iPod nano help

[Tyrant]

I bought an iPod nano today for my girlfriend and thought I'd set it up, put a few Cd's on there and see what it could do. I've downloaded the latest itunes and connected the iPod to the USB. It charges and the iPod says connected on the little screen. It does not show any sign of being connected on itunes though, it doesn't show up under My Computer as a device either. Can anyone help me troubleshoot?

Thanks for any help.

[cyberface]

Windows, right?

IIRC it won't show up as a USB disk until you configure it to do so in iTunes (it's in the preferences - 'enable disk use') so don't expect it to turn up in the file manager until you've done that.

What it *should* be doing is showing up in the sidebar in iTunes pretty much instantly. If the sidebar of the latest iTunes looks the same as the Mac version (Apple have tried their hardest to make the Windows and Mac versions look identical, but I'm not too sure about iTunes 7.5) then you'll have a sidebar on the left with Library, Devices and Playlists - the Devices should have the iPod listed under it. It's a collapsible sidebar so if the triangle is pointing right, click on it to expand - the iPod should be there.

If not, and you've tried the usual voodoo of restarting the program and making sure the iPod is plugged into a USB port with enough power (that means a powered hub or the PC itself, crap USB hubs can cause aggro), then it may be faulty. The fact that the iPod itself reckons it's connected suggests otherwise, and a config problem with your PC, but it's easy enough to check by plugging it into a friend's computer with iTunes (either Mac or PC) and see if it shows up.

Apple make quality kit, but they make a LOT of iPods and the odd faulty units do make it out - Apple will replace it immediately, but if you're not in easy reach of one of their stores then it may be a pain to do. If you have another PC, try it out on that, or if a mate has an iPod and iTunes installed, try it on that before sending it back.

Apple's iPod connector is 'special' in the sense that it's a hell of a lot more than a simple USB mass storage driver, and I'd put money on their Windows driver being flakier than the Mac driver, as there are a lot more configurations of PC / Windows to test on than Macs... and there are some weird versions of Windows out there (it's not a Sony PC by some chance is it?)

[spitfire-ian]

Have a look at this article. I would go for that as the cause of the problem as it regularly happens at work with usb memory sticks.

[Tyrant]

Hi guys, thanks for your help.
I decided to reformat the laptop, as it needed doing anyway. No problems connecting the iPod since re-installing windows. I guess I'd filled it up with so much crap that something was conflicting.