iPhone sync frustration continues: More problems and solutions

The inability to properly sync iPhones with iTunes remains one of the most pressing issues facing the device. We’ve received hundreds of reports from users indicating problems on some level. For the sake of reiteration, the most common problems:

• The iPhone is not recognized by iTunes, never appearing in the left-hand pane
• iTunes fails to transfer all music, contacts, calendar data, or other items to the device.
• iTunes times out when attempting to transfer data to the iPhone
• iTunes crashes while transferring data to the iPhone

Let’s start with the good news: a few new solutions to already existing issues. [For more fixes, see this recently published article and our special report on sync issues]

• iPhone not recognized by iTunes — a new fix for Mac OS X We previously mentioned this fix for a problem where the iPhone could not be properly restored, but it appears it can also be effective for problems with recognizing the device. Delete the following files (if they exist on your system):

  • /System/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext
  • /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DeviceLink.framework
  • /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework
  • /Library/Receipts/AppleMobileDeviceSupport.pkg

  Then restart your Mac. Next, download iTunes and re-install it.

  iPhone Atlas reader Tim writes: “I had the same problem. I searched my hard drive with Spotlight to find AppleMobileDeviceSupport.pkg - reinstalled it, restarted the system, repaired disk permissions - and now iTunes 7.4.2 recognizes my iPhone again.”

• Crashes, hangs, time outs, error messages and other failures during syncing — fix for Mac OS X and Windows If you experience an issue where iTunes repeatedly crashes, the iPhone suddenly is not recognized, or some media — particularly videos — do not transfer, try connecting the iPhone directly to a computer’s USB port rather than through a USB hub. This solution has worked for a number of readers.

  One iPhone Atlas reader writes:

  “I had a problem where my iPhone would disconnect and/or crash iTunes as soon as iTunes started transferring a video. Music and data would transfer OK, just the video wouldn’t. Plugging the iPhone dock directly into a USB port on the Mac instead of a powered USB hub solved the problem for me.”

  Another adds: “The iPhone docking station was connected to a Belkin 7 port USB Bus Station. No amount of procedural sequences, app relaunching, computer reboots, allowed for the syncing to take place. Error messages appeared while failing to sync were: “The iPhone cannot be synced. The device timed out” and “The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disc cannot be found.” iPhone was never able to mount in the iTunes left window pane. Solution in this case: Moved the iPhone base charger connection link from old USB hub to the front port of a dual G5 and all iPhone recognition and syncing immediately functioned properly.”

Now the bad news — continuing problems for which we haven’t yet identified workable fixes.

• Bookmarks not syncing Some users have reported a sudden inability to synchronize bookmarks with the iPhone.

  “All of a sudden, I cannot sync my Safari bookmarks. I had my bookmarks synced, but this morning I added a few bookmarks and organized them into folders (as I have done before.) However, after syncing with iPhone, I noticed that the changes did not transfer. I tried several times and even tried restoring the iPhone with no luck. At this point, I have no bookmarks on my iPhone at all (everything wiped during restore). The guy I spoke to at Apple was useless. He had me “Reset Sync History” in the iSync application (which doesn’t even recognize the iPhone, by the way). I’m running Mac OSX on a dual G5 and iTunes 7.4.2

• Outlook not syncing Users also continue to experience significant issues with synchronizing data from various Outlook editions. The most effective fix, as described in our special report on troubleshooting iPhone sync issues, is to downgrade iTunes.

  One reader writes:

  “With the newest revision of iTunes, I am still unable to sync properly with my Outlook 2003. I get an OutlookSyncClient.exe error and it doesn’t sync. If I use 7.3 it works ok.”

  It also appears that Outlook has problems with calendar events that repeat every 8 weeks.

  Oystein Larssen writes: “I got alot of errors while syncing my iPhone in Windows. ‘iTunes could not sync calendars to the iPhone ‘(my iphone)’ because the iPhone disconnected.’ I had my work schedule on the calendar, repeat every eight (8) weeks. Then I noticed that the intervals on the iPhone could not be set to eight weeks. Repeat Event: None, Every Day, Every week, Every 2 Weeks, Every Month, Every Year. If you have any other option, the iPhone won’t sync. At least mine won’t.”

Feedback? info@iphoneatlas.com.