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Resolved iTunes freezes immediately after plugging in iPhone or iPad

BJB Productions

BJB Productions

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 10, 2008
1,314
136
Hi -

I'm having a really aggravating issue where I cannot seem to sync my iPhone or iPad to iTunes any longer. As soon as I plug in either iDevice, iTunes freezes and I have to force quit. iPhoto works just fine. I do not have a recent iPhone backup on iTunes so I would rather not do a reset of my iPhone and then try syncing it.

Steps I have tried:
1. Creating a new mac user account and syncing with iTunes there. This WORKS.
2. Created a new library on my same user account. This does NOT work. Still crashes.
3. Deleted the iTunes app and reinstalled. This does NOT work. Still crashes.

What else can I try? I have not attempted to rebuild my library because last time I tried that it was a huge pain and messed a lot of other things up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
In iTunes Prefs->Devices: Do you have the "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically" checkbox checked?
If not, you should try checking it. Then see if you can plug your device in w/o crash.
 
Partron22 said:
In iTunes Prefs->Devices: Do you have the "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically" checkbox checked?
If not, you should try checking it. Then see if you can plug your device in w/o crash.
Click to expand...

No dice... Thanks for the tip though.
 
BJB Productions said:
Steps I have tried:
1. Creating a new mac user account and syncing with iTunes there. This WORKS.
Click to expand...

This makes me think some of the iTunes prefs stored for your account may be corrupt. When you tried deleting and reinstalling, did you just drag the App to the trash, or did you use something like AppCleaner that'll likely delete related plist files as well?
 
Partron22 said:
This makes me think some of the iTunes prefs stored for your account may be corrupt. When you tried deleting and reinstalling, did you just drag the App to the trash, or did you use something like AppCleaner that'll likely delete related plist files as well?
Click to expand...

AppCleaner does not let me delete iTunes. The only way I was able to delete the iTunes app was by running some code because it won't even let me drag it to the trash. To answer your question, yes, I was only able to delete the app but not all the files associated with iTunes.
 
Update - yesterday I did two more steps:
1. Completely uninstalled iTunes. Removed all plst files, etc. Then reinstalled. This did NOT work.
2. Backed up my iPad to iCloud and did a restore. Then tried syncing to iTunes. This did NOT work.

I'm baffled and annoyed. I think at this point my best bet is to just start syncing to iCloud until I get a new computer. I could try moving users but that is quite a long process. Thoughts?
 
There's an "iTunes" folder at /Users/myname/Library/iTunes
It contains folders with names like "iPod Software Updates" and "https_itunes.apple.com_0.localstorage".
That might be the source of your troubles.
 
Partron22 said:
There's an "iTunes" folder at /Users/myname/Library/iTunes
It contains folders with names like "iPod Software Updates" and "https_itunes.apple.com_0.localstorage".
That might be the source of your troubles.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I don't see anything in that folder besides iTunes plug-ins.
 
Have you mucked around in Terminal and forgot?
Ensure iTunes is completely closed, then try entering the following into the Terminal App:
Code: 
defaults delete com.apple.iTunes StoreActivationMode

Open iTunes and plug in your device.

PS: you can backup your device to iCloud. We haven't been using wires for almost two years now.
PPS: how much available space do you have left on your hard drive?
 
960design said:
Have you mucked around in Terminal and forgot?
Ensure iTunes is completely closed, then try entering the following into the Terminal App:
Code: 
defaults delete com.apple.iTunes StoreActivationMode

Open iTunes and plug in your device.

PS: you can backup your device to iCloud. We haven't been using wires for almost two years now.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'll probably just start using iCloud. It works quite well. When I use terminal I get the following message back:

2014-07-02 13:02:58.392 defaults[4354:507]
Domain (com.apple.iTunes) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.
Click to expand...
 
Well that means you haven't messed with the default activation mode of iTunes. Well, I'm lost. It seems like you've done everything I would have tried.
 
This works for me too. So grateful...!

Hello BJB Productions. Thank you sooooo much for sharing that. Registered here just to say thanks. This has bugged me for months and is now (finally!!!) sorted... phew!!:)
 
Biophilia said:
Hello BJB Productions. Thank you sooooo much for sharing that. Registered here just to say thanks. This has bugged me for months and is now (finally!!!) sorted... phew!!:)
Click to expand...

So glad you were able to resolve your issue! It was a horribly annoying problem.
 
Thank you

Thank you so much for the fix, I have been trying to find a solution and troubleshoot this freezing issue for month!:):):)
 
That Did It!! Many Thank You's!!!

:) Solved my problem. Backup not working like always (I also backup to the cloud). Can't thank you enough!!
BJB Productions said:
I FINALLY figured out what was going on. After digging around countless threads, I found this simple answer. This fixed my problem. Wow.
Click to expand...
 
daisy7rox said:
I trashed the folder and iTunes still freezes as soon as I plug in my device. Help?
Click to expand...
I've been having the same problem, then luckily stumbled upon this from one of the apple forums:
"First, make sure you have iTunes and Apple Mobile Device Support Installed.



1. Go to Device Manager

2. Locate your Apple device (mine was under Portable Devices. It's very possible it's somewhere else for you.)

3. Right click it and select "Update Device Driver."

4. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Devices\Support\Drivers and select that folder

5. Hit next. The driver should install and you'll see "Apple Mobile Device USB Driver" under the "Universal Serial Device USB Driver" section in Device Manager.



I hope I was able to help anybody who is still having this issue." Worked for me
 
BJB Productions said:
I FINALLY figured out what was going on. After digging around countless threads, I found this simple answer. This fixed my problem. Wow.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much - lost hours today trying to resolve this! And naturally Apple want 30 euro to get support for issues they created in the first place...
 
BJB Productions said:
I FINALLY figured out what was going on. After digging around countless threads, I found this simple answer. This fixed my problem. Wow.
Click to expand...
Oh My God, I have been dealing with this for 6 months. I've tried everything. This worked. Thank you for sharing the fix. I know this is an old thread but it should be stickied.
 
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