Q: charging is not supported with this accessory

Lawrence Finch, what do you mean by "cable that has an active circuit", please?

A lightning cable has microcircuits in the plug at the iPhone end. It is used by the iPhone to verify that it is an Apple cable or one from an authorized 3rd party manufacturer. It also does some signal processing, digital to analog conversion, and other housekeeping functions. See this analysis: http://www.chipworks.com/en/technical-competitive-analysis/resources/blog/system s-analysis-of-the-apple-lightning-to-usb-cable/

My phone is a 3GS, and I have the old cable. Does it still have an active circuit?

how can I stop receiving emails from this discussion?

gciriani wrote:

 

My phone is a 3GS, and I have the old cable. Does it still have an active circuit?

No.

There is a button on my PC that says "Stop e-mail notifications". I suspect that would stop the emails to you.

Victor Mihajlov wrote:

 

how can I stop receiving emails from this discussion?

Top right of the discussions... "Stop email notifications"

So, the argument by Lawrence Finch goes down the drain in my case.

gciriani wrote:

 

So, the argument by Lawrence Finch goes down the drain in my case.

Don't know what your 'case' is but you asked about an active cable and he answered.

If you're having troubles with cables, have you tried cleaning the connector on your iPhone?

thanks

If you actually READ the message that I posted and that you asked a followup question about you would have had the answer to your subsequent question. Try reading it again: https://discussions.apple.com/message/24744453#24744453

Especially the part that say:

Aftermarket cables are generally OK for any iPhone models before the 5. iPhone 5, 5c and 5s use a proprietary, patented cable that has an active circuit in it, so only Apple or Apple-certified cables will work.

I've been following this thread, and I did read your postings. I'm just trying to understand the nature and drill further down on this problem.

At this point, thanks to your and PaulCB clarification, I understand that my cable is not in question. Now I'm trying to understand the nature of the contact on the USB plug portion. The problem by the way is excatly the same (same defect) with an Apple adapter or a Palm Pixi 110-240V adapter, or when plugged into my PC: I plug the USB in, but not all the way through (about 1/8" less than completely plugged in), and it works; I plug it further in for hte remaining 1/8" and the error shows up.

Does anybody have the schematics of the USB plug?

If it can help, another behavior I do not understand is that I cannot use my iPhone 3GS as a Personal Hotspot with the USB. If I plug it into my PC the iPhone does not appear as one of the internet connections available. So possibly this problem is related.

What is happening is there is a signal that a compatible USB power adapter sends to the phone to say that it is compatible. If the pin that this signal is detected on in the dock connector is dirty, corroded or damaged you will get that error message. Pushing the USB cable in only part way "fools" the phone.

Your problem with personal hotspot could also be a dirty dock connector, or it could be that your account with your cellular carrier isn't authorized. See: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517.

Here are the pinouts for the dock connector:

http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Apple_iPod,_iPad_and_iPhone_dock

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

Your problem with personal hotspot could also be a dirty dock connector, or it could be that your account with your cellular carrier isn't authorized. See: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517.

I had checked my cellular service; I'm with T-Mobile for which hot spot is allowed.

Regarding the dock connector, I think the description I gave of the problem, rules out any problem at the other connector.