DBI MTP Responder on M2 Mac

[trimtanks]

I am having a heck of a time getting the DBI MTP responder to reliably work on my M2 MacBook Air. Whenever I try to plug it into my Mac I get 1 of 3 different scenarios.

1) The Mac recognises the switch as an external battery and starts charing FROM the switch. Meanwhile DBI says that it does not recognise any USB-C connection and refuses to start the MTP Responder. Also, Android File transfer does not recognise any "android device" and does nothing.

2) DBI recognises a USB-C connection. It starts the MTP Responder but Android file transfer on my Mac does not regonise any android device and does nothing.

3) Everything works as intended. The MTP responder starts and Android File Transfer recognises the switch. I can install games by dragging and dropping.

I don't see any pattern for what actions lead to which outcome, except option 1 is most likely. I have tried with and without Applet mode for DBI. I have tried different USB-C cables. I have tried different timings for the I connect the cables. Nothing predicts which outcome I get. Has anyone else encountered this and gotten it to work reliably and not just some of the time?

EDIT: BTW, I'm using FW 15.0.1, AMS 1.4.0 and the latest DBI.

 

[binkinator]

I am having a heck of a time getting the DBI MTP responder to reliably work on my M2 MacBook Air. Whenever I try to plug it into my Mac I get 1 of 3 different scenarios.

1) The Mac recognises the switch as an external battery and starts charing FROM the switch. Meanwhile DBI says that it does not recognise any USB-C connection and refuses to start the MTP Responder. Also, Android File transfer does not recognise any "android device" and does nothing.

2) DBI recognises a USB-C connection. It starts the MTP Responder but Android file transfer on my Mac does not regonise any android device and does nothing.

3) Everything works as intended. The MTP responder starts and Android File Transfer recognises the switch. I can install games by dragging and dropping.

I don't see any pattern for what actions lead to which outcome, except option 1 is most likely. I have tried with and without Applet mode for DBI. I have tried different USB-C cables. I have tried different timings for the I connect the cables. Nothing predicts which outcome I get. Has anyone else encountered this and gotten it to work reliably and not just some of the time?

EDIT: BTW, I'm using FW 15.0.1, AMS 1.4.0 and the latest DBI.

The fact that it works sometimes is interesting. At least you have whatever config/drivers/what have you all correct.

What version of DBI are you using (latest is ambiguous and depends upon perspective)

To be honest this sound like it’s probably on the Mac side but I’m only basing that on a wild ass guess. What version of OSX are you on?

 

[rcpd]

I am having a heck of a time getting the DBI MTP responder to reliably work on my M2 MacBook Air. Whenever I try to plug it into my Mac I get 1 of 3 different scenarios.

1) The Mac recognises the switch as an external battery and starts charing FROM the switch. Meanwhile DBI says that it does not recognise any USB-C connection and refuses to start the MTP Responder. Also, Android File transfer does not recognise any "android device" and does nothing.

2) DBI recognises a USB-C connection. It starts the MTP Responder but Android file transfer on my Mac does not regonise any android device and does nothing.

3) Everything works as intended. The MTP responder starts and Android File Transfer recognises the switch. I can install games by dragging and dropping.

I don't see any pattern for what actions lead to which outcome, except option 1 is most likely. I have tried with and without Applet mode for DBI. I have tried different USB-C cables. I have tried different timings for the I connect the cables. Nothing predicts which outcome I get. Has anyone else encountered this and gotten it to work reliably and not just some of the time?

EDIT: BTW, I'm using FW 15.0.1, AMS 1.4.0 and the latest DBI.

I had a similar issue with my M1 MacBook Air. What ended up solving it for me was really odd and kind of specific. First, if you have AppZapper or some other "uninstaller" use it on Android File Transfer for MacOS. Reinstall Android File Transfer, but before you do make sure that you do not have the Preview application open before reinstalling. If you do then you need to reboot before reinstalling. Open Android File Transfer to make sure it runs. Now do not open Preview at all ever. If you open Preview you need to reboot before Android File Transfer will work again.

Even still scenario 2 will happen more often than scenario 3. But it has been more reliable for me. On my Intel MacBook Pro, I do not have this issue at all. It works as intended. But it may be a difference in software on the Macs because one runs Ventura 13.2 and the other runs Monterey 12.6.3.

Edit: You may have better luck than I did with OpenMTP (hxxps://openmtp.ganeshrvel.c0m/). It does seem to have more options than Android File Transfer. Be sure to fix the links by removing the "x" and "0" and replacing them with their respective characters. I'm unable to post links.

 

[binkinator]

I had a similar issue with my M1 MacBook Air. What ended up solving it for me was really odd and kind of specific. First, if you have AppZapper or some other "uninstaller" use it on Android File Transfer for MacOS. Reinstall Android File Transfer, but before you do make sure that you do not have the Preview application open before reinstalling. If you do then you need to reboot before reinstalling. Open Android File Transfer to make sure it runs. Now do not open Preview at all ever. If you open Preview you need to reboot before Android File Transfer will work again.

Even still scenario 2 will happen more often than scenario 3. But it has been more reliable for me. On my Intel MacBook Pro, I do not have this issue at all. It works as intended. But it may be a difference in software on the Macs because one runs Ventura 13.2 and the other runs Monterey 12.6.3.

Edit: You may have better luck than I did with OpenMTP (hxxps://openmtp.ganeshrvel.c0m/). It does seem to have more options than Android File Transfer. Be sure to fix the links by removing the "x" and "0" and replacing them with their respective characters. I'm unable to post links.

Nice!

https://openmtp.ganeshrvel.com/

 

[rcpd]

Nice!

***Link here***

Hey thanks! It took me literally weeks of troubleshooting to figure that out. I knew that upon a fresh reboot AFT normally would work properly but soon after I started opening applications I noticed it would stop working. I use Preview pretty frequently for PDF's and photos so I almost always have it open even if a window isn't active. So I went down the list. Open AFT, verify it works, open an application, verify again. Luckily I don't have many third party apps installed on my Macs!

 

[binkinator]

Hey thanks! It took me literally weeks of troubleshooting to figure that out. I knew that upon a fresh reboot AFT normally would work properly but soon after I started opening applications I noticed it would stop working. I use Preview pretty frequently for PDF's and photos so I almost always have it open even if a window isn't active. So I went down the list. Open AFT, verify it works, open an application, verify again. Luckily I don't have many third party apps installed on my Macs!

Thanks for chiming in and sharing your knowledge!

it would have taken 10X as long (if at all) to sus this out remotely.

 

[rcpd]

Thanks for chiming in and sharing your knowledge!

it would have taken 10X as long (if at all) to sus this out remotely.

After I figured it out I started seeing online that its a pretty well known bug since OS X Mavericks. Wish I had seen that earlier. Would have saved me a load of time. Oh well.

 

[trimtanks]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've been trying out everything mentioned but havn't yet solved the issue. I have tried running AFT after a fresh reboot but that did nothing. I tried disabling all the apps that would start automatically on boot and rebooted again, but that did nothing. I tried switching to OpenMTP but it hasn't helped. I have noticed that if I'm really quick to plug in the USB-C cable and start the MTP responder then it will start and AFT/OpenMTP will recognise my switch for like a second, but it will almost immediately loose the connection again and my Mac will start charging off of the switch. I also tried enabling the USB 3 patch in AMS, but it did nothing. I have also now updated to AMS 1.4.1 and DBI to 480. Not sure what else to try.

 

[binkinator]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've been trying out everything mentioned but havn't yet solved the issue. I have tried running AFT after a fresh reboot but that did nothing. I tried disabling all the apps that would start automatically on boot and rebooted again, but that did nothing. I tried switching to OpenMTP but it hasn't helped. I have noticed that if I'm really quick to plug in the USB-C cable and start the MTP responder then it will start and AFT/OpenMTP will recognise my switch for like a second, but it will almost immediately loose the connection again and my Mac will start charging off of the switch. I also tried enabling the USB 3 patch in AMS, but it did nothing. I have also now updated to AMS 1.4.1 and DBI to 480. Not sure what else to try.

Linux? Kidding…sorta. It’s gotta be something on the Mac side because I’ve been running DBI‘s MTP on both Windows and Linux for as long as I can remember and it just works. You could test with an Android phone to see if that works? That might have a larger user base to help troubleshoot.

 

[trimtanks]

Linux? Kidding…sorta. It’s gotta be something on the Mac side because I’ve been running DBI‘s MTP on both Windows and Linux for as long as I can remember and it just works. You could test with an Android phone to see if that works? That might have a larger user base to help troubleshoot.

Just tried backing up some photos from my wife's Samsung galaxy s9 using AFT and I had no issues. I also tried the phone with OpenMTP but that didn't work for some reason.

 

[binkinator]

Just tried backing up some photos from my wife's Samsung galaxy s9 using AFT and I had no issues. I also tried the phone with OpenMTP but that didn't work for some reason.

Perfect. So we can exclude OpenMTP. I would focus on drilling into AFT and seeing what can be done there since it’s confir,Ed working on your Mac.

seems there are different modes for OpenMTP…not sure if you tried them or not.

 

[Skonikol]

I am having a heck of a time getting the DBI MTP responder to reliably work on my M2 MacBook Air. Whenever I try to plug it into my Mac I get 1 of 3 different scenarios.

1) The Mac recognises the switch as an external battery and starts charing FROM the switch. Meanwhile DBI says that it does not recognise any USB-C connection and refuses to start the MTP Responder. Also, Android File transfer does not recognise any "android device" and does nothing.

2) DBI recognises a USB-C connection. It starts the MTP Responder but Android file transfer on my Mac does not regonise any android device and does nothing.

3) Everything works as intended. The MTP responder starts and Android File Transfer recognises the switch. I can install games by dragging and dropping.

I don't see any pattern for what actions lead to which outcome, except option 1 is most likely. I have tried with and without Applet mode for DBI. I have tried different USB-C cables. I have tried different timings for the I connect the cables. Nothing predicts which outcome I get. Has anyone else encountered this and gotten it to work reliably and not just some of the time?

EDIT: BTW, I'm using FW 15.0.1, AMS 1.4.0 and the latest DBI.

https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp/issues/276 Pay attention to this post. All I had to do was sign out of Dropbox and open and close Preview.

 

[ghjfdtg]

Or the best option of all hekate UMS. It just works and you can even check your microSD card for errors without taking it out.

 

[Vulpes-Vulpeos]

To make it work reliably:
- do not use male type-c to male type-c cable. Use male type-c to female usb-a adapter and male usb-a to male type-c cable. For me this solved strange behavior from OP.
- kill any cloud storage apps or/and preview app. It somehow effects mtp connection (on Ventura at least).

 

[duckbill007]

do not use male type-c to male type-c cable

It is only Mac M2 specific. On linux or android such cables works perfectly!

 

[Vulpes-Vulpeos]

It is only Mac M2 specific. On linux or android such cables works perfectly!

m1 is also affected

 

[linuxares]

Is it only DBI or tried other applications on the Switch like via Hekate?

 

[Skonikol]

Is it only DBI or tried other applications on the Switch like via Hekate?

Hekate does not provide an MTP connection, but uses UMS. If I'm not mistaken, MTP is supported by Tinfoil, but this has not been verified by me. In any case, the problem is on the Mac side.

 

[rcpd]

I’ve been playing around with it and have had better luck if I use one of those USB-C to USB-A converter dongles with a USB-C to USB-A cable. The ARM Mac’s don’t have USB-A ports, only C. But using a solid USB-C to USB-C cable has basically never worked for me.

Specifically I’m using dongles that came from Google Pixel phones. They’re all identical but they all seem to work just fine with MTP.

 

[binkinator]

What a weird phenomenon. Does USB-A prevent the Mac from trying some sort of negotiation or something?