Ok, about a month ago i had bought my nice new 15gb ipod, i got the thing home and plugged it in. From the moment i first booted up i was already experiencing problems. The computer didnt even finish its boot but hung half way through logging onto windows. :rolleyes:

I restarted and managed to get in and stick the software on. First of all, dont do what i did an install Match Maker Jukebox. Seriously people that software sucks ### and apple should be ashamed of themselves for distrubuting it. :mad:

Do what all the other people here do and get yourselves a nice little program called Ephpod. Actually originally when i first got my iPod, ephpod was being really tempramental and crashing all the time, but it wasnt a flaw in the programming of the software, it was something else. I tried many other applications but even when i used apples own iPod manager software to update my iPod it crashed half way through :( My computer would also quite often restart randomly if the iPod was connected. I did manage to get some of the songs from my library onto it but this was after about 20 unsuccessful attempts. There were reports of users that had been driven to absolute madness by their iPods taking a chance and going out to by a standalone Firewire card and then all of a suddent being filled with joy when their iPod would synchronise flawlessly first time.

I decided to take that chance and go get myself a new firewire card. Others are recommending Belkin or Adaptec and whilst i cant comment on those cards i can tell you that i have a Generic Firewire card here that cost me 20 UK Sterling came with a firewire cable and some Video editing software and works a treat. Maybe you dont have a firewire card like i did with the sound onboard or whatever, maybe you are using firewire that is built into your board? But if you have already spent such a fortune on your iPod and still cant get the #### thing to work after you have exhausted yourself after many attempts i suggest you go cough up a little more money to get a firewire card that will be independent of any other part of your computer. I cant garuntee its going to work but what are your alternatives? Sell your lovely new iPod? I guess you better get an account on eBay real soon

I came onto this site looking for help and read what other people had said. The thing that most people seemed to be recommending was a new firewire card. Now i have a Hercules DigiFire 7.1 sound card with additional firewire ports which when i bought it (right before i got my iPod) seemed like a great deal!! :D but i was sadly mistaken :rolleyes:

Seriously folks i have taken the time to write this because this problem really did baffle me for ages, there seemed to be no sort of pattern to the crashes/freezes of the iPod and i really did think that there was something i was doing wrong.

Just so you know im running Windows XP Professional, 14.Ghz Athlon XP, 512DDR, Ati Radeon 7200, MSI motherboard.

So to summarise:

1. Get that musicmatch crap off your pc if its still on there because its horrible :)
2. Go and splash out some cash on a new firewire card (It really has solved every single problem i have experienced with my iPod)
3. Get ephpod from www.ephpod.com (http://www.ephpod.com) and send the author and email or something to tell them how great their software is.

If you follow these 3 easy steps, you should be enjoying your iPod in notime :)

If you have any questions please send me a message, i will do my best to offer help with any problem i have experienced.