Laptop won't recognise iPhone

[750XL]

Hello,

Ever since I got my iPhone 4S about 6 months ago it's been fine, when I plug it into my laptop it autosyncs itself etc and I can drag and drop images from my phone onto my laptop to store them. However, yesterday it just simply stopped working. When I plug my iPhone 4S into my laptop via the USB cable, it charges fine but simply doesn't appear in 'My Computer' and isn't recognised via iTunes.

The only thing I can think of is that yesterday I used a different USB cable to connect my iPhone to my laptop, while also using my USB webcam at the same time.

Every 15minutes or so, regardless of whether I have any USB items attached to my laptop or not I get the 'USB inserted / removed' noise and this message appears:

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Sam-at-MAN/usb1.jpg

If I click the cloud, I get this:

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Sam-at-MAN/usb2.jpg

I have tested it on my PC and it works fine on there, so it's an issue with my laptop rather than my iPhone.

Any help is appreciated :8

Thanks

[Milo Minderbinder]

USB compatibility issues can be a real pain to diagnose
Could be drivers, power overload when you plugged both in, dodgy cable, damaged socket
Best bet is to simply try a system restore back to before it went wrong and see what happens
If that fails then you're going to have to get familiar with a program called USBDeview (from Nirsoft) but lets not go there just yet...try the system restore first


PS good rule with cameras / phones etc when this happens is to plug it into the USB port powered OFF and then switch on the device. PlugNPray seems to fall over when you plug things in "on"
Also try the other USB ports

[750XL]

Thank you for the reply.

I restored my laptop but had no luck.

Restarted it, and without anything even being plugged into any USB ports I kept getting that same message popping up :sad:

Any other ideas?

[Mike-Bracknell]

It sounds like the built-in USB bus is having problems. i.e. it may be b*ggered.

Try removing ("uninstalling") all the USB devices from device manager, and reboot the PC. It should "re-find" them all, and hopefully fix any driver issues that may have been causing this, but conversely if it's a hardware issue then no amount of software changes/fixes are going to sort it and you may be looking at a new laptop.

[Ancient Observer]

Had that dreaded "usb device not recognized" with daughter's ipod touch a couple of days ago.
I did all the googling and experimentation that retirement allows. (Too much time on pc in retirement)

It was not the usb as I tried another touch and a samsung phone thru that usb socket, and both worked..

Ferking thing still would not recognise it. So I plugged it in at about 5.00 pm and left it in, and left both ipod and pc turned on overnight.

By 10.00am, the next day, whatever was wrong had put itself right.

Whilst I would put in my claim for superior pc skills, it would not be true in the slightest. I have no idea what resolved it.

[MacBoero]

I hear that this can be sometimes sorted out by deleting the driver using the hardware manager. Reconnecting the iPhone and letting Windows search for drivers.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Time to get the dreaded USBdeview program out of the closet

See View any installed/connected USB device on your system (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html)

Unplug all USB devices except keyboard and mouse
Run the program to knock out all USB devices from the registry except keyboard and mouse
Reboot and then start plugging USB devices back in one by one

Remember - DON'T delete the keyboard and mouse
And read the instructions on the webpage first!

[Ancient Observer]

What's that - someone suggesting that we should read the instructions first???

[Milo Minderbinder]

don't want him having to try to work out how to re-enable a disabled mouse keyboard if they get removed by accident
On some machines plug n pray works OK and its no problem. On some - especially Dells - its a nightmare. PnP won't kick in until you get into windows - but you can't get into windows because you can't log in.......
Theres a workround but its a PITA I'd sooner not get him into

[750XL]

Hello,

Thank you to everyone for taking time to reply and offer advice.

I installed USBdeview and removed all the drivers (I don't have a USB keyboard or laptop so didn't have that problem) and it still didn't work. I then un-installed / re-installed my USB drivers and I've still got no luck :sad:

When I plug my iPhone in via the USB cable, it starts charging fine and at a normal rate but nothing shows up in my computer, in device manager or on USBdeview :(

I've just tested my iPod and that won't show either. Shortly after, I attached my external hard drive which is working fine along with my USB webcam.

I've really got no idea what's going on anymore :suspect:

As always, any more help would really be appreciated.

[750XL]

Ok, it's getting weirder.

My external hard drive was just working perfectly fine. All of a sudden the 'USB device not recognised' message popped up and now none of my USB ports will recognise my external hard drive :ugh:

[Milo Minderbinder]

didn't you say you had changed cables
Have you gone back to the old one?

have you tried the tip of plugging in with the iPhone powered OFF and then turning on?
have you tried the other USB ports?

and finally - you are plugging directly into the PC and not into an external hub?

[750XL]

Have you gone back to the old one?

Tried both cables.

have you tried the tip of plugging in with the iPhone powered OFF and then turning on?

Yes, with both iPhone and iPod, no luck.

have you tried the other USB ports?

All three of them

and finally - you are plugging directly into the PC and not into an external hub?

Yes, straight into my laptop.



Now I I'm even getting the 'USB device not recognised' with my external harddrive. Does it sound like my laptop is dead :(?

[Milo Minderbinder]

"now none of my USB ports will recognise my external hard drive "

Sorry - I made my last post before reading that

This is starting to sound like a failed USB chip on the motherboard. Sometimes happens if something puts an OTT power drain on the chip

However it could just be a driver issue.....
some more questions
make / model of machine
make of USB chipset (from device manager)
version of windows

It may be fixable by downloading the chipset makers USB drivers, though I'd bet against it


edit
PS - an afterthought - take a good look at each of those USB ports
Does one of them look damaged? Any chance the central tongue is missing / broken leading to a short?

[750XL]

Thanks for the reply again.

I'm using a:
Dell Inspiron 1545
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Sam-at-MAN/usb3.jpg
Windows Vista 32bit


None of the ports look damaged either.

[Milo Minderbinder]

should have a sevice tag and / or quick service code on it
Usually on a white paper label. What are they?


Edit
actually probably don't need that

Download and run this driver file

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/20775/eng/infinst_autol.exe&lang=eng&Dwnldid=20775&ProductID=3321

[750XL]

Done the above, still no luck :{

[Milo Minderbinder]

Strongly suspect a the USB controller chip is fried
Is it still under warranty? If so, time to call in as its not realistcally repairable - unless you can fit a USB expansion port into a PCMCIA port or similar (I've not checked the spec so don't know)

Just in case its a software gltich (and Dell will expect you to try this anyway) try restoring the machine back to factory settings, just to prove the point that it is a hardware problem
Make sure you backup first!

My thoughts? The cable you used was faulty, shorted and caused a burn out. You're lucky the ipad still works

[750XL]

Thanks for all your help, it does indeed look like a laptop issue :{

Will try and somehow back up all my data, although that'll be a challenge with no USB ports :yuk:

I have a windows 7 CD lying around somewhere so I'll try that.

Thanks again

[Milo Minderbinder]

To back up, best to take the hard drive out and piggyback it onto another machine and then copy across what you need

To restore it, use the hidden recovery image. That way you get back to an out-of-the-box state that should simply just work. If you use a normal windows CD then you are going to have to mess about getting drivers (possibly suboptimal ones)
And if it is under warranty, Del will expect it to be restored using the factory image, just to prove the case

here's Dell's howto
Windows 7 PC Restore | Dell UK (http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?&docid=DSN_362066&isLegacy=true)

[750XL]

Thank you for yet another helpful tip.

It isn't under warranty anymore sadly. I've always noticed a 'Recovery' partition on my hard drive but never bothered to look at it. Just done so and it would appear them clever folk at Dell have a simple .exe file that should restore my laptop to factory settings for me :hmm:

Will back up my data soon and give that a go, if that doesn't work, I'll take a hammer to the bastard :}

[750XL]

Alright, now I'm confused!

As a last resort I tried plugging in my Belkin 'usb extension hub', and then my iPhone USB cable into that... and hey presto, it worked!

I'm still getting the annoying 'USB in/out' noise and the not recognized message but I'm able to access my phone, external hard drive, memory card reader etc through my USB hub :eek:

[Milo Minderbinder]

Presumably that Belkin is a powered hub?
That strongly indicates theres a voltage problem on the USB ports on the PC
It's carrying a data signal, but when something tries to draw power its crashing


PS - Dell recovery partitions are usually pretty reliable and bulletproof. Unlike some other PC companies (e.g Acer...)

[750XL]

Belkin USB 2.0 4 Port Travel Hub (Black) (http://www.techfuels.com/cpu-components/11681-belkin-usb-2-0-4-port-travel-hub-black.html)

That's the hub I have

[Milo Minderbinder]

"Bus-powered, no power supply included "

Now I'm confused

Reminscent of a problem I came across years ago on a batch of machines where a specific model of camera would only work if a specific brand of mouse was plugged in....
That was a power problem on an old USB chipset design, but should be a thing of the past now.

Has to be a power issue, but how to get around it I really don't know - unless simply knocking all the USB entries in device maanger out and rebooting fixes it.
Don't simply delete each entry - choose the "uninstal" option

[750XL]

Just a quick update which I'm posting in case anyone else happens to find this thread in the archives with a similar problem.

After following the excellent advise from Milo Minderbinder, which sadly didn't resolve the problem, I was at my wits end googling for hours. I found one thread which simply suggested that removing the power supply from your computer or laptop (or removing the battery from the laptop while its not plugged in) will 'reset' the mobo that maybe having power issues, as Milo Minderbinder suggested earlier.

I unplugged my laptop while it was turned on, then removed the battery and left it out for 5 minutes... hey presto, it's working! :ok:

[Milo Minderbinder]

thats just weird......definitely one to remember though