USB problems with Sony DSC-S50

Hi all -

Lately, I've been getting failures when I plug my digicam into the USB port,
causing me to have to revert to my trusty (but SLOW) floppy disk adapter I
sore I'd never go back to. Has anyone else had a USB failure with a Sony
digicam? It fails in every port I've tried, and other items work in the
same ports, so I suspect the camera. I don't have another cord to try, but
I really don't suspect it. Is there a way to reinstall the camera's
firmware, if that would help? Other ideas?

Thanks - Armando

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 23:46:35 GMT, Armando wrote:

Lately, I've been getting failures when I plug my digicam into the USB port,
causing me to have to revert to my trusty (but SLOW) floppy disk adapter I
sore I'd never go back to. Has anyone else had a USB failure with a Sony
digicam? It fails in every port I've tried, and other items work in the
same ports, so I suspect the camera. I don't have another cord to try, but
I really don't suspect it. Is there a way to reinstall the camera's
firmware, if that would help? Other ideas?

Check your camera's menu. There is usually more than one USB
mode, and only one of them will let the computer see the camera's
memory card as a disk drive. Cameras can have a PictBridge
(printer) mode or a Web Cam mode. If set to either of these instead
of the desired DCS (Mass Storage Device) mode, the camera won't
recognize the camera as a disk drive that it can copy pictures from.

In article ,
says...
Hi all -

Lately, I've been getting failures when I plug my digicam into the USB port,
causing me to have to revert to my trusty (but SLOW) floppy disk adapter I
sore I'd never go back to. Has anyone else had a USB failure with a Sony
digicam? It fails in every port I've tried, and other items work in the
same ports, so I suspect the camera. I don't have another cord to try, but
I really don't suspect it. Is there a way to reinstall the camera's
firmware, if that would help? Other ideas?

Chances are the contacts for the USB connector on the camera are worn or
dirty. My advice would be to get a card reader. You can get them for
less than $20.

I used to have that camera, it was a great little camera.

In article ,
says...
Check your camera's menu. There is usually more than one USB
mode, and only one of them will let the computer see the camera's
memory card as a disk drive. Cameras can have a PictBridge
(printer) mode or a Web Cam mode. If set to either of these instead
of the desired DCS (Mass Storage Device) mode, the camera won't
recognize the camera as a disk drive that it can copy pictures from.

I used to have one of these. It didn't have PictBridge or any other USB
modes. You just plugged in the camera and it showed as a drive.

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 19:42:16 -0700, KenJr wrote:

Check your camera's menu. There is usually more than one USB
mode, and only one of them will let the computer see the camera's
memory card as a disk drive. Cameras can have a PictBridge
(printer) mode or a Web Cam mode. If set to either of these instead
of the desired DCS (Mass Storage Device) mode, the camera won't
recognize the camera as a disk drive that it can copy pictures from.

I used to have one of these. It didn't have PictBridge or any other USB
modes. You just plugged in the camera and it showed as a drive.

And I used to have to transfer files using my old Canon's serial
port because my computer had no USB support. Back then PictBridge
hadn't yet been developed and even today many cameras don't have a
Web Cam mode. But as I said, many of today's cameras have more than
one USB mode, so that's something that should be checked unless it's
known to lack other USB modes, as the SDC-S50 apparently does. I
might have guessed that this camera lacked alternate USB modes but
didn't catch the "floppy disk adapter" clue. Shades of Mavicas,
how old is that thing?

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 23:29:12 -0400, ASAAR wrote:

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 19:42:16 -0700, KenJr wrote:

Check your camera's menu. There is usually more than one USB
mode, and only one of them will let the computer see the camera's
memory card as a disk drive. Cameras can have a PictBridge
(printer) mode or a Web Cam mode. If set to either of these instead
of the desired DCS (Mass Storage Device) mode, the camera won't
recognize the camera as a disk drive that it can copy pictures from.

I used to have one of these. It didn't have PictBridge or any other USB
modes. You just plugged in the camera and it showed as a drive.

And I used to have to transfer files using my old Canon's serial
port because my computer had no USB support. Back then PictBridge
hadn't yet been developed and even today many cameras don't have a
Web Cam mode. But as I said, many of today's cameras have more than
one USB mode, so that's something that should be checked unless it's
known to lack other USB modes, as the SDC-S50 apparently does. I
might have guessed that this camera lacked alternate USB modes but
didn't catch the "floppy disk adapter" clue. Shades of Mavicas,
how old is that thing?

According to dpreview, Feb. of 2000.
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

In article ,
says...
I might have guessed that this camera lacked alternate USB modes but
didn't catch the "floppy disk adapter" clue. Shades of Mavicas,
how old is that thing?

I bought mine right before Christmas in 2000. It's a nice little camera,
I wish I'd have kept mine. Of course it's no match for my DSLR, but it
was pretty good for a 2.1 MP camera.

If it is still working for him I'd say to keep it, even if he does
decide to buy a new camera later. The only reason I got rid of mine is
my dad broke his S50 and it gave me an excuse to buy a better camera.