Not responding to my laptop

i am having trouble with my toshiba laptop and my digital camera. I have installed the software that came with my camera and the computer is still unable to access the photos, i have checked that th usb is correctly placed and im not sure how to get the photos please help. My camera is a vivitar 7100s. My software is vista.

Have you made sure that the camera is in the correct mode, like playback and not on camera mode? Alot of times camera have specific way to connect them to comp. and they either want the cable connected and then turn on camera or sometime just connect camera while in correct mode and then it's recognized. Also, have you tried other ports, like is it usb? Then there should be more than one port on comp. and it could also be the usb cable. Have you tried other cables and does any of the other usb devices work on comp. and recognized when connected?

The most common cause associated with the PC not detecting the camera is due to the fact that either the devie drivers have not been installed, or are corrupt.

It is important to thoroughly read the Software Installation instruction manual as with some Cameras, the user is required to connect the Camera via the USB cable first, then insert the CD that came with the camera and then install the software and drivers.

With other Cameras, the reverse is necessary, eg., you are required to install the software first and then connect the Camera via the USB cable.

My experience has convinced me that even though Camera manufacturers recommend one or other of the 2 methods mentioned above, for whatever reason, sometimes the drivers just don't get installed. This may be due to things peculiar to your own pc system or conflicts with other software on your machine which prevent successful installation of the camera software or drivers.

If this is the case, then you can access Device Manager in your PC and scroll down to USB Serial Bus Controllers and check to see if the USB and other drivers are installed. In most cases if the software has been installed but the drivers are not, or are corrupt, this will be highlighted in Device Manager with a Large Yellow ? (question mark) From there you have the option to check if the device drivers have been installed and also if the device is reported as working correctly. You may then engage the help of the Hardware Wizard to uninstall the drivers if they are corrupt, or install them if they are missing.

Whichever is the case, it is usually necessary to restart your PC so that it can detect the camera when it has rebooted up.

To locate Device manager on XP > click on Start > then right click My Computer > next left click Properties from the drop down menu > and then from the Sytem Properties Window which comes up, > left click on the Hardware Tab > then left click on the Device Manager Box and you're there.

Normally the digital cameras have a USB setting in their menu mode. Go thru the menu setup may be the port is inactive or set to some other mode.

Make sure your camera is set to Disk Drive mode (where it will appear as an external hard drive to your computer). The other choice is usually called something like "PTP" mode. Some PCs are unable to recognise PTP devices.

You may also wish to try different photo software, to help diagnose the problem. www.preclick.com offers a free organizer that is tiny, quick, very easy to use, and is able to pull photos off most cameras regardless of drivers, etc.

Camera used to take good pics. It has totally stopped.
As far as the computer recognizing it. It was and still is the cable/connector at the camera end. If I hold and push in gently just before the choke it comes to life.

I have the same problem, but I have a Mac and think your answers are only for pc's.

Yes, thank you also for suggesting it is in Playback mode. Also, be sure to turn the camera on! I sat for a half-hour and couldn't figure out why the computer wasn't recognizing my camera.

Thanks Pena, I had the wrong mode on my A95 Canon camera - after hours and hours of reading, down loading uninstalling, reinstalling... good grief ... I kept getting the same error message as Manda, I was ready to tear out my hair. I thought I read up on my camera!! It was on camera mode and of course it HAS to be on play back mode. Again kuddos for the perfect solution Pena!