[Captivate General] vunuts:
Also, how old is your phone, or when did you get it/ how long have you been using it? What condition is your phone power/usb cord and micro usb port in?

I've had mine since the beginning of August, and just through normal wear and tear, charging, file transfers and just normal use of that nature, I've noticed that the connection with the phone and the charging cable isn't as snug as it used to be, and with it not being snug anymore, if I'm using my phone, whether it be texting or playing games or browsing the web, anything where the phone is being moved around basically, it doesn't keep a constant connection and keeps connecting and reconnecting during charging mode. And the same thing happens when I have it plugged into my laptop, if I mount it for usb mass storage, my external and internal SD cards both show up in My Computer and I can access them and everything seems peachy, but if I nudge my phone or move it on accident, it dismounts from the computer. I use different cords, one for the wall charger from a blackberry with micro usb, and I use the cord that came with the phone to connect it to the computer, and another blackberry cord for my car charger, so I know all the cords do work properly, and I even hooked them up to my blackberry to make sure it would charge and gave it a good wiggle test and it never read that it disconnected while charging.

So my theory, kind of, and it seems reasonable, is that while it's hooked up to the computer in mass storage mode for file transfers and whatnot, and there is a problem with the micro usb port on the phone which is only allowing, just for ****s and giggles, 98% connection instead of the full 100%, or there is dust/lint/hair in either the phones charging port or in the connector on the cord and its applying a certain level of extra and unwanted resistance on the mating surfaces of the charging port and the phone and the hardware and the mass storage mode itself were all calibrated to use that 100% to supply the proper amperage, voltage, and resistance to transfer data back and forth between the devices, but since it's not recognizing a full connection, it would result in mass storage mode operating incorrectly. So during a file transfer, you mount the SD's, find the files you want to move, copy and paste, the devices start relaying data to each other, but somewhere within that 2% of lost connection, some important info might not be getting relayed resulting in either an extended transfer time or or freezing of the transfer all together.

I've never had the patience to sit and wait to see if the progress bar would start moving again, so I just assume the transfer is frozen and start looking for an alternative transfer method. But if you've got time to kill or enough patience to sit and stare at your phone for awhile without touching it, next time it appears frozen, just wait it out. If after... I dunno how long really, until you feel it's a lost cause I guess.

Checking your connections is a good starting point. Unplug the cord from the charger and power down the phone and remove the battery. First, use a can of compressed air with a straw and stick it into the phone port and get any loose debris out of there. Same goes with the charging cord. Get some rubbing alcohol and a q-tip and wipe down the contact areas. I know it's an awkward and tight spot to get a q-tip into, but do the best you can, or improvise and use a flat head eye-glass repair kit screwdriver and put a little piece of paper towel, tissue, or toilet paper on the end of it and use that with the rubbing alcohol. Be gentile. Be careful. Don't completely soak the q-tip so it's dripping off and flooding the port, just dip the tip and squeeze off the excess so it has just enough alcohol to clean the area while applying a little bit of pressure. If you still have the can of air, use that, or just use your lungs, to blow dry the areas you wiped down and make sure all the moisture is gone. When you think it's dried up, go ahead and fire it up and try it out.

Do this with the battery out as well. Better safe than sorry.....

Try to re-snug the contact area by using the small flat head screwdriver and just see if you can move or flex the outer metal housing inward, or towards the center of the micro port so it grabs and holds the charging cord when it's plugged in. I'm pretty sure that the outer section supplies the ground for the circuit and since this is more accessible than the middle connector without disassembling the phone, I figure its worth a try......

In case someone doesn't know the area I'm talking about, read this or take it to a professional. When you open the charging port cover, there's a metal ring in the shape of the charging cable, and inside that ring is the small connector that goes inside the charger cord when you plug it in. DO NOT TOUCH THAT! That's where all the magic happens as far as proper data transfers and proper charging voltage distribution. So we're just looking at this outer ring area now....and if you decide to dabble and tinker with the inner connector and screw it up, I'm not responsible in any way whatsoever.

Sorry for the long rant, been a long day and I had enough red bull in the last hour to put a midget into a coma.