iPhone iPhone won't connect to any computer any more - how else to get music to my phone??

[djrobsd]

Well I've beat a dead horse to death. Apple completely abandoned my support case and won't even return my calls. I guess I could escalate to a supervisor, but why for?

My jailbroken iPhone 4 will no longer plug into any computer. No matter what, PC or Mac, plug it in, iTunes will NOT allow you to do anything with the phone.

The phone still works great, heck it even charges when I plug it into the computer, but no more backing up, syncing, or copying any new music to my phone.

I'm done messing with it or trying to fix it unless anyone has a miraculous fix that doesn't involve restoring my phone - after all - what if i erase the phone and it STILL won't connect to the dock connector, then I'm completely SOL..

So, with that in mind, what other methods can I use to get music to my phone? Basically I'm a DJ and I download a lot of mp3's, mostly from non apple stores such as BeatPort. I need to be able to get these to my phone so I can preview/listen to them while I'm commuting to prepare for my upcoming gigs...

Most of the apps that let you copy stuff to your phone do so with iTunes. I'm wondering if there is a good app that I can upload the files to a storage locker and play them on my phone.. Maybe I just use Amazon? The problem is it usually takes so long to upload the files... But who knows.

Heck, maybe I should just carry my old 32 gig ipod classic in my bag with me and start using that to preview/listen to music in the car. LOL

 

[chickenwingfly]

Hello.

Well I don't know where to start. You have many solutions to your problems, and I don't know where you'd wanna go (giving up etc.).
So, Imma throw some pointers for ya:

Giving Up aka Using the iPhone as a device that will never be backed up to iTunes, EVER

You could use something like Google Music (I think that's what it's called?) to upload your music, and some people swear by it. In my country we barely have 3G (down here in South America) so if you're in the US or the UK or a more "advanced" country then I think streaming issues would be almost nonexistent, hence, I believe this solution could work out pretty well for you.

Another option would be to download a music player (via the iPhone) app like Track8 (or any other free, the important thing is to count with a GUI), then copy the music to your device. I don't say copy it so that is natively seen by the Music Player app (Apple's) because I don't know of any apps that can copy music and update that catalog and stuff (they can exist, just that I have never and will never be interested on messing with that as it would screw iTunes sync, unless, like you say, they use iTunes as a "companionship" app).
Now, how would you copy the music????
You could either use iFunBox (free) and an USB connection (if it can be recognized) OR you could use Cydia's iFile (paid) to open it's WiFi server and then via a browser you can access your iPhone and upload the stuff (recommended, ZIP compressed and then have iFile decompress the single file).
Now, where??? You'd copy it into the App's folder (e.g /var/mobile/Applications/[RANDOM] where [RANDOM] is an encoded string and inside that folder there is a "Track8.app" for example, and then a "Documents", which is where you'd upload the music to. iFunxBox I think can read the apps [RANDOM] and make it easier to you, but via iFile you'll have to just go ahead and enter them all until you find the objective -and then bookmark!!!-).

Also I'm not sure if iFunBox can easily just copy music to your device without the help of iTunes, so... (Also check DiskAID's companion app, it can probably do that as well), in case the "download an extra music player app" situation is uncomfortable to you.

Fixing the iPhone

Not knowing what your problem is and thinking that apple support was just given by a bunch of trained *real* monkeys... then you could try restoring firmware, provided you have the SHSH blobs (in case you are on 4.x) saved via Cydia or TinyUmbrella, and if you cannot restore for the life of it via TinyUmbrella (which is likely the case since iTunes won't recognize your iPhone apparently) then you can always try Redsn0w to recover the firmware.

Prior to this and if you have important info.. well... then find a way to bring it out (contacts and else with an app, or iCloud or something that syncs. Apps' data via iFunxBox or something, saving the whole /var/mobile/Applications folder and then restoring "Documents" for each app later on. Music with iFunBox or DiskAID's companion or any other means, there are a lot of apps for this).

 

[djrobsd]

Hello.

You could use something like Google Music (I think that's what it's called?) to upload your music, and some people swear by it. In my country we barely have 3G (down here in South America) so if you're in the US or the UK or a more "advanced" country then I think streaming issues would be almost nonexistent, hence, I believe this solution could work out pretty well for you.

I tried Amazon Cloud Player, and it works great. It's the same price as iTunes Match and they upgrade your files to 256kbps just like Apple does, and it's $24.99 a year for 250,000 songs, instead of just 25,000. iTunes Match NEVER worked right for me, so the Amazon Cloud might solve more then 1 problem for me. Most of the time the 3G connection in San Diego is pretty good so I should be able to stream in the car 95% of the time.

Another option would be to download a music player (via the iPhone) app like Track8 (or any other free, the important thing is to count with a GUI), then copy the music to your device. I don't say copy it so that is natively seen by the Music Player app (Apple's) because I don't know of any apps that can copy music and update that catalog and stuff (they can exist, just that I have never and will never be interested on messing with that as it would screw iTunes sync, unless, like you say, they use iTunes as a "companionship" app).
Now, how would you copy the music????
You could either use iFunBox (free) and an USB connection (if it can be recognized) OR you could use Cydia's iFile (paid) to open it's WiFi server and then via a browser you can access your iPhone and upload the stuff (recommended, ZIP compressed and then have iFile decompress the single file).
Now, where??? You'd copy it into the App's folder (e.g /var/mobile/Applications/[RANDOM] where [RANDOM] is an encoded string and inside that folder there is a "Track8.app" for example, and then a "Documents", which is where you'd upload the music to. iFunxBox I think can read the apps [RANDOM] and make it easier to you, but via iFile you'll have to just go ahead and enter them all until you find the objective -and then bookmark!!!-).

Also I'm not sure if iFunBox can easily just copy music to your device without the help of iTunes, so... (Also check DiskAID's companion app, it can probably do that as well), in case the "download an extra music player app" situation is uncomfortable to you.

I would need to use a wi-fi compatible app that would allow me to do it over wi-fi. Most of these music apps still require you to have a USB connection to the computer, in fact I tried a few of them like "PhoneView" and "Phone 2 Mac" and none of them will see the iPhone when plugged into USB. It's almost like there is some security setting on my iPhone that is completely blocking all USB connections. And it's not a setting you can change on the phone, so it must be something that would have to be edited by SSHing into the phone and editing a conf file or something.

Fixing the iPhone

Not knowing what your problem is and thinking that apple support was just given by a bunch of trained *real* monkeys... then you could try restoring firmware, provided you have the SHSH blobs (in case you are on 4.x) saved via Cydia or TinyUmbrella, and if you cannot restore for the life of it via TinyUmbrella (which is likely the case since iTunes won't recognize your iPhone apparently) then you can always try Redsn0w to recover the firmware.

Prior to this and if you have important info.. well... then find a way to bring it out (contacts and else with an app, or iCloud or something that syncs. Apps' data via iFunxBox or something, saving the whole /var/mobile/Applications folder and then restoring "Documents" for each app later on. Music with iFunBox or DiskAID's companion or any other means, there are a lot of apps for this).

Yes, the blobs are backed up, been Jailbreaking the phone for a long time so my blobs go all the way back to the 4.x os. I do use Exchange at work, and so my contacts are already backed up.

Also, my iCloud backup still works, so i do have a backup in the cloud. My main fear is that if I try to wipe the phone and something goes wrong then I'll have myself a brick until the "new Iphone" comes out. Not being able to hook up via USB, what if I need to download IOS5 back to my phone again over USB?

I'm wondering if there is a good developer forum out there somewhere, maybe a developer would better know the file structure of the iPhone and the various configuration files. It seems to me, like I said, there is some sort of lock or security setting turned on in one of the conf files that is preventing the phone from being plugged into any computer. I thought it might be the Exchange sync with work, so I deleted my Exchange account from the phone and removed the pass code lock, but it still doesn't work.

 

[djrobsd]

Well I SSH'd into my phone and looked at this log file called lockdownd.log - this is what it says when I plug my phone in...


Mon Aug 13 12:48:48 2012 pid=38 (0x1577000) set_response_error: handle_get_value GetProhibited


Maybe I'm onto something? LOL

 

[apollo1444]

just back up your music with one of those cloud services or hell beatport keeps track of all your purchases but you should restore...

I refuse to see another fix for this other than restoring

 

[Carlanga]

You can use google play and upload all your music library (up to 20K songs) and enjoy.

I do believe that most likely restoring as NEW w/out backups will make your phone work properly again.

 

[djrobsd]

Solved!!!! Yay!!!

OMG I feel like the biggest nerd on the planet right now. I guess because I was a hacker when I was 12 years old dialing into servers with my 300 baud modem, I retained some of my skills 24 years later. LOL

Here's the deal folks. When you get this error "iTunes was unable to establish a secure connection to the device", it means your iPhone is locked down and will not connect over USB to any computer, which was my original suspicion.

While I'm not sure HOW you unlock it again (maybe using a jail break unlock tool??), I did figure out how to make mine work again with my computer at least.

I was looking in the console and saw this message each time I plugged in: "

8/13/12 1:21:04.537 PM iTunes[491]: AMDeviceValidatePairing (thread 0x11c313000): Could not load pairing record /var/db/lockdown//<DEVICE ID DELETED TO PROTECT MY PRIVACY>.plist

I noticed when I go to that folder on my mac, /var/db/lockdown there was another device ID in there, which is my iPad 3, which DOES sync just fine, so I put 2 and 2 together, and figured that without that file I'm not going to be able to connect my phone.

So, what I did was I grabbed the time machine drive from my old macbook pro (recently I got the retina mbp) and I browsed the drive and FOUND the .plist file for my iphone, COPIED It back to the /var/db/lockdown folder and VIOLA! My phone now shows up in iTunes, both WITH the USB cable and even over Wifi Now!! YAY!!!

I hope posting this helps others who have had this problem. I am SO GLAD I kept that time machine backup. I actually have backups from the last 3 macs that I've owned locked away for safe keeping. Seems a little obsessive until you have a problem like this.

 

[esoter1c]

I seem to have run into this exact problem as well.

Little bit of info, iPhone 4, Not Jailbroken.

Has been working perfectly forever and all of a sudden yesterday whenever I connect it to a USB, nothing happens. It still charges slowly, but I don't get the green battery indicator thing or the battery in the top right doesn't show itself as being charged.

All the other problems are there as well, I can't sync phone, connect to anything, or access it. It doesn't connect when I plug it into my Macbook or my PC or even any wall outlets.

Reading your post, where are you checking the 'console' to see those messages saying unable to load pairing record?

I've checked out my /var/db/lockdown/ folder on my Mac but there are about 10 .plist files (i've connect a bunch of diff things on this machine so i'm not sure which one is my iPhone (or should be))

Any ideas to help me out?

Thanks

EDIT:

Another thing to add is right when this started happening yesterday, when I touch (push down) on my phone..mostly the screen on the bottom half of my phone it makes a strange popping type noise and it feels as if the screen is being pushed in.
I didn't drop the phone of anything so not sure what is going on.

 

[Clete2]

Update to iTunes 10.7.

 

[esoter1c]

I already have iTunes 10.7. Not sure what that does?