Unable to activate Genius

Question

I am unable to activate Genius since upgrading to Windows 7. Prior with Vista and iTunes 9 Genius worked fine. Upgrade to Win7 and I cannot activate Genius.
It goes through step 1 fine then goes into step 2. It pops up an error message after about a minute that says "We could not complete your iTunes store request. The network connection timed out. Make sure your network connections are correct and your network connection is active, then try again".
Well, I have been trying again later for about a month all with the same error.
I have rebuilt the library--no luck.
I CAN access and download new content from the iTunes store. I just cannot activate genius.
Options?
Here is the diagnostic test result:
Microsoft Windows 7 Business Edition (Build 7600)
HP-Pavilion GC676AA-ABA m8150n
iTunes 9.0.2.25
QuickTime 7.6.5
FairPlay 1.5.23
Apple Application Support 1.1.0
iPod Updater Library 9.0d11
CD Driver 2.2.0.1
CD Driver DLL 2.1.1.1
Apple Mobile Device 2.6.0.32
Apple Mobile Device Driver not found.
Bonjour 1.0.6.2 (118.5)
iTunes Serial Number ECBC09B56D49EBBB
Current user is not an administrator.
The current local date and time is 2010-01-30 15:14:02.
iTunes is not running in safe mode.
Video Display Information
NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
** External Plug-ins Information **
No external plug-ins installed.
Genius ID: 1f7f9cc788585092f8a4d0207622ff5d
iPodService 9.0.2.25 is currently running.
iTunesHelper 9.0.2.25 is currently running.
Apple Mobile Device service 2.50.39.0 is currently running.
** Network Connectivity Tests **
Network Adapter Information
Adapter Name: {87E5ED95-1C2D-4E08-B471-2D2CAE68D47A}
Description: Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter
IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DHCP Enabled: Yes
DHCP Server:
Lease Obtained: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
Lease Expires: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
DNS Servers:
Adapter Name: {EB040ABD-6DE1-4A0A-90EB-6B94ECB7CF48}
Description: Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DHCP Enabled: Yes
DHCP Server:
Lease Obtained: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
Lease Expires: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
DNS Servers:
Adapter Name: {822D4B32-268D-4D10-9127-FC7AF814ABA3}
Description: USB Wireless 802.11 b/g Adaptor
IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DHCP Enabled: Yes
DHCP Server:
Lease Obtained: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
Lease Expires: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
DNS Servers:
Adapter Name: {FBB54D1F-6C23-41DD-957F-C801A6EB801B}
Description: Intel(R) 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection
IP Address: 192.168.254.3
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.254.254
DHCP Enabled: Yes
DHCP Server: 192.168.254.254
Lease Obtained: Sat Jan 30 14:43:12 2010
Lease Expires: Sat Jan 30 14:43:11 2010
DNS Servers: 192.168.254.254
192.168.254.254
Active Connection: LAN Connection
Connected: Yes
Online: Yes
Using Modem: No
Using LAN: Yes
Using Proxy: No
SSL 3.0 Support: Enabled
TLS 1.0 Support: Enabled
Firewall Information
Windows Firewall is on.
iTunes is enabled in Windows Firewall.
Connection attempt to Apple web site was successful.
Connection attempt to iTunes Store was successful.
Secure connection attempt to iTunes Store was successful.
Secure connection attempt to iPhone activation server was successful.
Last successful store access was 2010-01-30 15:12:04.

Answer 1

I finally managed to fix this problem by removing groups of songs from my library until Genius successfully started. I started removing artists beginning with A and by the time I got down to D Genius started to work. This made me think that it was related to a specific song. However, I gradually added all of the tracks back in to my library and Genius continued to update OK!! I now have all of the same songs in the library and Genius is working fine. I have over 12000 songs in my library so it may be a bug related to the number of tracks. The downside to removing the tracks (but keeping the files) is that you lose the playcount and you have to add them to your playlists again.
Hope this helps.