Unable to mount Lumia 435 (RM1071)

[#1]

The title says it all.... well,... not quite...

I`m running Linux Mint 19.1 with all the latest updates... Firefox  up to date..

Up until today... whenever I have plugged in my Lumia (microsoft win 8.1) "so called" smart phone in to the usb slot, to recharge it... there has been no problem. I could leave it charging, and I could access the SD card etc.

Today.. when I plug it in.. i get the message in the title to this thread..  If I go to the home directory where it tells me what devices are attached it shows the phone, but it is "flashing"  showing short periods of a second or two, when it is "connected" and then "disconnected" repeatedly... at the same instant another message box appears saying that it is unable to mount various other things ( presumably in the software of the phone) which then requires me to "X" or cancel them ( about 20 or more)... which ... does not stop the recycling of the "on" "off" flashing.. but it actually start recycling the messages again.

BUT.... if I plug it into my 10" Hannspree laptop running a new install of Linux Mint 20.. the phone appears where it should, and I can access the SD card and do whatever is on there with no problems..

Offers of a solution to the first part would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[#2]

Are you using the same cable when you connect the phone to each device @shutter ?

Assuming the phone has a micro-USB socket on it, these and the plug/cables themselves are notorious for wearing out (/breaking).

[#3]

@RobPN   

Yes.... in fact... I have two cables and both  produce the same error notice on the Dell Laptop... but connect correctly on the 10 inch laptop.

[#4]

If you want to continue to receive security fixes for more than the next few years, you will need to upgrade your Mint 19 to Mint 20 sometime.

You will also receive available updated software packages.

There is a procedure for Mint 19 upgrades to Mint 20.

https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/upgrade-to-mint-20.html 

[#5]

Which, doesn`t really answer the question....... 

[#6]

You could try the command

tail -n 50 /var/log/syslog

from a terminal window to get the last 50 lines of the system log , immediately after plugging in the Lumia

Then post the output and we'll see if there is anything strange there...

[#7]

Have you tried plugging any other USB devices into this Dell?

Especially cameras, mobiles etc

Have you checked your Linux logs?

What happens if you run

dmesg | tail

this will display the last few hardware related messages.

[#8]

@MisterW      @VileReynard 

#

ok... plugged in my Lumix Panasonic Camera   .... access ok

        plugged in my Lumia Mobile Phone......   cannot mount message(s)

        plugged in my hard drive ( back up for music and documents)   .... access ok

  and here is the result of dmesg

[#9]

@MisterW   here is the terminal result you asked for..

Haven`t a clue what that all means ! ! ! ...

[#10]

@shutter it means the phone is presenting itself as a PTP device as well as a Mass storage. There's a similar report here https://superuser.com/questions/1166540/how-to-prevent-unable-to-open-mtp-device-popups-from-opening .

Not sure there's a simple solution though. It would seem that maybe the later version of Mint has better support for PTP and is able to cope with it.

As to why it should have worked before , it is probably a software update on either the phone or Mint 19 which has caused the problem.

You MIGHT be able to change the USB options on the phone but I'm afraid I've no idea how...

[#11]

@MisterW  Thanks for the input... hmm... it is really weird, because up until last week, there has been no problems with Mint 19 on the laptop...  hence my query... and why I checked it against the 10inch... ( which I`m testing Mint 20 on, before doing a HDD swap , as opposed to the clunky "update" process from Mint 19 to 20.

I`m fortunate enough to have plenty of time on my hands to tranfer My Documents and My Music folders, and re-install any other progs/apps, as I think fit.

By doing it this way, I start off with a "new" hddd... which makes it more like a new laptop !...Plus.. I still have the old HDD as a Backup should I have forgotten something.

Which reminds me... I still have a previous Mint 19 for the 10 inch.. so will have that updated and then see if the problem exists on the 10 inch..

bye for now ! ! !

#

[#12]

OK... Update on the 10inch changed over the hdd... using a previous Linux Mint 19.1 install...

Not been updated for some time.... however....

Initially I plugged in the phone on the usb slot... and it was recognised and showed the SD Card etc.

So... thinking that it may have been an update for Mint, that had caused the problem on the Dell , I updated the hdd... and then plugged in the phone again .

It was recognised and showed the SD card etc.... as normal....

The Dell is about 5 yrs old, and not under any contract or warranty to self update automatically, any parts thereof...  so I don`t think its a Dell update that has done this...

Definitely a weirdo...  ( who?  Me  ? ? ?  )  (probably) .

@MisterW  Incidentally... having read through the linky... I did try 

sudo apt-get install mtp-tools mtpfs

but it reported it could not find mtpfs... 

so nothing has changed...