connecting camera to computer

My computer is an HP Pavilion 754n (6 months old) and has handy USB connectors at the front. We got a new Fuji FinePix 310 digital camera and we installed the software with no problem. When we attached the cable to the camera, and to a USB socket as instructed, the computer went dead! I pushed the power button and there was no response. I checked that the power cord was attached securely to the computer socket, and it was. I pulled the power cord out of the computer socket and reattached it. A little green light near the computer socket at the back came on. This time, when I pushed the power button on the computer, it restarted. This time, we plugged the USB cable into a USB socket without the camera attached and the computer did not shut down.
Not a half and hour before, we had installed the software onto a IBM Thinkpad R40, plugged the camera in, and downloaded the pictures from the camera with no computer shutdown at all.
What could be the problem? Please advise.

 

Hi Terry: I don't know if this will help, but I had a problem with a USB scanner. Software installed fine, Scanner worked fine, but the machine refused to boot with the scanner plugged in to the easy access ports in the front of the machine.

The solution to this problem was to plug the scanner directly into the motherboard. That is the connectors on the back of the machine. If plugged in to the front, easy access ports, or a hub plugged in the back, the machine would not boot.

Seems that the front ports are in effect a hub, and for some reason affected my computer differently than a direct plug to the board.

Good luck on finding the answer.

Martin