Does anyone know why I can't get my computer to recognize my digital camera or a web camera. My computer is 6 years old. Could the USB ports be to old?

the PC may be a USB 1 or 1.1.... How new is the camera..... Usb is now up to 2.x........

Did you load the camera software? Assuming you are not running XP, 98 does not automatically recognize new equiment

If none of those mentioned are the answer then make sure your USB ports are installed. Older machines and OS's had to have them installed. Check Device Manager and see the the USB Controller is installed should be the very last item on the list. My guess would be you first answer that you have 1 or 1.1 and your trying to hook up 2.X devices.

Dave

Matt's most likely right, IMHO. USB 2 was introduced a couple years ago or so. It's a lot faster but the older amchines aren't comaptible. I did a quick search and found nbothing about upgrading USB 1.x to 2.x.

You can't upgrade a port, but you can buy a USB 2.X card for your computer and they are pretty cheap. I'm thinking about $20 give or take. 1.0 devices will work on 2.0 ports but 2.0 devices will not work on 1.0 ports.

Here is one at Amazon for $20 new or $13 used.

USB CARD

Later
Dave

I installed the 2.0 usb port on my wifes old computer and it only cost $19.00 and took me about ten minutes to do (and I am a computer dummy) :-) It gave her 4 additional ports. Her old ones are 1.1.

USB 1.x & 2.x are hardware protocols.

Given that your PC is 6 years old, I assume it is USB 1.x.

This is most likely a software or drivers issue. (I run USB 1 ports on MS Windows XP Pro and my hardware is picked up fine - even tells me that running USB 2 will be faster every time i plug a USB device in)

What OS are you running? Most OSes pre-XP require the hardware drivers to be installed. In this case you will also want to install the camera software.
If you are running XP, make sure you have installed SP 1 & 2, and also check Microsoft's site to check for compatibility - although I assume if this is a new camera it will be XP compatible.

I've used a USB 2.0 device on a 1.0 port and it worked fine. Just supposed to be a slower transfer rate. I'd try the drivers before spending any money.

Paul

Thanks alot guys. That's what it was (I already had a nagging feeling about it already) I went to Radio Shack and pick one up for $30 CDN which was on sale from $50 and 10 mins later everything was working great. I'm looking forward to now joining the rank of armourama guys getting their models look at by all us critics :-) :-)