No Kies Connection Whatsoever - MTP USB Device Failed

Hi, new to the forum, have had a long look round and tried a few different methods but still stuck on this.

I've had a Galaxy S for months, got it with 2.1 on, and have never been able to connect to Kies cleanly. Have tried through laptop on XP, PC on Vista and a Mac, none have worked. I'm able to connect and transfer files through Mass Storage and that kept me happy for long enough but have come to a stage now where I really want to update to Froyo or beyond.

Upon connection, and selecting Samsung Kies on phone, I always get the message "MTP USB Device Failed" on computer, and on the phone it constantly shows "Initialising" and then refreshes.

I have tried a lot of methods now including:
- updated Kies to newest version from Samsung support website

- updating driver software under device manager>portable devices>MTP USB Device on computer, but it says I already have newest version

- deleting long extension files on phone through mass storage as per
http://arvindgaba.com/computer/samsung-galaxy-s/mtp-usb-device-failed-to-install-for-samsung-galaxy-s-kies-resolved/

- http://www.samsunggalaxysforum.com/kies-problems/real-solution-to-kies-connection-problems/ but Samsung Android USB composite device does not show up on the list.

I'm all out of ideas and getting really frustrated, love the phone but this is really going to push me away from sticking with Samsung on my next phone purchase if this is what we have to go through.
Any help is hugely, massively appreciated. Thanks.

What du you use Kies for?
I have never had any trouble regarding updating, flashing, syncing, transfering, etc.
Do you know,why?
Because, I've never used Kies and I won't in the future,either.
I've been flashing, updating something every 2-3 days for 6 months without any problems.
(Hardware and software of SGS is marvellous.)

Kies is a headache, but I understand it's a comfort zone.

Try to do a soft reset, 2.1 is harder to connect the best way to test is with a clean instal.

Settings-> privacy-> restore factory defaults.

Menu may look different for eclairs.

I don't remember been a very long time since eclairs.

Try the other machines as you mentioned after the reset.

Take a backup as the reset will delete everything. If you are thinking why do you need to do a reset, don't once you get onto froyo or gingerbread you will find the device almost unusable without doing a reset.

Peace.
IronSingh

_{Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk}

Thanks for the replies, very helpful.

I haven't ever used Kies as said never has been able to connect, but I was under the impression that was the simplest way to update Android officially.

I'm not at all the most techie Android user but I know I'm far from the least if they're going for a mainstream OS and it seems a surprising downfall if it's this hard to get through the Android advances.

Thanks for link to drivers, will install and see if makes a difference soon. As to backup I assume this will mean I need to buy an external SD card, to transfer all over to my PC. Will I lose all App data (and even Apps?) upon reinstall?