Posted by GoatWorld on February 11, 2002 at 10:46:04:
In Reply to: Got a new toy! [digital camera] but can't use it :-( posted by nat on February 10, 2002 at 18:31:54:
Hi Nat,
Congratulations on the new camera but sorry to hear that you are having problems downloading the pictures to the computer. I'll see what I can do to help here from my past experience with these new-fangled toys.
Most of this you may already know but I'll go over just in case. There are two ways that I know of to get download your pictures and they are through a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port or Serial port connection. Of the two, the USB port is the fastest but it requires that you have a USB card (or port) in your computer. If you don't have one, I'd really recommend getting one for speed. They only run about $30.00 or so.
Okay, once you get the USB card installed, you need to load the USB driver(s), often called "hub" drivers. If you have a newer computer with Windows 98, driver installation should be a snap. If you have Windows ME or later, oooh.... you may have a problem because "certain" camera manufacturers didn't include driver support for the newer operating systems. This was true with Casio - I don't know about Canon. If it is the USB setup you are having problems with, AND, you have a USB card that can be removed, I'd go to your Control Panel > System and use the Device Manger to locate the "Ports" setting and identify the USB card and driver. Either uninstall it manually from there or reconfigure the driver for the USB port. It will either tell you "This Device is Working Properly" or tell you that there are conflicts.
And that is the two-fisted problem right there - Your "camera" software has a driver for the camera that allows it to communicate (recognize) the camera card format AND the USB/Serial port driver software which allows for communication between the camera/port/computer. If either one of these are not working, then it won't download of course because it won't recognize the camera card.
Let me know exactly where the problem is happening and I may be able to provide help. This camera that you got, does it have the feature to record movies? Movies are another separate issue but will "probably" require that you install QuickTime to play them back on your computer.
Best regards,
Gary