Need A40 and USB detection help!

[ShOOtMe]

I have tried every thing according to the manuals, canon's website, and other things, but two pc's I hae tried won't recognize the A40 when plugged into the usb (software installed first of course). Other usb devices work on these computers. Any help would be appreciated.

[Conk]

What operating system are you using? Have you got all the available updates from Microsoft?
Maybe you should check the A40 box and see what OS the camera software is compatable with.

[ShOOtMe]

I'm using Win98SE. My PC is up to date. That is one thing I am kinda anal about is always keeping OS and drivers up to date.

[Rustle]

If you can't make the camera work with two different PCs but do have other working USB devices, there's a good chance that your camera's USB port or cable isn't working.

You should get a hold of another Powershot USB cable and try that. If it still doesn't work, then you may have a defective camera.

Russ

[ShOOtMe]

Any other possibilities before I march back to Best Buy with my camera? I am going to try it on WinXP in morning before I pass final judgement.

[horacioduhalde]

I have the same problem, but my PC works fine with other USB devices.

The first time I've tried installing the USB connection, the PC recognized the connection and started the procedure to install de drivers. I did not follow the instructions (Accept to an error message, browse inside the Canon directory for the right drivers, etc.), so I assume the driver was wrongly installed.

I've tried unstalling the driver as the manual says (going to the Windows/Inf directory, deleting some files, etc.), and connecting the USB port with the camera on in reproduction mode, but the PC does nothing.

Anybody knows how to start all over again and have again the cumbersome messages displayed to install de drivers?

[Hans33]

I have similar unsolved problem with following configuration:

WIN98 second edition
Twain driver 4.1.0
Zoombrowser EX 3.2
USB ports of PC work fine with other USB devices.

Windows "Device manager" detects correctly the A40 camera when I switch it on (under "imaging devices" ).

"Zoombrowser" also detects the camera when switched on. However; when trying to download pics from the camera to the PC, latter informs that:
"Camera not detected.
Check the camera connection and try to reconnect"

Camera and cable are beyond doubt as they work fine with other newer PC (WIN XP).

I've uninstalled the software and re-installed it. To no avail.
I have considered upgrading to Win XP and/or Zoombrowser EX 3.2.1 but am not convinced this will solve the problem.

Can we suspect the USB port of the PC? Is it maybe possible that A40 camera leaves very little margin for the voltage delivered by USB port? In other words: if my A40 needs e.g. 5 Volts from the USB; it will not work with 4.9 Volts whereas another USB device still might work fine with 4.9 V. It's just a thought...

Any suggestions welcome.
Rgds

[Hans33]

Dear ShOOtMe;

Did you try it with WinXP?
What is the outcome?

Rgds
Hans


ShOOtMe wrote:
Any other possibilities before I march back to Best Buy with my camera? I am going to try it on WinXP in morning before I pass final judgement.

[Wrighty68]

I have experienced exactly the same problem with my Powershot S100. I have reinstalled the drivers and the Zoombrowser software countless times without success.

The camera works on other PC's, so I know it is a connection issue. Can you shed any light on this? It's driving me insane!

[delphinus]

I don't know whether this is is the same case or not. I owned an S30, and canon provides me with winXP driver only. When I tried connecting it with Win98, it can detect the camera correctly but cannot install anything. Too bad :( Maybe A40's driver is same too?

Delphin

[jslade797]

This happened to me the first time I got the camera. Remember some USB devices don't like to be plugged in together - I solved that problem when I got a hub. For the USB to work I needed to unplug my internet connection (which is via USB). Also make sure you install everything in the right order, otherwise it won't work. I'd suggest a USB hub or a new USB card in the PC to try and solve the problem

[Maestro]

This is odd... I'm experiencing the same problem with my new S40. I recently returned my first s40 due to a defect in the camera and recieved a brand new camera. The old camera worked fine with my laptop however this new camera refuses to communicate with the laptop but works fine with my desktop computer. When I plug the cable into the camera you can tell that the camera knows it's plugged in (Viewscreen lights up) but as soon as I try to communicate with the camera, the viewscreen shuts off and I get the 'No camera detected' message. The USB port on the laptop still works fine with my other USB devices.

I had thought that for some reason my laptop didn't like that I was using a new camera, but maybe it's very sensitive to power or signal strength coming from the USB port itself... But why would one camera work fine and another of the same make and model not unless the supplied USB cable is lower quality or marginally defective..

Interesting problem none the less...

[rick000]

first of all, turn the camera off, plug it into the computer, then turn it on in the preview mode (or what ever you call the little arrow). If it still doesn't work??

There are setting as well as driver and software issues that can cause this. If the computer is recognizing the device whether it knows what it is or what to do with it or not, there is probably not a usb hardware problem. If using window xp go into the device manager and see if windows thinks the device is working properly (On the usb end and the camera end). I am sorry but to explain in detail how to do this would take pages but I will try to give some info later. My camera detects fine in windows xp and comes up with a window asking what program I would like to use with this device. The options are canon zoombroser, photoshop and something else I put on my computer but don't use and don't remember what it is. In photoshop I still have to go into file and then import and the camera is there. I also run windows 98 on the same computer using a boot manager. I use xp with my camera even though xp sucks just because I am more used to using xp. I will install software on 98 and see if I can find any clues. Since it is all on the same computer we can assume all hardware and the camera is fine. It is a giant pain to reboot every time I want to change opperation systems to compare so no promisses tonight but I will try to post more info.

[rick000]

sorry, I am used to diagnosing installed cards etc. and you may not be able to check your camera through device manager. Go to control pannel and (xp) click on clasic view, click on system, click on the hardware tab at the top and click device manager. Click on usb controlers and click on the first subheading. Under device status it should say that this device is working properly. Close the window and click on the next heading and repeat through all usb sub headings. This should tell you if there are any major hardware problems including external usb hubs and internal controlers. DO NOT go into any other menus unless you know what you are doing. If you are not sure click cancel on any and all windows and close any others and start over.

[rick000]

I guess it helps to acctually turn the camera on so the computer will recognise it. Go into device manager and click on imaging devices. Your camera should be listed. Click on it and device status should be this device is working properly. By the way I am responding to this in detail because I am bored. Is anybody looking at this or is this a dead thread?

[horacioduhalde]

I have fixed my problem doing what Canon has suggested to me (it's not documented anywhere).

For Windows 98/Windows Me only. These procedures will not work with
Windows 2000 or Windows XP)

If your camera was recognized by Windows as a USB device, but was
incompletely installed or registered, there may be a "ghost" device in
the Device Manager. To see and remove this device, you must reboot
your
computer into the Safe Mode. Unplug the USB cable connecting your
camera
to the computer before proceeding.

1. Reboot your computer. As soon as it starts booting, begin to press
the F5 key on your keyboard every 1-2 seconds until you see the message
"Windows is bypassing your startup files" at the top of the screen.
Let
Windows continue to boot, and you should see the words "Safe Mode" in
the corners of the screen. The colors will look somewhat strange, and,
usually, everything will appear to be larger on the screen.

2. Click on the Windows Start menu, then on Settings and Control Panel.
In the Control Panel, double-click on the System icon, then on the
Device Manager tab.

3. In the Device Manager, look in the Imaging Device and Other
Devices sections (if applicable) to see if your model camera is
identified there. If so, highlight the camera model name and click on
the Remove button. Also remove any Unknown Device that may be shown in
either of these sections, or in the 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'
section.

4. Reboot your computer. The computer should boot back up in its
Normal
mode. Before you reconnect the USB cable to the computer, install the
USB TWAIN Driver (Windows 98) or USB WIA Driver (Windows Me) software.
Use the Canon Digital Camera Solutions CD-ROM that came with your
camera, or you may download the latest driver from our PowerShot web
site at http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/driverdown.html.

5. Once the Driver software is installed, connect the USB cable between
the camera and the computer. Windows should automatically complete the
installation and registration of your camera as soon as it detects the
camera.

[Hans33]

Hi horacioduhalde;

You definitely solved the problem that I had and that I posted on this board 10/10!

Following your instructions of your message 11/18, I booted WIN98 in Safe Mode; and deleted the A40 camera (under Device Manager, Imaging Device).
While in Safe Mode; I also checked other devices and detected that my Canon Scanner was two times installed. I deleted one set.

I exited Safe Mode and rebooted in Normal Mode.
Once in Normal Mode, under Control Panel, Add/Remove programs; I removed the Canon Twain Driver and reinstalled it and … Bingo.

A zillion thanks. You made my day!

Rgds. Hans

[Peterkk]

Thank you very much for this complete guide.
I've tried many installations on my computer (PIII, 600).
Now it is working!
Merry christmas
Peter

[Patsplace]

In addition to the excellent information give on potential conflicts of software, one thing that I've found that baffled me for a while (read non-computer whiz) was that:
You have to click on the "English" portion of the driver download, once it's resident in your computer to actually get it to load the camera's info.)

Pat

[zentorius]

I had the same problem with Canon PowerShot S30 and Windows 98. It seems only Windows 98 has some problems with the Canon twain usb driver. I followed the advices of rick000: "first of all, turn the camera off, plug it into the computer, then turn it on in the preview mode (or what ever you call the little arrow)" and now works fine, the camera was recognized by Windows 98.

Thanks a lot rick000 :)