trouble working with g2 and my home pc

I bought my Canon Powershot G2 Black in the UK at the beginning of August.

I have successfully used the included CD ROM and cable to download images to a friend's computer running Windows 2000.

Unfortunately I am unable to get my own computer, also running Windows 2000, to connect to the camera at all, even when I have gone through exactly the same process as before. I follow the CD installation instructions to the letter, and after I exit the setup program I plug in and turn on my G2. On my friend's computer there is almost instant recognition, the uppermost display panel on the G2 displays PC and on the screen I am offered the choice of working with ZoomBrowser or Imaging. On my computer: dead as a dodo. No recognition, the G2 continues to show Pb, and if I go to Device Manager (using Properties and My Computer) there is no indication anywhere of the additional hardware being plugged in. Today I even managed to get everything working on the machine in my workplace, so I know I am doing 'everything right' ... there must be some conflicts or settings on my home computer that is causing the lack of success. I have never used the USB ports on my home machine before, so I am beginning to wonder if they are at fault. I am very frustrated because it is at home I want to do all of my image processing. Please could you advise me of what could be wrong.

Thank you in advance.

Seems like your USB hub/ports aren't working properly. Do you have any other USB device (maybe your friend has) that you can verify this with?

Also, check the device manager. (Control Panel->System->Hardware tab->Device manager)

You should see a USB controller in the table. It probably has an expandable [+] in front of it, expand it to see what's inside. Any indications from Windows that it isn't working?

This may be a sollution: Try rebooting your computer, at bootup press Delete button (or F1 depending on BIOS) to enter the BIOS setup. See if there's an option to enable IRQ for USB. If so, enable it.
Before changing any values that you are uncertain about, always remember (jot down on a note or something) the previous settings, so that you can roll back.