First-time User having trouble connecting to PC

**lyciansarpedon** · 08-30-2010, 12:17 AM

Hey all,

After a year and a half of suffering with a Blackberry 8320 (OS would keep corrupting every month, requiring a wipe and reinstall), I finally got myself an Android phone this afternoon in the form of the Samsung Captivate.

I'm currently taking my baby steps (please bear with me in the next few days as I probably post many stupid questions), so please assume I know nothing.

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how to connect my phone to my PC running Windows 7 64-bit. When I plugged in the USB, nothing happened. I went and installed Samsung Kies, and set the USB settings on my phone for "Samsung Kies", and then plugged it in, but still nothing. Hunted down and installed what I assume to be drivers for the phone on the Samsung website, and tried again, but still nothing. I tried all the other modes under USB settings, but nothing is showing up anywhere (with the exception of two phantom "Removable Storage" drives on Mass Storage mode). I even switched my homescreen back to Touchwiz (was using LauncherPro), but no dice. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, and I'd really appreciate it if someone would point it out to me.

I mean, this thing is practically a computer in and of itself, but I'd like to be able to put some videos files on there to use the full potential of that beautiful screen...

Thanks!

**Wakefulpanda** · 08-30-2010, 01:39 AM

I'm beyond an expert but let me try to help. Make sure you have "Mass Storage" selected in your settings. After you plug in your USB cable pull down your notification bar on your phone and select the USB notification then select "Mount". Your notification bar on your phone is the black bar that runs across the top of your home screens and you can physically pull it down. This is where you will see the USB notification.

That should work for you. I know sometimes it can be a little picky. If it doesn't work try it again.

Also here is a link to the USB drivers (which you already have but just in case): (click software)
I downloaded them but I'm not sure if you will need to or not. I never tested it without installing the drivers.

Any other questions just ask I'm sure someone here will know.

**valueman** · 08-30-2010, 06:43 AM

Also, check your cable. Several have had connection problems because of the cable they were using.

**jperiod** · 08-30-2010, 11:37 AM

Also, on mine I have USB debugging selected and it works fine (32Bit)

**TheBronze** · 08-30-2010, 01:28 PM

WakefulPanda has it. You have to drag the notification down and tell it to mount. Personally, I find this completely idiotic, as when you put it in mass storage mode, you obviously want to browse it as mass storage, so why have to tell it twice?

**lyciansarpedon** · 08-30-2010, 03:35 PM

Thanks a ton!

I did as Wakefulpanda said, and the device and the SD card showed up as removable drives when I checked My Computer.

So, if I were to put a video file on there, I would put it in a folder on the SD card? Is there any way to put it on the device's hard drive?

**Wakefulpanda** · 08-30-2010, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by lyciansarpedon

Thanks a ton!

I did as Wakefulpanda said, and the device and the SD card showed up as removable drives when I checked My Computer.

So, if I were to put a video file on there, I would put it in a folder on the SD card? Is there any way to put it on the device's hard drive?

I believe you can only put files on the internal or external SD cards. One is about 13gigs and the other is your external SD card (I have a 2 gig one) so I can put video files on either of those two cards.

**lyciansarpedon** · 08-30-2010, 05:17 PM

So I should just create a folder in the internal SD card, say "video" under the "media" folder already there, and transfer the file there?

**Wakefulpanda** · 08-30-2010, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by lyciansarpedon

So I should just create a folder in the internal SD card, say "video" under the "media" folder already there, and transfer the file there?

Yep you can call it whatever you want and put it wherever you want on that card. I have one called video and I put movies in it so I can watch them at work.

**cyraxx** · 08-31-2010, 01:30 PM

I'm having a somewhat similar problem as the OP. I have my USB Setting set to "Mass Storage". When I connect it to my PC via the USB port, I get a notification on my phone, but there is no way for me to hit "mount". All it has available to me in the Notifications pulldown is "Turn off USB storage - select to turn off USB storage". This doesn't seem to be much of a problem because my internal and external SD cards show up as removable storage in My Computer.

However, when I try to connect my phone to the computer with USB Debugging on it does not show up in My Computer, and there is no way for me to "safely remove hardware." I'm trying to get the Sideloading Wonder Machine working, but it seems like my comp isn't recognizing my phone with Debugging on. I have the Samsung Drivers installed. The only thing I can think of is in the SWM it says to have your USB connection set to "charge only"...how do I do that? Does anyone know what I can do to fix my problem?