Something weird has happened when connecting to my PC

[ladypatricia]

Hi, new here, so hope I am in the right place.

I am in the UK and have a Galaxy Note 3 'phone. All has been ok until now. Connected as usual to computer to transfer some pictures and I could not see my Samsung as an external device. Finally found that it had (or maybe I had) renamed the device from Samsung to my name? However, there was nothing to be seen when trying to open the folder/file. All was empty, and it was just, well, different if you get what I mean.

I have, to my knowledge changed nothing on either the phone or PC. I am using the supplied cable as always. when I used to plug in, I used to get a message on the PC (windows 8.1) asking what I wanted to do, but not now. I used to select to show files etc in explorer, and haved checked on PC for default settings and these have not changed.

I have some recent photos on the 'phone which I would like to transfer to PC as soon as possible and this is really beginning to annoy me - not how I had intended to spend an entire Sunday!

I am not very tech savy and need everything explained in very simple terms (silver surfer) so please be gentle with me!

 

[anon8380037]

Hello. Welcome to Android Central.

You've come to the right place, it's just unfortunate you chose a time when I am on.

You write and explain very well, but I still have a little difficulty understanding what you are seeing.
Someone else will pick this up and may see more clearly.
I use a Windows 7 pc with a Note 3, and am on your time zone so no need to respond until a time or day when you are ready. I will be online for a while.

I will take it you don't use Samsung Kies on your pc, many don't.

The Auto Play pop up doesn't show any more, you say.
Is the new name, your name, showing in General - About Device - Device Name?

Something you may have noticed previously when you plug the USB in to the pc is a usb message on the notification bar, where if you pull down the shade you can choose between MTP and PTP (media transfer and photos transfer protocol - I don't know why they do this* ok maybe I do now*). If that's not showing it's possibly the phone.
There are some very good people on the Note 3 forum, the best, so you will be in good hands and you shouldn't lose any photos.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[anon8380037]

Meanwhile if there are photos you are worried about, you can email each to yourself or save to a cloud account you have set up, like Dropbox or Cloud, by opening the photo and touching to see the share symbol or Dropbox symbol on top. "Share" will give you loads of options.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ladypatricia]

Thanks for your very helpful reply and welcome.

Have checked on Notification area and I am connected as a Media device, so assume that means phone is OK.

The name showing on the computer is the name on the device so, so far, so good.

When I connect the usb lead to the computer, it 'beep' and 'flashes' as usual, but nothing in the way of options appear as they used to. The name of the phone just appears in a list under 'this computer', not even in the list of external drives as it used to, in windows explorer. When I right click it just says file is empty and that is as far as I can go..

I have been away from home for just over a week and only turned the computer back on this (Sunday) morning and no-one has had access to the computer during my absence so I assume nothing has changed there.

So I look forward to hopefully getting to the bottom of this much later on today after a good nights' sleep.

 

[ladypatricia]

Oh My (where is the red face smily)!!!

Have just read on the internet, will not connect/open if I have screen lock activated - duh
I recently added a personal message on a lock screen showing my 'phone number in case it was ever lost.

So simply when you know how, but you would think that a small message stating this fact would perhaps not go amiss when talking about using the lock screen facility?

Many thanks to all who have read and either been able to help or scratched their heads like me!

 

[anon8380037]

Oh My (where is the red face smily)!!!

Have just read on the internet, will not connect/open if I have screen lock activated - duh
I recently added a personal message on a lock screen showing my 'phone number in case it was ever lost.

So simply when you know how, but you would think that a small message stating this fact would perhaps not go amiss when talking about using the lock screen facility?

Many thanks to all who have read and either been able to help or scratched their heads like me!

Good to hear. I don't lock mine. You and I are probably the few who drag directly via usb. Other routes give a warning that it is locked.

I would recommend Google's Android Device Manager - www.google.com/android/devicemanager or www.Android.com/devicemanager

 

[othisdongx]

opening the photo and touching to see the share symbol or Dropbox symbol on top. "Share" will give you loads of options.

 

[anon8380037]

opening the photo and touching to see the share symbol or Dropbox symbol on top. "Share" will give you loads of options.

Good to know.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=3822677
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Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk Pro