Apple Addresses iTunes Crashing After Firmware 2.2.1 Upgrade

[MacRumors]

After the iPhone 2.2.1 firmware update, some users found they had persistent problems with iTunes crashing with both iPhones and even iPods. Apple has issued the following email to some of the affected customers:

Dear Customer,

Recently, we uncovered an issue which was causing iTunes to unexpectedly quit when synced with an iPod or an iPhone. This issue impacted a small number of users, and we have identified your account as potentially being affected.

If you have experienced this issue, please follow these steps in order to sync your iPod or iPhone with iTunes:
1. Launch iTunes
2. Select "Deauthorize Computer" from the Store menu
3. Enter your iTunes Store Account ID and Password, then click the Deauthorize button
4. Next, choose "Authorize Computer" from the Store menu
5. Enter your iTunes Store Account ID and Password, then click the Authorize button

Once you have successfully deauthorized and reauthorized your computer, you should be able to sync your iPod or iPhone to iTunes.

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced as a result of this issue.

Thank you for being an iTunes Store customer.
iTunes Store Team

The fix has been circulating on the internet for a number of days and many readers have reported that this procedure corrects the problem. Some, however, have to take the additional step of "purchasing" a Free iTunes App after following the steps before syncing will work again.

Article Link: Apple Address iTunes Crashing After Firmware 2.2.1 Upgrade

[zephead]

Woohoo for being too lazy to upgrade! can't sleep, clown will eat me

[locust76]

Must only affect a small number of users. I upgraded two iphones on two different computers mere minutes after the update came out (one with Vista, one with 7), and both work fine.

[daneoni]

I didn't have this issue to begin with. I sync my 30GB iPod and iPhone just fine

[alexbates]

Good thing I didn't have a problem with that! I'm glad it's just a small number of users.

[Chris Blount]

I was wondering when this issue would appear on the home page of MacRumors. It's been a problem for many of us for quite a few days. Luckily it's easily resolved. Thanks for posting this and making people aware.

[gadgetfreak98]

I did not upgrade and still had the exact same issue and got the same e-mail from Apple describing the fix. My understanding is it is more likely regarding the upgrade process for individual songs to iTunes Plus format.

So just to be clear -- particularly to the prior poster who was pleased at his/her good fortune as a side-benefit of laziness -- the issue is not about the firmware upgrade.

To the administrators, it probably makes sense to confirm for yourself this is true and possibly update the title and details in the story to help those non-upgraders who are suffering this issue.

The fix, by the way, which someone amazingly figured out a couple of days ago, fixed the issue for me right away.

[UnseenLlama]

Originally Posted by zephead

Woohoo for being too lazy to upgrade! can't sleep, clown will eat me

Watch out for the clowns pal....

[budfoot]

But... why does a phone or ipod firmware go on messing with my computer?

It doesn't make sense...

[preservative]

Will there be an ipatch?

[Jonny75]

Originally Posted by preservative

Will there be an ipatch?

Only for pirate copies.

[Ha ze]

This isn't the issue I'm having. Since I upgraded a few day ago (3 or 4?) I haven't been able to make a call! I can text, email, browse, or even receive a call, but I can't start a call. Comes up saying "call failed" immediately after I dial.

Any suggestions? I restored the phone twice with no luck

[jbkalla]

I had this problem with my iPod Touch. The fix worked (so far, anyway!).

After iTunes would crash, the display would get all wonky and I'd have to restart.

[buzglyd]

This has been happening repeatedly to me while trying to sync my 16gb iPhone. I went to the Apple store yesterday and the guy at the Genius bar just told me to bring in my iMac.

My first attempt failed for a different reason but not it seems to be syncing everything ok.

[preservative]

Originally Posted by Ha ze

This isn't the issue I'm having. Since I upgraded a few day ago (3 or 4?) I haven't been able to make a call! I can text, email, browse, or even receive a call, but I can't start a call. Comes up saying "call failed" immediately after I dial.

Any suggestions? I restored the phone twice with no luck

Don't eat the yellowsnow.

[lftrghtparadigm]

Didn't happen with any of my devices, must be a small issue.

[Chris Blount]

Originally Posted by lftrghtparadigm

Didn't happen with any of my devices, must be a small issue.

I don't know if I would call it a small issue. It was an issue that hit certain users who were messing with DRM and non DRM content. There is a huge thread over on the Apple forums and thank goodness someone finally figured out a fix. If the issue stayed there, it may have eventually affected everyone.

[soundsgoodtome]

...the subject of this article should be:

"Apple Addresses iTunes Crashing After Firmware 2.2.1 Upgrade."

[gadgetfreak98]

Originally Posted by budfoot

But... why does a phone or ipod firmware go on messing with my computer?

It doesn't make sense...

Because, as I pointed out above, it does NOT have to do with the firmware update (which I never tried to apply). I has to do with to changes with something regarding DRM. Perhaps it is because of the recent iTunes Plus policy changes. It seems that a common thread on the Apple discussion forums topic on this is people also have an Apple TV (like me). It all happened for me after I rented a movie this past weekend on the Apple TV. After that, my phone wouldn't sync correctly -- it would get part way through a sync, stop syncing, start again immediately... and then iTunes would crash.

I followed someone's suggestion to deauthorize and reauthorize, followed by a free app download. That fixed it immediately. The next sync went smoothly and I've had not trouble since.

I received the e-mail last night from Apple in the original posting above -- presumably because I hit "Submit" quite a few times on the crash report when iTunes terminated.

In any event, I appreciate greatly who ever found the solution several days before Apple did. It's hard to live with an out-of-sync iPhone!!!

[nicholasm]

I tried the deauthorize-authorize fix, and that didn't work. My 8GB iPod Touch is still not syncing.

I also tried that procedure, followed by a "purchase" of a free app, but still no luck.

I am not a happy Mac user right now...

[nagromme]

No problems here, luckily.

[voicegy]

I waited a week or so before implementing the 2.2.1 update because, apparently, there wasn't much incentive to jump on it.

When I finally got around to doing it just yesterday, it completely wiped out all the songs on the iPod portion of my first-gen iPhone. Additionally, in iTunes, all the songs that were previously taking up the space on the iPhone on the "color bar" at the bottom of the iTunes window changed to orange, which is "other data" in Apple's vernacular.

Repeated attempts at syncing failed.

I Googled the problem and discovered a fix that involved erasing all content and settings on the iPhone, then re-syncing it. This was a painful process and took just under 2 hours, but it all worked fine afterwards.

iPhone / Settings / General / Reset / Erase All Content and Settings.

That will take about an hour. When complete, attach it to iTunes on your Mac and choose to restore it from a backup. All I had to do after that was completed was to rearrange my icons to my liking.

I have no idea if the de-authorization / authorization (buy free app) fix works or not - if I were to have seen this thread before I attempted the above I certainly would have tried it over a full erase. Perhaps the above may help others who are still having issues.

[Nesto]

It should be noted that this "fix" isn't 100% effective. There are a few (including me) who have tried this fix and still have iTunes crashes.

[autrefois]

No problems for me either, but I'm glad Apple has addressed this. I'm sorry to hear it doesn't work for all users, though...

I've had problems with iPhoto freezing up when syncing with my iPhone, but not iTunes. The iPhoto one happens infrequently enough that I haven't looked into it.

[twoodcc]

well i'm glad i didn't install this upgrade yet. but glad apple is addressing the issue