Phone connection to USB storage blinks in and out

[emb1234]

Not sure how to phrase that better, but the issue is this: I'm trying to plug the USB cable from my phone into my desktop. Instead of connecting like normal, the option to connect keeps appearing and disappearing. It's like it sees it for a second, loses it, and then starts again.

I'm on Kubuntu 22.04, the phone I'm trying to connect to is a Galaxy Flip 5.

I was able to connect it without issue to my laptop. (Which is running the very similar KDE Neon 22.04 unstable edition).
I can connect my older phone to my desktop. (MTP is always a little fussy, but my older Android device connects in more or less the way I expect.)

I've tried multiple USB ports on my desktop.
Cable seems to be ok, since it connected to laptop.
For the same reason, it doesn't seem like a phone issue.
Tried restarting the desktop to make sure that wasn't an issue.
Also went ahead and turned on USB debugging in case that made a difference for some reason.

Any advice on how to really troubleshoot this? Anywhere that might log why it's disconnecting?

One avenue I'm thinking is maybe some MTP package I've installed might be interfering I guess.

For now, KDE Connect let's me mostly work around it, but I'd still really like to have direct file access.

[claydoh]

For the same reason, it doesn't seem like a phone issue.

If one phone is working on the desktop, but a different phone isn't, it well could be a phone or phone OS difference.
But you are correct that KDE neon and Kubuntu 22.04 will have the exact same kernels and USB infrastructure, though of course the laptop and desktop probably have different physical USB hardware.

Does your Flip have USB settings to play with?
This is what I see on my Pixel 7:


To be honest, I don't think I have ever connected my phones with USB for anything in ages, years even.. I just use Kdeconnect, though I am usually on wifi most of the time.

[emb1234]

I have pretty much those same options. It pops up repeatedly on the phone side as well, letting me know data transfer will be enabled and giving me the allow/deny options. But if I open the notification it takes me to a list of options that matches the screenshot above.

I have "This device" and "Transferring files / Android Auto" selected. Though I did give it a shot with Connected device and/or Transferring images, it didn't seem to help much.

[jlittle]

(MTP is always a little fussy, but my older Android device connects in more or less the way I expect.)

Your experience of MTP, a horrible Microsoft emanation, has been much better than mine.