Lenovo Ideapad P580 and Samsung smartphone SPH-D700 do not connect

I have a fairly new Lenovo Laptop, Idea Pad P580 with Win7 Home Premium SW. I also have the Samsung Smartphone SPH-D700 Galaxy S.

Both have the latest drivers, yet a USB wire connection from smartphone to Lenovo does not detect the smartphone on the laptop, even though on the Samsung side all is ok and it says USB connected. I like to be able to transfer pictures taken with the smartphone to the laptop.
So far no one of my friends can help.Can someone here?

 

My Epic 4G was a pain in the butt to get connected too. It would sometimes take 5 minutes before it would show up in My Computer. Never quite figured out why. It had something to do with the firmware though, cause after I updated to gingerbread, it didn't take as long to connect. It has something to do with the microSD card and the speed of which it is accessed by the phone.

 

You may have to manually set your phone to USB storage mode, The setting is probably in the options menu of the phone somewhere if you carrier hasn't locked it down (yes, they can do that). I know that ICS+ devices normally ask you when you plug them in what mode to use but if it's an older one I don't know where the setting is.

If it is set up to USB storage mode you might want to try removing the drivers and reinstalling them and that you're using whatever stupid sync software Samsung provides.