And that's what I'm saying: there is nothing in the USB settings on the Note, just an option to connect mass storage, no "PC mode", no "none" like on the other phones.

That's why it doesn't bring up the usb interface on cable connection, methinks...

That's usually why the USB settings are there, but did you try to check actually check them? Or do you have something else there, is it ROM based? I have stock European ROM.