Recently I purchased a new digital camera, but the camera seems unable to communicate with the computer. When using the Scanner and Camera wizard a message appears saying ‘Unable to communicate with the Imaging Device. Please make sure it is connected and turned on’. The computer also says it cannot find the software for the camera, even though the software is definitely installed. The computer is running Windows Me.

In these situations the first procedure you should try is to completely uninstall and then reinstall all the camera software and drivers. Furthermore, before reinstalling the software and drivers you should check the product website to see whether any updated software or drivers have been released (which may be newer versions than on the CD which came with the camera). However, should the problem continue after reinstalling the software and drivers, the next possible cause of the issue is a conflict between the digital camera and the USB controller in your computer. Other users have reported the same error you are experiencing, and in such cases it seems the USB chipset (i.e. the hardware inside the computer which understands and drives the USB ports) is incompatible with the digital camera. Unfortunately there is no easy way to resolve this issue, since it is a hardware conflict. That said, you may be able to work around this issue by using a USB card reader. By using a card reader, you can insert the memory card from your digital camera into the reader and it is treated just like any other drive on your computer, allowing it to be accessed through My Computer or Windows Explorer. So, you can copy files from the memory card onto your computer just like copying any other files. Furthermore, using a card reader is generally much faster than connecting the digital camera to the computer as there is less overhead, since the images can be copied directly from the memory card rather than going through the digital camera. The memory card readers connect to the computer through USB, offering high-speed data transfer. The readers retail for about $30 - $50 at most computer stores. Most of the card readers support all major memory card formats, such as CompactFlash, SecureDigital, MemoryStick, etc. However, before purchasing you should double-check the card reader supports the types of memory cards used in your digital camera, just to make sure!

If you still have difficulty resolving the issue, or are unable to use a memory card reader to work around the issue, please contact me again for further advice. In that case, please provide further details on the particulars of the problem, such as the digital camera model.