific procedure described here

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

Although your problem is not specifically mentioned, it may be related to the USB ports having insufficient power for the iPod (to operate and charge its battery) when connected, and that could be a "system management" problem.

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