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Help SD vs Gnex Built-in 32MB

jefboyardee

jefboyardee

Extreme Android User
The first of ninety-six questions about the Nexus I just got...

I was led to believe that the built-in 32GB storage took the place of and did the same job as the SD card in my Optimus. But when I plug it into my PC, it forces me to make a choice: connect as Media device (MTP) or as Camera (PTP). Tried both but neither way pops a new virtual drive on my PC, like my SD did faithfully.

Hopefully I
 
It should show up in your drives list as Galaxy Nexus with file access the same as an SD card. If it doesn't then it's just a matter of installing the right driver.
 
It should show up in your drives list as Galaxy Nexus with file access the same as an SD card. If it doesn't then it's just a matter of installing the right driver.
Click to expand...

That’s what I thought, but no luck. In the user manual, I even found what I thought must be the solution, but it doesn’t work either:
​

Share your phone's data connection via USB
​
​
If your computer is running Windows 7, Mac OS X, or a recent distribution of some flavors of Linux (such
as Ubuntu), you can follow these instructions without any special preparation.
If you're running a version of Windows that precedes Windows 7, or some other operating system, you
may need to prepare your computer to establish a network connection via USB.​
Connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable.
A USB icon appears at the top of the screen, and the notification ​
​

Connected as a media device or
​
Connected as a camera ​

​

appears briefly at the top of the screen. For the purposes of tethering, the
type of connection doesn't matter.
​
​

​

Go to Settings > Wireless & networks > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
​
​

​

Check USB tethering.
Your computer is now sharing your device's data connection.
​
​
Eventually, I found that I seem to need an RNDIS diriver, and googling that has got me nothing but the usual spam. Unless one of you has the magic link, I’m about ready give up...
 
If your running Windows XP, make sure you have the latest version of Windows Media Player. By latest, I mean WMP 11, which came out in 2005-6, but whatever. It adds the drivers for MTP (however, as I learned recently, those will NOT work if you have USB debugging enabled on the device). Vista, 7 and 8 should have them built in already.

Also, download the official CDMA Galaxy Nexus drivers from Samsung's website.
Support - Sprint Cell Phones SPH-L700 | Samsung Cell Phones

It should include the RNDIS, MTP, ADB and FASTBOOT drivers.

Make sure you have MTP enabled on the device, and you should be good to go.

**NOTE** MTP is NOT the same as Mass Storage mode (which SD cards use)! MTP is more of a file transfer protocol, like FTP. You can manage folders, add and remove data, but that's it. Your computer does not have access to the raw file system like it does in mass storage mode. So file recovery programs and many programs that are not MTP aware will NOT work with it.
 
WMP says I’m current for my XP, v10, dead end.

The Samsung site tempted me with
Downloads
Device(Install),USB Drive (Software) - Nov 9, 2012

So I clicked See All Downloads and got
User Manual (User Manual) (ver.1.0)

The Gnex guide says with tethering on, it doesn’t matter which USB mode I choose. But since I still ain’t found the hated driver. But I appreciate your help...
 
I actually found it, chose SPH-L700, and it thought really hard. Then it displayed the same page, offering the user manual and nothing else.

Somewhere along the line, I listened to WMP nagging that it has a driver. I let it install, but the notification bar says LAN 15, limited or no conectivity. And now that icon doesn’t even show, even though I’ve set it to always show.

So, going over the limits of my brain, I bridged it with LAN 1394, even though I have no idea what bridging does or what 1394 is. The sick icon came back and changed to healthy, but the virtual drive still hasn’t appeared.

So I feel like progress was made, and I couldn’t get this far without your help, but I’m actually no further than where I started. At least it feels like this can be done now.
 
Then I rebooted (again), unbridged all that, and LAN 15 says all is well... but there’s STILL no drive showing... way over my head now.

Fwiw, it says:

Physical Address: 56-3D-97-51-15-ED
IP Address: 169.254.220.212
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway:
DNS Server:
WINS Server:
 
If the WMP trick isn't working install PDAnet on your PC. They are the most reliable drivers. When the GNEX first came out there were all sorts of issues with samsung's drivers. Many people who wanted to root back then had to use PDAnet's drivers to get connected.

PdaNet+ -- Internet Sharing for Android

Once you've got PDAnet installed and your phone can connect to your PC, you can uninstall PDAnet and the drivers will remain and function.
 
Tim K said:
If the WMP trick isn't working install PDAnet on your PC. They are the most reliable drivers. When the GNEX first came out there were all sorts of issues with samsung's drivers. Many people who wanted to root back then had to use PDAnet's drivers to get connected.

PdaNet+ -- Internet Sharing for Android

Once you've got PDAnet installed and your phone can connect to your PC, you can uninstall PDAnet and the drivers will remain and function.
Click to expand...

Yes, and the Samsung drivers still have issues on Windows XP to this date. Generally the rule of thumb is to use the PDAnet drivers on XP, and the Samsung drivers on Vista and higher. This is for the ADB drivers at least, not sure about the MTP drivers.
 
I appreciate all your helpful suggestions, but this one didn’t do nuthin either. I’m just glad I have Goback, so I can try stuff like this and then go back in time to before I tried it. I’ve had to run it about four times since UPS delivered this beast.

I’ve spent over twelve hours trying to get a Gnex to share its files with my PC, something an Optimus does out of the box. I’m certainly not implying that the Optimus is a better phone, but everything it has, albeit not much of it, worked perfectly.

I’ve pretty much reached that deal-killer point where I take the Gnex and its wrappings and doodads, along with my Optimus, to the store and say this ten-year customer wants you to undo this transaction and turn my Optimus back on.

One more now-pointless question: Old phone has 2.2.2 with Apps > Development > USB Debugging and Stay Awake. New phone with 4.2.1 has, as far as I can tell, none of that. Are they hiding or just gone?
 
jefboyardee said:
I appreciate all your helpful suggestions, but this one didn’t do nuthin either. I’m just glad I have Goback, so I can try stuff like this and then go back in time to before I tried it. I’ve had to run it about four times since UPS delivered this beast.

I’ve spent over twelve hours trying to get a Gnex to share its files with my PC, something an Optimus does out of the box. I’m certainly not implying that the Optimus is a better phone, but everything it has, albeit not much of it, worked perfectly.

I’ve pretty much reached that deal-killer point where I take the Gnex and its wrappings and doodads, along with my Optimus, to the store and say this ten-year customer wants you to undo this transaction and turn my Optimus back on.

One more now-pointless question: Old phone has 2.2.2 with Apps > Development > USB Debugging and Stay Awake. New phone with 4.2.1 has, as far as I can tell, none of that. Are they hiding or just gone?
Click to expand...

They are hidden by default if your running 4.2.1. You go to Settings > About Phone/Tablet > Then tap Build Number 7 times (a countdown will appear if you do it right). Then developer options will appear.

Also, I'm going to post a mirror to the Samsung drivers. If you haven't returned it already (which is a darn shame if you did). If they weren't there under software on the web page, something is either up with Samsungs site or your browser. They are definitely there for me, since I just downloaded them now.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/14575796/programfiles/Samsung_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones_v1.5.14.0.exe

If that doesn't work, your PC is making damn well sure that you can't possibly connect up to your GNexus. ;)
 
After taking it twice to the next-nearest Sprint store, specializes in repairs, then once to the one a half mile away, specializes in the biz , the Gnex has been disconnected and my eensy Optimus reconnected.

It was hard to believe I was doing that, but after giving the Gnex three strikes, it was out. I spent twenty-fours trying to get this ultramodern showpiece to perform some of the most mundane tricks my ancient Optimus could do right out of the box. It couldn’t and I gave up. Still have it because neither store wanted to deal with that mess, so I have to call corporate or email them... cute, huh.

Thanks all again for trying to help me through this and sorry about wasting your (and my) time...
 
jefboyardee said:
After taking it twice to the next-nearest Sprint store, specializes in repairs, then once to the one a half mile away, specializes in the biz , the Gnex has been disconnected and my eensy Optimus reconnected.

It was hard to believe I was doing that, but after giving the Gnex three strikes, it was out. I spent twenty-fours trying to get this ultramodern showpiece to perform some of the most mundane tricks my ancient Optimus could do right out of the box. It couldn
Click to expand...
 
jefboyardee said:
After taking it twice to the next-nearest Sprint store, specializes in repairs, then once to the one a half mile away, specificallycally izes in the biz , the Gnex has been disconnected and my eensy Optimus reconnected.

It was hard to believe I was doing that, but after giving the Gnex three strikes, it was out. I spent twenty-fours trying to get this ultramodern showpiece to perform some of the most mundane tricks my ancient Optimus could do right out of the box. It couldn’t and I gave up. Still have it because neither store wanted to deal with that mess, so I have to call corporate or email them... cute, huh.

Thanks all again for trying to help me through this and sorry about wasting your (and my) time...
Click to expand...

I'm going to be completely fair here, this was by no means a problem with the phone. It was a problem on your computer's side with setting up drivers. If your phone was being detected in Windows, it was holding up its end, since there is nothing more it can do. You had way more issues than anyone realistically should, which probably didn't leave a good taste in your mouth.

I'm just saying. It's not fair to say it's the phones fault when it had absolutely nothing to do with the problem. It was entirely on the PCs and drivers.
 
Demache said:
I'm going to be completely fair here, this was by no means a problem with the phone. It was a problem on your computer's side with setting up drivers. If your phone was being detected in Windows, it was holding up its end, since there is nothing more it can do. You had way more issues than anyone realistically should, which probably didn't leave a good taste in your mouth.

I'm just saying. It's not fair to say it's the phones fault when it had absolutely nothing to do with the problem. It was entirely on the PCs and drivers.
Click to expand...

Most modern android devices that run 4.0 or higher now use mtp for data transfer instead of the old usb host mode. So no matter which phone you eventually update to, you will likely run into a similar situation. My recommendation would have been to wipe the computer of any android drivers, and try to reinstall the samsung drivers from scratch, possibly configure them manually if need be.
 
jhawkkw said:
Most modern android devices that run 4.0 or higher now use mtp for data transfer instead of the old usb host mode. So no matter which phone you eventually update to, you will likely run into a similar situation. My recommendation would have been to wipe the computer of any android drivers, and try to reinstall the samsung drivers from scratch, possibly configure them manually if need be.
Click to expand...

It might be quite possible that Windows is setting up the wrong drivers. I encountered this on my N7, where it was setting up the MTP interface as ADB but reported it as "working correctly". I had to fix it manually. Windows is not at all good at figuring this stuff out by itself, even in 7 and 8. XP is just horrid about it.
 
Demache said:
It might be quite possible that Windows is setting up the wrong drivers. I encountered this on my N7, where it was setting up the MTP interface as ADB but reported it as "working correctly". I had to fix it manually. Windows is not at all good at figuring this stuff out by itself, even in 7 and 8. XP is just horrid about it.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience setting up my drivers. They really are a royal pain sometimes. XP definitely seems to always be the biggest thorn though.
 
Demache said:
It was a problem on your computer's side with setting up drivers.
Click to expand...

You said it pretty well there. And you could that the freakin thing is eight years old. Seems like the less spare money one has, the less they appreciate progress. (not) Funny to see it outpacing me.
 
jefboyardee said:
You said it pretty well there. And you could that the freakin thing is eight years old. Seems like the less spare money one has, the less they appreciate progress. (not) Funny to see it outpacing me.
Click to expand...

This the part where I should be ashamed that I use a ten year old Dell Optiplex. Regularly. Granted, I have a modern Intel i5 system, but it's in my dorm room, so I use this one at home. These GX 270s are remarkably capable if you give them some RAM. Like 3 GB worth.
 
plug in your phone via usb and launch windows update. windows will show optional hardware updates, if i recall correctly. worked for me on windows xp and windows 7. when on xp, none of the other tricks worked, but windows update did it.
 
If you still have the phone and want to give it one more shot, you could try installing Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit. You don't have to root your phone (but its fun if you do and this thing makes it easy), but the first steps are to install the correct drivers, which the toolkit walks you through, so maybe that would help.

If you already sent it back, sorry it didn't work out. I also have Windows XP and had some trouble at first with getting it to properly connect, so I know how you feel. There's also wifi transfer apps (I used wifi file explorer pro) which is also helpful when you're trying to transfer to someone else's computer (or a Mac) but they can be slow with big files.

jefboyardee said:
After taking it twice to the next-nearest Sprint store, specializes in repairs, then once to the one a half mile away, specializes in the biz , the Gnex has been disconnected and my eensy Optimus reconnected.

It was hard to believe I was doing that, but after giving the Gnex three strikes, it was out. I spent twenty-fours trying to get this ultramodern showpiece to perform some of the most mundane tricks my ancient Optimus could do right out of the box. It couldn
Click to expand...
 
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