Galaxy S4 downloading pictures-UPDATE

BarneyS wrote:
Thank you to all that attempted to help. I think wa8yxm came closest to the reason and the solution to the problem

Thank you.. I have an S-III and had the same problem


I also posted a simpler work around.. This works best if the phone is hooked to the park Wi-FI for the first part

Samsung android phones come with Dropbox already installed if I'm not mistaken, if not you can get it from the play store (Google)

Drop box is a photo sharing/file storage site.. They have a PUBLIC folder set up where you can post photos then post links to them (One below) but they also have private folders.. one of which as I recall is called camera uploads, another is called Photos.

By default the S-Line will upload to Camera uploads when you take a picture (I had to disable that feature)

Set up your drop box. Upload the photos to DB,, Then put the dropbox program or app on your computer and haul em down to the hard drive.

Here is the photo link Shows you how it works, you may download I suspect.. But I know I can.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/110692047/South%20Cove%2012-20-2013%20AM.jpg

BarneyS wrote:
I went to Best Buy today and the Samsung representative there took about 20 minutes to find out why a computer will not see my S4 as a drive. It always came up as a modem, just as it did on my two computers.

It seems that a program I have on the phone, PdaNet includes a program called FoxFi, which loads itself whether I want it to or not. I use that program to get online when we are camping out in the woods, which we do frequently, and do not have any WiFi. The program lets me use my phone as a hotspot without paying the exorbitant fee that Verizon charges to do so. I only use it for my own computer and only when we are away from home and no WiFi is available.

Since I do not want to get rid of the program it looks like I am destined to use the work around that I mentioned earlier. That is ok with me as the only time I will download pictures from the phone is when I am at home with my own WiFi going.

Thank you to all that attempted to help. I think wa8yxm came closest to the reason and the solution to the problem. The reason his solution did not work was because FoxFi kept turning itself back on automatically as long as a USB cord was plugged in. Even after turning it off, it came right back on. Weird!

Thanks again to everybody for attempting to help. :)
Barney

Go root your phone, and install SuperSu and Titanium Backup Pro, and you can go into Titanium Backup Pro and "Freeze" your FoxFi app or your PDANet app temporarily to allow your computer to recognize your phone while downloading photos. After you are finished downloading photos, go back in to Titanium Backup Pro, and "Unfreeze" the Foxfi app, and it will work again as usual.

I went to Best Buy today and the Samsung representative there took about 20 minutes to find out why a computer will not see my S4 as a drive. It always came up as a modem, just as it did on my two computers.

It seems that a program I have on the phone, PdaNet includes a program called FoxFi, which loads itself whether I want it to or not. I use that program to get online when we are camping out in the woods, which we do frequently, and do not have any WiFi. The program lets me use my phone as a hotspot without paying the exorbitant fee that Verizon charges to do so. I only use it for my own computer and only when we are away from home and no WiFi is available.

Since I do not want to get rid of the program it looks like I am destined to use the work around that I mentioned earlier. That is ok with me as the only time I will download pictures from the phone is when I am at home with my own WiFi going.

Thank you to all that attempted to help. I think wa8yxm came closest to the reason and the solution to the problem. The reason his solution did not work was because FoxFi kept turning itself back on automatically as long as a USB cord was plugged in. Even after turning it off, it came right back on. Weird!

Thanks again to everybody for attempting to help. :)
Barney

MrWizard wrote:
yes..
but Bill might be right
airdroid speaks of using the web and web browser
transferring even when device is NOT nearby
in that case airdroid is using cellular data

If the phone & computer are on the same WiFi network it won't. I believe that remote connection mode (using AirDroid servers on the Internet as an intermediary) is only supported in the paid version and entails a monthly charge.

The free version shouldn't have any issue with data usage.

yes..
but Bill might be right
airdroid speaks of using the web and web browser
transferring even when device is NOT nearby
in that case airdroid is using cellular data

There are a number of Android apps that allow you to transfer files between your smartphone and PC using WiFi. It doesn't require transfer over the internet, just over the local network.

Watch out! It's very likely that you are still doing the transfer via the internet and that's going to eat up all of your data allowance.

wa8yxm wrote:
The problem is the S-Whatever can connect as a Media device or as a modem.

IF you have the modem drivers loaded on your computer, it may put you in "Modem" mode first, then getting back to Media mode is .. a pita.. It can be done but its a pita

Deleting the modem drivers fixes it,,, Device manager,, Hardware, Find it in Ports I think (May be network connections) and delete it.

Then unplug and plug back in, Computer will want to re-install modem drivers, Stop it from doing that.

Yes, I did that. Still no dice. Thank you for your efforts though!

1492,
I have a feeling my USB cable is ok as the phone charges fine and my computer sees the phone as a modem device.

I have found a temporary workaround however. On the Android forums they mentioned a neat program called Airdroid. I installed it on both my laptop and phone and can now see all the files and pictures and do with them as I please. It allows me to do things on the phone via the computer. It acts as though the two are connected via a USB but without the cord. It really works well. Still going to see the guy at Best Buy though. :)
Barney

The problem is the S-Whatever can connect as a Media device or as a modem.

IF you have the modem drivers loaded on your computer, it may put you in "Modem" mode first, then getting back to Media mode is .. a pita.. It can be done but its a pita

Deleting the modem drivers fixes it,,, Device manager,, Hardware, Find it in Ports I think (May be network connections) and delete it.

Then unplug and plug back in, Computer will want to re-install modem drivers, Stop it from doing that.

That's not a good sign? Could be an issue with the Samsung Galaxy micro USB port or the cable. Hopefully, just the cable? Let us know what you find?