iPhone not recognized by computer.

ok, i started this thread in the Mods forum, but my problem appears to be more associated with my PC or iTunes, so i consolidated the information, and reposted here... i don't mean to spam the board with my problems...

so anyway, here's my problem (I'm using XP home edition SP2, btw). itunes does not recognize my iPhone while it is connected to my computer. It charges, but iTunes does not autostart, and if i open iTunes, the phone does not appear.

Things i have tried:
-I restored my phone (had been running a few mods) - no luck
-tried every usb port on my computer (3 of them) - no luck
-went to the apple store and it was recognized on two of their iMacs AND their windows PC without a problem. I even tried this with my own cable to check if it was bad - no luck
-Reinstalled latest iTunes - still, no luck

Also, someone has already recommended installing an older version of iTunes... but where can i get one of these? Also, if this is the solution, i don't want to get stuck using an out-of-date version.

Anyway, are there any more suggestions out there?

Thanks for any help.

EDIT:

after stumbling upon some key info at the Apple support forum, i was able to fix my problem. if anyone finds this thread in the future, here is how i did it:

1) open "run" from the start menu, and run "services.msc".
2)find "Apple Mobile Device".
3)In the "status" column it will tell you if the process is started or not, and the "startup type" column will tell you if the process will start automatically when windows starts. I think the goal here is to set the status to "started" and the startup type to "automatic".
4)To do this right click on this process, and then click on "Properties"
5) In the "general" tab find the "startup type" drop-down arrow menu and make sure "automatic" is selected. Select it if it is not.
6) Also in the general tab check the "service status". If it does not say "started" then click the start button.
7) at the bottom of the properties window click "apply"
That did it for me, and i hope it helps someone else out!

I followed these instructions, but they didn't work for me. I continued to google search the problem, and came across a fix that worked for me. My problem was the phone WAS detected by iTunes, but would NOT show up in Windows Explorer (so I could manually transfer photos from phone to computer). The solution was simple. I went to device manager, and it showed an error on Portable Devices/Apple iPhone. Doubled clicked the device, clicked "Driver" tab, then clicked "Uninstall" (to uninstall the driver). Disconnected phone, reconnected, computer then searched for device driver, found them automatically, installed them automatically, and the problem was solved.

iPhone Woes

I had the same problem.

My iPhone suddenly stopped getting recognized or charged on connecting with my PC and netbook. It was getting charged thru' the charger connected to the same cable.

I tried-
1. Blowing off dust from the connecting cable ends.
2. Checking whether iTunes recognizes it. No.
3. Uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes ( same version) which is anyways an older version and everything else Bonjour, etc..
4. Doing all the jugglery with Device Manager > Services > Seeing whether Apple Mobile Device is started which it was already.

Nothing worked.

I then tried connecting my iPhone with an old iPod connector and VIOLA it is recognized and charging.

Worth a try.

Seems like everyone has a different version of this same problem. I was having troubles getting my iphone to synch. Windows explorer was not seeing my iphone but itunes was. Ended up uninstalling itunes and all apple software. Reinstalled itunes and associated software and now itunes does not see my iphone, but windows explorer sees it as a "apple iphone", not "Bills Iphone". Itunes does not see it. I installed mediamonkey and it does not see my phone either. I cant restore or setup as a new iphone, since itunes does not see it.

Apple mobile device is running and in auto...

Any suggestions appreciated

USBAAPL.sys is bundled to iTunes . When you installed, it is automatically put
USBAAPL.sys driver in your computer.
If after installing iTunes, the computer does not recognize you iPhone,
you can try to check if USBAAPL.sys is present in C:\Windows\system32\drivers .
If you could not find it there try download USBAAPL.SYS driver here : http://fileml.com/0h4Gs
(The servers hosting the file is down from time to time, if it´s down choose another download mirror)
If that link is not working try one of the mirror links below:
http://jafiles.net/0h4Gs
http://fileups.net/0h4Gs

If you have USBAAPL.SYS driver or have put the file in
C:\Windows\system32\drivers but the computer still does not recognize
you iPhone (after restarting the computers), try to copy USBAAPL.SYS into
C:\windows\inf folder and try again.

If it STILL does not work, try this last step (this step worked for me)
Note: This driver is used by iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, iPod shuffle (3rd generation and later), iPod nano (3rd generation and later), and iPod classic. If you have an earlier model iPod, this set of steps does not apply.
1. Disconnect the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from the computer.
2. Take a photo with the iPhone. For iPod touch or iPad, save a screenshot by pressing the Home button and Wake/Sleep buttons and letting go. The screen should flash briefly. (Taking screenshots and saving images on iPod touch requires software version 2.0 or later.)
3. Open the Device Manager in Windows, as follows:
Windows XP: Click Start > Run. In the resulting dialog type devmgmt.msc and press Return on the keyboard.
Windows Vista or Windows 7: Click Start. In the dialog, type devmgmt.msc and press Return on the keyboard. If Windows needs your permission to continue, click "Continue".
4. Expand the sections labeled as follows. Not all sections may be listed:
* Imaging Devices
* Other Devices
* Portable Devices
* Universal Serial Bus Controllers
5. Re-connect your iphone
6. Look for the entry that recognizes the device as a camera. This entry should be called Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, or Apple iPod for the iPod touch.
7. Right click the device and select properties, then driver, then update driver.
Taadaa! Windows should now detect an iphone device and install the correct drivers.
Hope this helped.