usb driver trouble with fz30...

[darkiss]

Hi all!
I have buy the fz30 but i can't connect it to my pc...
i suspect win xp to be the source of my problem...the device manager
take a lot to search the camera. The panasonic driver utility say thats
no need to install the usb drivers because winxp already have such a drivers...:confused:
I hope someone have a fix for these problem,i gonna buy a sd reader this morning...
Thanx Darkiss
Lausanne,Swiss

[genece]

XP needs no drivers......But the card reader should fix your problem and is a wise investment.

When you have the camera attached can you see an extra drive in Windows Explorer? If so just open that drive and the photos should be there.

[grif]

under XP you don't need any USB driver to install. If you connect the FZ30 directly on USB, you should have a new removable drive on Windows Explorer. One more detail. Before connecting it to USB go on FZ30 into the menu -> setup -> USB Mode = PC !! not PicBridge !! After you connect the FZ30 using USB power up the camera. If the cable is full inserted into the camera's USB port you will see on LCD display: "ACCESS" . First time when I tried to connect didn't work just because I failed to fully insert the USB cable into camera's USB port !! :D
Also I am using a card reader&writer USB device. I prefer to use this device instead of connecting the camera on USB...that USB port from FZ30 looks so fragile to me.

[darkiss]

First thanks for yours posts!
I have done all the normal procedures for install a "new hardware device" but
the problem still the same...:confused: the hardware device manager is too much slow in normal win xp mode... but i remenber the "f8" key and i try the win xp safe mode, have install without problems a card reader (my mouse too have erase my usb ports and work only with keyboard:D ), reboot in normal win mode and i have see my first pictures with the fz30...
So something is slowing down my device manager:cool:...
i gonna try the same procedure with the camera.

thanks
Darkiss

[genece]

The problem you are having is with windows and not the camera or reader.
Have you run the Hardware trouble shooter and do you have any yellow ! or red X's in the device mgr?

[tim11]

I agree with Genece it sounds like WinXP problem. How old is your computer? Do you have current updates on WinXP since you bought computer? If you have earliest version of XP [and no updates] then that could be the reason.

[TheThorn]

I appear to be having the same (or a similar) problem.

I just got my FZ30. I've taken a few shots and tried transferring them to two different computers, unsuccessfully.

One computer is a WIN 98 desktop, the other is an XP laptop.

I installed the drivers on the 98 machine. When I plug the camera in to the usb, windows detects the new equipment, installs the drivers, and everything looks ok, except the camera doesn't show up in explorer. Nothing unusual in the device manager. Camera USB is set to PC. Camera itself is showing the transfer icon.

On the xp laptop, I plugged the camera into the USB, same thing. It detects the new hardware, installs the drivers, and looks fine, but it's not there in explorer. No removable media device shows up in my computer, nothing unusual in device manager. I ran the Lumix Simple Viewer on the XP machine (the docs say it's not compatible with 98), and told it to acquire pictures from the camera, and it said there were none (there are about 8).

The camera, meanwhile is showing the transfer icon on the screen. When I unplug the usb cable from the camera, it goes back to capture mode.

What am I doing wrong?:confused:

[darkiss]

Hi all!
In the last days my win xp (sp1) goes bad...
the device manager comes out more and more times, i think, searching to install corretly the mouse or something else... and slowing down the system...until last night...
I start my pc and at the place of my login box...the pc reboot...reboot..
reboot and reboot...:mad: i take the decision to reinstall win xp, but in the options chose only to repair it... and it works fine...:D.
Now its detects the FZ3O without problems and its run faster...

the best thing to do is to repair windows xp, BUT,if you can, make always
a backup of your data.don't trust win xp :cool:

Thanks
Darkiss

For "TheThorn": try to connect an other usb device you have,at best a storage device (another camera,a mp3 player,a removable hard disk) and see
what happens...99,99% is always a micro$oft win problem.Check if the usb cable is really good insert, and check out any anormal thing (slow win,error boxes,...).

[genece]

Please do yourself a favor and get a card reader...even if it does not solve this problem it will save you wearing out the camera connection in the future and then you will have to buy a card reader.

And with a reader you risk no damage to the camera while you are trying to figure this out.

You can get a reader for 10 dollars or less and the transfer of photos will be faster and you risk no damage to the camera.

I use this one

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=2470623&sourceid=0100000030660804302498



I appear to be having the same (or a similar) problem.

I just got my FZ30. I've taken a few shots and tried transferring them to two different computers, unsuccessfully.

One computer is a WIN 98 desktop, the other is an XP laptop.

I installed the drivers on the 98 machine. When I plug the camera in to the usb, windows detects the new equipment, installs the drivers, and everything looks ok, except the camera doesn't show up in explorer. Nothing unusual in the device manager. Camera USB is set to PC. Camera itself is showing the transfer icon.

On the xp laptop, I plugged the camera into the USB, same thing. It detects the new hardware, installs the drivers, and looks fine, but it's not there in explorer. No removable media device shows up in my computer, nothing unusual in device manager. I ran the Lumix Simple Viewer on the XP machine (the docs say it's not compatible with 98), and told it to acquire pictures from the camera, and it said there were none (there are about 8).

The camera, meanwhile is showing the transfer icon on the screen. When I unplug the usb cable from the camera, it goes back to capture mode.

What am I doing wrong?:confused:

[TheThorn]

OK, I found the problem with the XP machine. Apparently, removable memory of any sort, including a camera, tries to set up as the lowest drive letter that's not used by a fixed drive - in my case E:. But I already had a network drive mapped to E:. It doesn't bother to tell you there's any problem, it just doesn't work. According to the pros I work with, this is a known "issue". So map your network drives to high letters.

As soon as I disconnected that network drive, I was in business.

Still can't figure out the problem with the Win98 machine, but at least I know it's not the camera.

And thanks for the advice, genese. I'll probably get one of those - it sounds like the smart thing to do.

[TheThorn]

Well, I followed Gene's advice, and bought a card reader. Plugged it into my PC, and windows detected it and installed the software for it. When I opened Explorer, it wasn't there either. Just like the camera.

But by now I'm getting a little smarter. No network dirves like the other PC, but this one has a Kodak DC5000 showing up in explorer. That was 2 cameras ago. I uninstalled it's software, and bingo - the card reader shows up, and I'm in business.

Of course, now the camera shows up in explorer too, so I don't really need the card reader, but I'm keeping it, because I think Gene's got a good point. That USB connection to the camera does look kind of flimsey.

Thanks for the help.

[Mike63]

With your new card reader, USB 2, and a fast card, your downloads will take 1/10 of the time to down load! Enjoy!!