at my wits end with my Stratosphere

[Chriscw1948]

I've had it!  I have literally spent hours trying to remedy the problems I'm having with my phone.  I'm having the same problems that others have discussed since the "update".  I've done all the suggested things, including the hard reset, to no avail.  I went into a Verizon store and talked to a sales guy (the tech wasn't there).  He's the one who encouraged me to do the hard reset.  (That seems to be the cure-all for anything that goes wrong with a phone.) I don't think he knows any more than I do about fixing phone problems.  Also, he acted as if he didn't know anything about the "update" and the problems it has caused.  I can't believe this, judging by the complaints that I've seen on this site.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm sick and tired of messing with this phone.  I'm not a technician and not knowledgeable enough to know how to fix these problems.  Also, I'm too old to have to use my time trying to fix something that might not be fixable and that shouldn't have to be fixed in the first place.

Right at this moment, I'd have to say that my attention has been on trying to use the USB to transfer some photos and music in my computer  to my SD card in the phone.  I've tried using the USB cord. And, I took the SD card out of the phone and tried connecting it via a USB adapter.  However, I can't get the computer (Windows 7) to accept/recognize the phone or the phone to accept/recognize the computer.

So, now, what do I  do?  Should I keep messing around with this and hope that I can fix it?  Should I take the phone back to Verizon and insist that they replace it?  If I keep trying to fix the phone myself, what do I need to do to get the USB problem resolved?

I'd appreciate your feedback.

Thank you.

Chris   

[stef7]

Keep your wits Chris. We must not let this technology be our masters! One point before we get going, I'd have to defend the recommendation that following any major software update, even if it might result in some data loss, it's a good thing to do a factory data reset.

You might also want to run 1Tap Cache Cleaner (and clean caches and history) and Advanced Task Manager Free (and move any applications still in phone memory to the microSD card. Low memory conditions can always result in flakies that are often resolved by clearing some up. Also, a periodic, perhaps every 2nd or 3rd day rebooting the phone is a good thing to do.

Now then, never ever take your microSD card out of the phone to transfer content. These small cards and their connectors, even the USB readers you might use on a PC are simply not designed for many insert/remove cycles. Instead, use either the USB cable to drag and drop content, or use WiFi (SwiFTP from the market installed on the phone, and FileZilla installed on the PC). If you can't get the phone recognized with the USB cable, then if you have a WiFi router, using those programs is a very good alternate solution.

I have an idea about your phone not being recognized by the PC.

First download the USB driver for the phone onto the PC. It can be found here:

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/SCH-I405LKAVZW

Now I would completely reboot the PC (and without the phone plugged into it with the cable).

On your phone, verify it is set to establish a USB connection when attached to the PC.

The manual for your phone is here:

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201111/20111108051117412/Verizon_Wireless_I405_Stratosp...

Reference pg 90: looks like you want to go to Menu, Settings, USB Settings, USB Mode, Mass Storage Mode. Another page to look at is 133.

Now connect your phone. Do you get a USB icon in the notification tray at the top of the phone's screen? If so, you may wish to use your explorer to see the new drive created. On that drive, create a directory: Photos, and another Music. Copy and paste the files from your PC to these directories. If you have any Videos, create a directory called Videos. If any Ringtones, Alarms or Notifications files, create those sub-directories and move the content there.

Now power cycle your phone. This will allow the internal Media Scanner process to find the content you placed on your phone. You should now be able to use the Gallery to look at the photos. You should be able to use the default music player to find your music, but I highly recommend you download MixZing Basic as an alternative.

See how far you get with those suggestions.

Hope it helps.

[Chriscw1948]

Thank you for your reply.

I already had the USB driver for the phone on my computer.  But I redownloaded it anyway.  I rebooted without the USB cable attached.  I connected my phone via the cable.  I'm sorry to say that it still doesn't work.  The only time I can get the USB icon in the notification tray is if I choose "Charging only" from the USB mode window.

I also did another hard reset on my phone.  It didn't help.

Well, at least I can send and receive calls.  I guess I should be thankful for that.

I think that I'm going to go to a Verizon store and see if I can just get a new phone.

Thanks again.

Chris  

[lemew]

Does your computer recognize your sd card alone?  Is your Win 7 updated?  Are you running antivirus or security software?  You may be able to use your sd card in a card reader and transfer files and music in that manner.

[stef7]

Chris, this is going to sound strange. You know what the problem seems like to me?

Possibly a bad USB cable.

If you have another computer, or a friend's computer, with the phone in Mass Storage mode (don't load any drivers onto that PC), just see if that other computer recognizes the phone when it is plugged in with your cable. If not, I'd try using another USB cable on your Win7 computer.

It's also possible the device has a bad USB connector and needs to be serviced or replaced.

[Chriscw1948]

First, thank you to all of you who have replied to my post.

Wow, do I ever feel stupid!

I've been messing around with this problem again.  I noticed that the removable disk devices that I had previously seen listed in the computer window were not there.  So, I went online to find out how to get them back.  At the suggestion of a technician at a Microsoft/Windows site, I went to Device Manager, expanded Universal Serial Bus Controllers and uninstalled all of them that I could until my computer froze.  I shut off the computer, restarted it, and low and behold, the missing devices are listed in the computer window again.  I can now connect my phone via USB like it is supposed to do.

I'm sure there is an easier way of doing all of this.  But I don't know how.  Anyway, everything seems to be okay, at least for now.

The reason I'm telling this story, even though I feel stupid, is so that if there is anyway else who is as clueless as I am can maybe use my experience and remedy to solve the same or similar problem.

Thanks again.

Chris        

[stef7]

You should not feel stupid. Perhaps this might help another person. I was off base.

I know there have been posts by people I have read in the past on other websites that suggested that letting the OS of the PC re-install all the USB components sometimes has a positive outcome. Yours is another data point. I guess your PC has some conflict in resources amongst all the drivers installed on your computer for that hardware, and it sorted itself out once you "reset" it.

So all that matters is

1). You didn't give up and your technology met it's match

2). Its working fine now.

3) You shared information that might help another person.

Kudos!