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How to fix iTunes 10.6 iPhone's USB Personal Hotspot problem

I'd updated iTunes to 10.6 and iOS to 5.1 this morning and found out that my iPhone 4S's Personal Hotspot using USB was never connected. Even before updating iOS to 5.1, installing iTunes 10.6 causes the usb hotspot on iOS 5.0.1. iPhone 4S iOS 5.1 usb hotspot is still working on my PC with iTunes 10.5.3.


Is this happened to anyone else?

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1

Posted on Mar 7, 2012 9:07 PM

Reply
59 replies

Mar 7, 2012 9:50 PM in response to Nosce

Nosce wrote:


I'd updated iTunes to 10.6 and iOS to 5.1 this morning and found out that my iPhone 4S's Personal Hotspot using USB was never connected.

OK.

Even before updating iOS to 5.1, installing iTunes 10.6 causes the usb hotspot on iOS 5.0.1

It causes what?

What does iTunes have to do with the hotspot on the iPhone?

iPhone 4S iOS 5.1 usb hotspot is still working on my PC with iTunes 10.5.3.

You just wrote it was never connected...

???

And again, the hotspot has nothing to do with iTunes.

Mar 7, 2012 11:02 PM in response to Chris CA

Sorry for lacking details.


I have a Macbook Pro and a PC. I updated iTunes to 10.6 only on my mac, leaving my PC with 10.5.3 version. Before updating to 10.6 (on my mac), I can normally use Personal Hotspot "using USB cable" to connect to the internet. USB cable is still in a good condition, iPhone indicates its charging and appears in iTunes sidebar properly.


iTunes comes with driver for internet tethering via USB cable.


In any case, I can still connect to Personal Hotspot using Wi-Fi without any problem. Just curious if the update causes this weird situation.

Mar 8, 2012 5:37 AM in response to F_S_F

I've go the same problem.

updated my MBP 10.7.3 to iTunes 10.6 and iPhone 4S to iOS 5.1 yesterday. After that the USB personal hotspot isn't working (WLAN personal hotspot is working fine, USB cable and port is OK as well) any more (the USB personal hotspot worked fine before updating to 10.6 and 5.1).

I've reseted iPhone's network connection but with no result.

Anytime I turn the hotspot on or off, the iPhone 4S disappears for a few seconds of the Devices List on iTunes.


Are there any solutions/work-arounds out there?


THANKS, Markus

Mar 8, 2012 11:18 AM in response to maclucassen

I've talked to Apple this evenening, opened a case and tried to solve the problem - with no result

- deinstall iTunes 10.6 and install it again - no result

- reboot iPhone and reset network settings - no result

- delete of /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/Networkinterfaces.plist - no result

btw. personal hotspot via WLAN and Bluetooth is working but NOT via USB


I'll try to find out which part of software will cause the error iOS or iTunes, by using my old iPhone3GS with iOS 5.0.1 later this evening...


I'll keep you and Apple informed

Mar 9, 2012 2:10 AM in response to Nosce

Same problem for me. iPhone 3GS running iOS 5.1 with iTunes 10.6, and I'm no longer able to use Personal Hotspot (tethering) via USB, which worked fine last week with the previous versions (iOS 5.0.1 and iTunes 10.5.3). Bluetooth tethering is fine with iOS 5.1 and iTunes 10.6.


Some additional data points which I haven't seen mentioned yet:


1. I'm running Mac OS X 10.6.8, so the problem is not unique to iTunes 10.6 running on Lion.


2. I tried restarting my Mac, in case the driver installed by the iTunes update hadn't loaded correctly. It didn't help.


3. I tried my iPhone with another Mac (also Mac OS X 10.6.8) which was still running iTunes 10.5.3 and had never used an iPhone for tethering. On connection via USB, the Mac reported that it had found a new network interface. I went into System Preferences and did an "Apply" to confirm the change to network preferences, and ensured there were no other active network connections. iPhone was listed as a network interface, with a red status indicator, and the USB tethering connection didn't work.


Combined with evidence earlier in this thread, this strongly suggests the problem is with iOS 5.1 running on any iPhone model, and is independent of the iTunes and Mac OS X version. maclucassen's suggestion of testing tethering using an iPhone running iOS 5.0.1 with a Mac running iTunes 10.6 would be useful data for further confirmation that it is a bug in iOS 5.1.

Mar 9, 2012 4:19 AM in response to David Empson

I've initiated an incident yesterday (case # 296492883) and will perform a crosscheck with my iPhone 3GS (iOS 5.0.1) and iTunes 10.6 this evening.

I'll post my result ASAP so that we can isolate the error.


David's test cases points out that it's indepent of OSX's version and iTunes' version - so my suggestion is that's an iOS5.1 bug which has to be confirmed by my 3GS crosscheck this evening.


Give me a few hours and I'll post the result.

Mar 10, 2012 8:40 AM in response to maclucassen

Now I can confirm:


hotspot on an iPhone 3GS with an iOS 5.0.1 and with same Mac configuration (OS X 10.7.3 with iTunes 10.6) works fine - each type of personal hotspot is working as expected (incl. USB).

So my conclusion: it's a bug in iOS 5.1 - Apple fixit ASPA, please


For now I can only repeat michaelegray's workaround

"...

I can get my mac to connect to my iPhone 4s via wifi/bluetooth (while being powered by the USB port).

..."

Mar 11, 2012 3:59 AM in response to Nosce

Hello,


Got same problem here.


After some investigations, it seems that the culprit has been the update to iTunes 10.6 thru Software Update: I ended with a i386-only version of AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext, while my box is running with a 64 bits kernel.


I thus downloaded the iTunes 10.6 installer from Apple's site and could check that it comes with a ppc/i386/x86_64 version of that extension. Just installing the extension has been sufficient to immediately get USB tethering back.


I guess the cleanest way would be to just run the iTunes 10.6 installer.


HTH,

Axel

Mar 11, 2012 5:44 AM in response to Frederic Jacobs


Frederic Jacobs wrote:


Installing 10.6 using the installer doesn't fix it for me.



Hello Frederic,


Since I directly extracted the kext from the installer and put it in place by hand, I can't tell for sure whether my guess (run the installer) was a good idea or not...

On the other hand, the various posts in this thread could indicate that not everyone is in the same boat.


My AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext in /System/Library/Extensions hasn't been changed since 25 Mar 2011 10:06 so I don't believe this is the issue.


Mine too shows that modification date, even if the files/folders within it are from this year...


Some more info about the kext I fetched from iTunes' installer: 189 645 bytes, universal, version 2.3.0.

For the one I had after the update thru Software Update: 60892 bytes, intel, version 2.3.0.

And before the update: 124354 bytes, intel, version 2.2.0.


HTH,

Axel

How to fix iTunes 10.6 iPhone's USB Personal Hotspot problem

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