Today, coming back from a trip, I connected my N900 to my PC to transfer the pictures and clips I'd made, as I've done several times already.

Only this time it didn't work. There was no error message on the N900, but I didn't get the "mass storage/PC suite" mode menu either, just the "charging" message.

There was no error on the PC side either, I did get two new drives & letters mounted, only they're "empty": when I click on them, I get the "Please insert disc" dialog. (This is with Windows XP). MyDocs and the SD card are still accessible from the N900 file manager.

I have read a few of the threads with USB/mass storage problems in their titles, and although the symptoms described are different, tried some of the advice there: power cycling both machines, changing cables, uninstalling USB device from registry, etc., to no avail.

I have also tried connecting to two other XP devices: they both detect a new device in "storage mode" (still no menu on the N900), with the same result (charging and two empty drives).

This makes me think the problem is on the N900 side. I didn't install "usb control" or other USB-related packages, but maybe something else messed it up. Any ideas/advice ?
TIA,
fpp