Samsung Moment to MacBook USB Connection Problem Solved
Posted by Greg Bulmash in Answers, tags: android, mac, os x, osx, samsung, usbI posted about my difficulties connecting my Samsung Moment to my Mac laptop. If you want to, you can read those trials and tribulations.
If you just want the solution...
After looking for drivers, doing various experiments, and getting feedback from others with the same problem, I just hunted for any and all settings having to do with USB and one finally worked. It may not be perfect, but this seems to help.
Go into Settings -> Applications -> Development on your phone's main menu.
Turn on USB debugging ("Debug mode when USB is connected"). It will recognize that a USB connection now exists.
A widget will pop up on your Mac saying it's recognized a network device and will want to install the phone as a modem. Don't worry about it. It's a red herring. I never configured that, never connected that.
Go into "Notifications" from the phone's main menu and you'll see a notification under "Ongoing" that says "USB Connected (select to copy files to/from your computer)". Touch it.
You'll get a dialogue with the title "USB Connected" and the text "You have connected your phone to your computer via USB. Select 'Mount' if you want to copy files between your computer and your phone's SD card." It offers options of "Mount" and "Don't Mount". Touch "Mount".
A removeable drive will appear in Finder called "No Name". That's your Micro SD card and you can begin copying files. You'll need to unmount the card for applications on the phone to have access to it. I created a folder called "Music" in the DCIM folder, put a couple of MP3s in there and I'm listening to them now.
Don't know if this will work with Snow Leopard's built-in sync program or third party sync programs, but I'm happily able to move media back and forth which is HUGE for me.
UPDATE WITH SOME IMAGES
This is what the "main menu" looks like. When you're on the home screen and press your menu button/key, you'll get these options... Add, Wallpaper, Search, Notifications, Settings.
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Thank You. This worked for me.
You should tell the Double-Twist guys.
Actually, I used Double Twist to sync my iTunes mp3 playlists onto my Samsung Moment. I should drop them a note or at least check their forums to see if Moment users are in need of help.
Wow, thanks a million! It woks now! I just bought my Moment and I was considering returning it because it wouldn't sync with my MacBook. But, you just saved me a lot of time and heartbreak.
Thank you ... I do have the snow leopard and it kept asking for me to sign up with MobileMe which isn't free... all I had to do was close that window and restart my Moment and bingo bango, your method was perfect.... Thank you once again
Hey call me slow but when you say go into "notifications" where is this notifications on the phone? or the Mac? I am new to both electronical devices!
Notifications pop up in the top bar of the phone and you can access them by touching that top bar and pulling it down with your finger, or you can find it in the phone's main menu. When you're in your home/main screen, and hit menu, "Notifications" is one of the five options.
[...] « Samsung Moment to MacBook USB Connection Problem Solved Nov 10 2009 [...]
I was having the same problem and I have a PC and your advice worked...THANKS
Do you all know if there is the possibility of setting up group contacts for texting on the moment?
After a power cycle on the phone this worked! THANKS!!
I just got my samsung moment yesterday and tried to connect it to my mac,i have an older operating system on my desk top its version 10.4.11 and your advice hasnt worked so far.is there anything else i could possibly do or am i just ****ed?
@Thurobred, I don't know what to tell you. I had upgraded to Snow Leopard before I got my Moment. I've heard there's some drivers installed if you download and install the Android development SDK, but that might just be for Windows.
How old is your computer? I think there may be a minor issue with Mac's USB too. I have a machine with 10.5 and a machine with 10.6. Both see the phone in the system profiler. The Snow Leopard machine also gives me dialog for a network connection but no love from the phone.
Both of these machines are first-gen IntelMacs though and I have a sneaking suspicion that there's something funny with them due to that which makes them not work like more modern macs do. It's probably the phone's fault. It likely doesn't see a certain chipset or something, but it's very sad-making.
I have a microSD reader in my macbook so I can get around the problem but I'm not happy.
The other possibility of course is that there's a subset of Moment hardware which fails and some of us get lucky and others don't.
Thank you thank you! Saved me a headache.
you're amazing!!! thank you!! you just saved me soo much time and misery. but one question..how do you unmount? the manual says to click on the usb icon in the status bar but all that does is bring down the date. nothing happens. i tried unmounting the way i mounted and the option it gave me was Turn Off or Cancel. and in the text box it said: before turning off the USB storage device make sure you have unmounted on the USB host. does that mean just ejecting it from the mac?
Yup, you want to eject it on the Mac before unmounting it on the phone.
nevermind i think i answered my own question. i'm a dumbass. sorry.
I also have a iMac with Tiger 10.4.11 and everything works until I try to access the files on my Moment. My computer shows the files as being there (I just moved 3 mp3's and a small Mp4 vid) but I am unable to locate or use them on the phone.
Help would me much appreciated!
When the card is mounted for the computer, the phone doesn't have access to it. You have to eject the drive on your Mac, then unmount the card on your phone, and the files should become accessible to the apps on your phone.
how would I be able to back up my contacts from the phone? I don't see any files or folders in the NO NAME drive that correspond - thanks
The phone saves your contacts to internal memory. They wouldn't be on the card. Look for a tutorial on backing up contacts.
There also seems to be a free app or two for on-demand backup of contacts to your SD card. Search for "contacts" in the Android Marketplace app on your phone.
thank you!!!!!!
with all the things this phone and my computer can do, it should have been automatic. then again, too much faith is put into technology...
Worked on my Vista PC. As another commenter said, a power cycle may be in order. Also, debugging was already on in my settings, but I turned it off then powered down and back up and the computer found it. Seems like you need to toggle Debugging and then restart the phone to make it recognize the USB.
Am I the only one who is wondering why there is no software from sprint with this phone like the HTC?
Most of the software comes from the manufacturer, not the carrier. Samsung seems to have gone for a much more basic implementation of Android for this, but who knows what will happen when the 2.1 rollout happens in the first half of next year (sources are saying second quarter).
Thanks for the solution. It worked fine with Samsung Galaxy Spica with Snow Leopard. I almost thought I had to use a cardreader.
Hi!
Thanks for taking time posting this.
I still have a problem though, I turned on USB debugging, when I connect my "Moment" to my Macbook, it charges the phone via USB, but the laptop doesn't see/recognize the phone at all. Two of my friends have the same problem. Do I have to do any special setting on the Macbook? Do you have an idea what the problem could be? Thanks for your help in advance!
just figured it out after u turn on debugging restart you phone
its not working help
How do you sync your address book? Sprint is of no help!
I use gmail for contact management. It automatically syncs with the phone. The only problem is that you have to do a little bit of gymnastics to sync gmail contacts with Google calendar, and then it doesn't sync anniversaries or any secondary dates, just a contact's birthday.
You can also check out markspace.com for their Missing Sync program. They have a client available in the Android Marketplace and the two programs (one on your PC, one on your phone) help keep everything synced up. So far, it only does address book, but not calendar, tasks, or notes, and it doesn't back up texts, plus it's $39.95 and I don't know whether or not they'll charge for updates to the software as they add those features.
This work around worked for me last night, but now "no name" no longer appears when I connect my phone.
You need to mount the card each time when you connect the phone, and unmount it before you disconnect the phone. You should also eject the drive on the PC before unmounting. On occasion, if the phone's been on a while, it still might not recognize the USB connection and you'll need to reboot the phone.
THank you thank you. ive been trying to figure this out too
thank you so much im an iphone user myself but my brother is had just bought this phone and made my life harder but thank you for making me look smart lol the pressure was on me.
Did all the required settings and STILL no USB indicator on the phone or MAC. The problem: all micro USB cables are NOT created equal. The connection worked at the Sprint store yesterday with THEIR cable, but this morning using my USB, nothing. Drove to store, used theirs again and there is was: USB functioning. For what it is worth, don't go crazy, but take you laptop and phone with you to find the correct micro USB that will work.
Thank you for your comment, I was so frustrated to see that this was working for everyone else and not me, but it turned out to be the cord... THANKS!
THANK A BUNCH! Worked like a charm!
That was both awesome and simple! Now to use my phone as a modem without getting billed for it. Does anyone know how to tether a Moment to a Mac Book pro???
"Does anyone know how to tether a Moment to a Mac Book pro???" - As far as I know, PDAnet works.
Update: I'm sure PDAnet from http://www.junefabrics.com works. You need to download a client for your laptop and a client for your phone. It's a really easy set-up. There's a free 30-day trial. After the trial expires you need to buy a license. You do not need to hack your phone or get root on it. You download the phone client from the Android marketplace and it works fine on unmodded phones.
Thank you very much. It work for me.
This worked for me the first week I had the phone, but tonight I tried it again and I am getting neither a connection on the mac or a notification on the moment. Any suggestions?
Reboot your phone. Occasionally I can't get a connection and a reboot of the phone does the trick.
Want to add my thanks as well. I was pretty bummed about how incompatible the Moment was with my Mac, but your instructions have changed all that. Thank you as well to McPace who suggested powering the phone down because without doing that the usb connection was not found.
Thank you! I'm loving my phone that much more!
Just got the Moment and could not get it connected to my Mac. I was so irritated that I was going to return the phone. Your suggestion worked like a charm and saved my phone from being bounced off the floor. Thanks for your post. Your my hero!!
OMG!!! Thank you so much, I was ready to give up on my MAC and my Moment. Now it works!! I am excited. I was able to transfer all my music and pics!! Yay!
Thank you so much for sharing this man. It worked. Thanks again
Thanks, got it today, tried for like 5 mins to hook it up, googled and this popped up, worked right away, thanks for posting
is anyone able to get online on OSX 10.4 or higher with the supplied usb synch/charge cable?
yes...I have OSX 10.5.8 and it worked!
THANK YOU SO MUCH. you saved my life
I get to the point that I turn on the debugging but nothing pops up on my computer or onto the phone's notifications tab.
Any advice?
Thanks
hey, i just tried this but it doesnt work and i dont know what to do
i have to old tiger software, is there any thing else i could try?
TAHNKS. work fine for me. using snow leopard.....
i'm new this please help, Samsung Moment to windows USB internet Connection Problem. how do i get started?
USB Debugging works and everything is fine, but then when I mount it, the phone connects for 30 secs or less and then restarts and the memory card gets reformatted. What's the issue?
Thank you so much- my first day on summer vacation and I now have photos transferred to my macbook pro and the song I want set as my ringer on my phone!
Thanks very helpful with mounting the phone on the mac
Thanks, worked like a charm. I would have spent hours figuring this out on my own.
My iMac Version 10.5 won't bluetooth with my Moment? Data cable works but I'd rather bluetooth. It gives me a format error? Any suggestions
None whatsoever.
surprised it worked u need a oc not a mac for samsung moment
Worked a treat, thanks!