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Help Cant Connect To PC

ooberandy

Android Enthusiast
Feb 15, 2010
711
77
Hartlepool, UK
I have a rooted phone that I want to flash the 4.4.3 factory image on. However I can not connect my phone to any PC.

I have USB debugging on, have tried both MTP and PTP settings but nothing will connect. I have restarted my PC, I have restarted my phone - nothing works.

When I plug the phone into the PC it charges, but doesn't make any sound to say its connecting. It doesn't show up in windows device manager at all. I have tried this on my work PC (windows 7), other work PC's (windows 7) and home laptop (windows 8). This has been tried with the USB cable that came with the phone and 2 alternatives.

Is there any way I can flash a factory image without connecting my phone to the PC? I'm hoping that if I flash the factory image that as well as getting the 4.4.3 update, this issue may also pass.
 
Have you tried using ADB to push the update file to the phone? MTP mode has been a bit problematic for me as well with Windows. You might also try booting a laptop or PC to Linux using a live USB flash drive. My phone has NEVER had an issue connecting to any Linux distro.

Given enough time and coffee, we can walk you though anything. :D
 
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My PC has;

2 entries for Generic USB Hub
2 entries for Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller
2 entries for USB Root Hub

I'm guessing I dont need to uninstall the Intel drivers? Should I delete the others?

I've tried Wug's toolkit, parts one and two relate to unistalling the drivers related to phone once its plugged in - my phone doesn't show up. I've done part three as wug suggests, but this doesn't do anything.
 
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Have you tried using ADB to push the update file to the phone? MTP mode has been a bit problematic for me as well with Windows. You might also try booting a laptop or PC to Linux using a live USB flash drive. My phone has NEVER had an issue connecting to any Linux distro.

Given enough time and coffee, we can walk you though anything. :D

I've never tried ADB, not sure what it is either :D

The whole Linux thing sounds complicated also.

I'll explore ADB first, then if that doesn't work try to figure the Linux thing out :)
 
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First let's go over adb (Android Debug Bridge). ADB and fastboot are utilities that are part of the Android SDK. You *could* download the complete development kit to get them and for a long time that was the recommended method. But, let's be honest here ... most of us aren't developers and don't want to waste the time and bandwidth to install hundreds of MB of stuff we'll never use. The good news is you don't need the full SDK to use ADB, so the fine folks over at XDA have some minimal installs put together. This one is the one I've tried and successfully used with the N4 so go grab it.

I'd recommend installing it for all users, only because it makes the path easier. Install the generic drivers, too. Reboot your PC. It's probably not necessary, but you never know, especially since you've been having trouble connecting to your phone.

When that's done move the 4.4.3-update.zip file to the same folder that adb was installed to.

Now, make sure your phone had USB debugging enabled (menu>settings>developer options). And plug in your phone.

Click on the start menu on your PC and in the search field type "cmd". It should find cmd.exe. Right click on that and select run as administrator. You will get a command line prompt.

If you installed for all users, you simply need to type
Code:
 >cd C:\adb
to get to the correct folder. If you installed only for the current user it will be
Code:
 >cd C:\Users\[currentuser]\adb

Now type
Code:
adb devices

That will start the adb server and with any luck it will list a serial number followed by the word "Device". That means it sees our phone as connected and ready.

Here's the final part ... type
Code:
adb push [really ridiculously long name of the update file] /mnt/sdcard/

That's it. It will copy the update.zip file to the root of your sd card mount and you can disconnect and flash it using recovery. :D

Here's a hint for that long file name ... The update i downloaded is "61a9ce8d2c4154837905e93a2e00540b7ebad8ff.signed-occam-KTU84L-from-KOT49H.61a9ce8d.zip". at the prompt type adb push 61a9 and press the TAB key. It will complete the filename for you. :D then just finish with the rest of it. Make sure you include the spaces before and after the filename.

I'll post a little Linux live USB tutorial in a few minutes after I get more coffee. ;)
 
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Thanks Lunatic.

I've installed the file from the link, rebooted PC and ran the cmd (in cmd I get C:\Windows\system32> - does that make a difference?). adb is then ran, followed by adb devices. adb devices comes back with...

* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached

C:\Windows\system32>

So it doesn't display any devices, so I'm then unable to push the file over :(
 
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Thanks Lunatic.

I've installed the file from the link, rebooted PC and ran the cmd (in cmd I get C:\Windows\system32> - does that make a difference?). adb is then ran, followed by adb devices. adb devices comes back with...

* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached

C:\Windows\system32>

So it doesn't display any devices, so I'm then unable to push the file over :(

And you have USB debugging enabled? When you plug in your phone you should get a notification that says USB Debugging connected. (looks like four vertical bars - I guess that's supposed to look like the pins of a USB socket? :dontknow:)
 
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And you have USB debugging enabled? When you plug in your phone you should get a notification that says USB Debugging connected. (looks like four vertical bars - I guess that's supposed to look like the pins of a USB socket? :dontknow:)

Yes, USB debugging is enabled. No I dont get any notification, for USB debugging or anything else :thinking:
 
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Oh boy, here we go ...

Do the following in the following order, do not pass go, do not collect $200. ;)

  • Go to the start menu and right click on "Computer". Select "manage".
  • Click on device manager on the left and when your devices display near the top you should see Android Phone. Expland that list and whatever is listed, right-click and select uninstall making sure the box to delete the driver is checked.
  • Unplug your phone.
  • Turn off USB Debugging.
  • Reboot your PC. (wait for it to completely boot)
  • Reboot your phone.
  • Make sure USB debugging is disabled and that MTP mode is enabled.
  • Plug in your phone.

With any luck, MTP mode will now work and all this technical mumbo jumbo will be moot. (Don't you just love the word "moot"? :D)

Not to worry if it doesn't, though. Once the driver says it's successfully installed.

  • With the phone still plugged in, enable USB Debugging. You should see a warning prompt. Click OK.
  • NOW you should also get a prompt to authorize USB debugging on this PC. Check the always box and click OK.

Now, make sure you start the command prompt as administrator and that you change to the C:\adb> folder.

From there adb devices should list your serial number and say device.
 
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Oh boy, here we go ...

Do the following in the following order, do not pass go, do not collect $200. ;)

  • Go to the start menu and right click on "Computer". Select "manage".
  • Click on device manager on the left and when your devices display near the top you should see Android Phone. Expland that list and whatever is listed, right-click and select uninstall making sure the box to delete the driver is checked.


  • Unfortunately my phone doesn't display at all in device manager...

    Device%20Manager.jpg
 
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I'm not too hopeful that I can get a solution to this. I'm wondering if having it as a warranty issue with google would help my cause, as such what would I need to do to the phone to return it (lock bootloader, unroot etc)? Is it possible to do these steps without connecting the phone to the PC?

I haven't heard of any Nexus being refused warranty repair for being unlocked and rooted, regardless of what the warranty states. I mean, it's kind of what they are all about. I'm still a little hesitant to say there's something wrong with your phone from a hardware standpoint.

The phone is working fine under 4.4.2, other than not being able to connect via USB, correct? When you plug in your phone it pops up the USB Debugging connected notice, but doesn't mount on your PC, also correct? You have no problem charging it, correct again? If it were to be a hardware issue, it could be a faulty USB port where one of the pins has stopped making a connection, but I still think you have a driver conflict somewhere on your PC. That could also make the phone fail to mount for ADB.

Let me give you the Linux tutorial and see if this works.

linux_inside_tux.png


You will need four things.

1. A PC that can boot from a flash drive ... and knowing how to boot your PC from a flash drive. If your PC was made in the last 5 years you should be fine. To bring up the boot menu for a lot of PC's you hit F12 when you turn it on, but it depends on the manufacturer. It should say on the boot screen something like F2 for Setup, F12 to Select Boot Device.

2. A Flash drive. Depending on the distro, you will need 2 GB or more. And don't go cheap, some flash drives don't boot. Never had an issue with SanDisk.

3. A Linux Distro. I've tried a couple just to make sure they would work. At first I was going to recommend a minimal install like Puppy Linux, but that didn't see the phone, nor did a couple of other lightweight Linux distros so I went with the standards. Ubuntu and Mint worked and so did a utility called PartEd Magic. PartEd Magic costs $5 but it's a damn handy utility to have. Download the .iso images. I hope you have some bandwidth available. These are anywhere from 500MB to 1 GB. :eek:

4. A Utility to make the Live USB stick. I use Universal Live USB installer. When using this, I always set it to "Try unlisted Linux ISO" which simply means it bypasses trying to verify you have the correct version. It still works without the double-check. I also always format the USB drive first just to make sure there aren't any old hidden files lurking about that could cause problems.

Once you have your LiveUSB stick finished reboot your PC using the f12 menu (or whatever it is) and select the USB drive. It should be listed. Once you are booted, plug in the phone with debugging and MTP enabled. It should pop right up on Ubuntu or Mint and with PartEd Magic, you have to browse to it under USB drives.

If you get this far and the phone does mount under Linux, then it is definitely a Windows driver issue. If you get this far and the phone still fails to mount, then it might just be a bad USB port on the phone.

I'll be waiting with worms in my mouth (bated breath).
 
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