A:Topic: Corrupt iPod file Original Message ( Posted Jan 13, 05 1:19 am )


AbbyM Joined: Jan, 2005 Posts: 2
I've had this happen twice now and can't figure out what's causing it, so I'm hoping someone else has suggestions. When I plug my iPod into my computer to update it, an error message pops up saying that the "PlayCount" file on the iPod is corrupted and unreadable and needs to be repaired using the "Chkdsk" utility. It does seem to actually be corrupted because it will not record new play counts or keep track of those songs I've played immediately before it has this issue. Both times I've used the "Restore" feature of the iPod updater, which does fix the problem, but this isn't exactly ideal because then I have to load everything back onto my iPod, which takes quite awhile because I have a few thousand songs. Does anyone have any idea why this keeps happening so I can (hopefully) prevent it from happening in the future? Oh, and this is a recent development, too. I've had the iPod since September and the first time this happened was at the end of December and then again earlier this week, and (as far as I know) I haven't been using it any differently. Thanks!
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RE: Corrupt iPod file ( msg # 32.2.1: Posted Jan 24, 05 12:38 pm ) New!


Chris Capell Level 2 Joined: Jan, 2005 Posts: 66
Just tried Christopher's method of rolling back without having to do a restore, and it worked great! For those of you using XP, you have to do the following first (and please note that this is all done at your own risk): enable the iPod for disk usage in iTunes, and then click on My Computer on your desktop, and from that window, click on Tools in the menu bar, and then Folder Options -- select the View tab and under advanced settings, make sure 'show hidden files and folders' is selected. Then press okay to close all the pop-ups and close the My Computer window. Now, go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>Notepad, and then in Notepad, from the File menu, select open. Click My Computer on the left-side of the open file dialog, then select the volume that is your iPod (you should recognize the name as being the same as you named the iPod originally in iTunes), and then click the iPod_Control folder, then the Device folder. You should see the SysInfo file here (if not, make sure the 'Files of type:' pulldown menu in the Open Files dialog is set to 'All files'). Click on the file to open it. The file contents are laid out much less nicely in Windows than in Christoper's Mac post -- they're basically one long line with no spaces between each entry. But you're still looking for the same two entries (these are how they look on my iPod, yours may be slightly different): visibleBuildID: 0x03028000 (3.0.2) buildID: 0x03028000 (3.0.2) Just change them to read: visibleBuildID: 0x03008000 (3.0.2) buildID: 0x03008000 (3.0.2) This fools the iPod into thinking it has firmware version 3.0, so it will let you 'update' to 3.0.1. Don't change anything else and select 'save' from the File menu. Close Notepad, and then run the 3.0.1 updater. You will see that it lists your software as 3.0.2 still, but it does allow you to select the 'update' option. Do so, and then follow the instructions, including disconnecting the iPod from the computer when the update is done and plugging it into the wall charger to do a reflash. One note, the next time you connect it to your computer again, you will notice that the computer considers it a new device, and will require you to do a restart. Otherwise everything has worked fine for me. I can now stop worrying about my iPod going to into deep sleep, and I still have all my files and music on the Pod. Thanks Christopher! C
B:
Corrupt file requests chkdsk :REPOST Original Message ( Posted Feb 2, 05 8:46 am )


Da Gopha Level 3 Joined: Jul, 2004 Posts: 1897...recklessly terraforming golf courses in the UK
(Part 1/2) Hi to everyone, this is a consolidated summary for those experiencing the corrupt file error that requests chkdsk, REPOSTED from the older iTunes for Windows folder: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@174.L2TNauUiTFH.417387@.68a5418d to permit the discussion to continue. What are the symptoms? 1) When iPod is connected to the computer, a pop-up dialog box appears, with a message to the effect: iTunes: itunes.exe - Corrupt File. The file or directory \iPod_Control\Device\SysInfo is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility. The error may also have (for example) Play Counts, or iTunes Temp in the place of sysinfo. As far as we are aware, regardless of the file that is corrupt, the same rules apply. 2) When you turn on the iPod, you may experience the Apple logo, followed by a global loss of custom user settings - such as language, main menu settings, contrast, backlight, on-the-go ratings, on-the-go playlists, and a reversion to a previous version of your Playlists. Are Apple aware of this?! Yes, a number of us have been in contact with Apple Technical Support to report this matter. I have been in touch with a top-notch Level 2 Engineer who has reported this to US Engineering. As of the end of January, US Engineering have acknowledged that this is a real problem, and are working towards a resolution. What causes this error? 1) This problem has been introduced by all iPod Updaters to-date since 2004-11-15. The firmware within these updaters has a bug in them causing this issue. 2) The problem occurs when the iPod enters deep sleep (after 36 hrs of inactivity), and manifests when iPod is woken, or connected to a computer. Who does this affect? We have independently shown, and have confirmation from US Engineering that this definitely affects: Generation4 Click Wheel iPods, iPod Mini :which have firmwares provided by 2004-11-15 or newer iPod Updater :running Windows (2000 and all flavours of XP, regardless of Service Pack) :using USB connectivity (and many reports of Firewire too)What have I done to my iPod to deserve this?! Nothing. It's a problem with the firmware issued in the iPod Updater. It affects the iPod, *not* iTunes, so reinstalling your iTunes will do nothing to help you in the long run. How can I fix this problem? There are a multitude of temporary fixes for this problem. 1) Soft reset iPod - press and hold Menu together with the centre Select button, for a few seconds until the Apple logo appears. This reboots the iPod, and should fix the problem on a temporary basis. 2) Run the chkdsk /f utility - Activate disk mode for the iPod in iTunes. Go to: Start, Run, and type cmd, press Enter to load the Windows command prompt. Type chkdsk /f X:, replacing 'X' with the drive letter of your iPod as deduced from My Computer. chkdsk finds and repairs the corrupt files. 3) Restore iPod - using iPod Updater. Connect iPod and select Restore following the instructions carefully. You will lose all your data on the iPod. Obviously, the soft reset is by far the quickest and easiest method of temporarily fixing this issue. However, because this problem is engrained in in the firmware, doing all the above will provide you with a temporary reprieve, but the issue will re-manifest when the iPod enters deep sleep.Windows XP Pro : Gen4 iPod
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SUMMARY: Corrupt file requests chkdsk :REPOST ( msg # 1.: Posted Feb 2, 05 8:48 am )


Da Gopha Level 3 Joined: Jul, 2004 Posts: 1897...recklessly terraforming golf courses in the UK
(Part 2/2) Okay, so what can I do for a permanent fix? 1) Wait for Apple to provide an offical solution - we've reported the problem, it's being worked on, so an official solution should be on the way. This is more than likely to be in the form of a new iPod Updater providing new firmware. The most recent updater (2005-01-10) provides the same buggy firmware that 2004-11-15 introduced. 2) Restore your iPod to an older firmware - restoration of your iPod to a previous version of the firmware fixes the issue permanently. For example, for Click Wheel iPods, 3.0.2 is the buggy firmware, 3.0.1 is the bug-free firmware. You may already have a previous version of iPod Updater available on your computer. Updaters 2004-08-06 and 2004-10-20 are the ones to go for. Connect your iPod, run the correct Updater and select Restore to turn back time for your iPod firmware. Be aware that you will obviously lose all your data and music. But I don't have an older firmware! Apple have stopped the official issue of the older firmware versions from the Apple Downloads website, so head on over to the following post: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@174.L2TNauUiTFH.417387@.68a3ab30 to request a copy from either David Robertson or Chris Capell who are being kind enough to send it out on email. There is also a link in there to a download page. What are the side effects of using an older firmware 1) New firmwares provide new features, so older firmwares will take those new features away. Thankfully though, we haven't found any significant features that are disabled by using an older firmware. Obviously, it is the user's choice to weigh up the benefits of clearing the error, with the loss of whatever minor features brought on by using an older firmware. 2) When you connect iPod to the computer, a dialog box will appear notifying you that your iPod is not up-to-date with the most recent software. It offers to correct this by running the newest iPod Updater for you. Click Cancel to ignore this message, and launch iTunes manually. Alternatively, launch iTunes manually first before connecting iPod. But I don't want to lose the music on my iPod! Fair enough. For whatever reason, you don't/can't transfer your music back from iTunes to iPod after a Restore operation. In that case, you can either implement a temporary fix, or if you'd like the permanent fix associated with a Restore, check out: Chris Capell, "Corrupt iPod file" #120, 12:38pm Jan 24, 2005 CDT for a way of fooling iPod into 'Updating' to the previous firmware. But it is a little tricky, so not recommended for newbies. Where can I find more info...? This is all a hot topic on Apple Discussions. The main hub of activity is centred around: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@174.L2TNauUiTFH.417387@.68a3ab30 and if you search Discussions for 'sysinfo' or 'chkdsk', you'll throw up hundreds of posts. It's also a hot topic on iPodLounge too: http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=420956#post420956 Thanks! I have promised to keep everyone up to date when I come across more info. In the meanwhile, feel free to link to this post to help others. Thank you to *everyone* - wihout your help, it would've taken a lot longer to come to the deductions that we made, and produce a viable resolution.
C:Summary Of Findings As Of February 1, 2005
Ok, everybody, this is my attempt at summarizing all the information we've managed to pull together from this enormous thread into one post. I will continue to update this post as more information is gathered so that there will be a single post with the most current information.ISSUEWhen connecting your iPod to your computer, a yellow bubble pops up in iTunes telling you that your "Play Counts" or "SysInfo" files are corrupted, and asks that you run "chkdsk."CONTACT WITH APPLEAs many of you know, I have been in contact with one of the supervisors at Apple Customer Service. When we spoke last, he said that they investigated the issues surrounding these "corrupt files" and "it does not appear to be a very widespread problem." I'm not really sure how they've managed to determine that, considered the sheer number of people on this forum and at the Apple Discussion Forums (see the end of this post for more information on this) who are reporting this problem. You would have to assume that there are many other iPod owners who have experienced this problem but are not members of this forum, etc., who's voices have not been heard.WHAT IS CAUSING THIS PROBLEM?UPDATE: Apple has now recognized that this problem is caused by the 11-15-04 (and later) iPod Updater. However, the the problem manifests itself after the iPod goes into a deep sleep. There is hope that this problem will be resolved in the near future in a new iPod Updater.SO, WHAT DO YOU DO TO FIX THIS PROBLEM?The solution, unfortunately, is only temporary. To date, we have been able to determine four fixes.[Fix #1]: Fix #1 is the easiest method, but is also the most unreliable and the most short lived solution. Simply doing a soft reset or a hard reset on the iPod will get rid of the error message. To do a soft reset, simply press and hold down the menu+select keys simultaneously until the Apple logo appears and the iPod reboots. To do a hard reset, follow the same steps but plug your AC adapter into your iPod first.The next time you connect your iPod to your computer, the error message will not appear. However, as mentioned, this solution is short lived. For some unknown reason, the error message will return. It may return in a day, two days, three days, a week, whenever. There is no consensus as to when it will return and there are no patterns, but it will return. For example, the return of this error message following a reset is not limited to times when the iPod awakens from a "deep sleep." There are simply no patterns.[Fix #2]: Fix #2 is more reliable and can be a long term solution. This fix involves running the "chkdsk" utility. Thanks go to BobZoron for posting step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Here's his solution:
quote:
Originally posted by BobZoron:This worked for me. Here it is, quick and dirty:1. Connect your iPod. When the yellow bubble comes up in the lower right hand corner, click the "x" to close it.2. Go into iTunes. In the lower right hand corner of the iTunes window, click on the "Display iPod options" button.3. Down at the bottom of the new window, there should be a "Manually manage songs and playlists" option. Make a note which option is currently selected (we'll want to switch back to it if you want iTunes to manage the songs that are on your iPod). Select it. Click OK and close out of iTunes.4. You should now be able to access your iPod as though it's a USB hard drive. Open My Computer. Make note of the iPod drive letter (ex: E: )5. Click Start and go to Run. In the field, type in "cmd" (no quotation marks, obviously.)6. At the prompt, type in "chkdsk e: /f" (no quotations, substitute your iPod's drive letter for the E: ) the "/f" switch automatically fixes problems found on the iPod. Depending on your computer's speed, the chkdsk utility should take a minute or two. The utility should display a list of errors on your iPod drive.7. After the utility finishes and the prompt reappears, type "exit" hit enter and close the window by clicking the "x" in the top right hand corner.8. If you want iTunes to manage your library automatically, relaunch iTunes and go back into "display iPod options." Reselect the management option that you made a note of in step 3.9. You may want to have iTunes and the iPod sync so that each knows what's going on with the other. Otherwise, you shouldn't have the bubble pop up again. For me, it was a lost file cluster on the iPod hard drive that caused the corrupt dialogue to appear. Running chkdsk solved this. I didn't have to do an iPod reset, reformat the drive, dump my song collection and start from scratch, or return the iPod. Maybe you will meet the same success I did. Let me know!
This fix, as I mentioned, can be a long term solution. As stated above, the third suggested cause for this error message is allowing your iPod to go into a "deep sleep." For those who don't know, the iPod goes into a "deep sleep" when the iPod has not been used for approximately 36 hours. If and only if you avoid letting your iPod go into a "deep sleep," you will no longer see this error message after going through the steps outlined in BobZoron's fix. If you let the iPod go into a "deep sleep" you will get the error message again and you'll be forced to go through BobZoron's fix yet again.[Fix #3]: Fix #3 is the most time consuming, but can also be a permanent fix. You can do a "full restore" and restore your iPod to version 3.0.1. The downside to this is that you will have to put all your music back on your iPod and, if you manually sync, recreate all your playlists. For those of you who don't mind doing a full restore, this might be the option for you until iPod software 3.0.3 comes out. For those of you who don't want to deal with the hassle of doing a full restore, Fix #2 is probably better.[Fix #4]: Fix #4 is only a variation of Fix #3 for people who are a little more technically savvy and/or don't mind fiddling with the iPod's files. This fix will allow you to revert back to 3.0.1 from 3.0.2 without having to do a restore, thereby preserving your music files and your playlists on your iPod. Once you have reverted back to 3.0.1, you will no longer get this error message even if you allow your iPod to go into a deep sleep.So, again, if you're going to attempt this, you will do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. However, several people at the Apple Discussion Forums have tried this and claim that it works.If, after all those warnings, you still want to try it, here's the technique:
quote:
Originally posted by Chris Capell over at the Apple Discussion ForumsFor those of you using XP, you have to do the following first (and please note that this is all done at your own risk): enable the iPod for disk usage in iTunes, and then click on My Computer on your desktop, and from that window, click on Tools in the menu bar, and then Folder Options -- select the View tab and under advanced settings, make sure 'show hidden files and folders' is selected. Then press okay to close all the pop-ups and close the My Computer window. Now, go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>Notepad, and then in Notepad, from the File menu, select open. Click My Computer on the left-side of the open file dialog, then select the volume that is your iPod (you should recognize the name as being the same as you named the iPod originally in iTunes), and then click the iPod_Control folder, then the Device folder. You should see the SysInfo file here (if not, make sure the 'Files of type:' pulldown menu in the Open Files dialog is set to 'All files'). Click on the file to open it. The file contents are laid out much less nicely in Windows than in Christoper's Mac post -- they're basically one long line with no spaces between each entry. But you're still looking for the same two entries (these are how they look on my iPod, yours may be slightly different): visibleBuildID: 0x03028000 (3.0.2) buildID: 0x03028000 (3.0.2) Just change them to read: visibleBuildID: 0x03008000 (3.0.2) buildID: 0x03008000 (3.0.2) This fools the iPod into thinking it has firmware version 3.0, so it will let you 'update' to 3.0.1. Don't change anything else and select 'save' from the File menu. Close Notepad, and then run the 3.0.1 updater. You will see that it lists your software as 3.0.2 still, but it does allow you to select the 'update' option. Do so, and then follow the instructions, including disconnecting the iPod from the computer when the update is done and plugging it into the wall charger to do a reflash. One note, the next time you connect it to your computer again, you will notice that the computer considers it a new device, and will require you to do a restart. Otherwise everything has worked fine for me.
FINAL THOUGHTSAs of today, it has pretty much been conclusively determined that the problem is caused by the 11-15-05 (and later) iPod Updater. Yet, the problem manifests itself after you let the iPod go into a deep sleep.So, if you are not currently receiving this error message, it might be wise to prevent your iPod from going into a deep sleep until Apple releases a new Updater.If you are receiving this error message, I recommend using [Fix #2] above (BobZoron's technique for running chkdsk) to fix the problem and get rid of the error message. Then, to prevent the error message from coming back, ensure that your iPod does not go into a deep sleep. That means, as above, not letting your iPod go unused for more than 36 hours.I will continue to update this post with more information as we continue to learn more. If you are experiencing this problem, you might want to bookmark this particular post (rather than simply bookmarking the entire thread) so that it will be easy to find. To bookmark this particular post, bookmark this exact URL:http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showth...0956#post420956I will also update the link in my sig to go directly to this post rather than the beginning of this thread.APPLE DISCUSSION FORUMSAs mentioned above, the people at the Apple Discussion Forums have been discussing this problem as well. A user named "Da Gopha" just posted a summary similar to mine. To read his summary, check out:http://discussions.info.apple.com/w...71562@.68a5418d