How to solve the "The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected" error on a Samsung Galaxy S2

 Having recently updated both my version of KIES and my version of Android I've come across a number of  issue regarding file transfers from my Laptop to my Samsung Galaxy S2. The most notable of those was that when I was trying to place files onto the phone I was getting an error sayig "The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected" despite the device still being connected and still visually looking like it was working.

Although I never solved the actual reason as to why I was getting this error I've concluded it was due to the update of either Android or the incredibly irritating "KIES" software. Instead of coming up with a solution that would make things as easy as they used to be I instead found a work around. The work around involves using the phones
in built menu's to use the phone as a USB storage device.

Firstly you will need to open the phones menu screen (see above) and then open the "Wireless and Network" settings where you'll be able to find the option for "USB utilities" (see the screen shot on the right). At this point make sure your USB cable is not already connected (or disconnect it if it is already linked to both the phone and the laptop/computer you are using).



After you have clicked on "USB utilities" you will be greeted by the screen on the left with just a single option. When you see this screen you need to press where the phone says "Connect storage to PC".

After  doing the above you will be prompted to connect the USB cable to use mass storage (see the image to the right). This is the first point where you should connect the USB cable if you are going to be using this "work around".


After connecting the cable you will see a screen like the one on the left with the green Android having a hand like a USB device. From here you need to open up the explorer in you computer or laptop and find a "Removable disk" with the right amount of memory (for the Galaxy S2 it should be 11.5GB). From the explorer you should be able to copy files onto or take files from the phone and generally use it as a USB memory card style device. This allows you to easily put music, ROM's, pictures and videos onto the phone.