CoolPix 995 Connectivity Issues

So the other day I decide to haul out my first digital camera, the Nikon
CoolPix 995, a device I'd not used in some three years, to photograph
several fossils to include at one of my paleontology web pages.

After the shoot, I hooked the 995 to the USB port (using the cable that came
with the camera), as I'd always done in the past, of course, and patiently
waited for the new drive letter to appear on My Computer (I'm using Windows
98SE)--but, the images never transferred to the computer. They remained
locked inside the camera.

Rather frustrated, to say the least, I then hooked the 995 (using the same
cable that came with the camera) to the USB port on our Toshiba laptop.
Presto...the images tranferred with no problems encountered. As an
additional experiment, to try to narrow down the difficulties, I attached to
my PC through the USB port a portable Zip drive--once again, my PC
immediately recognized the Zip drive and I was able to tranfer the images of
fossils from the Zip to my PC.

OK--at this point I'm figuring that both the cable and USB are fine. I'm
also supposing that the issue may have to do with a lack of transfer of the
necessary drivers from 995 to PC. Probably I'm sounding rather ignorant
here. At any rate...any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Fossils In Death Valley National Park
http://members.aol.com/Waucoba5/dv/d...m#scenicimages
(I took virtually all of these images from Death Valley with the CoolPix 995
during occasional visits in 2002-2003--a minor few I snapped with a Nikon
35mm camera.) My working email address, by the way, is Waucoba4 at aol dot
com.

In article , Inyo wrote:

So the other day I decide to haul out my first digital camera, the Nikon
CoolPix 995, a device I'd not used in some three years, to photograph
several fossils to include at one of my paleontology web pages.

After the shoot, I hooked the 995 to the USB port (using the cable that came
with the camera), as I'd always done in the past, of course, and patiently
waited for the new drive letter to appear on My Computer (I'm using Windows
98SE)--but, the images never transferred to the computer. They remained
locked inside the camera.

Rather frustrated, to say the least, I then hooked the 995 (using the same
cable that came with the camera) to the USB port on our Toshiba laptop.
Presto...the images tranferred with no problems encountered. As an
additional experiment, to try to narrow down the difficulties, I attached to
my PC through the USB port a portable Zip drive--once again, my PC
immediately recognized the Zip drive and I was able to tranfer the images of
fossils from the Zip to my PC.

OK--at this point I'm figuring that both the cable and USB are fine. I'm
also supposing that the issue may have to do with a lack of transfer of the
necessary drivers from 995 to PC. Probably I'm sounding rather ignorant
here. At any rate...any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

It could be that your Windows 98SE system doesn't have the "USB mass
storage" driver. If this is the case, the camera's storage would not
show up at all as a mass-storage device (e.g. in the disk formatting
tool).

See http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php to see if
the information there helps the situation.

Windows 98SE should support the FAT32 filesystem (which some cameras
use) so that shouldn't be a problem.

It's also possible, I suppose, that the USB port on your 98SE system
is bad (physically) or has some sort of BIOS/port/IRQ conflict which
is preventing it from operating. Check the Windows device-manager
window to confirm that the USB port is actually enabled.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

wrote in message
news
On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:49:29 -0700, in rec.photo.digital "Inyo"
wrote:

OK--at this point I'm figuring that both the cable and USB are fine. I'm
also supposing that the issue may have to do with a lack of transfer of
the
necessary drivers from 995 to PC. Probably I'm sounding rather ignorant
here. At any rate...any help with this problem would be greatly
appreciated.

You don't say what OS was on the system you could connect with. Bottom
line
imo is get an inexpensive card reader that have drivers for the OS you
need
to connect to. and forget about connecting the camera. Been there, done
that with a 990, 5700, D70, D200 and D300.

On the Toshiba laptop, the OS is Windows ME, I believe. The Zip drive
connected on both Windows98SE and ME, so that was the basis for my idea that
the USB was OK.

The 995 had always worked on Windows98SE, right from the very beginning. No
problems until I tried again after about three years. Very mysterious,
indeed.

Dave Platt wrote in message
news
It could be that your Windows 98SE system doesn't have the "USB mass
storage" driver. If this is the case, the camera's storage would not
show up at all as a mass-storage device (e.g. in the disk formatting
tool).

See http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php to see if
the information there helps the situation.

Windows 98SE should support the FAT32 filesystem (which some cameras
use) so that shouldn't be a problem.

It's also possible, I suppose, that the USB port on your 98SE system
is bad (physically) or has some sort of BIOS/port/IRQ conflict which
is preventing it from operating. Check the Windows device-manager
window to confirm that the USB port is actually enabled.

Thanks much for the tips. I will certainly look into them.

Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:12:08 -0700, in rec.photo.digital "Inyo"
wrote:


The 995 had always worked on Windows98SE, right from the very beginning.
No
problems until I tried again after about three years. Very mysterious,
indeed.

Try re-installing the Nikon SW if that that's the way you want to go. SE
and ME can be quite different in how they deal with USB devices. Nothing
like W2k/Xp where almost everything can mount as a removable drive.

Thank you much. Will give it a try. I did have the PC worked on around two
or three years ago, come to think of it--they re-installed 98SE and backed
up all my files. I thought I had used the 995 since the repairs, but now I'm
indeed beginning to wonder...

"Inyo" wrote in message ...
So the other day I decide to haul out my first digital camera, the Nikon
CoolPix 995, a device I'd not used in some three years, to photograph
several fossils to include at one of my paleontology web pages.

After the shoot, I hooked the 995 to the USB port (using the cable that came
with the camera), as I'd always done in the past, of course, and patiently
waited for the new drive letter to appear on My Computer (I'm using Windows
98SE)--but, the images never transferred to the computer. They remained
locked inside the camera.

Two dumb questions

Did you refresh the display in Windows Explorer (which should be necessary)
to show the new Drive ?

Did you try rebooting with the camera already hooked up to the computer ?
(Which shouldn;t be necessary but might do the trick)

Oh and another couple of dumb questions

Was the camera switched on ( it was obviously switched on when you transfeered
the files to the laptop I know, but its maybe posible to forget)

How many times did you actually connect and disconnect the USB cable
at both ends ? As maybe a contact wasn't being made although it felt
as though it had been.

From reading the remainder of your post its clear that it can't be any of the
usual suspects. The USB port is OK, 98SE recognises the USB port - if it
recognises the Zip drive as a mass storage device then clearly that driver
is present. As you copied the files fron the Zip disk clearly the file
format is ok. And the camera is OK.

As both the camera and cabling works o.k with the laptop - and the PC works with
other USB devices and did with this camera before, I'd give the plugging and
unplugging, refresh and reboot routines another whirl myself.


michael adams

....



Rather frustrated, to say the least, I then hooked the 995 (using the same
cable that came with the camera) to the USB port on our Toshiba laptop.
Presto...the images tranferred with no problems encountered. As an
additional experiment, to try to narrow down the difficulties, I attached to
my PC through the USB port a portable Zip drive--once again, my PC
immediately recognized the Zip drive and I was able to tranfer the images of
fossils from the Zip to my PC.

OK--at this point I'm figuring that both the cable and USB are fine. I'm
also supposing that the issue may have to do with a lack of transfer of the
necessary drivers from 995 to PC. Probably I'm sounding rather ignorant
here. At any rate...any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Fossils In Death Valley National Park
http://members.aol.com/Waucoba5/dv/d...m#scenicimages
(I took virtually all of these images from Death Valley with the CoolPix 995
during occasional visits in 2002-2003--a minor few I snapped with a Nikon
35mm camera.) My working email address, by the way, is Waucoba4 at aol dot
com.

tomm42 wrote in message
...
On Aug 13, 1:49 pm, "Inyo" wrote:
So the other day I decide to haul out my first digital camera, the Nikon
CoolPix 995, a device I'd not used in some three years, to photograph
several fossils to include at one of my paleontology web pages.

After the shoot, I hooked the 995 to the USB port (using the cable that
came
with the camera), as I'd always done in the past, of course, and
patiently
waited for the new drive letter to appear on My Computer (I'm using
Windows
98SE)--but, the images never transferred to the computer. They remained
locked inside the camera.

Rather frustrated, to say the least, I then hooked the 995 (using the
same
cable that came with the camera) to the USB port on our Toshiba laptop.
Presto...the images tranferred with no problems encountered. As an
additional experiment, to try to narrow down the difficulties, I
attached to
my PC through the USB port a portable Zip drive--once again, my PC
immediately recognized the Zip drive and I was able to tranfer the
images of
fossils from the Zip to my PC.

OK--at this point I'm figuring that both the cable and USB are fine. I'm
also supposing that the issue may have to do with a lack of transfer of
the
necessary drivers from 995 to PC. Probably I'm sounding rather ignorant
here. At any rate...any help with this problem would be greatly
appreciated.

Fossils In Death Valley National
Parkhttp://members.aol.com/Waucoba5/dv/dvfossils.htm#scenicimages
(I took virtually all of these images from Death Valley with the CoolPix
995
during occasional visits in 2002-2003--a minor few I snapped with a
Nikon
35mm camera.) My working email address, by the way, is Waucoba4 at aol
dot
com.


Get a card reader for the Win 98SE computer. I have a 995 and camera
transfer was always slow and battery intensive. A $20 card reader
solves the problem and does a faster transfer, make sure you get one
with software for Win98SE. Oh yes the 995 is not fat32, max card it
can use is 1gb.

Actually, the transfer from camera to computer, using the USB, used to be
essentially instantaneous. No delays, no lag issues whatsoever. But...I did
run out, finally, and purchase a 20 dollar card reader from our local
electronics emporium; I then downloaded the necessary drivers from their web
site and now I'm good to go.

Still, that pesky connectivity problem remains unresolved. I even tried
downloading a batch of drivers for CoolPix cameras from the Nikon page
(their Knowledge Base area is a beast to fight through, I must say)--thought
that might solve the troubles. No such luck. Ah, well, perhaps--as mentioned
here and elsewhere in this thread--I'll likely want to upgrade my Windows,
eventually. Thanks a bunch for the suggestions.

Think about upgrading your OSs Win 2000 and XP work so much better
than 98SE. I had 3 older computers with 98SE on them, my son badgered
me to upgrade (he is a computer science grad). Even my wifes 9 year
old Pentium IV 900 works better, wouldn't want to try Photoshop on her
computer. If you work for an educational institution the cost isn't
that high. I wasn't happy about the cost but this all worked out and
all the computers are working better, more conveniently.

Tom

michael adams wrote in message
...

"Inyo" wrote in message ...
So the other day I decide to haul out my first digital camera, the Nikon
CoolPix 995, a device I'd not used in some three years, to photograph
several fossils to include at one of my paleontology web pages.

After the shoot, I hooked the 995 to the USB port (using the cable that
came
with the camera), as I'd always done in the past, of course, and
patiently
waited for the new drive letter to appear on My Computer (I'm using
Windows
98SE)--but, the images never transferred to the computer. They remained
locked inside the camera.

Two dumb questions

Did you refresh the display in Windows Explorer (which should be
necessary)
to show the new Drive ?

Good idea. I tried that. No luck, though.

Did you try rebooting with the camera already hooked up to the computer ?
(Which shouldn;t be necessary but might do the trick)

Yes, I attempted that angle, too.

Oh and another couple of dumb questions

Was the camera switched on ( it was obviously switched on when you
transfeered
the files to the laptop I know, but its maybe posible to forget)

I forgot to switch it on a couple of times during the early moments of my
struggles.

How many times did you actually connect and disconnect the USB cable
at both ends ? As maybe a contact wasn't being made although it felt
as though it had been.

Several times, at least. Good things did not happen, though.

From reading the remainder of your post its clear that it can't be any of
the
usual suspects. The USB port is OK, 98SE recognises the USB port - if it
recognises the Zip drive as a mass storage device then clearly that driver
is present. As you copied the files fron the Zip disk clearly the file
format is ok. And the camera is OK.

That was pretty much the reasoning I followed, as well. Thank you, indeed,
for all the suggestions.

As both the camera and cabling works o.k with the laptop - and the PC
works with
other USB devices and did with this camera before, I'd give the plugging
and
unplugging, refresh and reboot routines another whirl myself.


michael adams

Rather frustrated, to say the least, I then hooked the 995 (using the
same
cable that came with the camera) to the USB port on our Toshiba laptop.
Presto...the images tranferred with no problems encountered. As an
additional experiment, to try to narrow down the difficulties, I
attached to
my PC through the USB port a portable Zip drive--once again, my PC
immediately recognized the Zip drive and I was able to tranfer the
images of
fossils from the Zip to my PC.

OK--at this point I'm figuring that both the cable and USB are fine. I'm
also supposing that the issue may have to do with a lack of transfer of
the
necessary drivers from 995 to PC. Probably I'm sounding rather ignorant
here. At any rate...any help with this problem would be greatly
appreciated.

Fossils In Death Valley National Park
http://members.aol.com/Waucoba5/dv/d...m#scenicimages
(I took virtually all of these images from Death Valley with the CoolPix
995
during occasional visits in 2002-2003--a minor few I snapped with a
Nikon
35mm camera.) My working email address, by the way, is Waucoba4 at aol
dot
com.