iPhone USB Tethering suddenly stopped working on OS X Lion

Question

Level 1

1 points

iPhone USB Tethering suddenly stopped working on OS X Lion

Yesterday, I updated the iPhone configuration utility to v 3.5 and I was using the internet via iPhone USB tethering, as soon as the update finished, my iPhone USB tethering stopped working and its not working any more. I am on OS X Lion 10.7.3 using iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.

Now I figured out that running the OS in 32 bit lets me do USB tethering, but in 64 bit the iPhone USB Network Service shows on the right:

"Either the cable for iPhone USB is not plugged in or the device is not responding."

I've tried everything with keeping iTunes running, reinstalling iTunes, re-installing iPhone configuration Utility, but nothing seems to work! I guess the main culprit here is the new iPhone Configuration Utility v 3.5. It is so annoying to see such things breaking existing functionalities. It has nothing to do with my Phone, because it works on my other Macbook Pro which I did not update and on my friends Snow Leopard.

Anyone has any ideas how to fix this problem? Any help would be appreciated a lot!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), iPhone 4S v 5.1

Posted on Mar 16, 2012 2:03 AM

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Answer 1

nealaus

Level 1

0 points

Mar 17, 2012 2:37 PM in response to zahidmaqbool

I have got the same problem too but only alternative is to use wifi tethering which is still working with 5.1 until we get new update i guess.

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Answer 2

Mar 17, 2012 3:21 PM in response to zahidmaqbool

Similar problem here with Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

USB Tethering is no longer working for me. I wasn't sure if it was iOS 5.1 or something on the Mac, as it's a while since I've used Tethering, but plugging the phone into a PC running Windows XP has shown that its not the phone or iOS 5.1 - Tethering is working fine on the PC.

I was getting a similar message that the device is not plugged in or responding, I deleted the network device but when I went to add it back in there is no iPhone USB device listed, only Ethernet, Firewire, and Airport.

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Answer 3

Mar 19, 2012 11:56 PM in response to DBMandrake

Same for me but using 10.7.3 MBP ... same issue for both iPh 3Gs and 4s,,yet to try on another Mac or PC

Interesting the wifi and BT personal hotspots both work OK but no USB...and seems no way to add USB back again after removing it.

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Answer 4

zahidmaqbool Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 20, 2012 12:28 AM in response to DBMandrake

Did this suddenly happened to you or you updated something? For me it started as soon as the iPhone configuration utility was updated.

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Answer 5

Mar 20, 2012 1:04 AM in response to zahidmaqbool

seemed to coinside with update to iOS5.1 hadnt touched iPhone config in many months...forgot it was even there..that said maybe update updated it and i just didnt notice as there were a few osx updates done around the same time

Message was edited by: zwizardofoz Update seems iPh confi did get updated in an os x software update on the 9th March .... Hmmm Hope apple fix this ASAP

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Answer 6

Mar 21, 2012 3:54 PM in response to zwizardofoz

I am seeing the exact same problem on my MBP (10.7.3) and iPhone 4GS.

Wifi and BT tethering works just fine but the USB tethering simply doesn't work.

iTunes is able to see my iPhone but tethering doesn't work.

If you look in the iPhone Config Utility logs for the iPhone there are all kinds of errors about "No MEID in CT mobile equipment info dictionary".

This must be an iOS update bug...

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Answer 7

zahidmaqbool Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 21, 2012 10:36 PM in response to breakerfall

MEID is for CDMA, so you don't need to worry, unless you are on a CDMA network.

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Answer 8

zahidmaqbool Author

Level 1

1 points

Mar 29, 2012 11:45 AM in response to DBMandrake

The solution is :

1. Delete iPhone configuration utility. Just drop it to the trash
2. Run

sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.iPhoneConfigurationUtility.*

rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoneConfigurationUtility.plist*

3. Delete the whole folder: /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext

4. Reinstall iTunes (just over the previous one)

5. Restart

incase of any issues, visit this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3725328?start=15&tstart=0

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Answer 9

mokuso

Level 1

0 points

Apr 4, 2012 8:50 PM in response to zahidmaqbool

This solved the same problem for me. Thanks!

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Answer 10

adib1

Level 1

8 points

Apr 11, 2012 3:36 AM in response to zahidmaqbool

Yep, this worked. Need to remove the .kext before reinstall.

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Answer 11

May 17, 2012 5:53 AM in response to adib1

Since upgrating to IOS 5.1.1 on my iPhone4...

- USB-only tethering works fine on my MacBook Air (10.7.3)

- USB-only tethering DOES NOT work on my MacBook Pro (10.6.8)

- WiFi tethering works on both

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Answer 12

Chris45

Level 1

4 points

May 31, 2012 4:39 AM in response to zahidmaqbool

Thanks so much zahidmaqbool for this solution and also for the link to the other discussion.

For me, the solution by DopeyDupe at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3725328?start=30&tstart=0 worked just fine and it does not require deleting anything or reinstalling iTunes.

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Answer 13

Jun 21, 2012 2:55 PM in response to zahidmaqbool

Hi All,

Just updated to iTunes 10.6.3, It resolved my issue.

Thank You,

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Answer 14

Jul 9, 2012 5:40 PM in response to zahidmaqbool

Used this method and worked but my Bluetooth tethering is still not working. The phone pairs with the computer (10.6.8 on MacBook Pro) but the message is "computer name not supported" when trying to connect the device... any ideas?

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Answer 15

Jul 19, 2012 12:43 PM in response to zahidmaqbool

Did the trick! Thank you!

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