# Has anyone ever had iTunes start by itself?



## simbalala (May 17, 2008)

Ive been plagued by this problem for the last ten days or so and Ive done everything I can think of to stop this. So far nothing has worked. It always running when the machine wakes up from sleep. 

Any ideas?


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## DeltaMac (May 17, 2008)

There's no way, AFAIK, for any app to start _while_ you are sleeping.
So, iTunes is running before you put it sleep, or, something triggers iTunes on wakeup, like an iPod left plugged in, or maybe an Apple TV?

Do you log out before sleeping, or simply go to sleep while still logged in?
If you log out, then is iTunes Helper in your Login Items? Check your Accounts/Login Items to make sure.


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## simbalala (May 17, 2008)

DeltaMac said:


> &#8230;something triggers iTunes on wakeup, like an iPod left plugged in, or maybe an Apple TV?


That&#8217;s what I figured, it starts on wake. The system console log is of no help, I can see the wake up and the reason for it but no indication of anything to do with iTunes. No iPod, no Apple TV, I unplugged all non essential USB devices.



> Do you log out before sleeping, or simply go to sleep while still logged in?


I lock the screen because my cat loves to walk on the keyboard but don&#8217;t log out. Eventually the machine will sleep. It doesn't matter if I lock the screen or not though, just walking away and letting the machine go to sleep yields the same result.



> If you log out, then is iTunes Helper in your Login Items? Check your Accounts/Login Items to make sure.


I removed iTunes Helper, one of the first things I did.


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## DeltaMac (May 17, 2008)

How about a third-party iTunes helper utility, such as a Dashboard widget, or something else that provides iTunes notification? 
Perhaps Growl? 
Or, something else like Application Enhancer, or another haxie that could have a setting that calls iTunes (thus launching iTunes). Or, something that normally sits in your Menubar?
 These are just memory joggers for possibilities. Is any of this helping?


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## VirtualTracy (May 17, 2008)

There are scripts and alarm clock apps that can be configured to start iTunes ...


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

Here&#8217;s more:

I had removed iTunes Helper from the &#8220;log-in&#8221; items on my primary account (and forgotten all about it). So today I look again and it&#8217;s back!

So I created a new folder within /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources (&#8220;Removed_iTunesHelper&#8221, put iTunes Helper in there and logged out. It&#8217;s back again, in my log-in items, persistent little bugger! So I zipped it up, renamed the zip and deleted the original. So it can&#8217;t come back. But&#8230; you&#8217;ll never guess, iTunes *turned itself* into a Start Up item all by itself.

That&#8217;s where I am right now, I removed it from the login items and logged out again but I think it&#8217;s still starting up after sleep, I&#8217;m not quite sure yet.

Once when I was poking around in iTunes prefs (trying to solve this problem) I found under Advanced, this:





So I clicked it, fully expecting the button to turn into &#8220;Unset&#8221;. Nope, same button.

So I searched around in the iTunes prefs file to try and find a pref to turn this off, can&#8217;t find it. Does anyone have a clue on how to undo that &#8220;Set&#8221;?


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

Yeah, it's still turning itself on after sleep.


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## DeltaMac (May 18, 2008)

Your system logs should tell you the cause. Any launching item should show up. You should open your console, then quit iTunes. Put your Mac to sleep. Wake it up as you would normally do. Check that console again for actions AFTER the wakeup. Don't launch anything else, just watch the console window. Anything relevant to iTunes (even if iTunes is not mentioned specifically?)
Audio internet playback is not changing your iTunes to be a startup.
Also, doesn't explain why simply waking up from sleep should cause iTunes to launch. Waking up shouldn't touch your login items. Are you sure that you don't log out, and then sleep?
Does the same thing happen if you log out, then log in as a different user?
I suspect some app OTHER than iTunes, and there's a variety of possibilities. Have you checked possible settings in your third-party add-ons, as I suggested?


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

Already had the system log:

May 18 13:57:43 mymachine kernel[0]: System Sleep
May 18 13:57:43 mymachine kernel[0]: IOBluetoothHCIController::restartShutdownWL this is a wake from sleep
May 18 13:57:43 mymachine kernel[0]: System Wake
May 18 13:57:43 mymachine kernel[0]: Wake event 0020
May 18 13:57:43 mymachine kernel[0]: FireWire (OHCI) Apple ID 31 built-in: handleSelfIDInt - received quads == 0. issuing bus reset
May 18 13:57:44 mymachine kernel[0]: USB caused wake event (EHCI)
May 18 13:57:44 mymachine kernel[0]: AirPort:  Link Active:  "mpaka" - 001a70d7e5e4 - chan 1
May 18 13:57:45 mymachine lookupd[1466]: lookupd (version 369.5) starting - Sun May 18 13:57:45 2008
May 18 13:57:47 mymachine launchd: Server 0 in bootstrap 1103 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/lookupd"[1466]: exited abnormally: Hangup
May 18 13:57:47 mymachine configd[79]: posting notification com.apple.system.config.network_change
May 18 13:57:47 mymachine lookupd[1468]: lookupd (version 369.5) starting - Sun May 18 13:57:47 2008

_And I'm not logging out_.


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

DeltaMac said:


> Check that console again for actions AFTER the wakeup. Don&#8217;t launch anything else, just watch the console window. Anything relevant to iTunes (even if iTunes is not mentioned specifically?)


I&#8217;ve been down that road. I&#8217;m using the same apps I&#8217;ve been using long before the problem occurred (with one exception noted below). I&#8217;ve quit every &#8220;visible&#8221; app and it still happens, doesn&#8217;t even take sleep/waking up to cause it. It&#8217;s starting by itself as I type this, and the system log is blank after a &#8220;clear&#8221; in console. 

I asked tech support at OnmiGroup about this issue because I recently started using OmniFocus and had this problem, they told me that as far as they know there&#8217;s no way to determine from the system log what&#8217;s causing this.


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## VirtualTracy (May 18, 2008)

simbalala, have you tried rebooting while disconnected from the internet, then letting your Mac go to sleep in order to observe whether or not this issue still persists?


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## DeltaMac (May 18, 2008)

Did you have this happening with iTunes BEFORE you started using OmniFocus?

If not, is there any other changes to new apps recently? If OmniFocus is it, and there is no other results except iTunes basically always open, is that still an important issue, now that you know it is caused by OmniFocus?
(sorry for the really complex sentence  )


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

_The story I didn&#8217;t tell because it would make the question just too complex._

I recently bought a Tripp Lite active USB extension cable.

It works very well in doing what I needed it to do but it has a quirk. It periodically sends a signal back to the computer which is enough to wake it from sleep, like a mouse click. So I searched around to see if I could find something to get around this and I found Narcolepsy which maybe helps, maybe not. So I&#8217;ve had it running/not running for a while.

Anyways, it has a feature to keep the system awake if iTunes is running. The developer gives examples in the script within the package on how to alter/disable/extend the script to tailor it to more apps. The problem is that it was itself querying iTunes and making iTunes start.

I commented out the section related to iTunes and that problem is gone. Now I still have to figure out how to handle the traffic from the Tripp Lite cable because Narcolepsy does not handle the problem completely, it only helps a little.

I might just buy a regular 16&#8217; USB extension cable and stick a hub on the end. That&#8217;s basically what the Tripp Lite is anyway.

Edit: Delta Mac, I had already ruled out OmniFocus by just not running it, the iTunes issue was still there.


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## DeltaMac (May 18, 2008)

Strange stuff... Some USB hubs mis-behave in that same way...
Glad you discovered the cause!

Just curious - what is at the end of that long USB connection?


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

DeltaMac said:


> Strange stuff Some USB hubs mis-behave in that same way
> Glad you discovered the cause!
> 
> Just curious - what is at the end of that long USB connection?


Kind of a boxy connector, not too big. Its a very nice, high quality cable, cost $16 + shipping from ANT Online (via Amazon).

I just tried the span with my little hub (6 ft cable) and a 6 foot extension that I had already (12 ft is not quite enough) but I have the same problem. The hub plugged into the back of my Cinema display via its 6 ft cable causes no problem but add the extra 6 ft and Im back to square one.

Ive got an ancient hub downstairs, probably USB 1 but its only for a printer. I wonder if I can find a power supply for it.


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

Hey! I got it!!

Its a PowerBook G4 with a 20 Cinema display attached. I rearranged the cables so my keyboard and trackpad are plugged into the display (2 port hub) the trackpad:





(That BlueTooth keyboard is no longer in use)​
was already plugged into the keyboard and the mouse was already plugged into the Display. Ive got a BlueTooth mouse but I figured why pay for batteries when its in front of the display anyway.

That opened up a USB port on the PowerBook and I plugged the Tripp Lite into that. The problem is gone!!

I can even plug the hub into the Tripp Lite without any problems. So thats 22 ft.


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## simbalala (May 18, 2008)

Looks Like this:






Could be that the Cinema Display is not USB 2.0, it&#8217;s not the latest model.


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## ex2bot (May 21, 2008)

Wow.

That's all I'm gonna say.

Doug


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## revkenny (Nov 12, 2009)

This happening to me now after the snowleapard update. Damn machine just wakes up out of a cold sleep and itunes starts.


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## Satcomer (Nov 13, 2009)

revkenny said:


> This happening to me now after the snowleapard update. Damn machine just wakes up out of a cold sleep and itunes starts.



Just after it starts up immediately launch the application in the folder /Applications/Utilities/Console  and this will show the logs in OS X this way you might be able to trace down what is waking up your Mac.


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## revkenny (Nov 13, 2009)

Child Process Initialized

About a hundred times over the past 3 days or so and a couple apple mobile backup, though I never setup any backup services.


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## fez (Nov 13, 2009)

I too have this problem.   I just got a new imac and migrated my old stuff to the new computer.  I'm using a user account this time instead of my admin account and wonder if this might have something to do with it?   This and the fact that I can no longer use my CS3 products ("license has stopped working") is driving me crazy!






revkenny said:


> This happening to me now after the snowleapard update. Damn machine just wakes up out of a cold sleep and itunes starts.


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## revkenny (Nov 13, 2009)

What is waking my mac is itunes. Just gotta figure out what is starting itunes. I have literally been sitting here at my desk, the computer having been in sleep mode for hours, suddenly wakes up, and THEN itunes just starts. I think I figured it out though as it's been 12 hours without it happening. Air mouse has a setting called "listen on any" (an ip setting), now this program doesn't link directly to itunes but since I disabled it... itunes has not booted up. I'll let you know. Other than the recent Snow Leopard upgrade, this was the only other program change on my imac.


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## revkenny (Nov 21, 2009)

I figured mine out!... After the last upgrade, it changed an update setting on the one sole podcast I subscribe to. I found it right after it booted. I had set it to manually update and it decided to check for itself every 4 or 5 hours. I changed it back to manual three days ago and it has not happened again since. Yea!


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