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USB device not recognised message

kiredoryor

kiredoryor

Newbie
I can no longer link my phone to my laptop as always get the message "USB device not recognised" so am now unable to synchronise contacts etc or download any photos.

I've tried different cables but without success.

Would be grateful for advice.
 
Did anything change on either the phone or computer before this started? Any information you can give might help.

I'm guessing this is Windows from the message, which always makes me think "check the drivers are up to date". But I've never used a Samsung with Windows (actually never connect any phone to Windows) so we may need someone else to give better suggestions.
 
Make sure you are doing what Hadron suggested and make sure all the drivers are up to date.

If you can get your hands on a new cord even once, give it a try. I had this issue and every cord I used did not work. Luckily, I had just bought my mom a phone and used her cable and it worked.

Also, have you tried a different computer/laptop?
 
Hadron said:
Did anything change on either the phone or computer before this started? Any information you can give might help.

I'm guessing this is Windows from the message, which always makes me think "check the drivers are up to date". But I've never used a Samsung with Windows (actually never connect any phone to Windows) so we may need someone else to give better suggestions.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion.
The only change that I'm aware of was one of the frequent Android updates on the phone otherwise everything the same.
It is indeed Windows 10. I'm not quite sure how to check if drivers are up to date. I went into Device Manager > portables > samsung and it showed the driver date as 2016, clicked update drivers and it said I'd got the correct driver for my device - or words to that effect.
 
tube517 said:
Make sure you are doing what Hadron suggested and make sure all the drivers are up to date.

If you can get your hands on a new cord even once, give it a try. I had this issue and every cord I used did not work. Luckily, I had just bought my mom a phone and used her cable and it worked.

Also, have you tried a different computer/laptop?
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I have tried several different cords and none of therm work. I haven't tried a different laptop but will give that a try when I can get my hands on one (I live in quite a remote place!)
 
svim said:
Try installing Samsung's Smart Switch onto your PC. Along with adding interactivity functions it will update the necessary Samsung driver if necessary.
https://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/
Also, if you're plugging your S6 into a USB hub, try plugging it directly into one of your PC's USB ports.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I do already have Smart Switch installed but as the laptop doesn't recognise the phone I don't get as far as using Smart Switch.
Incidentally when I did use Smart Switch I didn't find it anywhere near as good as the older Samsung Keys which happily synchronised everything on the phone very sucessfully with the laptop. Smart Switch seems to be much more limited.
The phone is plugged directly into the laptop rather than through a hub.
 
Still cannot connect to this or any other Laptop or PC
Does this mean that I've lost all my photos and cannot sync all my nerw contacts etc with my Laptop?
 
kiredoryor said:
Still cannot connect to this or any other Laptop or PC
Does this mean that I've lost all my photos and cannot sync all my nerw contacts etc with my Laptop?
Click to expand...

Other than connecting with a USB cable, the phone works, right? There are plenty of ways to save your files without the need of a cable.
 
kiredoryor said:
Still cannot connect to this or any other Laptop or PC
Does this mean that I've lost all my photos and cannot sync all my nerw contacts etc with my Laptop?
Click to expand...
So something that could be quite involved or could be a simple fix is preventing your phone to mount properly, the issue being literally millions of people can do this without a problem. It's also much more difficult to determine just what it is going on because of the multiple, convoluted issues involved doing so through an online help forum.
The most basic thing to try is just restart both your laptop and your phone and see if the problem still exists. If you're still having a problem, it might be time to just go a local service center as it's always much easier to solve a problem when it's right in front of you.
 
lunatic59 said:
You can enable syncing with your Google account, copy them to Google Drive or get Drop Box. Or, for local transfers you could try Airdroid.
Click to expand...
Yes, everything else seems to be working OK on the phone. I've had this specific problem now for about 5 months and have just sent a few photos via WhatsApp but now need to access some for work. I have around 3,200 contacts most of which are on both but now rather desperately need updating.
I do have Dropbox on my phone but don't know how to save the 2000+ photos and 200+ videos onto it - I've tried selecting all and then individually but I can't find a "Save As", "Move" or Copy and Paste option in Gallery. There is "Share" but when I click on that I get the message "Your S6 is currently visible to nearby devices. Wi-Fi direct must be on both devices to connect Available Device : Fire TV Stick".
There don't seem to be any other choices.

I have no idea at all how to synchronise contacts, calendar etc using Dropbox. My contacts on my phone are Samsung contacts on my Laptop are on Outlook
 
Unforgiven said:
Under drop box settings turn on "Camera Uploads" and it will automatically sync all of your photos.
Click to expand...
Thank you.
Have done that and clearly something is happening as my laptop is beeping about every 2 mins to notify me as each photo is added.
(I live in a rural area to which British Telecom show no interest in supplying broadband so access it via a wireless system beamed via church steeples etc. Even with devine intervention it is slow so I guess this will go on for several days - but, at least they will be there!)

I noticed the option to Sync contacts in the settings so guess that partially answers my question about contacts? Not sure how I then sync contacts I've got onto Dropbox with my Outlook ones - hopefully without ending up with double the number of contacts! I shall check the Sync Contacts box after the photos have finished copying over.
 
Outlook contacts should sync with your exchange server and google contacts should sync with gmail as long as you have sync enabled. Easiest way to check is to log into each account on a PC and see if your contacts are there. If so, there's no need to do anything further with the phone.
 
The issue you are having could be a hardware issue. Specifically, your USB port may be failed or failing. Usually when this occurs, it is because the effects of pressure from inserting and removing USB devices from the USB port have weakened the soldered connections and they may have developed small cracks leading to very high resistance and therefore very little capacity to carry current if any at all.

To check this, unless you have electronic equipment to do this, you would likely need to take your phone to a local phone repair center and ask them to do a simple USB port test on your USB port. It should be around $20.00 or less. Some will do it at no charge. It will check the D+ and D- lines of your USB port plus ground and +12v and the USB OTG connection if applicable.

Depending on which phone you have, replacing or repairing a USB port can range from $50 up to over $100
DIY USB port repairs have a high chance of resulting in completely destroyed USB ports and sometimes the entire phone because of the precision required.
 
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