Fix it: Cannot Sync iPhone with Any Computer

Posted by Michael in Tuesday, May 13th 2008   
Topics: Apple, Cellular, Gadgets, General, Hardware, iPhone
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Today I received an email with a plea for help from Rav. The contents are as follows:

In desperation I am emailing to you for help or direction.
I cannot connect my iphone to any computer ( used different computers and cables). Was able to do so but I think I downloaded software through installer and since than iphone is @#$@$#. Currently can only charge iphone using AC power or in my car .
am happy to pay for some help as I have been googling for a week to get some help.


Well, first, I don’t have a solution (yet), but I do have some things that you can try to resolve. I decided to make this a blog post in case there are others who have the same problem and any who may have solved it. Second, I don’t charge for the solutions that I provide so hopefully the thanks can be people clicking on my banner ads (grin) or donating gadgets to me (super grin).

Anyway, we need to understand the environment. I have a list of questions that will need to be answered in order to troubleshoot this better.

  1. What version is your iPhone?
  2. Has it been unlocked?
  3. Has it been Jailbroken? (I’m assuming in this case “Yes” because you say that you loaded some software)
  4. What were the 3rd Party Apps that you recently added?
  5. Have you tried both Macs and PCs with iTunes?
  6. What version of iTunes are you using?
  7. Have you tried different cables (You answered “Yes”)
  8. Are you using USB cables only (iPhones won’t sync with Firewire)
  9. When you plug in your iPhone to the computer, does it acknowledge that it is attached (through sound or visual)?
  10. When plugged in to the computer, does your iPhone charge? (I’m assuming not)
  11. Have you tried a Soft Reset? (Hold down the home button and the power button until it restarts and you see the Apple logo showing)
  12. Do you have a full backup of your iPhone from a previous sync (and do you care if you lose anything…I hope not).
  13. Have you tried to put your iPhone in recovery mode (Turn your phone off. Press and Hold the HOME button and plug in your iPhone into your Mac or PC. Continue holding the HOME button until you see a yellow triangle and the text “Please connect to iTunes”. Release the HOME button. Open iTunes, if it isn’t already open and see if it is recognized now. You might be prompted to restore or recover. This may take a bit of time.)

Just add your answers to the comment box of this post and we can go from there. If anyone else has recovered from a similar situation, please drop a comment by as well.

HTD says: Hang in there, we will work through this!

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7 users responded to this post

rav said in May 14th, 2008 at 5:38 pm    

1. Version =1.1.3
2 Unlocked yes
3 Jailbroken - Yes
4. Not sure as I have uninstalled most of downloads
6. Itunes version 7.6.2
5. Did not try Mac ..but have tried diff PC’s
7. Yes tried diff cables
7. Yes only USB cables ..are there others ???
9. No computer (s) do not acknowledge iphone
10. No
11. Yes have tried a soft reset as well as a Reset through Settings on iphone..where I chose Reset all Settings
12. Yes I do have a full backup ..
13. cannot seem to place iphone in recovery mode using ur instructions as nothing happens ..have held the home button down for more than a minute and have tried a couple of times ..!!!!!

Michael said in May 15th, 2008 at 4:41 pm    

Ok. Some quick thoughts back.
1. You are a version behind. The installer may have done something weird.
2. If you do a recovery, you may run into some trouble unlocking again. You can probably install 1.1.3 manually. At the end of this post I will point you to a post (that is a bit out of date) but tells you how to do that.
3. OK
4. Ok
5. If you can, try a mac to see if it even recognizes it.
6. So, you have the current version of iTunes. Good (I believe)
7. OK
8. There are firewire cables which you can use to charge only but not sync.
9. No beep or anything?
10. OK
11. OK
12. Good
13. So for the recovery mode, read this “Reboot your iPhone holding the top (power) and home buttons BUT release the top button 10 seconds into it (right after the screen goes dark) and continue to hold the home button until iTunes detects the phone in recovery mode. The iPhone screen will appear to be off, but start iTunes if not started yet .”

You might want to read through some of this post: http://weblog.techdad.net/2007/11/16/iphone-new-easier-release-of-112-jailbreak-application-released/
It talks about some ways to restore from a previous version of the firmware. It’s outdated a bit. Also, the instructions are pretty Mac-centric.

Best best is if you can get the phone into recovery mode, you should be able to get your iPhone connected again. BUT I’m not sure of the consequences with UNLOCKING. You may run into issues. Did you unlock it yourself?

Post back and good luck!
-HTD

rav said in May 15th, 2008 at 6:43 pm    

HI
To No. 9..thats right no beep or anything .

It seems to me that the problem revolves round the fact that I cannot seem to put the iphone into recovery mode.
I can reboot the phone but I cannot put it inot recovery mode using the instructions given . I have held the home key ( my fingers went into fatigue mode) but itunes does not recognise the presence of iphone and nothing appears on the iphone screen . I have to than reboot ( hold both home key and pwer key ) till the apple icon appears and the phone than ( after a while ) get’s back to live again .

I think I somehow need to force the phone to go into recovery mode …which should than allow me to connect to itunes and than hopefully be able to start all over again .

I bought the phone unlocked ..

Michael said in May 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pm    

Yes, getting it into Recovery Mode is tricky. Do a search for that and see some of the other techniques that people had to get it there. Let me know what works.

-HTD

Michael said in May 16th, 2008 at 10:54 am    

Ok, try these steps for setting into recovery mode:
1) Disconnect your iPhone form computer
2) Press and hold the power and home buttons at the same time for about 30 seconds. You should see a yellow triangle with an “!” with the text “Please Connect to iTunes”
3) Connect your iPhone to your computer and fire up iTunes (if it doesn’t start automatically)
4) You should see a prompt that iTunes detected an iPhone in recovery mode.
5) I believe at this point, you can choose the firmware you need following the instructions that I outlined and you have downloaded the appropriate one.

Let me know if it worked.
-HTD

Jeb said in May 20th, 2008 at 4:46 pm    

Hello, I am having similar problems,

What version is your iPhone? 1.1.4

Has it been unlocked? Yes

Has it been Jailbroken? Yes

What were the 3rd Party Apps that you recently added? Unsure

Have you tried both Macs and PCs with iTunes? Yes, 3 PC’s and 1 MAC

What version of iTunes are you using? Older version, wouldn’t work, tried upgrading to latest still doesn’t

Have you tried different cables? Yes 4 different cables.

Are you using USB cables only? Yes

When you plug in your iPhone to the computer, does it acknowledge that it is attached? No.

When plugged in to the computer, does your iPhone charge? Yes, it charges the battery, but the iphone doesn’t know its charging, the battery indicater will still stay on empty, but phone will last very long time, if I turn it off and back on, then the indicator will increase.

Have you tried a Soft Reset? Yes

Do you have a full backup of your iPhone from a previous sync? No.

Have you tried to put your iPhone in recovery mode? Yes, However itunes still will not recognize the iPhone. I am unable to get the yellow exclaimation screen others report, however I can get a screen showing a cable and the itunes logo.

rav said in May 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pm    

As with jeb above I can go as far as getting the screen to show a cable n the itunes logo ….. and after 3 weeks of googling and stress have decided to give up . Suspect that the port on my iphone is stuffed ……

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