Uploading photos onto the computer

[spell_check]

I used to be able to do this before my computer went kaput recently. Thanks to my Uncle who did all the dirty work and got it up and running again; but now I can't do it. I used to upload them to Picasa, but it won't recognise the USB drive like it used to.

I noticed in the camera manual it says:
-Operation is not guaranteed on models with an additional USB interface board
-Operation is not guaranteed on home-built PCs or on PCs running updated operating system software.

So, if it would upload using the USB port at the front of the computer, how else can I do it? Or is there no way at all around it because of what the manual says?

[Psyber]

Is it just Picasa that can't find the USB drive, or does it not get found by the operating system?
[I'm not familiar with Picasa as I cut and paste from the cameras manually for total control.]

If the OS cannot find the USB drive, on the front port check whether the cable from them to the mother board is in place.
Can the drive be found on the rear ports?
If not there is a bigger problem - it could be the drivers for the USB sub-system have not been installed.

[spell_check]

The cameras' software it came with can't find it either, and I've tried the rear ports as well with no luck.

[Psyber]

The cameras' software it came with can't find it either, and I've tried the rear ports as well with no luck.

It sounds like the "Universal Serial Bus Controller" drivers may not be installed.
Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager and see if any device has the indicator that drivers are missing.
If they are they may still be on the HDD and clicking on the marked link may enable you to reinstall them or roll back to them.
If they cannot be found by that system you will need to identify the model of the controller and download the correct drivers.
Free software like PC Wizard or CPUID can help you identify the controller if you don't have the details on paper.

[spell_check]

They all say they are working properly and I can't see that there is anything wrong with them.

[Dissident]

Can you see any extra drives in My Computer when you plug the camera in?

[spell_check]

No, just the A, C, D, E and F drives. What used to happen with the camera, it would produce a blue screen and say USB with the USB image next to it in the top left hand corner. Instead it just shows either the LCD screen of what it's pointing at or anything else I'm in - menu, playback etc.

[Psyber]

No, just the A, C, D, E and F drives. What used to happen with the camera, it would produce a blue screen and say USB with the USB image next to it in the top left hand corner. Instead it just shows either the LCD screen of what it's pointing at or anything else I'm in - menu, playback etc.

I'm not familiar with any of that, it may be specific to Picasa which I don't use.
I plug my camera into a USB slot and then see an advice in the bottom right corner that new hardware has been found. Then [the first time] the pop up box from the XP operating system comes up asking me what I want done with its content. I select the option to always open the drive to display the files and it does that directly in future, and I get a normal file display box.
I can then move the files wherever I want manually, and rename the group of pix by location and date.

Are you getting any sign that the camera is being found when you plug it in and turn it on?
Or are you removing its media and just plugging the media into a slot?

[Dissident]

Nearly all cameras these days are accessed as "removable media" like a memory stick and you should be able to access them through Windows Explorer, as well as any graphics program.

[Dissident]

Test 1 - Stick it in another PC and see what happens.

[Westsider]

Test 1 - Stick it in another PC and see what happens.

I wish thats what she said.

[spell_check]

Thanks for your help Psyber and Diss, but I've got the pictures on the PC now. The more I thought about it, I was sure the cable was buggered. It did not work on another PC, so I'm sure that's what is the problem. I bought a SD Card Reader and that worked fine. Thanks again for your advice.