Android device not showing up in DDMS

Question

Running Android 2.2 on a Galaxy S. Host is an OS X 10.6.4 machine. DDMS in Eclipse reports no devices being connected. adb devices -- nothing.

I've tried:

1. Rebooting the phone
2. Toggling the USB development mode
3. Plugging/unplugging the cable
4. Restarting the server (adb kill-server).

The weird thing is that sometimes computer will not detect the phone being attached (no growl notification, not syslog entries) and sometimes it will. Other android devices work.

Do you guys have any ideas what else I could try or is this a lost cause?

Thanks

Answer 1

My development device (LG GT540 running Android 2.1, OS X 10.6.8) also mysteriously stopped appearing in "adb devices" today. The only change from yesterday that I recall was logging out of my Mac account (as I typically do at the end of the day) and unplugging the USB cable (which I rarely do not).

I tried the above suggestions, but the device didn't reappear until after:

1. Restarting the Mac,
2. Performing a factory data reset on the device (Settings > Privacy > Reset),
3. Restarting the device in Safe-Mode (hold Home + Hangup buttons while powering on),
4. Re-toggling the developer-y settings:
   1. Enabling USB debugging for development.
   2. Disabling SD card mass storage only.
5. And, finally, restarting the device normally.

Who knows what the problem really was, but I can see and deploy to my device again.

Answer 2

Had the same issues with colleagues and found that somehow, "USB Debugging" was disabled in the settings, even though it had worked fine just a few days before.

Just thought I'd mention it because it had us stumped for a bit.

Answer 3

On recent macbook pros, one port will not work consistently. Tested on 2 different Macbook Pros.

Answer 4

Had to dig for this sucker:

Note: On Android 4.2 and newer, Developer options is hidden by default. To make it available, go to Settings > About phone and tap Build number seven times. Return to the previous screen to find Developer options.