Boot-up problem when camera software is installed

Martino · 27th June 2005

Hello!
Win 98 SE, Pentium 3, 256 MB Ram. 80 GB hard drive with 71.4 GB free and free system resources of 88%.

Daughter has a FujiFilm FinePix digital camera (330 model), which she got at Xmas. Installed the software at that time and everything worked fine. In March, had a hard drive failure and new HD was installed. We loaded back in all of the software that was installed prior to the replacement of the HD. Shortly after, computer would not boot fully (desktop appeared, without icons and the cursor arrow and hourglass combo appeared and stayed there. C+A+D would only freeze up the computer.) Thinking that there was a problem with the new HD (same symptom as when it failed), I took it back to the shop, who couldn't find anything wrong with it.....they did disable or remove the non-necessary start-up items (including the camera software). Worked just fine until we re-installed the camera software and the same problem occurred.

I thought that she could just install the software when she she wanted to upload picture from the camera and uninstall after, but after installing the software, it prompts a re-start and the problem occurs. We are able to boot into safe mode and uninstall the camera software, but are not able to upload pictures from safe mode. I talked to tech support at Fuji (software source) and they were not able to explain why this occurs, and told me contact the PC manufacturer (it's a PowerSpec....Micro Center's house brand), which I have not done to date. By the way, to test the software, I installed it on my Win98 (not SE) computer and everything worked fine. One more thing, disabling the start up function of the software (FinePix Viewer) in msconfig doesn't seem to have any affect after the computer restarts.

Anybody have any ideas for me, a nearly computer-illiterate soul?

**sparrow** · 27th June 2005

If it is a A330, and you have USB ports installed, you shouldn't need the camera software to download the pics from the camera. Have you tried it without, using windows explorer, or 'my computer'?

Or you can purchase a card reader for xD flash memory, if that's what it uses, that will work with the usb port. Click the link.

If it is a ds-330 with a serial connection, there may be a conflict with IRQs and you'll have to solve that by investigating the ports in debice manager in control panel.

Martino · 29th June 2005

Thanks, Sparrow...

It indeed is an A330 and there are USB ports installed. The camera and manual are currently on a trip with my daughter, and she asked me to try to find out some answers for her while she's gone, so she can upload pics from her trip.

I wasn't aware that you could transfer pics from the camera to the computer without the software installed....we'll certainly give that a go when she returns.

Would the software be just for imaging purposes once the pics are uploaded to the computer (sorry for the question.....daughter has the manual with her)?

hawk22 · 10th July 2005

Hi Martino,
Fuji Fine Pix Cameras use XD Memory Cards and a USB Card Reader is what you want. Forget the download software and USB cables from the camera to the PC it is a big drain on your Batteries as well, and if you should happen to have a problem the chances are that you might loose your pics.
Using the card reader you have recovery software available should something go wrong. Use only the Imaging Software to do that.
enjoy
hawk22

**sparrow** · 11th July 2005

The software with cameras is mostly for correcting exposure and minimal editing. Ir's not required for downloading the pics.

I don't believe there's any danger of losing pics either way you download them, i.e., with a card reader or direct from the camera. If you use rechargeables, battery drain's not a problem.