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User profile for user: HeavySausage
HeavySausage Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Iphone 3G Randomly pauses music

I just bought a black 16 gig 3G iPhone to replaced my original 8 gig iPhone that worked flawlessly.

So after I copied my backup files, and did a sync I started to have my music pause during playback in my car. At first I thought my mp3's were bad. But I cleared the phone of all songs and it started happening again.

Hmm. I search the internet and see others are having the same problem. Some people say that replacing the phone with a new one fixes it.

Well I bring it in, and the Genius says that I should try a full restore. So I do a full restore and it still pauses songs randomly during playback.

I bring the phone back and they give me a replacement phone.

Go home put everything on the new phone and I still have this problem. So I decide I should test the lineout of the iphone to another device other than my car. I then hook it up to some bose speakers that I have. ****. Still pausing the iPhone at random.

I try multiple cables bought from the apple store. Still happening. So I then go back into the Apple store for the 3rd Iphone replacement.

Sure enough, it is still randomly pausing songs. So I restore the phone again, and this time I don't back up using anything from my existing iPhones. I only sync songs over, and manually load applications back on.

Well that didn't do anything at all. So here I am with a iPhone that Randomly pauses my music. So while I drive I have to look down, unlock, and resume playback. Sometimes 5 times in 30 seconds. It is very annoying.

The music files are not corrupt, and they play back fine on my original iPhone which is a non 3G. One of the supervising mac genius people became very rude to me knowing that this is the third time I have replaced a brand new phone.

So does anyone know why this is happening? Are all 3G's faulty? Is this new 3G iPhone outputjack bad on all models? Why does everyone at the apple store play dumb like this is all new to them?

One thing I notice is that if i have no music playing, but the iPhones plugged into the stereo, I can hear a random burst of noise coming from the output of the iphone. I am thinking that has something to do with the pausing. But why would I have this happen on 3 different phones, on multiple devices, with all kinds of different stereo headphone cables?

Please help

Thanks

MBP 17inch Core Dou 2, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Sep 13, 2008 9:32 PM

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36 replies
User profile for user: icebike
icebike
User level: Level 3
740 points

Sep 13, 2008 10:27 PM in response to HeavySausage

Ok, well two possibilities then...

But first a word from Apple (if I may be so bold...)
You're S.O.L. Non-standard attachment not covered by warranty.

Now on to the possible solutions:

1) The third party devices may be drawing too much power, and the phone is
protecting itself.

Take a multi-meter, and measure the resistance of the
first two leads (tip and third one) on the apple buds.

You will find about 34 ohms. Same as second one to third one.

If your devices measure fewer ohms they will draw too much power.

2) Most likely: The top most band (toward the wire) is the mic contact.
It is also the mic switch / music switch, etc.
If the plug you put in the socket just happens to line up with that top
band touching the iphone's internal pickup (or if the internal pickup bridges
the gap) weird and undesirable events might ensue.

Its not so much the thing you plug in, the exact arrangement of the pick-ups in the iphone jack, and where they align on the shank. The other phone might have been just a half millimeter different alignment.

Any combination that make a very low resistance between top most shank and third shank will trigger a pause, because that's exactly what the iphone ear bud switch does.

Find a Apple product, or buy one of the plugs below and wire it for your device ignoring the topmost shank contact.

Topmost is standard and typical. Bottom is iphone.

User uploaded file
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User profile for user: HeavySausage
HeavySausage Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Sep 13, 2008 10:49 PM in response to icebike

So are you telling me that once again, Apple has failed everyone with the headphone jack outputs again?

I just ordered a 3 tip adapter, and I do hope it works. Apple really needs some engineering school.

Hopefully the 3 tip adapter works. Drawing too much power? Give me a break, my first iphone works just fine. I can't believe that only a few people hook iphones into the line in jack in a car.

This is ********.
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User profile for user: icebike
icebike
User level: Level 3
740 points

Sep 14, 2008 12:34 AM in response to HeavySausage

I just ordered a 3 tip adapter, and I do hope it works. Apple really needs some engineering school.


Well that's my best guess.

(You want a 4 point connector. Standard is 3, but I assume that's what you meant.)

Apple needs to contract with someplace other than China where QC is a little better. It probably wasn't even the Factory's fault, its the low-bid parts supplier.
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User profile for user: HeavySausage
HeavySausage Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Sep 15, 2008 11:23 AM in response to HeavySausage

Well I think I have it figured out. I noticed that only songs with very high volume in the mastering seem to pause the iphone. For instance, A Booka Shade album which is german techno is a very loud album with high compression for the kicks and bass. If I have the iPhone volume on max I think the iPhone gives off a burst of noise from the max amplification on the phone that is loud enough to pause the phone. If I lower the volume on the iphone to 80 percent, then turn up the car's amplifier to make up for the lower iphone volume things don't seem to pause. But I will need to test this theory for a week. I realized that I was getting random pauses on loud dance tracks.

I guess Apple hates dance music.

😟
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User profile for user: musicvan
musicvan
User level: Level 1
140 points

Oct 1, 2008 11:50 PM in response to HeavySausage

Same problem here, trying to use decent headphones to replace the poor effort from Apple. Using Sennheiser CX300 as my portable headphones and Grado SR80 at home. Both cause music to pause for no reason. Of course the apple supplied headphones are fine.

I have read all the theories on the web but has anybody actually got an answer from Apple why this occurs? I am not aware of any disclaimer stating that non apple headphones should not be usedI/or supported.

If it was hardware then it would be happening all the time but in my case it does not (of course it could be just a tolerance issue with the headphone jack position). I find that if I do a reset then it it clears the pause problem for a long period of time, it does return after using the phone as a phone/data terminal etc.. Wondering if the pasue is caused by some software interupt problem, the phone goes off and does something else during music playback?
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User profile for user: seanbendell
seanbendell
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 7, 2008 5:36 AM in response to HeavySausage

This is happening to my iPhone as well. I have always plugged my iPod in to my speakers using the headphone jack.
I had done the same thing with my iPhone but since taking the latest update it wil play for a couple seconds and then pause its self. Anyone found out the cause of this yet? or what the solution is?
With this issue and the stupid text repeat function I'm starting to hate my iPhone.
Sort it out Apple
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User profile for user: TonyLukes3
TonyLukes3
User level: Level 1
15 points

Oct 7, 2008 1:25 PM in response to seanbendell

I have the same problem. However, it only seems to occur in my car when I have the line-in connected. When I use earbud headphones (Shure E2C), it doesn't cut out. I'm going to look at the line-in cable I'm using in the car, it's a standard Radio Shack type so I'm pretty sure it's not the 3-band type. Has anyone switched from the "cheap" cable to the 3-banded one and found an improvement? I've already reduced the volume prior to this to about 75-80% and it still cuts out, although not as bad as it did when it was at 100%.
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User profile for user: musicvan
musicvan
User level: Level 1
140 points

Oct 7, 2008 1:39 PM in response to TonyLukes3

Have you tried to reset the iphone, insert the audio lead/headphones while the iphone is starting up again, start up the ipod application and see if this fixes the pausing, it seems to work for me. But once I start using the iphone as a phone, sms or browser and then return to the pod application it starts to pause again. Hopefully this is some software interrupt thing going on rather than a hardware defect or lack of support for standard (non-apple) headphones.

To reset iPhone, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least 10 seconds. During this time, a red "power off" slider may appear and the screen may go black, but do not release Sleep/Wake and Home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
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User profile for user: scottvc
scottvc
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 12, 2008 1:04 AM in response to HeavySausage

I also have this problem, but only with iTunes purchased songs.
Example: i bought Seether - Fake It from the iTunes Store and it pauses constantly, every few seconds. However, if i play a Seether song ripped from a CD, it plays perfectly with no pauses.

And I'm not using the Apple earphones. Its a standard audio jack connected to 2 desktop speakers. This is such an annoying problem that needs to be fixed.
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Iphone 3G Randomly pauses music

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