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iPod I can't connect old ipod (touch wheel) on Vista

R

Ron Miel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 13, 2007
14
0
Hi, I have recently acquired an old ipod, 20GB touch wheel model, the one with a firewire port and the buttons in a ring. This model: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1353#touchwheel

I've recently fitted a new firewire port to my computer. Connecting my iPod to the port, it will draw power and recharge. However, the computer does not see the iPod. It does not show up in iTunes or in device manager. If I use a USB to Firewire connector it shows up as an unknown USB device. I am using Windows Vista.


Is that normal behaviour for this model of iPod? Is this model Vista compatible? Is there any download I need to operate in Vista?

Or could there be some other problem? The iPod seems to work fine apart from that, it will recharge and play back music. I just cant add music to it.

This is my only firewire device, BTW, so I can't tell if other devices connect properly.
 
The original iPods with touch wheel were Mac only. The newer touch wheels (i believe the 20 GB is included) were Mac or Windows specific. The following site shows how you can determine which way your iPod is formated.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1335?viewlocale=en_US


I believe there is a link on that page that shows how you can re-format the iPod by restoring factory settings. I am not sure if this can convert from Mac to Windows or not. But I am guessing that the formatting is your problem.
 
To sync you need a USB cable now, Only charges with Firewire now I think if you just reformat and use the firewire to USB cable it will work.
 
All iPods that are 4th Gen or older can sync with FireWire. The USB only requirement is only for the iPod 5th Gen, iPod nano, iPod Shuffle, Touch, iPhone, and Classic. All others can use FireWire. Do you have iTunes on the PC? If so no matter what the format is (mac or PC) it iTunes should recognize it and tell you it is the wrong format.:apple:
 
northy124 said:
To sync you need a USB cable now, Only charges with Firewire now I think if you just reformat and use the firewire to USB cable it will work.
Click to expand...

Old iPods can sync through Firewire. It's just the newer ones that only came with USB that can only charge via firewire using a USB to Firewire adapter.
 
MonksMac said:
Do you have iTunes on the PC? If so no matter what the format is (mac or PC) it iTunes should recognize it and tell you it is the wrong format.:apple:
Click to expand...
This is not necessarily true. I had a Mac formatted 4th gen that was not recognized under Windows. I had to hold a key combination after sliding the hold switch to put the iPod into Disk Mode. Only after doing that would iTunes see the iPod and give me the option to reformat to a PC-compatible format. See here for putting your iPod into Disk Mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1363
 
wPod said:
The original iPods with touch wheel were Mac only. The newer touch wheels (i believe the 20 GB is included) were Mac or Windows specific. The following site shows how you can determine which way your iPod is formated.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1335?viewlocale=en_US
Click to expand...

Thank you for that.

It is indeed formatted for Mac.


Any suggestions how I reformat, given that my PC doesn't recognise the device when I connect?
 
Ron Miel said:
If I use a USB to Firewire connector it shows up as an unknown USB device.
Click to expand...

Where do you get a cable like that? Everywhere I've been, they look at me like I've lost my mind and flat out say there's no such thing.

I have an old 1st gen 5g iPod (with the actually spinning control wheel) and having same problem - can't/won't sync via firewire anymore (though it will recharge); computer can't/won't see the iPod via firewire.
 
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