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Q: Can't "see" my digital camera in My Computer. ( No Answer,   3 Comments )
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Subject: Can't "see" my digital camera in My Computer.
Category: Computers > Hardware
Asked by: motomanmatt1-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 27 Sep 2005 10:18 PDT
Expires: 27 Oct 2005 10:18 PDT
Question ID: 573320
Our workplace is a network of 30 PC's (running everything from XP to
Windows 98) all connected to a server running Windows Small Business
2003. I did not "build" the network, but I am responsible for
day-to-day maintenence.

We have 4 machines running Windows XP Pro. On THREE of those XP PRo
machines, when I plug in our Sony Cybershot camera, XP recognizes it,
installs it, and it says "Ready for Use". But when I go to My
Computer, it doesn't appear as a Removable Storage Device (like it
does on my machine at home) - hence I can't download anything. I have
the identical problem when I try to conenct a "pen" drive.

The interesting thing is that the FOURTH XP Pro machines will, however
, recognize the Sony and we can "see" it in My Computer. This machine
difers from the others in that it was a new machine that I bought last
year and configured for the network myself.

One more interesting tidbit: if I log in locally to the machine (not
on our server but just on the local machine as, say, Administrator),
and plug in the Sony, I can see it fine.

Any ideas? Could there be a setting on these PCs that is causing this
problem? Could it be that the person who designed and installed the
network years ago put in place some restriction on those machines that
prevents new hardware being installed??

If you have any good thoughts, let me know. This is kind of a problem
for a few of our employees who want to download their cameras.

Thanks!!

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 27 Sep 2005 12:44 PDT
matt...

The comment by danameless-ga is a good place to start.
You say you see it, on the one machine, in My Computer
as a Removable Storage Device, but it would help to 
know how (or if) it appears under Device Manager.

Seeing the difference between how it appears in Device
Manager on the respective machines will tell us a lot.
To get to Device Manager, r-click on My Computer and
select Properties. Then go to the Hardware tab and 
click on Device Manager. Notice where it appears on
the respective machines and post a Question Clarification
here, letting us know.

A user's guide on this topic is on skermit-ga's site, here: 
http://www.christopherwu.net/google_answers/answer_guide.html#how_clarify 
 
sublime1-ga

Clarification of Question by motomanmatt1-ga on 28 Sep 2005 12:45 PDT
Thanks for the quick reply, and the request for clarification. Here's what I found:

On the PC in which the Sony Camera works and appears in My Computer
correctly, the camera appears in the Device Manager under "Disk Drive"
as "Sony Sony DSC USB Device".

On the machines which are exhibiting the problem, it also appears that way.

Regarding the status of the USB ports: 
I went to USB ports in Device Manager, and there are no yellow
exclaimation points (which would tell me there's a problem, no?).

Any ideas?

MK

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 28 Sep 2005 13:52 PDT
MK...

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, a yellow exclamation
point would indicate a problem. If it's showing up the
same way in both the computer that sees it and the ones
in which it doesn't, both without exclamation points,
I don't know what the problem could be.

You say that, in the problem machines, it's not 
showing up in My Computer, thus making it unusable?

Just for fun, instead of using My Computer, find the
link (under Programs -> Accessories, I think) for 
Windows Explorer, and see if it shows up under there,
by some strange quirk of Windows.

sublime1-ga
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Can't "see" my digital camera in My Computer.
From: danameless-ga on 27 Sep 2005 11:29 PDT
 
Some network administrators are required to 'lock' the USB ports on a
PC for security reasons.  For example, using a pen drive or jump drive
to save sensitive data.  I am assuming that the cybershot connects via
USB.  Therefore, if the USB drive is not active - XP will not pick it
up when you connect the camera.  You can check the Device Manager
under Control Panel to see if the USB ports are working correctly.
Subject: Re: Can't "see" my digital camera in My Computer.
From: akb77-ga on 29 Sep 2005 09:05 PDT
 
I have had this happen before and the problem was that the pen drive
(or camera in your case) wasn't able to find an available drive letter
to assign to the device.  I re-arranged some of the mapping of my
network drives to make the upper (closer to a) driver letters
available and that fixed it.  Maybe that is your problem since it
works when you are not logged into the network.
Subject: Re: Can't "see" my digital camera in My Computer.
From: ballzach-ga on 27 Apr 2006 14:59 PDT
 
Whats up,

AKB77-ga was correct, I just had the same exact problem, my Sony
camera would not show up in my computer, BUT, it was in the removable
media list, in 'hardware devices' and in computer management, but no
drive letter was assigned.

It worked fine on the other PC.

WHAT THE PROBLEM IS:
After a little while, I figured out that, The NEXT DRIVE LETTER must
be available. Example: FloppyA, HardC, DVD-d, cdrom-e, then SONY is
going to take "F" ...... EVEN IF, EVEN IF you aready assigned "F" to
something else (Network) ....

I unmounted my "F" drive, and bam, camera works.

The last "REAL" drive letter is important, anything 'assigning a new
letter' is going to take the next one (in my case being F) so it HAD
TO BE FREE.



I hope this helps people in the future, -- I found this post by
searching yahoo for "sony usb camera will not show up on my computer
list" -- this post was number two down .....


Thanks for helping, AT THE SAME TIME, I am glad I could try to help !!!

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