X

iPod nano (3G): Problems synchronizing calendar/contacts

The problem could be a bad contact.

CNET staff
2 min read

Several users have reported problems synchronizing contacts or calendar information with the new third-generation (3G) iPod nano. MacFixIt reader Richard writes:

"I am having a lot of trouble syncing my new ipod nano through itunes with Contacts and iCal. I know the nano is not meant to be a sub for pim or pda; but one the reasons I bought it was to have access to contacts and iCal. I have done all the right things I think, restore, restore etc and reset, reset etc. Software is the latest. But there is something clearly wrong somewhere."

In some cases, this issue can be caused by a "bad" contact in Address Book. In this case, the workaround is a tedious process that requires testing batches of contacts at a time.

  1. First, back up your Address Book (File > Back up Address Book...)
  2. Now select all of your contacts A through M and hit delete.
  3. Open (or switch over to its window if already open) iSync, and see if your groups show up in the list. If so, you know that the bad card is in the first half of the alphabet. If not, hit undo in Address Book and try deleting N through Z instead. If your groups now appear in iSync, your bad card is in the last half of the alphabet.
  4. Hit undo to get all of your contacts back.
  5. Add a group in Address Book to use as a flag for testing. (If the bad card is in Address Book, the group list in iSync won't refresh when you switch to iSync, but if all is well, the list will refresh.)
  6. Now go through your contacts a chunk at a time, deleting, checking if the group list in iSync refreshes, and then undoing in Address Book. When the list refreshes, you'll have further narrowed down which is your bad card. Add another group to Address Book at each stage (or remove the previous one), to continue to have an indication of when the list is refreshing or not.
  7. Continue this process until you know exactly which card(s) are the bad ones and remove them permanently.
  8. Finally, you can re-enter the bad contact(s) by hand.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources

  • Late-breakers@macfixit.com
  • More from Late-Breakers