Ipod Sync problem... not recognised!

[gas path]

Any body help with this...its got me completely stumped.
A friends Dell Dimension WinXP home fully updated will not sync his ipod with itunes in fact the 'sync' tab is greyed out. so far I've tried:-

a reboot with the ipod connected and disconnected.
uninstall itunes and reinstall (including deleting all the associated itunes and ipod folders).
another ipod and lead.
all the usb ports on the machine.In 'my computor' it shows up when connected as a drive BUT the properties show RAW file type and I am unable to format to FAT32 (This is the same for both ipods!)
Plugging them into my machine they show up ok and formatted correctly.
I have also tried from 'device manager' uninstalling the usb root hubs and letting Windows rebuild on the next start...all to no avail.:{
Anybody got any other ideas??
Cheers GP

[Agent86]

I have seen a similar problem to this. Traced it to Windoze assigning the Ipod the Drive letter A ...and thinks it is a floppy!

Fix was to stick a USB memory key in FIRST ...that will take the A drive assignment then stick the Ipod in. It should then get E/F/G .. whatever.

You can then go to Disk Management and change the drive letter to a letter further down the alphabet. Once you have done that it "should" then recognise the Ipod each time and you won't need to use the USB key trick each time.

[gas path]

That's interesting as the machine doesn't have a floppy drive installed so that could be a possibility. I shall give it a go!
I will report back!

[Keef]

There are some settings you have to get right with an iPod connected to a PC.

First, despite the nice Firewire lead that comes with the iPod, it won't work with Firewire. Use USB.

Second, there are two ways to configure the iPod: as an iPod or as a hard drive. The Fine Manual explains what you can and cannot do with each.

Third, your PC will assign it a drive letter. Normally, that's no problem, but sometimes it assigns a letter that won't work for some reason.

If you're using XP, you can check: Start - Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management (wait!). Look in the lower right hand side of the popup box, and scroll till you see your iPod among the other drives etc. It may be an idea to assign it a fixed drive letter - pick one a fair way down the alphabet that you're not going to use for something else. Keep a note of it, just in case.

Fourth: I don't recognise a "synch" tab. What's he using - iTunes, or ActiveSync? On my PC, I don't get any option - when I plug the iPod in and start iTunes, it does all that stuff automatically.

[gas path]

Firstly apologies for the delay in getting back!
Well, thanks for the tips I tried them all but to no avail! including updating the USB drivers. I tried my memory stick and even that came up as RAW and 'unable to format'. It did show up as the 'F' drive (as did the ipods) so it wasn't looking to be a 'floppy'. In the end I had to resort to the 'Nuclear' option :eek: So 2 hours later and a shed load of M$ updates and it's all back up and running. :ok:

[Spikey21]

Connect Ipod to computer, have itunes running and ipod on, then...

Hold down the "menu" and the centre button together on the ipod until the apple logo appears, then release both.

The Ipod should now appear in itunes.

Cheers
Spikey21

[gas path]

That didn't work either:suspect:
It turned out to be a computer problem.