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Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Possible fix for iTunes 8 BSOD

By | September 11, 2008, 7:02am PDT

Summary: Are you finding that iTunes 8 crashes when you connect your iPod/iPhone to your Vista PC? This post might have the answers your are looking for.

[UPDATE: Thanks to Ed Bott for noticing that Apple has acknowledged this problem, posted instructions on how to fix it and released and updated version of iTunes 8 which can be downloaded as normal. Annoyingly, the update isn't being pushed to all iTunes 8 users and if you are affected by the problem you're going to need to do some manual uninstalling.

Here are the digital signature timestamps on the old and new downloads to help you tell the difference:

Old (32-bit): 8.0.0.35 | Digital signature timestamp: 09/09/08 07:35:35
New (32-bit): 8.0.0.35 | Digital signature timestamp: 09/11/08 02:10:56
Old (64-bit): 8.0.0.35 | Digital signature timestamp: 09/11/08 07:35:39
New (64-bit): 8.0.0.35 | Digital signature timestamp: 09/11/08 02:11:01

Note that the version numbers don't change. 

Hope this helps.]

Are you finding that iTunes 8 crashes when you connect your iPod/iPhone to your Vista PC? This post might have the answers your are looking for.

Yeah! Yeah! I finally managed to get iTunes 8 to BSOD on a system here. Oddly enough I can only get it to happen on the Phenom system I have, but that’s good enough for me to test out a fix.

OK, so you’ve installed iTunes 8 and your Vista system suffers a BSOD when you connect your iPod/iPhone to it. Here’s something you could try:

  1. Disconnect the iPod/iPhone and reboot the system.
  2. Click Start > Control Panel and under the entry for Programs click Uninstall a program
  3. Now select Apple Mobile Device Support and click Uninstall. When finished close Control Panel.
  4. Download iTunes 7.7.
  5. Use a file unzip tool such as 7-Zip or WinRAR to open the iTunes 7.7 iTunesSetup.exe archive you just downloaded.
  6. Extract the file AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi from the archive into a convenient location (such as your desktop).
  7. Double-click on AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi to install it.
  8. When the install process is over, try reconnecting your iPod/iPhone.

Alternatively, you might just decide that iTunes 8 is too much of a hassle and wait for an update that fixes this issue. If you do, and you try to roll back to iTunes 7.7 you may get a message telling you that “The file ‘iTunes Library.itl’ cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes.” If you get this problem, I’ve posted additional information and a fix here.

I hate iTunes …

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Possible fix for iTunes 8 BSOD
ThunderBull5 9th Jan 2009
This works great on Windows XP with the new iTunes.

http://iPodTouchScene.com
0 Votes
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Great article..
JT82 11th Sep 2008
and as usually great information to pass along to those who want to put Apple Malware into thier PC's.

Wouldnt a better alternative be to stick with iTunes 7.7 (if you positively canNOT live without it) or simply uninstall all the Apple Malware (IE>iTunes, quicktime, et.al) until Apple can actually release code that does what its supposed to in the PC world?
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impossible
spinin 11th Sep 2008
apple sw sucks. they just are unable to do something
usable on a pc. marketing or ignorance?
0 Votes
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Possibly a little of both...
JT82 Updated - 11th Sep 2008
Im not one to delve into the Apple/PC conspiracy theories but it could be reasoned that Apple (through its ignorance) writes bad code for the PC, thus harming the PC (while offering some funcationality and ideal to the end product) therefore creating a larger demand for their product - the Apple "appliance".

Or because Apple is so inept at writing secure code (or hell any code that works right on a PC) the whole thing is unintended but good for their marketing department. who knows.
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Or could it be..
Kid Icarus-21097050858087920245213802267493 11th Sep 2008
Windows is brittle as a ice and anything warm and fuzzy brings into meltdown?

I've seen Vista crash and burn plenty of times and I don't have anything Apple installed in Vista. Wonder what the excuse is then?

Why is it so easy for Vista to go down in flames?
0 Votes
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You (like so many others) claim that Vista has been able to crash and burn like XP...Well first, Vista never claimed to be bulletproof, additionally I would like to see the setup you did on that. I have had the same load of Windows Vista Ultimate x64 going since August 2007 - and has only blue screened on me a few times (due to poor drivers mainly). So I dont get where you are asking why Vista is going down in flames?
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Or the low-tech fix
MariusSilverwolf 11th Sep 2008
I've not updated iTunes since version 6. Still plays my music library, still connects to my 60 GB iPod Video. Problem solved.

And on Ubuntu, Amarok does the job without the crashes, so either way I'm set.
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And Amarok2 is in beta
Michael Kelly 11th Sep 2008
and that compiles in Windows. So soon enough even Windows users will not need iTunes.
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YAY
JT82 11th Sep 2008
I love Amarok happy Glad its finally coming to windows. Now if more people (and vendors) could get on-board with OGG vs MP3/AAC/WMA ... i'll be all set!
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RE: Possible fix for iTunes 8 BSOD
msanto00 Updated - 11th Sep 2008
I thought this solution was originally posted in the thread on Apple's support forums --- yesterday. I know I saw it there. If so, shouldn't it get a "fair use" link? (I see this story was posted today, so the support forum post was def. earlier).
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HP Printer
cfischer83@... 11th Sep 2008
My parents were dealing with this over and over again, crashes unending! They say that when they disconnected their HP printer (don't know their model) everything worked fine... odd, but if it helps anyone it's worth a shot!
0 Votes
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This is the kind of article we want
stevey_d 11th Sep 2008
fix the problem. well done Adrian!
0 Votes
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RE: Possible fix for iTunes 8 BSOD
ThunderBull5 9th Jan 2009
This works great on Windows XP with the new iTunes.

http://iPodTouchScene.com

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