strange problem mounting Droid to Windows 7 laptop

[jmt9779]

This could be a long post so here's the gist of it: my new laptop running Windows 7 doesn't want to mount my Droid when my external harddrive is connected.

I tried a couple different tests using my Droid, my external harddrive, and a thumbdrive to try to isolate one of the devices as being screwy, but...

- When I mount the droid FIRST and then connect my external harddrive, the computer will automatically unmount the droid when the external harddrive is connected. If I connect the external harddrive first and THEN try to mount the droid, the droid just won't mount.

- When I mount the droid FIRST and then connect my thumbdrive, everything works fine. If I connect the thumbdrive first and THEN try to mount the droid, everything works fine then too.

- When I connect the external harddrive and the thumbdrive to the laptop at the same time, I get no problems here either.

(NOTE: All of this mounting is done via USB but I get this problem when I try to mount via bluetooth too... The computer will pair and connect with the droid via bluetooth, but when I try to use Windows Explorer to browse the files on the droid, it pops up on the laptop with "service not available".)

It seems that my external harddrive seems to have something personal against my Droid...But I never had this problem on my old laptop (which ran Windows Vista).

I know this is a strange one... Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks all!

 

[Papadroid]

Have you tried going into disk management when both your external hard drive and droid are connected?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[csoga]

My first guess would be that Win7 is mounting both the Droid and the external HD with the same drive letter. Plug each in, separately, then go to Explorer or (My) Computer and take note of the drive letter designation. If they are the same, then do as Papadroid said... go to Disk Manager and give one or the other a different drive letter, unplug, reboot, then try them both at the same time again.

 

[jmt9779]

I think I remember them as being different letters but I'll have to wait until I get home tonight to check it out. I really hope it's something that simple. Thanks guys!

 

[Arcolog2]

I think it's a windows 7 issue. I had my droid mounted to my laptop and connected a USB mouse. It disconnected the Droid.

I think there might be an issue with the USB drivers that windows 7 is using. Not entirely sure though.

 

[jmt9779]

I think it's a windows 7 issue. I had my droid mounted to my laptop and connected a USB mouse. It disconnected the Droid.

I think there might be an issue with the USB drivers that windows 7 is using. Not entirely sure though.

Thanks for posting this! I just tried assigning separate drive letters but it didn't help. The Droid still got booted.

Oh well. Thankfully it's not a major thing, just annoying.

 

[csoga]

I think it's a windows 7 issue. I had my droid mounted to my laptop and connected a USB mouse. It disconnected the Droid.

I think there might be an issue with the USB drivers that windows 7 is using. Not entirely sure though.

Well now, that's really disappointing... I was thinking about (finally) upgrading my Vista Ultimate to Win7, but not if I can't have 5-6 other USB things plugged in, and still get to my Droid SD!

 

[Dark Jedi]

I think it's a windows 7 issue. I had my droid mounted to my laptop and connected a USB mouse. It disconnected the Droid.

I think there might be an issue with the USB drivers that windows 7 is using. Not entirely sure though.

Weird I can mount my Droid to my laptop with my wireless USB mouse and both Co exist with no problems. Running win 7.

To op. Are you running one of those USB hubs where you can hook many things to one USB port?

 

[potatolover1102]

Yes thanks to this wonderful bug issue I could not fix my droid after nearly ruining it trying to root since I could not put any files on the sd card and needless to say my first form day one droid is going back and they are sending me a new one but still it ruined my day and made me want to throw my laptop out the window!!!!

 

[Arcolog2]

Well now, that's really disappointing... I was thinking about (finally) upgrading my Vista Ultimate to Win7, but not if I can't have 5-6 other USB things plugged in, and still get to my Droid SD!

If you're running Vista anything, I would change to Windows 7 in a heart beat.

The droid still works, you just have to "re-mount" it after connecting other devices via USB. When windows connects other devices the droid just drops the mount and requires it to be remounted.

I can use the USB mouse with the droid. Only have issues connecting things AFTER the droid is mounted. You're USB mouse sounds connected prior to Droid.

 

[jmt9779]

To op. Are you running one of those USB hubs where you can hook many things to one USB port?

Yes. But I did try connect all of my externals straight into the USB ports on my laptop to make sure it wasn't the hub. Same deal.

(Oh, and I forgot to mention that I have no problems with my USB mouse being plugged in at the same time as any external storage devices. It's just my external harddrive causing problems with my Droid. Nothing else...No printer issues, no mouse issues, no any-other-peripheral issues.)

But I found a solution! I downloaded an app in the market called "Websharing" (It's $2.99 but WELL worth it). It allows you to connect/mount your Droid via WiFi. (Which, personally, I think is extremely badass even if you don't have the "windows 7 mounting problem".) And if you use the "WebDAV" option in the app, it works exactly like if you were mounting using a USB cable (meaning: you don't have to use the web-based interface on your PC.) What the app does is not really "mount" your Droid via WiFi; It just allows you to easily map the Droid as a network drive with two finger taps on your phone (after the initial setup which takes about 60 seconds)... One to open the app and one to tap "start" and then your Droid is live in "My Computer".

I know some of you guys don't think you should have to pay for functionality that you should have right out of the box - and I pretty much agree - but for $2.99, I got my solution AND a cool new feature. (I've been looking for an easy way to get my Droid on my home WiFi for a while now.) I'm happy with it but I'll still keep an eye on this thread for a while with the rest of y'all...

Good luck, guys!

 

[jmt9779]

The droid still works, you just have to "re-mount" it after connecting other devices via USB. When windows connects other devices the droid just drops the mount and requires it to be remounted.

This didn't work for me. No matter how many times I'd try to tap "mount", it would keep unmounting itself.

 

[CyberPitz]

Windows 7 here. I have a mouse and keyboard USB plugged in. No external hard drives. The only issue I run into is Windows trying to format my SD Card. I tell it no every time. One time I accidentally hit yes and it gave me the BSoD. Good times.

 

[jmt9779]

Just wanted to update this thread for people who might search for it in the future...

Froyo seems to have fixed this issue for me. I now have no problem mounting my phone to a Windows 7 computer.