Is the USB port presently working with any other USB device?
Have a look in device manager and see if there any error messages or exclamation marks related to USB hardware.

Device Manager checks out fine.  Other devices like mouse work in port.  Don't have anything else as power hungry as camera to try. Have camera plugged into AC adaptor when I connect to port

Technically the camera shouldn't the power hungry because it has its own power supply i.e. its battery.
If everything looks good in device manager then all I can suggest is you get a USB flash memory reader though this solution doesn't fully addressed your present problem.

Whats a flash memory reader.  It seems like the PC and camera have everything they need to talk to each other because the first 4 times I transfered pictures everything worked fine.  I just don't know what happened between then and now and system restore doesn't help.  When I try to delete the camera driver from add remove programs the system won't let me, it's restricted for some reason.

A flash memory reader is a USB device into which you plug your camera's memory after removing it from the camera. It can be very useful as most readers can read various types of camera memory.
One member with your same problem went to the extreme and reinstalled his operating system and then found that his camera worked correctly again. Just something to think about.

where can I find the USB Flash Reader that will be compatible with my Inspiron 5160. Windows XP Professional.  How much do they cost.  I took the camera back and got a replacement if this still doesn't work and I elect to reimage my machine will Dell do it for me.  Im still under the warranty period for software and hardware.  If they reimage is it done remotely and how long does it take.

Thanks

 

You can buy a memory card reader from virtually any computer shop and they are not expensive to purchase.

If you bought your laptop after mid July this year then it will have a restore partition which you can use to restore your operating system back to the point when you first received it. You must realise that if you use it all your extra data and programmes will be wiped from the laptop. Click on the link below to see how to use the partition.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090151&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

The surge is the camera's fault. There is something wrong with its circuitry, and I think if you plug it into a different computer you will get the same error. Try it!

You forgot the space between sfc and /  :smileywink:

I read the linked document, Is this different from a system restore, if so how?  Thanks

do it in the RUN box. Or windows shortcut "windows-key"+R. 

I misspelled it, sorry.

sfc /scannow

 

It is a diagnostic tool imbedded in XP that check all the system files and makes sure that they are in their original state. If you have installed a bad update, the checker will uninstall it, delete it, or ask you to put in your XP CDROM.

Message Edited by TheComputerDude on 11-23-2004 08:35 PM

whats the sfcscannow command, where do u do it? What does it do?  Thanks

Go to My Computer, rightclick on it, go to Manage, go to Device Manager. It will be one of those icons in the box, most likely on the left side of the screen. When you open this, you will see a list of all the devices currently on the system. Most likely you will be looking to upgrade the Display Adapters. Those are the graphics cards. You can get the properties for anything there by double-clicking any of the devices listed. Some of them may be software components,  so make sure it looks like a hardware device like a video card or a processor before you start looking for a material object that doesn't exist.