WinOS and ipod, USB weirdness?

[Ernest Burden III]

Yesterday I plugged my wife's ipod into her laptop, and the machine couldn't see it. Weird. I tried my laptop, same thing. I tried two other machines I have, same thing. Same with my iphone. And no, the devices are fine, because the one unaffected machine is my workstation, which is XP64. It sees and reads both Apple devices like always. But four machines (two Toshiba laptops and a BOXX and HP desktop) developing the same weird, USB-related issue at the same time? Doubtful. These are all XP32, except one laptop is W7.

 

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Windows Updates, but what? The web is full of similar reports, but over the last few years, not just this week. No surefire solutions, though. Anyone else have issues with Apple devices and USB issues on Win. machines?

[Ernest Burden III]

Windows always keeps things interesting. Having tested one PC that had a pending MS security update before updating, the machine had the "ipod...WHAT ipod?' problem like the others. I wondered what would happen after the update--maybe the issue would be included as a fix? My curiosity was rewarded by persistant BSODs, can't boot with 'last known good' or even Safe Mode. Thanks, Microsoft. We love you, too.

 

Now the two laptops were fixed by System Restore, finding a restore point from a few weeks ago. Nothing has been changed with either machine in that time except having 'auto update' on.

 

Finally, the last machine is stuck because I had turned of System Restore for some reason.

 

Now I fear Windows Update. When will Microsoft deliver the next poison pill? Windows Update--sometimes it saves and sometimes it kills.