Problems with Syncing / File Transfer...
 

So, yesterday I had my phone connected to my laptop while doing some work, when I started to hear the Active Sync connect and disconnect sounds at erratic intervals. A little investigation showed the stock HTC data cable was wearing and fraying on both ends where it connected to the adapters, and I was losing sync any time I bumped the cable. I straightened the cable and didn't think much of it (other than noting I would need a new data cable), until today when I connected the phone again.

As usual, the phone displayed the menu asking me to Sync, File Transfer, or Internet Share. I selected Active Sync, but neither the phone nor WMDC on the computer seemed to sync: no device listed in my file explorer, no "sync" icon on the phone's taskbar, and wdmc still thought the device was disconnected. To be safe, I tried all 4 USB ports on the laptop first, and each time got the same menu, selected Sync, but never actually synced. Next I tracked down the USB-to-Micro cable from my digital camera and tested: this time, regardless of USB port, I didn't even get the Connection popup. Now, I've always thought these cables were pretty much universal, but apparently not. I can put the stock HTC cable in and get the popup; put the generic one from my camera and I don't.

Strange thing is, I'm charging just fine with both cables. To be totally safe, I uninstalled WMDC, restarted, reinstalled it, and hard reset my phone, but it doesn't matter. Tested with the "advanced network functionality" option checked and unchecked; tried to access just the storage card with the "Disk Drive" option to no avail. Seems that no matter what I do, I just can't see the phone anymore.

From the searching I've done, it seems like this is something I might need to warranty (??), but I'd really like to make sure I've explored all my options. It seems it has to be a software thing if the phone still has no problem charging via USB.

Any suggestions?


Edit - Alltel Touch Pro - DCD 2.06 - Vista Ultimate 64-bit.