Phone won't connect to PC

[MattJames]

When I plug my HTC Hero (UK) into my laptop, it used to in the notifications bar offer me Mount SD Card (or something similar) and connect to HTC Sync. Now when I plug it in, all it does is charge the phone with neither of those things being offered. Can anyone tell me why my phone is doing this and how to rectify it? I don't want to do a hard reset as all my contacts are on my phone and sync, and if that doesnt solve the issue, then I wont be able to pull my contacts back onto the phone.

My PC also comes up with USB Device Not Recognised and says it is an unknown device. I'm not great with computers so I dont know if that's relevant or if it helps. Hope someone can help

 

[grainysand]

Go here to download the Android SDK.

Unzip. Go to the directory you unzipped, run setup.exe. The rest is self-explanatory; download the "usb driver package" usually listed at the bottom. Then go to device manager, right-click properties -> driver tab -> update drivers, and point it to the folder where the USB drivers downloaded to.

 

[MattJames]

Thank you! Is this a quite common problem then? I'll let you know how I get on

 

[MattJames]

Go here to download the Android SDK.

Unzip. Go to the directory you unzipped, run setup.exe. The rest is self-explanatory; download the "usb driver package" usually listed at the bottom. Then go to device manager, right-click properties -> driver tab -> update drivers, and point it to the folder where the USB drivers downloaded to.

ok I don't think it has worked, it comes up with " The best driver software for your device is already installed" but still won't give me any options in the notification bar for mounting or htc syncing?

 

[grainysand]

Have you tried enabling USB debugging? Not sure about Android 1.5, but it should be an option buried somewhere in settings.

 

[MattJames]

Have you tried enabling USB debugging? Not sure about Android 1.5, but it should be an option buried somewhere in settings.

yer I've turned that on and it doesn't do anything. It's just weird because the PC (Vista) definitely knows theres something there because it charges, just says "the device has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognise it."

 

[MattJames]

Turns out the phone has been water damaged somehow! How much will it cost to send it to HTC and for them to repair it?

 

[grainysand]

Might be quite a bit, since warranty doesn't cover water damage.

 

[MattJames]

are we talking

 

[grainysand]

Uhh, you'll have to contact your local HTC branch for that.

 

[MattJames]

 

[Jaffa]

 

[MattJames]

update: turns out my dad opened it up today and both the headphone socket and usb plug just had some dust in them or something.

 

[amnesia]

I have just had this EXACT same problem - I was using a 'generic' usb cable from work which caused the problem. Just reconnected with the proper HTC usb cable and it works perfectly... got the notification on the phone, and in Windoze.

 

[bluenova]

I have just had this EXACT same problem - I was using a 'generic' usb cable from work which caused the problem. Just reconnected with the proper HTC usb cable and it works perfectly... got the notification on the phone, and in Windoze.

HTC phones with ExtUSB are fully compatible with 'generic' miniUSB. It could have been a dud cable but did you by any chance stick the other (ExtUSB) cable in a different USB port? This very often sorts out USB connectivity issues on Windows because of the tacky way Windows handles drivers. By using another port you are forcing Windows to re-check the drivers.

 

[amnesia]

HTC phones with ExtUSB are fully compatible with 'generic' miniUSB. It could have been a dud cable but did you by any chance stick the other (ExtUSB) cable in a different USB port? This very often sorts out USB connectivity issues on Windows because of the tacky way Windows handles drivers. By using another port you are forcing Windows to re-check the drivers.

No it was a weird cable that has metal shielding around it. It works fine with my printer, but not my DSLR (or Hero, apparently).

Bizarre.