iPhone USB connection error
I typically leave my iPhone (first generation) in its cradle, connected to the USB port on my computer whenever I am at hope. Around 6-8 weeks ago, I noticed an annoying occurrence: at seemingly random intervals the phone's connection with the computer would seem to be interrupted by something. The phone's chime which rings when it is connected and disconnected from a USB device would ring and so would the complimentary chime on my computer. If I had iTunes open at the time, iTunes would pop-up displaying a garbled version of the iPhone device summary, and I would receive between 4 and 6 pop-up messages alerting me that:
"iTunes could not connect to the iPhone '' because an unknown error occurred (0xE8000035)"
After changing the USB port I connected the phone to and trying to leave the phone connected directly to the USB cable (bypassing the cradle in case there was some wiring problem there), I decided to just ignore the problem. I figured that due to frequent use, the pins in the dock-connector terminal on the device had worn away.
However, after downloading the iPhone 2.2 firmware, this problem has taken on a quite annoying angle. Now, in addition to the cycle of 6 disconnections and subsequent reconnections (which happens more frequently), the phone will spontaneously display a "Sync in Progress" message on its screen or enter some sort of reboot cycle. As best I can figure, this sync message is some sort of error on the part of the phone because iTunes does not seem to acknowledge the fact that a sync is in progress. The second new error - the spontaneous reboot cycle occurs at infrequent intervals (maybe once a day): the phone's screen will turn black with the animated "loading" circle spiraling to indicate the device is powering down. The device will then reboot, displaying the apple logo as-per normal. The second the normal iPhone screen appears, the USB connection quickly connects and disconnects, and the phone shuts down and restarts again. I have seen it continue this cycle 4 times before I halted the process by disconnecting the phone from the USB cable. After being disconnected from the USB cable, the phone continues its normal power-on procedure, except now that it is disconnected, it remains on and functions properly.
I would appreciate any advice that might be offered on this matter. I initially thought this was a hardware problem, and while I still think it may be one, the fact that the frequency of the problem and its nature have changed with the new software and the fact that the disconnect/reconnect cycles do not seem to be triggered by any physical movement, I would suspect something software-related.
I have iTunes 8.2.0.20 and iPhone firmware 2.2, although this problem did occur with at least iTunes 8.1 and iPhone 2.1.
Thank you very much for any and all help!
--Will
HP/Voodoo Blackbird, Windows Vista, Quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0GHz o'ced to 3.66GHz, Asus Striker Extreme 680i Motherboard, 4GB Crossair RAM, NVidia GeForce 8800GT (512MB)