Lumia 1020 Won't Connect to Computer or Backup

[DustinRyan]

My girlfriend and I went on a big trip around Europe recently, and she has a Lumia 1020 (I have a Lumia Icon). Over the last few months, she has not been able to back up her data, apps, photos, etc. properly. It has been hit or miss.

Now, she wants to connect her phone to her computer to import the photos and videos to her computer. However, connecting her phone does nothing other than charge it. No prompt comes up, no device is recognized, not even in device manager. Nothing happens at all. It only charges.

Microsoft suggested a hard reset of the whole phone. But that would mean losing all of the data she has, including the very important photos from our trip. They suggested to back up to the cloud, but OneDrive backups have been unreliable, as only some of her photos actually get backed up, and when she tries to create a new backup of settings+apps, it gets to 100% and then says there was a problem and fails.

She can't back anything up and the only solution seems to be a hard reset, in order to get her phone to connect to her computer again.

And yes, we tried a different USB cable, computer, etc. and the problem seems to be with the device. The drivers are not downloading to the computer when she connects her device. MS suggests it could be the device.

Help?

 

[David P2]

It's entirely possible the connector on the phone itself is damaged in some way - if all it does is charge.

It might be a bit tedious but there's the option of emailing all the photos and videos to you or herself.

 

[theefman]

Have you tried manually uploading your pics and videos using the onedrive app? It allows you to upload multiple files at a time so you could get your media off that way, or using another 3rd party app.

 

[DustinRyan]

@David That is a possibility. But there isn't any way to confirm that, right? Only way is to have it repaired (possibly?) and then find out afterward if that was the problem or not?

@theefman Yes, that is an option. It's very tedious, though. There's hundreds of photos and her WiFi is not the strongest. And to do that forever would be a pain, if backing up still refuses to work, and her phone will never connect to computer. We'd rather find a solution instead of a workaround. We only need a workaround to secure the safety of her content before trying anything drastic to fix the phone by hard reset, or physical repair or something.

Also, she tried manually uploading photos to OneDrive just now, and it does not seem they are uploading at full quality, despite highest quality being turned on for photo and video backups to OneDrive

 

[theefman]

Yes, what I suggested would be a workaround after which you could try a hard reset to see if it fixes the issue and if not you know its probably hardware. Also make sure you have the OneDrive app set to Original for picture quality, however I don't think that will transfer the pics at high quality. And yet again, I don't think the OneDrive app can actually access the high res copies so it may still not solve your problem.

 

[DustinRyan]

None of the photos uploaded are showing up at full resolution when shared to OneDrive or uploaded through the app

We're basically stuck with either losing all data to reset the phone, or hope that it is actually the connector that needs to be repaired, somehow. But we don't know for sure. I wish there was a way to determine if the connector is the problem or not.

 

[mohawk apple]

What kind of computer you using? Mac/windows?

 

[wpprime]

might be a silly question, but have you done a soft reset? i've had instances where i couldn't sync to the computer and all i did was a soft reset and it worked fine after that.

 

[DustinRyan]

Yes I have. That was actually the first thing I tried. No luck

Right now we're considering that either the connector inside the phone for microUSB is broken/faulty, which is why it won't register when connected to a computer most of the time, or that it needs to be hard reset.

We can't hard reset, however, because she can't afford to lose 1000+ photos she took recently, and the backup to OneDrive was done on cell connection, not WiFi, so the quality is low, and we can't figure out how to get OneDrive to re-sync the photos on WiFi now that they were already backed up in the past at a lower quality. And manually sharing photos to OneDrive does not upload them at full quality.

Additionally, when she tries to back up her apps+settings, it gets to 100% and then fails and says try again later with no explanation.

Help?

 

[jojoe42]

Yes I have. That was actually the first thing I tried. No luck

Right now we're considering that either the connector inside the phone for microUSB is broken/faulty, which is why it won't register when connected to a computer most of the time, or that it needs to be hard reset.

We can't hard reset, however, because she can't afford to lose 1000+ photos she took recently, and the backup to OneDrive was done on cell connection, not WiFi, so the quality is low, and we can't figure out how to get OneDrive to re-sync the photos on WiFi now that they were already backed up in the past at a lower quality. And manually sharing photos to OneDrive does not upload them at full quality.

Additionally, when she tries to back up her apps+settings, it gets to 100% and then fails and says try again later with no explanation.

Help?

Does your computer have Bluetooth? Mass-select all the photos and transfer them over via Bluetooth. My guts tell me your phone has a ruined connector

 

[RTGent]

... and we can't figure out how to get OneDrive to re-sync the photos on WiFi now that they were already backed up in the past at a lower quality. Help?

Delete the respective prior uploads.

 

[RTGent]

What kind of computer you using? Mac/windows?

I always find it strange and comical when neither posters nor responders even consider this simple and obvious context.

 

[David P2]

I always find it strange and comical when neither posters nor responders even consider this simple and obvious context.

It would still charge even if connected to a Mac... I often charge my phone via my xbox 360. And plugged into the Mac it would register as an MTP device so can be accessed. It's just recovery that can't be done from a Mac.

 

[DustinRyan]

Does your computer have Bluetooth? Mass-select all the photos and transfer them over via Bluetooth. My guts tell me your phone has a ruined connector

Yes she tried Bluetooth, and the uploads still came in at a lower quality. Not full quality. Not as bad as prior, but still not full resolution.

 

[DustinRyan]

Delete the respective prior uploads.

We tried moving them, not deleting, hoping it would trigger re-uploading, but nothing worked. We're afraid to delete, as some photos are no longer on her phone, only on OneDrive, so we'd hate to lose older photos that way.

 

[DustinRyan]

I always find it strange and comical when neither posters nor responders even consider this simple and obvious context.

Windows 7 on a ASUS Notebook K40IJ, from 2009.

 

[JANGEL13]

Were you able to solve your issue? My phone stopped connecting to the computer a few days ago. I just called AT&T and they said I have to take it to a repair center and they will determine whether or not it will be covered under warranty. Luckily I still have 184 days of warranty but there is no guarantee that it will be covered. I'm hoping you figured out a way to transfer the pictures at full quality...

 

[amk0]

I might have a solution for you!

Download Easy Transfer from the store on your Lumia.

Open Easy transfer, follow the instructions (just enter the IP on your PC Browser) and download everything using Wi-Fi

It uses the local network, that means PC and Phone must be connected to the same WiFi/Router, internet data wont be used.

Cheers~

 

[JANGEL13]

I might have a solution for you!

Download Easy Transfer from the store on your Lumia.

Open Easy transfer, follow the instructions (just enter the IP on your PC Browser) and download everything using Wi-Fi

It uses the local network, that means PC and Phone must be connected to the same WiFi/Router, internet data wont be used.

Cheers~

Thank you, I'll give that a try

 

[JANGEL13]

I might have a solution for you!

Download Easy Transfer from the store on your Lumia.

Open Easy transfer, follow the instructions (just enter the IP on your PC Browser) and download everything using Wi-Fi

It uses the local network, that means PC and Phone must be connected to the same WiFi/Router, internet data wont be used.

Cheers~

That worked! It took a while to download 3 GB of pics and videos but the app definitely did the job. Thanks again!