A40 USB Problem

[ianr33]

Has anybody had problems getting a PC running Windows 98SE to recognise a Canon A40 digital camera? Getting camera not found messages and dont know if it is a software or a hardware problem.

The camera connects just fine to a Mac,so the problem is not the camera.

Thanks

 

[Jonathan]

good luck!

One of the reasons I won't recomend one of those cameras is the hassle I had with a friends A40 when he came to visit. No matter how hard we tried we could not get it to work - ended up using some firewire thing he had for his PDA.

If you find a solution off the board please post it!

Cheers
Jonathan

 

[ianr33]

Maybe I should just download photos to my Mac laptop (which works like a dream ) and then Email them to my wifes PC. Might be preferable to messing with Windows stuff !

 

[chrispete]

I have an A40 that works just fine with 98SE through XP. The trick (on 98se) is to make sure that you have loaded the camera driver provided by Canon first in order to recognize it properly. Another option would be to purchase an inexpensive smartcard reader ($12-15 @ Wal-mart) and use that instead - the bonuses are that the smartcard reader is generally much faster than the camera, you don't burn camera batteries doing the downloads, and it's much more portable than carrying the camera and cables.

 

[Jonathan]

forgive me if I am wrong but aren't 98SE and XP both flavours of Windows? How do you have them both running on the same machine at the same time?

You would not believe how many times I installed that pesky little driver... Reminds me, I must remove the damn thing!!

Jonathan

 

[Dee]

Jonothan....my new laptop has XP Home on it. I was surprised to find that some older programs can be run by choosing a compatibility with older Windows programs. For instance, the download program for my dive watch will only work if I choose Win 2000 as it's compatibility level.

 

[Jonathan]

heck I've only had XP 3 months! Still not seen that option but the question was about connecting via USB on 98SE - I could not get it to work however I tried.

I like my sony - never had driver problems, don't think I ever had to load any either. But then it only comes on as a external hard disk which is perfect for me as I use photoshop for all the fancy bits.

Now if I could only persuade nortons to let me do upgrades over the net.....

Jonathan

 

[chrispete]

heh, let me clarify, I've used it on 98se, 2k, and XP - on seperate machines.

 

[Jonathan]

chalk another one up to American - missed one of my pet hate expressions "through" as in I'll be on holiday 1 Jan through 10 Jan I take it....

Any tips on installing the driver on 98se then for our friend?

Jonathan

 

[chrispete]

The problem is going to be with the USB drivers that windows 98se uses if I had to guess. Windows 98se is able to handle USB, but that's about it - you have to have the right drivers for the controller, and windows doesn't have a very good set of them available. Several motherboard manufacturers sent out drivers with their boards that did not work well, if at all. You may want to check for the newest USB drivers for the specific motherboard/chipset combination in use from the manufacturer's website (these are usually seperate from other drivers or are combined in a 4-in-1 type driver (for ALI chipsets I believe.)) Then check the BIOS settings for the USB - if it has a USB 1.1, legacy, or something of the like compatibility mode, turn it on - some USB 2 setups simply don't work at all even though they are there.

That's about all that I can think of off the top of my head...