iPhone not connecting to Mac! Oh no!

Hey random peoples whom I know not! I bought myself an iPhone 3Gs for Chanuka and I was a very happy person. Well, I got home and tried to charge it and, oh my, it wouldn't charge. I rushed about my house like a crazy person jabbing my charger at outlets. About 1/8th of the time it would charge. I then plugged it into my Mac and, oh my, nothing happened. I had an iPod charger, so I tried it with my iPhone and it didn't help. So, I went to the Apple store. The Apple store gave me a new iPhone and I went home a happy person. Well, I got home and I tried to charge it and, oh my, I seem to be repeating myself, anyways, same thing happened. I bought a new charger (so now I have 2 iPhone chargers and one iPod charger which I thought were exactly the same, though some say otherwise)

My iPhone is up to date and brand new, I have an iMac with Mac OSX 4.11, I have iTunes 9.0.2, and I have a house with, um, outlets.

Anyway, accept my quest, brave knight, and you will be rewarded with 3 gold coins and my eternal gratitude.

Of course, the gold coins are imaginary and I'm a 17 year old boy. But, hey, if my girlfriend doesn't object, I'd be happy to wear a dress for you.

It could be the same hardware-fault in the new iPhone. You may try to recharge it other places too, in order to make sure the problem is not related to an electricity issue in your home. When you again go to the Apple Store to get a new iPhone, make sure it charges by testing this in the store before you take it home.

The odds of you getting two phones from the same place on the same day that have the same problem have to be huge ! Tell us exactly what the phone does when it's " not charging" does the screen light up etc....



Clay

In the apple store everything worked perfectly on both phones. When it's plugged in th phone does not light up, does not charge, does not show battery. It acts the same way it does when unplugged. If plugged into the computer, the computer acts as if nothing is there. The phone does not show up in Finder nor in iTunes. A weird thing happened today, though. I plugged my phone into my iMac and, well, as before, nothing happened, but I left it in for a while. I was about to unplug it, but before I did I got a text message. Right when that happened my phone started charging, showed up on my computer, and synced with iTunes. Weird. I love this phone and I'm typing this on it right now, but this problem is really upsetting.

Well then we know it's not the phone.

Yeah, but any ideas what it might be? I have 3 chargers and have used 2 iPhones. I'd prefer to hope that all iPhone chargers have some weird reaction to things in my house. I think it would be easier to buy a higher quality charger than a new iPhone, a new house, and a new iMac.

By iPhone charger what do you mean ? Your iPhone came with a USB cord and a power adapter so you can use the same stock cord to charge in wall and sync/charge on your computer. Plug the cord to your phone and the power adapter then plug into an outlet you know works ( unplug something) then push the home button and I'll bet you see the batt charging screen. Send me a pm with question as I am going to work but will get the pm and I'll try to help.

Clay

I have 3 regular charges and with all of them I have the same problem. Now, it could be that something in the iPhone itself does not work with anything in my house, it could be none of my outlets work with my iPhone and my computer has some problem working with iPhones, or it could be that iPhone cables have some weird defect where they don't work with anything in my house. Yes, everything I just said sounds rediculous, but those are the only problem causes I can think of. Well, I'm just personally hoping Apple charges have some problem in my house, because if that is the case I can buy a non-Apple charger and hope it works. If that's not the cause it would either means if I want a phone in my house to work it can't be an iPhone or I have to buy a new iMac and a new house. Buying a different charger is easier. And it's still not charging normally, I still have to plug it in multiple times before it will work.

Ok here is my take on this. Trust me it is not your house , not your iMac , and I would bet that you don't have 3 bad cords. The odds of two phones that worked at the store both going bad before you get them home is real slim ! That really only leaves user error in my humble ( yet professional -I work with electronics for a living ) opinion. I mean no disrespect to you at all but it is either that or you are really are the unluckiest Person I have heard of.

I am sorry I can't be of more help to you but alas I really have nothing else to offer. I'll leave you the link to the apple support page in hopes you'll find something there

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/basics/

Clay

Is the house you live in old? I ask because I have discovered that iPhones, even more than iPods, are picky about the voltage required to charge/mount.

For example: Last night my wife tells mer iPhone won't charge or connect to her iMac. I plug my iPhone in and it works just fine. I plug her iPhone into my Mac and it works just fine. The iPhone cable was connected to a self powered USB 2 Hub that also had 3 self powered USB HDDs attached. We knew it wasn't the phone, so I suspected the cable. Tried multiple cables with no luck. With a bit of rearranging I plugged the original cable into the iMac and the phone mounted/charged just fine. For some reason the iPhone wasn't getting enough voltage to charge/mount from the USB 2 Hub, but I have no idea why. I have also observed when staying in older Hotels the same issue with wall plugs with my iPhone.

Just my observation..

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baggss said:

Is the house you live in old? I ask because I have discovered that iPhones, even more than iPods, are picky about the voltage required to charge/mount.

For example: Last night my wife tells mer iPhone won't charge or connect to her iMac. I plug my iPhone in and it works just fine. I plug her iPhone into my Mac and it works just fine. The iPhone cable was connected to a self powered USB 2 Hub that also had 3 self powered USB HDDs attached. We knew it wasn't the phone, so I suspected the cable. Tried multiple cables with no luck. With a bit of rearranging I plugged the original cable into the iMac and the phone mounted/charged just fine. For some reason the iPhone wasn't getting enough voltage to charge/mount from the USB 2 Hub, but I have no idea why. I have also observed when staying in older Hotels the same issue with wall plugs with my iPhone.

Just my observation..

Click to expand...

ok... I have heard of the USB hub problem but the household power is a new one on me. So with that said a quick trip with the phone and cord to a different location will rule out the power or the user error. Let us know what you find out.

Clay

Here's and even odder one for you clay:

My Townhouse is only about 4 years old. I have one plug in my living-room that will work with everything BUT an iPhone. I plug in anything, a vacuum, A TV, my router, my Christmas tree lights etc no issues, but if I plug in an iPhone, it trips the breaker and the living-room goes dark. I have 3 iPhones and they all do it. No idea why. My solution? Don't plug in iPhones to that wall plug. It doesn't happen with the same plug/cables with my Gen 5 or 6/Classic iPods, but I've never tried with an iPod Touch.

I wonder if that plug isn't wired into a gfi somewhere. Low voltage transformers ( like the one with your iPhone ) are known to trip them very easily. That or it's wire to a circiut that maybe overloads a bit ?

Clay

clayneal said:

I wonder if that plug isn't wired into a gfi somewhere. Low voltage transformers ( like the one with your iPhone ) are known to trip them very easily. That or it's wire to a circiut that maybe overloads a bit ?

Clay

Click to expand...

I thought of that but one would think my Vacuum cleaner or my wife's Sony Vaio laptop would draw more current than 1 iPhone...

clayneal said:

I wonder if that plug isn't wired into a gfi somewhere. Low voltage transformers ( like the one with your iPhone ) are known to trip them very easily. That or it's wire to a circiut that maybe overloads a bit ?

Clay

Click to expand...

I think Clay has it Baggss. I have GFI's in my kitchen that work with anything I can plug in, even HIGH DRAW applicances, but some very low ohmage power adapters (where the primary of the transformer is very low in resistance) will trip them every time. It seems to be more low resistance in the windings of the transformer than the actual current draw.

I have an outlet on my front porch that is wired back to the LOAD terminals of the GFI in the bathroom. Figured that out one day when I had a short and the outlet died and then noticed the GFI was tripped in the bathroom!

baggss said:

I thought of that but one would think my Vacuum cleaner or my wife's Sony Vaio laptop would draw more current than 1 iPhone...

Click to expand...

a fine point that does rule out an overload. Does it trip the breaker at the box or do you have to reset a gfi somewhere ?

clayneal said:

a fine point that does rule out an overload. Does it trip the breaker at the box or do you have to reset a gfi somewhere ?

Click to expand...

I thought that very thing right after I hit save on my last post!

clayneal said:

a fine point that does rule out an overload. Does it trip the breaker at the box or do you have to reset a gfi somewhere ?

Click to expand...

It kills it at the breaker box...

baggss said:

It kills it at the breaker box...

Click to expand...

Then I am stumped ! Oh and to the OP sorry we took over your thread while waiting for your responce.

Clay