Question a51 just stopped showing photos

[corvairbob]

it seems today my a51 samsung phone just stopped showing on the file explorer. it showed yesterday. i plugged the phone into 2 pcs one running win10 and one running win11. the phone has the usb options in the developer section set to transferring images as it has for ever. i tried mdi and usb tethering and transferring files and no change. does anyone have an idea where i might look? i have tried 2 cables also. i have the magnetic type cables but that never stopped the pc from seeing the phone before. i also restarted the pc and the phone and no change. i did some updates yesterday so maybe windows changed something that i did not see. thanks.

 

[corvairbob]

one thing i just noticed is the developer options do not keep the usb settings that i pick. i have transferring images and if i restart the phone the usb configuration seems to now loose the settings. so maybe someone can help me figure this out. i sure do not want to go thru a phone reset that takes me half a day to get sll my apps and all my cameras back into the phone.

 

[corvairbob]

ok i think i figured this out the wifes phone connects so i must have an issue with the a51 usb port. i ran diagnostics from the phone and the usb keep failing. i plugged in the factory cable and still nothing. so if i can't find out what i going on it may be a bad phone. if it is a bad phone what i a good phone to get that metro pcs gives out now? i may try to do a reset if i can do one that keeps all my data and just resets the phone or of someone knows what app i may be able to try reinstalling for the phone and usb issues? thanks.

 

[corvairbob]

ok updated news on this a51 phone. this morning when i took the phone off the overnight charge it had 100% charge. then i took it to the pc and crossed my fingers and nope nothing. so i had to try.

anyway the pc did not see it but i did notice the camera says it is charging but the % is dropping. it is now down to 38% and falling. so that is telling me the usb board is failing. it kind of looks like it is trying to send info to the pa and the pc can't charge while it is connected because of that issue.

so i ebayed the usb board the sm-s515dl board and got one now in the mail. i go the back off and ready for the install. it should be easy enough i have worked on phone before changed out lots of parts and mother boards. so when i get the board next week and installed i will let you all know if that fixed it. it is worth a 10$ try. if not i will ebay another phone.

on a side note along this issue the wife tried to tell me she could go to a metro store and upgrade her phone for free and get me and ge me a free phone with the same numbers. i said not unless she upgrades her plan from 25$ to 40$ and then she has to take a new number and i lose my free number. and i bet i will not get another free number. i was correct so she may be ebaying a new phone also i have a nokia x100 but i'm not a fan of them anymore.

 

[corvairbob]

ok i had a thread going about my a51 just stopped connection to the pc. i did some testing and research and it sure looking like the usb board failed. so i got a new board and installed it and it is still not working. so it kind of looks like the phone may be just failing. it actually shows that is is charging when plugged into the pc but it discharges. before the new board and still after the new board. so it looks like it is time for another phone. what might be a good phone to look for? used and i will search ebay for one.

i can charge it on a charger but on 2 pcs it will discharge. one win10 one win11 when i plug it in and have device manager open the usb section does not do a thing so it is just not sending out any usb info for the pc to pick up. the other phones i have will cause the device manager to close and open so i know the pc is working. also i have tried 3 cords on both usb boards.

so any ideas on a good phone? i guess another a51 but maybe there is a better one now thanks.

 

[corvairbob]

i have a thread going on this a51 that all of a sudden stopped connecting to any pc with any cord. i did a reset from the samsung accounts page but that did not work. so i got a new usb board and installed the but it did not work.

so by any chance would doing a reset from the back pages maybe do better? also i'm wondering if i was to get the firmware and just redo the firmware it that may help?

something went wrong all by itself. i found a website that has firmware, this site https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-S515DL and if anyone thinks this may resolve the connection to any pc then i can download it and see if that may resolve the issue. but because it fails to connect to any pc would going to the back pages be the way to have the phone see the pc good enough to do a firmware update or restore? i don't remember how to get to the back pages but i'm leaning on pressing off and volume up together or the off and the vol down together. this may be a long shot and not even be worth trying and just look for a working ebay phone and take the guts out and put them in this good case phone. also is the 5g a51 the same size as the tracfone 4g? the sm-s515dl model for the motherboard and usb board sizes? if so i may look for the 5g and swap out the board into my tracfone 4g model sm-s515dl . thanks

 

[Ninu Kerra]

I'm also a51 user but I never face such a problem. If you're facing such a problem I'll recommend turning off your cell phone and then turning on hope so your problem will fixed.

 

[corvairbob]

i had to swap out the motherboard. that went bad it is fixed now thanks for the help and ideas