iMac eject issues

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I have an unusual eject problem with my 2008 Intel iMac. I am running up-to-date Lion. I have also checked to see if this iMac needed a firmware update. iMacs made before mine and after mine have a firmware update available, but there is not one for my particular model.

My estimation is that this problem started two or three months ago, and I cannot associate it with any changes I have made. There have been no software or OS upgrades other than the regular updates that come through.

So, here's the problem.

I had a 60 GB iPod classic that was starting to get full. A couple of months or so ago, when I would click on 'eject' in iTunes, iTunes would indicate that the iPod ejected, but I would still have a grayed out icon for the iPod on my desktop, and I would not get the normal indication on my iPod that it was okay to disconnect. I was also unable to drag the icon to trash. Nothing I do gets rid of the icon, and nothing will cause the 'Do not Disconnect' warning on the iPod display to change to 'OK to Disconnect."

When this happens, I can still use most functions on my computer, but I cannot perform a graceful shutdown, and I cannot open the 'About This Mac' window. I can click on the Apple and then click on 'About This Mac,' but nothing happens. Applications and other functions seem to work just fine. If I try to shut down, I get a blank screen like it normally does before powering off, but then it just hangs there.

My only option is to perform a hard boot. This also gets rid of the grayed-out iPod icon from my desktop. If I power up and use the computer normally without attaching the iPod, I can perform a graceful shutdown without any issue.

I can insert and eject CDs without any problem, but once I attach an iPod and try to eject a CD, the actual disk will eject okay, and iTunes gives me an indication that the CD is ejected, but the CD icon remains on my desktop like the iPod icon, and I can't get rid of it without a hard reboot.

I just assumed that it was my old iPod classic that was causing the problems, since it was starting to get close to its capacity, but I went ahead and tried the manual reset of the iPod and I tried a 'restore' using iTunes. Those actions completed just fine, and I never received any indication of a problem with the iPod. It continued to work fine, but finally, I thought, what-the-****--I was close to capacity, so I might as well buy a new 160 GB iPod classic, and that will surely fix the issue. Well, I got the new iPod a few days ago, and I'm having the same issue with it, so it seems like it has to be the iMac.

One other issue I noticed today is, that if I attach the iPod, let it sync, then insert a CD, let iTunes read it, and then eject the CD, ejecting the CD also has the effect of ejecting the iPod from iTunes. But again, I don't receive the 'OK to Disconnect' indication on the iPod, and the icons for both the iPod and the CD remain on the desktop.

I called Apple Support. I was ready to pay the $50 single-instance charge, but I got the sense that they don't want to take that fee unless it is a truly difficult problem--which I think this is, AND they believe they can fix it--which, after I explained to the nice person what was happening, I think she thought it was probably just an old glitchy computer that she wouldn't be able to do anything for. So she tried a couple of things with me -- the first was to reset the PRAM and NVRAM, which didn't help. And then she had me go to preferences in Finder and uncheck 'CDs, DVDs, and iPods' from being displayed. When we tried this, I ejected the CD, and then I ejected the iPod, and that one time, I did receive the 'OK to Disconnect' indication on the iPod. I thought we had at least found sort of a work-around, because I didn't care whether I saw an icon on the desktop or not. I just didn't want to disconnect the iPod unless I could see the 'OK to Disconnect.' So I figured she had saved me $50, and I closed out my session with her! Well it only worked that one time. The next time I tried, I ejected, but didn't get the 'OK to Disconnect' on the iPod. I went back to preferences in Finder and checked 'CDs, DVDs, and iPods' and sure enough, the iPod icon was still there, grayed-out. So I don't know why it worked that single time.

Before I call Apple again and probably spend the $50, does anyone here have any ideas or suggestions for me?

Do you think that if I continue to disconnect the iPod from the computer without seeing the 'OK to Disconnect' it will harm the iPod? I know the hard boots of the iMac can't be good for it.

Do you think a reinstallation of OSX would do anything to help?

Thanks so much.
 

chscag

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Try a SMC reset on the iMac. Shut the iMac down, completely power it off. Remove the AC plug from the outlet. Let the iMac sit unpowered for about 15 minutes and then plug it in again and reboot. Then go ahead and try to mount the iPod again and eject. Let's see what happens.
 
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Thanks. Sorry to take so long . . .

I tried that. No joy.

A couple of other things I've noticed, and I don't know if these are relevant or not.

Once iTunes reports that the sync of my iPod is complete, and I then click on the eject button in iTunes, it immediately goes back to the sync'ing process, stating 'please wait . . .'
Maybe this is the normal process--that it's supposed to make one last check before disconnecting, but I just never noticed it before.

Secondly, this iMac no longer automatically finds my network after I've rebooted and sometimes after it has gone to sleep. I have to click on the grayed-out Wi-Fi antenna icon at the top. I hover my mouse over the 'No network found' line in the drop-down menu while it goes through the automatic search for wireless networks; it quickly finds my network along with some of my neighbors; I click on mine, and everything is fine. I use WPA2 personal encryption on my router and I don't broadcast my ID, but as I said, once I click on the Wi-Fi antenna, it always finds my router just fine. Since I don't broadcast the ID, it seems like it is 'remembering' my network. It just no longer automatically connects to it like it used to. I can't tell you if this started happening around the same time as the eject issue. This is a secondary computer that I keep in another part of my house, and I don't use it as much as my other one.

Thanks again.
 

chscag

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It does seem like your iMac has some issues with regard to the iPod. It almost looks like it's not properly detecting when the iPod is being ejected. But, it could also be something else.

As for the WiFi issue, it's probably because you're not broadcasting the SSID. It really does not help as far as security goes to keep the SSID silent. Your protected with WPA2 which is very difficult to crack. Try turning it on to see if it helps.
 
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Thanks. I've had this router probably 5 or 6 years now, and have had the 'broadcast ID' disabled the entire time. My other Mac, my kids' MacBooks, their iPads, my Roku, and a Windows box in my kitchen all find it fine. It's just this iMac that has started having issues.
 
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Hi all.

I just wanted to let everyone who either tried to help me, or who read about my issue, know what finally happened.

I did call Apple Support and pay the $50 since my machine was out of warranty.

I ended up spending several hours over several days with multiple senior Apple advisers. I can't remember what all they had me do, but the two biggest things were to uninstall and then reinstall iTunes, and then reinstall my entire operating system over the Internet. None of the things they had me do helped.

The final solution was to send me a file called Capture_Data_9.dmg, which they explained would do just that. I was to then send the output file back to them, and they would send it on to the Apple engineers. They said it could take several days, but that the engineers would take a look and see if they could figure out what might be causing the issue. By the way, for those who are interested, the Capture_Date_9.dmg, when launched, creates another .dmg file. When you launch that second file, it contains all sorts of reports with various tabs.

I returned the output file, and about a week later, the Apple adviser contacted me and said the engineers could see that I once had Kaspersky Anti-Virus on the computer, but that they could also see that an uninstallation program for it had run. They explained that Kaspersky does leave hidden files on the computer, even after running the uninstallation program, and that those hidden files can sometimes cause conflicts. They did not know that the Kaspersky files were causing the problem, but they suspected that they might be, and advised me to contact Kaspersky support for help in getting them off of my computer.

I had completely forgotten that I had indeed purchased Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac 2011 around the same time that I started having problems. When I bought that program, I immediately saw that it was causing my computer to run extremely slow. I let it go for several hours and it never got any better, so I used the uninstallation program that came with the program to uninstall it. I received all of the standard indications that it had all been uninstalled, and my computer seemed to be back to its old self. I then asked for a refund, which I received about three days later, and I never thought anymore about it. I never connected the Kaspersky Anti-Virus with the issues I was having with being unable to eject my iPod.

I contacted Kaspersky support, and they had me create a 'System Information' report and grab a kernel.log and a system.log and email all three files to them. I did that and waited.

Today, I received via email from Kaspersky, a Kaspersky uninstallation program with direction to run it on my computer. I did so, and, low and behold, everything is working as it should! My iPod now ejects automatically, the icon disappears off the desktop, and I get the indication on the iPod that it is okay to disconnect. Everything is good!!! Who would have ever thought that an anti-virus program would cause that kind of issue, but I guess it did.

I will hang on to the Capture_Data_9.dmg file I received from Apple and the Kaspersky uninstallation program they sent to me, just in case anyone reading this wants a copy. Private message me, and I will be happy to send one or both to you.

Thanks to everyone here who tried to help me early on with this issue.
 

chscag

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Today, I received via email from Kaspersky, a Kaspersky uninstallation program with direction to run it on my computer. I did so, and, low and behold, everything is working as it should! My iPod now ejects automatically, the icon disappears off the desktop, and I get the indication on the iPod that it is okay to disconnect. Everything is good!!! Who would have ever thought that an anti-virus program would cause that kind of issue, but I guess it did.

I sure wish you had told me that you had installed Kaspersky at one time. I could have saved you the $50.00 you spent plus the time. We know all about Kaspersky, it's real crap ware on a Mac and the sad part is it isn't even needed.

I guess all is well that ends well. Thanks for posting back and letting us know, and I'm glad to hear the iMac is back to its old self. Have fun and stay in touch with us. :)
 

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