Compact Flash Read Problem

check device manager?

Gene,

"CF card reader will not produce the Drive G icon in the My Computer window unless a CF card has been inserted into it "

It should. Did it before?

"My thinking is that there is nothing wrong with my Compact Flash memory cards, and nothing wrong with my digital cameras, and nothing wrong with my ADS FireWire CF card reader. "

I agree.

"I also think there is nothing wrong with my USB and FireWire software drivers. "

I'm not so sure. I still think it's a software problem, possibly due to XP drivers or drivers for your hardware (cameras and card reader). Have you reinstalled the card reader software? Mine came with drivers to install.

Try Pete's suggestion above.

The other thing you should do (as Pete suggested before) is check device manager again; Click start > control panel > system > hardware > device manager and right click each suspect item and left click properties. If it says "This device is working properly." go on to the next. If you don't find a problem there, we're looking at possibly reinstalling Xp, unless someone else has a better suggestion. So be sure to back up all yout data (e.g., pictures) on cd's.

But I'd first try to get the software from a dealer or a friend that was mentioned in my earlier post.

 

Problem Solved! Hallelujuh!

First, I want to thank everyone who offered advice - which I know in some cases required quite a bit of research. Without your efforts and continued support, I would have undoubtedly given up in frustration. Everyone who contributed provided a bit of advice which ultimately lead to the resolution of my problem. Somehow, it was all inter-related.

After Pete C.'s latest suggestion, I checked my Folder Options and understood the logic behind it - but found that it didn't apply in my situation. Then, for lack of anything better to do, I tried connecting one of my digital SLR's one more time to a USB port. To my amazement, it read the CF card just as it should. I tried my 3 other CF cards, and they all read just as they should. Next, I tried connecting to a FireWire port - and everything worked just as it should. What was different this time was that I was using the newer of my 2 Olympus E-1 cameras. Why it wouldn't work before, I have no explanation - but it may be related to switching from one camera to the other on the same cable without properly uninstalling the first one as a USB device.

When I tried using the older of my 2 cameras, it still wouldn't work with either the FireWire or USB ports - and the ADS FireWire CF card reader still wouldn't work. When I said that the 2 cameras were identical, that wasn't completely true. The newer of the 2 cameras, which I've only had for about a week, actually had an earlier firmware version. The older camera had the latest firmware update because I updated from the Olympus web site about 2 months ago. I knew the newer camera needed its firmware updated, but since this was the only one which could download images from a CF card to my computer - I didn't want to fix something that wasn't broken.

Since the older of my 2 cameras was unable to download images through the USB or FireWire ports, I thought there may be something wrong with its firmware. So I decided to download and install the latest firmware for this camera again from the Olympus website. It was during this firmware updating process that I discovered the root cause of all my CF card reading problems.

Here's the deal. These cameras have a "PC Mode" which must be set to either "Storage" or "Control." In Storage mode, the computer sees the camera as a disk drive. In Control Mode, the camera's firmware can be manipulated remotely. To update the camera's firmware requires connecting to the Olympus website with the camera in "Control" mode. When I went to change the camera's PC mode from Storage to Control, I discovered it was already in Control mode. This explains why my computer was not able to detect the presense of a CF card in this cameraetely true. The newer of the 2 cameras, which I've only had for about a week, actually had an earlier firmware version. The older camera had the latest firmware update because I updated from the Olympus web site about 2 months ago. I knew the newer camera needed its firmware updated, but since this was the only one which could download images from a CF card to my computer - I didn't want to fix something that wasn't broken.

Since the older of my 2 cameras was unable to download images through the USB or FireWire ports, I thought there may be something wrong with its firmware. So I decided to download and install the latest firmware for this camera again from the Olympus website. It was during this firmware updating process that I discovered the root cause of all my CF card reading problems.

Here's the deal. These cameras have a "PC Mode" which must be set to either "Storage" or "Control." In Storage mode, the computer sees the camera as a disk drive. In Control Mode, the camera's firmware can be manipulated remotely. To update the camera's firmware requires connecting to the Olympus website with the camera in "Control" mode. When I went to change the camera's PC mode from Storage to Control, I discovered it was already in Control mode. This explains why my computer was not able to detect the presense of a CF card in this camera. I immediately checked my other, newer camera and sure enough - it's PC mode was set to Storage. This explains why the newer camera was able to download images from the CF card to my computer - but the older camera was not. I changed the older camera's PC mode to Storage, and then it also was able to download images from the CF cards to the computer hard drive.

Feeling brave, I decided to update the firmware in my newer camera - knowing that if something went wrong I would end up with a dead camera. According to instructions I set the PC mode on this camera to "Control," connected it to the computer, loaded the Olympus Viewer software, and clicked the option for camera firmware update. Surprisingly, I got an error message saying the system could not detect a camera in "Control" mode.

To make a long story short, I discovered that the Windows software driver (which I had download previously) that operates the camera in "Control" mode is specific to an individual camera. The driver I already had on my hard drive was intended to work only with my first camera. To update the firmware for my second camera, I had to download and install the Windows driver again (with the newer camera connected to the USB port). Once that was done, I was able to update to the latest firmware for my newer camera.

So at this point, both cameras have their PC mode set to "Sto. I immediately checked my other, newer camera and sure enough - it's PC mode was set to Storage. This explains why the newer camera was able to download images from the CF card to my computer - but the older camera was not. I changed the older camera's PC mode to Storage, and then it also was able to download images from the CF cards to the computer hard drive.

Feeling brave, I decided to update the firmware in my newer camera - knowing that if something went wrong I would end up with a dead camera. According to instructions I set the PC mode on this camera to "Control," connected it to the computer, loaded the Olympus Viewer software, and clicked the option for camera firmware update. Surprisingly, I got an error message saying the system could not detect a camera in "Control" mode.

To make a long story short, I discovered that the Windows software driver (which I had download previously) that operates the camera in "Control" mode is specific to an individual camera. The driver I already had on my hard drive was intended to work only with my first camera. To update the firmware for my second camera, I had to download and install the Windows driver again (with the newer camera connected to the USB port). Once that was done, I was able to update to the latest firmware for my newer camera.

So at this point, both cameras have their PC mode set to "Storage" and are able to download images from my Compact Flash cards through USB and also FireWire Ports. Problem solved - again, thanks to all of the suggestions I received which stimulated my thinking and directed my courses of action.

Those who have been following this closely may be wondering "what about the ADS FireWire card reader?" Though I haven't had an opportunity to test it on another computer yet, my conclusion is that it simply stopped working sometime during the past month since I last used it. Perhaps I dropped it and broke a solder jopint, perhaps a semi-conductor component burned out, or maybe the cleaning lady ran over it with a vaccuum cleaner motor and damaged it with electro-magnetic pulse.

But in any case, the 2 issues working against me were these: 1 - my ADS FireWire card reader was not working properly. 2 - the camera which I was using for almost all of the testing had its PC mode set to Control when it should have been set to Storage. And I think the newer camera wasn't working either because there was a conflict with the Control Mode Windows driver which was setup for the first camera, or because I hadn't properly uninstalled the first camera as a USB device before connecting the second camera.

Again, all who contributed suggestions for resolving my delima have my undying gratitude - and can chalk up this case as another success story, another rage" and are able to download images from my Compact Flash cards through USB and also FireWire Ports. Problem solved - again, thanks to all of the suggestions I received which stimulated my thinking and directed my courses of action.

Those who have been following this closely may be wondering "what about the ADS FireWire card reader?" Though I haven't had an opportunity to test it on another computer yet, my conclusion is that it simply stopped working sometime during the past month since I last used it. Perhaps I dropped it and broke a solder jopint, perhaps a semi-conductor component burned out, or maybe the cleaning lady ran over it with a vaccuum cleaner motor and damaged it with electro-magnetic pulse.

But in any case, the 2 issues working against me were these: 1 - my ADS FireWire card reader was not working properly. 2 - the camera which I was using for almost all of the testing had its PC mode set to Control when it should have been set to Storage. And I think the newer camera wasn't working either because there was a conflict with the Control Mode Windows driver which was setup for the first camera, or because I hadn't properly uninstalled the first camera as a USB device before connecting the second camera.

Again, all who contributed suggestions for resolving my delima have my undying gratitude - and can chalk up this case as another success story, another "coonskin on the wall" so to speak. Thanks guys, and I really mean it.

As a professional photographer, all I can say is that things were much simpler when I was shooting film - but I'm getting better final results from my Olympus E-1 digital SLR's and have no regrets.

Best wishes,

Gene Windell

 

Redundant Paragraphs

I'm sorry guys. How all those redundant paragraphs got into my last post, I have no idea. Maybe if you just ignore and skip over every other paragraph you'll get the gist of my message.

In any case, thanks for all of your help.