Vista - iPod driver installation problem

When I first connected my iPod to Vista it installed the "necessary software" but later stopped working. When I restarted the computer, the drivers wouldn't install. I tried it in different USB ports and finally got it working, except now when I connect the iPod I get "there may be a problem with this device. Scan (recommended) or continue without scanning. I close this box and the iPod seems to work fine, but this error message consistently appears. I did have a flash drive installed and it seems that the iPod drive is now the same drive letter as the flash drive was. Could this be the cause of my problem, and if so how do I fix it?
Thanks.
Dave Ward

---Hello: I found this page here, click to read--->Ipod Vista Drivers? - iPod - Music---(please post your results)---thank you---

peace

Hi, I visited the link you sent me. It seems to be mainly about problems with Vista recognizing the iPod, and I couldn't seem anything about the Vista message I get when connecting the iPod ("There may be a problem with this disk drive. Scan it (recommended) or Continue without scanning.")
I got the computer to recognize the iPod, it is listed as "drive F" in My Computer. It also seems to work, although iTunes did freeze at one point. It's just that this message keeps coming up. I think it might have something to do with a conflict between the flash drive I had installed previous to installing the iPod, (the flash drive was listed as "drive F") and the iPod, which is now also listed as drive F. Somebody told me the drivers for the flash drive are probably still on the computer and causing a conflict with the iPod. If that could be the case, how do I get rid of the drivers for the flash drive?
Thanks for any advice.
Dave Ward

hello:
---maybe try this page?--->Bring the power of portable software to your USB flash drive - make it a U3 smart drive!---

---please post your results---thank you---

peace

I'm not so sure I can see anything there that will solve my problem, possibly due to my ignorance. If the problem is caused by a driver conflict between the iPod and the flash drive (even though I used the "safely remove hardware" to remove the flash drive), can you tell me how to remove the drivers for the flash drive? I don't need the flash drive anyway. Do I need to reinstall the flash drive, then go to "Device Manager" and uninstall it? If I then ran a software program, RegVac, would that remove all remnants of the flash drive and stop the "error message" from coming up?
Apparently there is a way to do this with Windows XP, by going to Administrative Tools-Storage-Removable Storage. But this doesn't exist in Vista, there is nothing about removable storage. Possibly there is another way of doing it, of which I'm not aware.
Thanks for any help.

hello:

---it seems that if your Ipod is working fine with your pc, and the only issue is the 'annoying' message - then I would just X it each time and ignore it; since I just looked at a few websites that list similar problems as yours, and it is recommended not to remove any drivers from your system since they become part of your hard drive---any one else help us out?---thank you---

peace

Thanks for all your trouble. I'll take your advice and just close the message each time it appears.

Sincerely,

Dave Ward

Hello DaveWfg,

Do you know what generation iPod you have?

No...you shouldn't be getting that message unless the iPod's hard drive is going or corrupted. I currently have the 6th generation 80gig iPod Classic that works with my Vista x64 just fine. Before that I had a 30gig monochrome 4th generation that had the same problems as yours (under XP for me though) before it finally died. Sounds like your hard drive might be corrupted and may need wiping.

If you have a 5th of 6th generation iPod, using the latest version of iTunes, you should be able to reset the thing by plugging it in and clicking "restore" under iTunes.

Not sure if this will help as I haven't had to use this feature myself, but it's worth a try.

Note that this will "probably wipe your iPod clean, so you'll need to re-sync after it's done.

Let me know?

Hi, It's a 4th generation (monochrome) iPod. The thing is, I bought it for my father and before giving it to him I tried it on my computer (I also have the same operating system as his, Vista Premium) and didn't have any problems. When I tried it on his computer I encountered these problems and error message. He had a flash drive plugged into an unpowered USB hub. I uplugged the flash drive, usiing the "safely remove hardware", and plugged in the iPod. At first the "installing new hardware" seemed to repeatedly go "on and off" (the computer seemed unable to install it) and the iPod wasn't listed in My Computer. I unplugged the USB hub and tried plugging the iPod into the other USB ports until it finally seemed to install-It was now listed in My Computer. It seemed to work fine also, with the exception that everytime I plug in the iPod I get this "device may not work properly" (or perhaps it's "device may not be working properly") and when I restart the computer with the iPod still plugged in, the computer does a "disk check" on the iPod before starting up. So I think the problem is probably caused by some USB conflict and not a problem with the iPod itself, as it did seem to work with no problem on my computer.
Thanks for any advice.
P.S. I did a "restore" on the iPod also, as I seem to recall a message saying to do so.

If it's working on one computer but not the other, then it could be a conflict with the computer. Also, make sure to "eject" the iPod, if told to do so, before removing it from the USB port, otherwise you risk corrupting the iPod's hard drive. Especially that one, which is made by HP? Mine was.

Glad to see you got it figured out and good luck.