Samsung Galaxy 5S won't talk to computer

SquareLeft

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I just bought my first smartphone a couple of weeks ago. (I'm an old guy and this was a MAJOR step for me.) On the advice of friends, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 Active.

I'm slowly learning the ins and outs, but one thing is driving me nuts... I can't get the phone to download photos to my computer via the USB cable. This is apparently a fairly common problem with the Galaxy series. I've been to Samsung's 'help' pages on their website, checked a couple of dozen YouTube videos and talked to friends, but to no avail.

The problem seems to be that the computer won't recognize the phone. At first it gave me a funky error message - until I finally got the latest drivers downloaded to the computer (an older HP desktop running Windows 7 Home). Now the error message has gone away, but the computer either doesn't recognize the phone at all or thinks that it's a USB storage device.

Has anyone else on here been through this?

Thanks in advance!
SL
 
Yes, Samsung is a steaming pile of shit and I am sad I couldn't tell you that before you bought that.
Anyway, you have a couple of options:

- Upload those pictures to your Google Drive (everyone that has a GMail account has a Google Account and therefore has a Google Drive) or Dropbox or any other cloud service from you phone and download from there using your laptop. When I had a Samsung, that was usually faster and easier than dealing with the USB connection issues.

- Bluetooth. It's slow but could be useful as a last resort.

What version of Android is it running?
 
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Does the phone tell you that it is hooked to the computer at all?

What version of Android is it running? If it is running a recent edition, you might simply have to tell it that you want to transfer files. You do this by pulling down the menu from the main screen (hold finger at top of screen and pull down). It should then tell you that it is charging(USB Charging), press that button to open a menu for more options, one being file transfer.

Here is a video that shows how to do it. The important bit is at 1:20 ish.



By the way, I did not look for the most annoying video, they were all bad. :?
 
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I just bought my first smartphone a couple of weeks ago. (I'm an old guy and this was a MAJOR step for me.) On the advice of friends, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 Active.

I'm slowly learning the ins and outs, but one thing is driving me nuts... I can't get the phone to download photos to my computer via the USB cable. This is apparently a fairly common problem with the Galaxy series. I've been to Samsung's 'help' pages on their website, checked a couple of dozen YouTube videos and talked to friends, but to no avail.

The problem seems to be that the computer won't recognize the phone. At first it gave me a funky error message - until I finally got the latest drivers downloaded to the computer (an older HP desktop running Windows 7 Home). Now the error message has gone away, but the computer either doesn't recognize the phone at all or thinks that it's a USB storage device.

Has anyone else on here been through this?

Thanks in advance!
SL

Is there a notification that says something like "USB for charging" ? Tap it and set it to MTP or media transfer protocol.
 
Anyway, you have a couple of options:

- Upload those pictures to your Google Drive (everyone that has a GMail account has a Google Account and therefore has a Google Drive) or Dropbox or any other cloud service from you phone and download from there using your laptop. When I had a Samsung, that was usually faster and easier than dealing with the USB connection issues.

Well, that's certainly an easy solution! I had never checked out Drive before. It's easy to use - even for an old guy who doesn't like most of the tech that's available today!! USB cord will now probably just stay hooked up to the charger...


What version of Android is it running?

5.1.1 - although I have absolutely no idea of what one version has in relation to another. :rolleyes:


Is there a notification that says something like "USB for charging" ? Tap it and set it to MTP or media transfer protocol.

I saw references to the MTP 'switch' in a couple of the YouTube videos, but I was never able to find access to it.

****

Also, thanks to GRtak for the video. :)
If I get some spare time, I'll try that and see if I can get connected. For now, though, Google Drive looks to be the best way to move photos.

SL
 
Well, that's certainly an easy solution! I had never checked out Drive before. It's easy to use - even for an old guy who doesn't like most of the tech that's available today!! USB cord will now probably just stay hooked up to the charger...




5.1.1 - although I have absolutely no idea of what one version has in relation to another. :rolleyes:




I saw references to the MTP 'switch' in a couple of the YouTube videos, but I was never able to find access to it.

****

Also, thanks to GRtak for the video. :)
If I get some spare time, I'll try that and see if I can get connected. For now, though, Google Drive looks to be the best way to move photos.

SL

:thumbsup:

I asked because the palce where you set MTP, PTP, etc changes according to the Android version you are using.
If I remember correctly, on 5.1.1, you find that on Setting>USB and storage and there you can choose the behavior when plugged in.
 
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