My phone tries to charge my laptop!

[Mr.Humble]

My phone is Samsung Galaxy A8, 2018 model, running Android 8.0. It has a USB-C connector  with USB 2.0

 

My laptop is the HP Spectre x360 late 2017/ early 2018 model - 1 USB-A 3.0 and 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports that are also used for charging. The laptop comes with a 65W USB-C charger (and accepts even a 60W charger without complaining*)

 

OK, so lately I've been travelling via train a lot more than before, and because trains suck where I live, I need to tether my laptop and phone if I want to get something done on the way. I do that by plugging the phone to the USB-A port via a USB-C to USB-A 3.0 cable. I just allow the phone to share the connection over USB, it works perfectly, the laptop charges the phone and I can reply to my emails. Paradise life on the train.

 

But then I got a Samsung T5 SSD which comes with a USB-C to USB-C 3.1 Gen2 (?) cable, so I thought, I'm gonna use that instead. What could go wrong, right?

 

Well apparently it's not so simple, because every time I plug the phone to the PC with the USB-C2C cable, the phone freezes for a second, then shuts down and reboots immediately, and a HP popup window shows up on the laptop, saying that "this charging adapter is not compatible with this computer".

 

I know it's a ridiculous issue, but like, it pisses me off and makes me worried about potential damage to the phone. My smartphone clearly is not a charging adapter and I don't want it to charge stuff it's connected to! Or at least not unless I specifically allow it to do that!

Has anybody encountered this issue? Do you have any idea about which settings I should change to make this behaviour go away? Or am I just SOL and destined to use legacy ports for the remainder of my life?

 

 

 

*ridiculously, plugging the original charger to a USB-C hub results in the laptop throwing a "HP recommends an original charger" popup, while the 3rd party 60W charger with a 4th party magnetic-tip USB-C cable gets a pass...

[Nul Atlas]

Try changing the USB mode on the phone

 

[Mr.Humble]

19 hours ago, Nul Atlas said:

Try changing the USB mode on the phone

 

I'd love to, but the phone doesn't let me - it locks up and reboots immediately when it's plugged in. I even tried to force it in developer settings but to no effect.