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Frequently Asked Questions

This section is taken from the Using an iPod with a PC FAQ by Michael Richmond (mar at ics.mq.edu.au), and is edited for inclusion in this help file.

Part 1 -- General Information
  Apple claims that the iPod is for Macintosh computers only, can I
      really use it with a PC?

  Yes! Though the iPod is only officially supported on Macintosh
  computers, some third parties have developed software to allow the
  use of an iPod with a PC.


  What do I need to use an iPod with my PC?

  You need a firewire port on your PC, and some software to allow you
  to add song files to your iPod.

  Since you're reading the EphPod help file, you should know that the
  best software solution is EphPod plus MacOpener. :)


Part 2 -- iPod Issues

  How do I reset my iPod?

  To reset the iPod, hold down the Menu and Play/Pause button together
  for about 10 seconds.

  If your iPod is in an error state, this may resolve it. Otherwise
  you will need to do a iPod restore from a Macintosh using the iPod
  Updater.


  What can I do when I have this !Folder on my iPod? Why is this
      happening?

  It is usually due to a corrupt file system on the iPod. Are you stopping the
  device using the taskbar unplug device control, before unplugging it?

  You need to restore the file system on your EphPod. This is best done
  using the iPod_Updater on a Macintosh.
  
  You may also try restoring the iPod file system using MacOpener,
  then creating the appropriate structure. It should be  formatted as a HFS+
  (extended) file system and the size should be 4.6Gb if it is reported as
  4.7Gb do not format your drive as that will make things worse.


  I am using MacOpener, why can't I see the contents of the iPod
      drive in Windows Explorer?

  Both the MacOpener trial, and full versions do not let you see
  hidden files on the HFS+ partition on the iPod by default.

  There are two ways to see these directories -- one is to just
  call up the directory through the Start->Run command.  You
  could do Start->Run, and then type:

  E:\iPod_Control\Music\F00

  where E: is your iPod drive letter.  

  Or, if you want to do this more permanently, so the directories
  will display in Windows Explorer, you can make a change in
  the registry.

  Go to Start->Run, and type regedit.  Hit enter, and this will
  launch the registry editor.  Now hit F3 to search in the registry,
  and type "SkipFINDER_isInvisibleDirsAndFiles" (without the quotes --
  you can also copy and paste that).

  After the program has found it (it may take a little while), you'll see
  that phrase highlighted on the right side of the screen.  Double-click
  on the highlighted box, type in the number 0 for the new value, hit
  enter, and then quit regedit.  Now you should be able to see those
  folders in Explorer.  If you can't, you should try also setting the value
  to 0 for the registry entries "TranslateFINDER_isInvisibleToFILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN" and   
  "TranslateFILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDENToFINDER_isInvisible".


   
Part 3 -- Firewire Issues

  How do I make firewire available on my PC?

  A few new PC machines come with firewire ports as standard, but for
  most people need to buy an add in firewire card. Firewire cards are
  available as PCI cards for desktop machines and PCMCIA cards for
  laptops. If you plan to get a PCMCIA card, read the question below,
  "Do I need a powered or unpowered firewire card for my laptop?".

  See the question below, "Which firewire card do I need?", for more
  information on firewire cards that have been reported to work.
      

  Which firewire card do I need? Which hardware/software setups
      are known to work?

  A range of firewire cards have been used successfully. Reports of
  successful setups can be found at http://www.ephpod.com/, in
  the advanced user section.

  The following is a list of successful setups reported on the EphPod
  mailing list as of 02/02/2002: (Your mileage may vary.)

    Windows 2000
    Belkin Firewire/USB Combo card (NEC chipset)
   
    Windows XP Pro
    Firewire VIA chipset

    Windows XP
    Lucent Chipset

    Windows 2000
    Creative Audigy SB 1394

    SIIG Firewire card (VIA chipset)

    Windows ME
    Creative Audigy Gamer SB 1394

    Windows XP Professional
    STLabs Firewire 1394 Adapter (Lucent chipset)

    Windows 98SE w/IEEE 1394 update
    Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+

    Windows 2000
    SIIG (VIA) Firewire card.

    Windows 2000 Pro (Retail) / Windows XP Pro (MSDN)
    Matrox RT2500 (Windows reports as TI OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller)

    Windows 98SE
    Acetek generic firewire card (probably TI chipset)

    Windows 2000
    IBM PCMCIA Firewire Card (probably TI Chipset)

    Windows XP
    CompUSA Firewire card (VIA chipset, I believe)

    Windows XP
    Lucent chipset

    WinXP
    VIA Firewire chipset

    Win98SE
    Belkin FireWire Card

    W2k SP2 + most fixes
    Pinnacle Studio DV


  Do I need a 'powered' or 'unpowered' firewire card for my laptop?

  The iPod battery charges when the iPod is plugged into a powered
  firewire port. It also detects the power on the port to
  automatically go into "forced firewire mode" which is the mode used
  to upload songs to the iPod.

  Unfortunately, the PCMCIA bus specification does not provide enough
  power to PCMCIA cards to allow the cards to power external devices.
  Therefore, many PCMCIA firewire cards do not provide power to the
  firewire bus.

  The firewire specification allows for two types of connectors - a 4
  pin connector which does not provide power, and a 6 pin connect that
  provides power. If the socket on your PCMCIA card has 4 pins then
  your card does not provide power to the firewire bus.

  A few PCMCIA cards have a socket to plug an external power supply
  into the PCMCIA card. This power supply is used to provide power to
  the firewire bus. (Orange Micro and Sitecom have been reported as
  offering this type of card.)

  Some firewire hubs use an external power adapter. In most cases
  these hubs provide power to the bus. So, if you have a card that
  only provides an unpowered firewire port, you could use a powered
  firewire hub to supply power to your firewire chain.

  At the end of the day, things are much easier if you have a powered
  port. However, it is possible to use the iPod with an unpowered port
  - if you have iPod firmware lower than 1.1 (and if you do, you really
  should upgrade), you need to force the iPod into "forced firewire mode" by:

     1. resetting your iPod (see above)

     2. when the Apple logo appears, hold down the forward and back
         buttons until the firewire logo appears.

  While in "forced firewire mode" you can use an unpowered firewire
  port to upload songs to your iPod. In this mode the iPod is only
  drawing power from it's battery so you should be careful to ensure
  your iPod has enough of a charge to complete your updates. If you
  run out of power during an update you may corrupt your iPod.

  Reset the iPod again to take it out of "forced firewire mode".




Part 4 -- EphPod Specific Problems

  Why do I get a "Write delayed" or "write behind data lost" error
      when I try to copy large collections of files?

  There's some small and hard-to-find problem with Windows that
  causes these errors.  The best way to fix this problem with
  EphPod is to go into the Configuration, go to Advanced Options,
  and change whatever you're using for your Copying Routines.  If
  you're using Internal Routines, try lowering the buffer size (I have
  yet to hear of someone using a 512k buffer having write-behind
  problems), or switching to Windows API routines.  If you're
  using Windows API routines, try switching to Internal Routines,
  and use a low buffer size.


  Why do the album, song and artist details get changed when I
      transfer the song onto my iPod?

  A few "special" characters have caused problems when used in the
  ID3 tag of songs transferred to the iPod. It is best if you do not
  use the following characters in your ID3 tags or filenames:
       / \ : * ? " < > |


  I can see my songs on the iPod, but when I try to play them,
      why iPod doesn't do anything? (Zero second song length.)

  This is a problem with the configuration of your HFS+ driver. You
  need to ensure the driver is configured for Mac to Mac compatibility
  and is not munging the file names.

  In EphPod, disable the "Preserve MP3 filenames in copy" option.

  If you are using MacDrive,

    Open "MacDrive Properties" from your Start Menu.

        Select the "Advanced" tab.
           Ensure that "Remove known extensions when creating files"
           and "Show Windows-compatible files names" are both
           unchecked. If using MacDrive 5, also ensure that "Save
           full-length Mac OS X file names" is unchecked.

    Apply these changes and reboot.

  If you are using MacOpener,

    Open "MacOpener Driver Preferences" from your Start Menu.

        Select the 'Driver Settings' tab.
           Ensure that 'Enable MacOpener' is checked.

        Select the 'Extension Mapping' tab.
           Ensure that 'Do not add the PC extension to the Mac file
           name' and 'Leave the PC extension on the Mac file name' are
           both checked.

        Select the 'Dual CD-ROMs' tab.
           Ensure that 'PC portion has priority' is checked. (This
           should not make any difference to iPod in either state.)

        Select the 'Compatibility Mode' tab.
           Ensure that 'Mac2Mac compatibility is checked.

    Apply these changes and reboot.



  How fast does EphPod transfer songs?

  The speed at which EphPod can transfer songs to your iPod depends on
  which HFS+ driver software you use, the speed of your hard drive,
  how much memory you have available and whether your computer is
  doing anything else during the transfer.

  Generally, I've heard of speeds up to 6.0Mb/s using a powered PCI firewire
  card.  PCMCIA cards tend to be slower, usually sending at about
  2.0 MB/s maximum.  To see how fast your copying speed is, just
  look at the copying dialog.  To increase the speed of your copies,
  use Internal Copy Routines and use the highest buffer size
  (4096 at the time of this writing).  You can set these in the Advanced
  Configuration Options.



Part 5 -- Firmware

  Where can I download the a firmware file for my iPod?

  If you have access to a Macintosh, you can download the iPod_Updater
  from the Apple web site and extract the 32Mb firmware file from the
  Updater once you have expanded the Updater package. There is
  currently no known way of extracting this file other than on a
  Macintosh.

  On a non Macintosh machine, the .smi file you get after unpacking
  the stuffit archive is *not* the firmware. A .smi file is comprised
  of both an installer and compressed data files. WARNING - If you try
  to use this .smi file to update your firmware you will end up with a
  dead iPod.



      I tried updating my firmware using the .smi file I uncompressed
      from the iPod_Updater on Apples web site, and now my iPod
      doesn't work. Help!

  Big, Big, Big mistake.
  
  A .smi file is a compressed mountable disk image. The iPod .smi
  files contain Macintosh programs to perform the update on an iPod,
  together with the firmware file itself. The firmware file is a
  couple of megabytes in size, and is stored in a folder within the
  .smi file. If you write the .smi file to your iPod, the iPod will
  treat it as a corrupt firmware.

  The only way to fix this is to get the actual firmware file - not
  the .smi file, or a firmware backup from a working
  iPod. Alternatively, you can use the iPod_Updater on a Macintosh to
  restore the iPod to a working state.

  A firmware backup file from an iPod should be approximately 32Mb
  in size. (Version 1.0.x firmware backups were exactly 32Mb, as of
  firmware 1.1 the backup size is a little smaller.)
  


Contributors
Thanks to the following contributors for their input:
       Anders Kempe <anders_kempe at telia.com>