Can't sync using certain mini-USB cables

[oofangus]

Howdy,

Due to the proliferation of helpful gadgets that I now carry with me on the road, my brief case has swelled to the point where I'm undertaking some spring-cleaning to consolidate the miles of cabling tucked away in various compartments. At the top of the list are USB cables - regular full-sized USB, mini-USB, two-headed mini-USB for powering hard drives, micro-USB, proprietary chargers with USB on one end... You've been there.

So far, I've been able to accommodate most of my devices with a single mini-USB cable and mini-to-micro adapter - with one exception: my HTC Touch. The good news is that I can charge my Touch using any mini-USB cable. I cannot, however, sync the Touch using some cables.

Therefore, the purpose of this post is to determine why my HTC Touch doesn't sync with some seemingly-normal USB-to-mini cables.

Before itemizing the cables and their behavior, I'll mention that I've tried the same tests on 2 different HTC Touch MP6900 (from U.S. Cellular) on 2 different computers (XP Pro). My wife and I each have the same model phone, and each sync with our own laptops.

In testing various cables, I find:

Cable                           Charge Sync
------------------------------- ------ ----
Came with HTC Touch             yes    yes
Came with Touch cradle          yes    yes
Came with Canon camera          yes    yes
Came with external HDD #1       yes    yes
Came with external HDD #2       yes    no
Brand new 3rd party cable       yes    no
Random cable in my drawer       yes    no

All of these cables work with other mini-USB devices (cameras, hard drives). The behavior only differs when syncing with my Touch.

Per suggestions on other threads, I've tried checking and un-checking the 'Enabled advanced network functionality' setting on the phone. This has no effect on the problematic cables.

This problem also persists:

o After soft reset
o After hard reset
o After OS upgrade (WM 6.0 > 6.1)

From all of this I conclude that the problem is with the cables, not the phone (tried it on two phones), the computer (tried it on two computers), or the WM USB connection settings (tried it both ways). Considering that all of these cables work fine with my other devices, my question is:

QUESTION: Why can I not sync my HTC Touch with Windows XP / ActiveSync 4.5 using certain, otherwise normal USB-to-mini cables?

Thank you, in advance, for your time.

-Michael

[hooover]

This is crazy I use my PS3 cable...It does everything as well...

[oofangus]

You think that's crazy, there's more - I can only sync my phone to my laptop using the built-in USB ports on the laptop. If I plug the phone in to a USB port on the docking station, Windows doesn't detect it at all. As with the cables, these docking station USB ports work fine with every other USB device I own - just not with the Touch. ?!?

This isn't a big deal, and there's an easy workaround. It's just annoying to have to maually connect/disconnect ever time I dock/undock. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a docking station.

[Harveystyles]

Technically the touch doesn't have a 'mini usb port'. It's a proprietary port (that I can't recall the name of). That's why some mini usb cable will work with it, and some won't. I went through a looong stretch of time where i just bent the end of my car chargers to get them to work, till it almost pulled the usb port off the board of my Touch. Then I realized, this was ther reason why the Touch came with the mini usb adaptor.

The problem is so well known here, that if you go out and buy a home/car charger anywhere (from wal mart, to a sprint store), and the figure out ot's for an HTC device, they plug it up and make sure it works, before they'll sell it to you, because of return rates.

And if you've lost/had stolen/didn't receive one, with your phone, they're pretty cheap, and well worth the trouble...

http://www.thecellshop.net/Shop/Cont...d/0/rid/126605

[oofangus]

Harveystyles,

The Touch does have a proprietary interface called 'ExtUSB'. From what I understand, though, this is a superset of regular USB that includes additional wires for audio (i.e. headset / microphone). The mini-USB pins on the ExtUSB connector are just regular mini-USB pins - I think.

Regarding the form factor, a regular mini-USB cable fits into the ExtUSB port on the phone, though the mini end of an HTC ExtUSB cable won't fit into a regular mini-USB device. The ExtUSB cable has a bulge in the upper-right corner (as you're looking into the end of the cable) that prevents it from being used improperly.

I guess that just because a normal mini-USB fits into the ExtUSB port doesn't mean that doing so is supported. But, the Touch (at least my Touch) comes with what appears to be a normal mini-USB cable that the User Guide (p.14) identifies as "USB Sync cable". I used this to sync for several weeks before I bought my cradle (which also has a normal-looking mini-USB cable) and everything worked fine. Likewise, this cable works with all of the other mini-USB devices I've tested. I think that HTC just includes a normal mini-USB cable - and, by extension, that any other mini-USB cable should work.

Obviously some - nay, many - do not. My meager intellect can't figure out what the difference is.

-Michael

[hooover]

So through out the day I have tested various cables and have only had a issue with cables that are not standard mini usb...

So either end as shown will also work...No one is doubting you or your intellect I'm just simply stating that these are issues that have been discussed for a while now and everyone is/should be aware of by now...

[oofangus]

hooover,

I'm obviously still missing something. I've spent a few days reading up on Touch/USB issues (especially here on ppcgeeks.com), as well as about USB in general. I guess I'm still not clear on what "not standard mini usb" means.

If a photo is sufficient to differentiate between standard and non-standard cables, let's do the Pepsi Challenge with a few of the ones I've been trying. Can you tell which of the following cables will sync my Touch and which won't (and, if so, how)?

[IMG]ftp://manniongeo.dyndns.org/outgoing/mini_usb.jpg[/IMG]

The answer, from left-to-right, is:

1. Works
2. Fails
3. Works
4. Fails

I know it's kind of tough to see the inside of each connector because of the lighting. Taking a closer look with my flashlight and loupe, however, I see that all four connectors have 5 pins, with the two outer ones being longer than the three middle ones. Some are a little shinier, others are a little flatter, but overall they look the same to me - and the same as the right-hand one in the photo you posted.

Also, I just bought #2 on eBay last week as the all-purpose mini/micro USB cable to take with me on the road.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=350159523579

Is there something in the description of this item that would have clued me in to the fact that it would charge, but not sync, my Touch?

-Michael

EDIT: Attaching image; FTP URL doesn't seem to work for embedded image.

[hooover]

Yes i believe that The touch works on a 11 PIN...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Touch


After looking in the device itself it appearred to be 5 pin so I'm totally confused too, my friend...

[mastergadgets]

Some mini usb cables are made specifically for specific devices. While the connetores are the same, the connectors may not have wires attached to them internally. Thus they will not make the connection.

[denasqu]

Originally Posted by hooover

Yes i believe that The touch works on a 11 PIN...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Touch


After looking in the device itself it appearred to be 5 pin so I'm totally confused too, my friend...

I dug a little deeper...

From Wikipedia... "HTC manufactures Windows Mobile-based Communicators and the T-Mobile G1 which have a proprietary connector called HTC ExtUSB. The ExtUSB combines mini-USB (with which it is backwards-compatible) with audio input and output in an 11-pin connector"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExtUSB#...rs_and_formats