My New Rebel XT

[SharpShooter89]

Just got my Rebel XT and couldnt be happier :)

I am going over for my cousins birthday party so i am the designated photographer, it'll give me a good opportunity to play around with it, although i think i have the gist of it. I am having just one problem, after i installed the camera software and restarted and all i plugged the camera in (making sure it was in PC Mode, not printer mode) and my computer froze. I tried it 3 more times and each time it froze :(

Any ideas?

I can just transfer the card but i would rather just link up with the camera. Thanks for any help you can provide! :D

[Citizensmith]

I have a friend who for ages has been using an older film canon with a few FD lenses, 1 prime and a couple of small, slow zooms. They were always exceedingly disparaging of my stuff (2 good primes and 2 L zooms) as you just can't beat the quality of the older lenses, they are soooo much better than any of the stuff Canon make now, just what am I thinking, etc, etc.

Last week they bought an XT. No clue what lenses they have picked up but I expect them to be changing their tune shortly with regard to the quality of photos they will be getting. :)

As for the computer thing, get a card reader for offloading. Its faster, easier, and if you have two cards won't tie the camera up while you are offloading.

And, so long as the camera is working fine you should be good.

[JCR]

ello :)
Try updating the software?
Do other USB devices work ok?
try a different USB socket?
maybe try a USB hub (with it's own power supply)

[StevenRaith]

Don't bother using the camera to transfer images, a good CF adapter [I use a Sandisk one] is much better, faster, and frees the camera up.

I can imagine there is the temptation to use the camera on the PC with remote release, but TBH I find that overrated ;)

Either way, the following steps should be applied:
First of all, as I am assuming you are using WIn XP, is to Right Click My Computer, gop to Advanced, Startup and Recovery, Settings...

In there, TAKE OUT THE TICK FROM AUTOMATICALLY RESTART.

Then when it happens again, take a note of the info if a Blue Screen of Death appears.
Run it into Google, or post on here, enough of us have IT savvy to be able to help decipher it.

If you want to get out of a BSOD with that option unticked [the machine more often than not will lock 'properly'], hold the power button down for five seconds [maybe a bit longer] and it will power down the machine.

In the meantime...
Follow JCRs advice, which is the first thing I would do after disabling auto restart..
Try a different USB cable - seriously. My Asus A7n*x wont allow me to use portable, bus powered HDs unless I use a six inch [short] cable - any more than that, it wont work!
If no other devices have issues, and you still get crashes when plugging the camera in, go to your PC supplier/Motherboard manufacturers website and download the latest Chipset/USB drivers for your motherboard.
Once installed, if you still have a problem, get your WIndows XP CD out [if you have one] and go to
Start--> Run....
And type the command

SFC /Scannow

This will start up the System File Checker and prompt it to do an immediate scan of the Windows System files. The reason you want the Win CD is that it will prompt fo rit should it come accross anythign strange, corrupt or otherwise vaguely iffy.

If it is still iffy, then it might be worth, again from the command prompt, running 'chkdsk /r' - the secotr containing the USB chipset drivers, or the Canon software, may have had a problem on the HD and be in a bad sector.

Chkdsk /r will mark that sector as bad if it sees it, so once it has finished scanning, reinstall the [latest version of] software and retry.

As a last resort, download the latest drivers for every bit of kit you have plugged into the computer [normally not as difficult as it sounds to be honest] back up everything you need to, and do a full format and reinstall with the latest versions of all the drivers/interface software [IE Canon software, etc].

That should, really, sort out any problems at all. If you still have issues, it's possible your mobo has a buggered USB chipset...especially if it happens with all the sockets. Might also be a power supply problem - although you would expect that to affect everything, especially USB bus powered devices like pen drives, etc - and you should be able to tell if it's a power problem as it should go away when you use a powered hub, as JCR suggests etc.

Other than that, punch the computer a lot.

It won't help at all, but in ten years experience as an IT tech I can confirm that it makes me feel a whole lot better :cool:

To be honest it sounds like a USB chipset driver problem, or a power management problem [although that would normally cause a BSOD] and hopefully just a bit of driver tweaking will sort it.

if not, don't worry about the USB link option - IMHO you aren't missing out on much!

[SharpShooter89]

Well i have a built in CF card slot in the computer, one of those 9 in 1 media center readers thingy... :)

I guess ill just stick with transferring it from the card to the computer ;)

Thanks for the help :D

[jbkalla]

Problems reading pics from a camera is one of the most-asked questions on this forum. The best answer is always to get a card reader (works every time!).

Make sure you use your camera a lot before taking it to your cousin's birthday party! You should be passingly familiar with the controls and how it works before you are under pressure trying to produce. You'd hate to spend most of the party fiddling with your camera!

Have fun! Great purchase! :-)