iTunes has been hi jacked

[Janset]

Hi all.

I am in dire need of assistance please. First off, I do not know which forum to place this problem with as it covers iPhone, iPad and iTunes on my windows 7 Ultimate PC.

This morning I connected my iPhone 3GS to the computer and started iTunes, and all went well. I downloaded an App from iTunes and subsequently from within that App I downloaded 3 ring tones. The program was "RingtonesFree".

While the 3 ringtone downloads did appear in the File Sharing window of iTunes Apps section, I could not get them to be recognized by the iPhone nor could I transfer them to the Tones folder where I have 3 other (old) ringtones that work perfectly.

During the cause of trying to get the tones to work I closed iTunes for some reason or other but when I reconnected the iPhone and started iTunes, everything from about midway up the iTunes screen (in the Apps page), including the Apps listing and the small thumbnail pictures of my iPhone displaying all the loaded icons appeared "milked" out. That is, the screen appeared as if a pale white film was placed over it.

None of these icons responded at all. The lower half, icons could be clicked on but they did nothing. Now it gets worse.

As I clicked down on all the headings in the left window of iTunes, when I clicked on music, I found 128 songs that I did not install by me.

To add insult to injury, I had about $32 and some cents credit with iTunes, that too had disappeared and is no longer displayed.

When I clicked on movies, there was a 85 minute movie that, again I know nothing about.

The only clue that I can give here is that some time before I purchased my iPad and iPhone, my daughter used my computer to back up her iPhone for some reason. All the stuff that I have discovered today is her rubbish and is the same stuff that I had to remove from my PC when I created an account for myself. Removing her from my computer gave me a lot of problems, but eventually somehow I got her off my PC before I created an account for my self.

My account with iTunes for my iPhone and iPad has worked seamlessly for about 6 months until now.

How can I get my account back and my $32 of credit that I still have with iTunes?

I really hope someone can come up with an answer. :-(

Regards

 

[Janset]

Hi all.

Additional information I have since discovered.

When I back out completely from iTunes and then log back in with my password, on the left side of the welcome page there are a number of small print links. The top one is "Account". When clicked on on this, all my details come up and show correctly, included my $32 credit.

While exploring those 'quick links' I am able to open various other links and it would appear that all my purchase history is there also including the icons of my purchased/downloaded Apps.

Now the only problem is, how do I get iTunes to read the information listed/shown there into displaying in iTunes when opened from the desktop instead of showing my daughters rubbish?

Regards

 

[twerppoet]

So your daughter's stuff is there and yours is not, am I right?

It sounds like she changed the location of the iTunes library so as to keep from overwriting your stuff; but I can't be certain.

Call her, ask her what she did. I don't want to give advice that might make things worse before I know what's going on.

 

[Janset]

Hi there.

I think I may have found the problem, although it has not yet been fixed. That will be in a couple of days.

I have a set up on my PC whereby I have my C drive mounted in a removable cradle and I also happen to have a duplicate C drive that is only about 3 weeks behind. Now when I boot to this "duplicate" C drive all is well and works as it should. When I re-insert the delinquent drive the same problem re-presents it's self. This indicates that the problem lays with the actual program on the delinquent drive.

This is what I think may have caused the problem.

A few days ago I made an partition resizing on the delinquent drive increasing it by about 50 Gig. The process went smoothly, or so I thought. During the DOS process there are 3 progress bars. The bottom progress bar deplicts the over all progress and the other 2 depict some other functions.

After what seemed like forever, the over-all progress bar showed 100% completed, "BUT" the other 2 bars only went to 99% and then then froze there. I waited 4 hours to see if they would complete but no joy. I then rebooted the PC and all appeared to be working......I now discover this problem.

Here I will go out on a limb and surmise that during the re-partitioning that iTunes program got corrupted and picked up fragments of the old removed (daughters) iTunes program. Like it has been said many times before all through the internet, simple deleting/uninstalling programs does not necessarily delete data. And there hangs the tail.

What I will be doing is Ghosting the good "Working" C drive and over writing the corrupted one within the next few days, that hopefully will fix the problem.

But first I want to try something upon what I would like an answer please.

Before I re-Ghost I would like to try something, and that is to uninstall iTunes and then re-install it again and see if that fixes the problem, but first I need to know something about "authorizing this computer". Do I need to "unauthorise" the PC before uninstalling and then "re-authorise" the PC upon re-installation of the program?

Regards

 

[twerppoet]

It's probably the library, not the program that is corrupted. These links may help determine that.

iTunes: What are the iTunes library files?

Where are my iTunes files located?

As an experiment you could copy the library from the good drive to the bad drive (but don't overwrite), then point iTunes at the copy from Preferences, the Advanced Tab.

This is non-destructive. All you have to do if it does not work is point it back at the original file.

It should work well, if you have things set up to import and organize your music (also found in the Advanced tab). If you have things set up to leave imported music in the original folders you would probably have to re-import those folders again. If everything was bought through the iTunes Store this is a non-issue.

 

[Janset]

Hi there.

I will give your suggestion a go later to-day, time permitting. Thanks for the suggestion. I do not have anything set up to import or organise, mine is only the default settings.

Regards

 

[twerppoet]

Good luck. I hope you find out, and correct, the problem.

Please let us know what happens, whatever.

 

[Janset]

Hi twerppoet.

Finally fixed....I hope! You were right, it was a Library issue, it was not an iTunes problem but a user problem.

Those links you sent me were useful although they did give me considerable reading as they had a number of links which I had to check out.

To effect a fix. The first thing I found was that I had about a half a dozen library entries, including finding one (and other files) on my slave drive, how they got there is anyones guess. (My daughter certainly did a number on me with this one). The annoying part of it all was the fact that there was no way for me to ascertain as to who was the owner of that library. The dates were of no use as I do not know what date my daughter installed iTunes nor when I effected my installation.

After testing all these libraries I found that I had a number of times almost got it right, right up until it came to Syncing only to have the top half of the panel 'milked- out' or to be told that I was trying to sync to another library to which I was not authorised. Authorising my computer was of no help.

When I did manage to sync, I found that I had lost most of my Apps icons necessitating a download of my purchased Apps from iTunes again, or I had gained a bundle of songs that I had not purchased (my daughter as a crapy taste in music).

By now I was so frustrated that I took the plunge and decided to un-install and re-install, but the same problems presented.

Again I uninstalled iTunes, but this time I did a manual search for iTunes files and folders on the PC before re-installing, only to find that while I had uninstalled iTunes, and the program was no longer present in the windows program "add/remove" section (via Control panel) or in the programs menu, I still found iTunes files and folders in the Windows Root Directory, (default location) .

These I removed manually. I then actively tracked down any and all iTunes related files and folders I could find using Window Search function and deleting from there. Most items I could remove, the odd one refused to be deleted.

I then re-installed iTunes, downloaded all my purchased Apps and FINALLY managed to have a successful Sync. The next step was to sync my iPhone. This too went smoothy....Whoo Hoo!

So now I am a happy camper again, but with a resolution. If my daughter goes anywhere near my computer, I will rip her arms off and beat her to death with the soggy ends.

Thanks for you guidance.

Regard

 

[twerppoet]

I'm glad you got it fixed. A corrupted library can be a major problem. Fortunately it's fairly easy to start over again, since almost all your iTunes content is re-downloadable. I shudder to think of doing this myself, with over 18GB of songs and that again in other files, but it is doable.

As for your daughter, the easiest thing to do (if you decide ripping her arms off is too extreme) is to create a second user account for her on the computer. It might mean some minor inconvenience for you, since you'd need to start logging into and out of your computer instead of just turning it on (assuming you are not already practicing this highly recommended security feature); but, it means anything she does in iTunes would be limited to the separate iTunes library that would get created in her own file space.

It would also keep her out of your email or anything else you might consider private, or just don't want tinkered with.

 

[Janset]

Well mon ami, it looks like this rooster crowed too soon.

It worked perfectly last night but it was up to it's old tricks again this morning. I found all my movies were gone (ones I had ripped to .avi's,) and some of my installed apps that I seen not to be able to find when I try for a for refresh download of APPS from iTunes.

And then.... Again those crappy songs. They are going to be the death of me! Where are these crappy things actually stored, are they being download from iTunes also?

I checked the iTunes in the Windows root directory again and found only 2 library files, one from yesterday and the other for today. I tried both, both behaved the same.

When I attempt a sync I get 2 advice boxes, to copy and delete or just to transfer (words to that effect). I tried both but no joy. If it is at al possible then I would say that my account has merged with my daughters creating a hybrid.

You mentioned creating a new profile/identity or some such. This may be my salvation, but I do not know how to go about it. Would you be able to walk me though it?

What really presents a very concerned question is, If I do that, will I still be able to access all my purchased APPS, in particular I am concerned over my Hema Navigational program about $150 or there abouts, and what will happen to my $32 iTunes credit?

Regard

 

[twerppoet]

It's been a long time since I've done much with Windows and I don't have a machine to check myself, so I would be a poor choice to try and walk you through setting up a new Windows User account. Besides, it won't fix your current problems, or at least it's very unlikely it would. It was about keeping it from happening again.

I have no idea why your iTunes library would duplicate. iTunes can only point to one at a time. Without seeing what is going on, I can't even guess at anything else to try.

Regardless of what you do, your app purchases and iTunes credit are associated with your iTunes account, not your computer. Nothing you do to the computer will affect them (other than not letting you view them properly). To be certain that your important apps are still available for download, go to the the App Store on your iPad and check out the Purchased tab. Anything showing there can be downloaded again.

The same goes for any music, books, TV shows, or Movies you've purchased from Apple.


I have no idea why your iTunes library would duplicate. iTunes can only point to one at a time.


Give contacting iTunes Support a try. I don't know if they can help with this kind of problem, but it is worth a shot. The worst they can do is nothing. Or they could point you at Apple's iPad Support which will cost money if you are not on Applecare, but it's not like you have to go there.

Good luck, and I'm sorry I haven't been of more help.

 

[Janset]

Hi again.

Don't apologize, you have helped me by pointing me and letting me bounce ideas of you. I appreciate that.

Now to continue the saga. I have found instructions as how to create another library on a windows PC, but I will put that on the back burner for now as I have an anomaly I would like your ideas or suggestion on. I will ask my "new library" question at a later date.

When I try for a 'manual' Sync, I am presented with an info box stating that "The iPad 'Janos's iPad' is synced to another iTunes library. An iPad can only sync with....etc., as you said.

I am then given a choice, "Erase and Sync" or "Transfer Purchases" There is also a choice here "not to show this box again".

When I close this advice box without taking any action and then I look to the top of the page and in the 'information box' I see the spinning bar telling me the program is syncing. It also shows "Syncing Janos's iPad (steps 2 of 5 and then completing all 5, all the time showing what is being synced)

So what is going on, any ideas?

Now back to the "do not show again" tick box. If I tick this, the depressing message should not appear, but the question to ask is, is that box supplying useful information or just a nagging annoyance seeing the program appears to be Syncing none the less? I am very tempted to tick this box and see what happens after which I could try to load one of my .avi movies onto the iPad and see what happens. A suck it and see approach.

The sad part, (or is it the glad part), is that when I go to my account/profile page at iTunes everything is in order and all my downloads and credits are listed there.

What are your views, anything to add?

Regards

 

[twerppoet]

The Transfer Purchases option is the one you want. It will copy any iStore content that is on on the iPad but not in the iTunes library. Besides that, it associates the iPad with the iTunes library. Once done, you should not get that dialog again.

It's puzzling that you're seeing it sync even when canceling. It almost sounds like iTunes is seeing your device twice, once as authorized and once as not. Doing the following may make it go away, or not.

Try going into iTunes Preferences, the Devices tab and turning off automatic syncing. This will prevent iTunes from trying to sync as soon as the iPad is plugged in. That will give you a chance to do the Transfer Purchases option.

If you do not see Transfer Purchases as an option in the dialog box you can force it. Right click on your iPad under the Devices list in the left column and choose Transfer Purchases. If you are using the newer iTunes 11, you may need to turn on the Side Bar on from the View menu first.

If everything starts working and you'd like the automatic syncing again, just go back into the preferences and uncheck the box.

 

[Janset]

Hi again.

Every thing that you have stated I have already tried or implemented over the past 3 days :-(
I do not have auto syncing implemented, this was one of the very first things I did after installing iTunes, this is a lesson I learned with my PDA some while back.

I think I may have also confused you when I talked about the syncing process. The syncing is not taking effect, not until I click the small sync button on the bottom right of screen where sometimes the "revert" button appears.

I conducted a small experiment. I managed to load 2 of my .avi movies onto the iPad. I also moved the icons around the on-screen iPad display, from one screen to an other after which I clicked the "apply" button. The iPad went straight into the syncing mode followed by a "backup", and a few seconds later I watched the selected icon disappear from one panel and re-appear on the other. No error message appeared.

So it looks at this stage that the delinquent 'unable to syc' message appearing after the 'Transfer and delete'/Transfer Purchases may (in my case) be a bug. Following that line of thinking I am now more inclined to tick the "don't display this message again" tick box appearing on the delinquent information panel.

Regards

 

[twerppoet]

Hmm, ok. It doesn't sound right, but if it is working for you then that's all that matters.

Out of curiosity, are you running the new iTunes 11, or an older version?