So I Bought This $10 Cell Phone Cable...

[SirJoey]

Picked up this $10 cable from WallyWorld today, to enable me to dump the pics on my cell phone to my computer. It's ALSO supposed to charge the phone from the USB port, which it does, but that's ALL it does. No possible way as far as I can see to make my computer recognize anything's even plugged in. Yeah, the phone charges, but I don't see any way to dump the pics. If all it does is charge the phone, I'm taking it back. The only reason I wanted it was to transfer these crappy, low-res pics to my computer.

I thought my computer would immediately recognize it as another USB device plugged in, same as any other, but no, it does nothing at all when I plug it in, even after unplugging & re-plugging.

Anyone else tried this? Any luck? Is there some trick to it maybe?

 

[dborla01]

hi joey. Darrell here. Wife says to pose question on google and say what computer you have and what phone. Darrell.  Mainly your phone and how to transfr pictures, joey.  What phone do you have, wife is asking.

 

[wesmagyar]

I am a computer tech by trade and could help ya out, i Would need to know the model of your phone as well as who your service provider is for cell service. It may not be possible to use your cell phone for internet just to forewarn you.

 

[SirJoey]

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Hi guys, thanx. Phone is LG800GHL. Went to LG's website <br />downloaded the driver, &amp; installed it. Still nothing.&nbsp;<br /><br />Computer is Toshiba, running Win 7.<br /><br />Incidentally, not trying to use phone for internet, although that works. I can email the pics to myself, no problem, but was hoping to avoid using my minutes for that. Would rather transfer them directly to computer.<br /><br />Provider is TracPhone. Thanx.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></span>

 

[wesmagyar]

<p>it could be that the USB cord does not have the correct connector in it for Data Transfer, It may only have the pins for transfering power, I Went to the LG Website and im not even finding the driver myself... which is odd seeing as you found it. but that model isnt listed under Tracfone or smartphone catagories. The computer model would have nothing to do with it however...</p><p>Does the phone have an SD Card? the other option is to get an adapter to read the SD card and transfer the pictures that way.</p>

 

[SirJoey]

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Wes, here's where I found the driver.&nbsp;It's the 4th one down:</strong></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;http://www.lgforum.com/resources<br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>On the package the cable came in, it says "Charges &amp; transfers data simultaneously. Backup email, upload photos, sync your calendars &amp; more."</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Sure sounds to me like it should do more than just charge the phone, LOL.&nbsp;</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>It takes &amp; stores pics, &amp; will accept a micro SD card, which I haven't purchased. It even has a headphone jack &amp; it's also supposed to be able to accept MP3s, but once again, I have no way of getting them on there, since this cable does nothing but charge the darn thing. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif" /><br /></strong><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;">And why that link doesn't work, I don't know...</span></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[wesmagyar]

Do you know if your windows is 32 bit or 64 bit? that matters for what driver to use, Also do you know if your phone is an Android phone or not?

 

[SirJoey]

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>64 bit, &amp; phone isn't an Android.<br /><br /><br /></strong></span>

 

[cedric]

I found this thread on google that might help.<br /><a href="http://www.net10forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5778&amp;t=85900"><br />http://www.net10forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5778&amp;t=85900</a>

 

[wesmagyar]

Ok, From what i can find right now it should work, However on the LG site the driver is not for your "Specific" phone. the Model number is similar but not identical, &nbsp;It would seem the easiest way to do the transfer is to use and SD Card and&nbsp;transfer&nbsp;them that way. &nbsp;a 4 Gig card would be your limit, They can be fairly cheap then you just need an SD card reader. you can find them for less then $5 on Ebay. &nbsp;<br /><br />

 

[SirJoey]

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Cedric, thanx, but that ended up being the same driver I had already tried &amp; uninstalled. I tried it anyway, just for the heck of it, but no luck.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Wes, that tiny little micro SD card looks like it'll be far too difficult to put in &amp; take out on a regular basis. Not worth the hassle, so I guess I just can't easily dump pics onto my computer, or use this thing as an MP3 player either. It's always like this for me. I should've known.&nbsp;</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>I'll just take the cable back. Thanx anyway.<br /><br /></strong></span><br /><br /><br />

 

[wesmagyar]

<p>Yeah this is a problem with the cheaper phones as they&nbsp;don't&nbsp;get the support that better phones do. Its kind of a you get what you pay for issue.</p><p>Also the cheaper Service Providers also like to cause these issues so you use as many of your minutes as possible. Sorry i&nbsp;couldn't&nbsp;help. if you ever decide to get a new phone hit me up and i might be able to help you choose a better phone.</p>

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

This probably isnt it, and is gonna sound really simple, but do you have another usb port to try it in?&nbsp; My laptop has 3 ports, and for some reason my phone will only be recognized by windows on 2 of the 3 of them. &nbsp; This happens to other devices as well and it seems to happen randomly which of the three recognizes which device&nbsp; <img src="/images/boards/smilies/redface.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">&nbsp; My handheld GPS would only be recognized on one of them.&nbsp; A pretty strange/illogical problem but hey whatever works.

 

[SirJoey]

Also the cheaper Service Providers also like to cause these issues so you use as many of your minutes as possible.

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Ya know, that very thought occurred to me, "<em>They just want me to smoke more minutes emailing my pictures to my computer&nbsp;</em>", but then I thought, "<em>No, that's just my typical skepticism showing again</em>." Now I'm not so sure.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Worse yet is the fact that one of the key features they're bragging about, the MP3 player, is totally unusable if U can't get the thing to work through a cable to the computer. They SHOULD say "<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Inaccessible</span>&nbsp;MP3 Player!"&nbsp;</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>I think I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt, &amp; buy that small, 4gb micro SD card, just to see if that alone will make any difference, but if my computer still won't recognize it, I'm not gonna buy a card reader too, just so I can try to insert &amp; remove that tiny SD card each time. It just looks to be too much hassle.<br /><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>DG, that's worth a shot. Sounds strange, but weird, inexplicable stuff like that seems to be the NORM for me, so hey, wot the heck...</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>On the plus side, in a totally unrelated note, toolbars &amp; smilies are working again, &amp; I can edit once again, finally. YAY! <br />I thought they were gone for good this time. Thanx, Katie, or whoever fixed it!&nbsp;<img src="/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" /><br /><br /><br /></strong></span>

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I did have a previous go phone that wouldnt allow anything to be transferred except whats downloaded from them thru the browser or sent out via mms (multimedia text).&nbsp; Well in this area, mms wasnt available from them <img src="/images/boards/smilies/rofl.gif" />&nbsp; It made the camera useless on the phone.&nbsp; Online research showed me that the phone was capable of transferring but they specifically disabled it in the prepaid OS software so you'd have to use minutes.&nbsp; I switched phones after i found that out ( i think they sold the company to one of the major guys since then and they allow it now).&nbsp; I hate predatory business practices like that <img src="/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif" />

 

[offroad]

Sirjoey - the SD card will work and is the best solution.&nbsp;

 

[SirJoey]

I hate predatory business practices like that&nbsp;<img src="/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif" />

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Yeah, me too, &amp; I would've done exactly wot U did! Change companies, &amp; I'd tell 'em why!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></span><br />

Sirjoey - the SD card will work and is the best solution.&nbsp;

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>You mean it'll work the way it's SUPPOSED to, with a CABLE, <br />&amp; without having to use a card reader &amp; all that? (I hope, I hope...)<br /><br /></strong></span>

 

[wesmagyar]

odds are the sd card wont make a difference as far as the cable goes.

 

[offroad]

Sd card will work to put pictures on. &nbsp;You will need an Sd card reader on your computer to get the pictures off the card.&nbsp;<br /><br />Your cable solution is always the most problem prone. Drivers all seem to be poorly written.&nbsp;

 

[SirJoey]

<br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Well crap, that figures. Nothing ever seems to work the way they tell U it will.&nbsp;Oh well, <br />I'll give it a try, but if that's </strong></span><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>the case, I'll take BOTH, the cable AND the SD card back.<br /><br /></strong></span>