How can I get a macintosh to recognize a digital camera again?

January 16, 2008 6:19 PM

What can I do to have a Macintosh G4 laptop to recognize a Pentax Optio 33WR digital camera? It once did, but it has since stopped.

After downloading photos from a Pentax Optio 33WR into iPhoto on my friend's Macintosh G4 (1.67 GHz PowerPC running 10.4.11), I pulled the USB cord out without properly ejecting the disk. A warning message came up. ("You have improperly ejected a disk...") Now when I plug it in, it's invisible to the computer (iPhoto or otherwise.)

What I have done so far with no success: I zapped pram, re-booted; repaired disk permissions, re-booted; and re-formatted the camera's memory card.

Anyone have any insight? I'm sorry I improperly ejected the disk, and I promise to do better in the future.

posted by humannaire to technology (7 comments total)

Have you tried another device on the USB port? My iMac C2D once lost a port after my external wasn't ejected. I'm sure there was a smarter way, but reformatting my Mac fixed it.

Short of reinstalling, try booting the Mac from the install disk and try verifying and repairing the disk. You could try DiskWarrior, but I've never had success with it.
posted by fleeba at 9:26 PM on January 16, 2008

Have you tried another device on the USB port?

No, but I tried the device on another port. I'll test that out and get back.
posted by humannaire at 7:27 AM on January 17, 2008

Open Image Capture in /Applications, after you have connected the camera, and see if you see an attached device.

The other option, is while the camera is turned on, go to Apple Menu -> About this Mac -> More Info, and click on the USB section under Hardware. It will list every device plugged into your computer. If you don't see it there, then there may be a bigger problem.

A paid for solution would be buying a USB memory card reader, and seeing if that will work, just take the cards out of the camera and plug it into the reader.
posted by mrzarquon at 8:52 AM on January 17, 2008

Thanks, mrzarquon. I did as you recommended (and, hey, learned something), and the camera did not show. Then I plugged in a card reader I found laying around, and voila!

Glad to know it's something other than the computer!
posted by humannaire at 4:09 PM on January 17, 2008

Now the question why is the Macintosh no longer recognizing the Pentax Optio 33WR? All the USB ports are working, only the camera no longer shows up?

Anyone have any ideas what I can do? At this point, I have tried re-formatting the memory card, I have taken out and replaced the batteries, and I have tried different settings on the camera, but nada.
posted by humannaire at 4:51 PM on January 17, 2008

Does your camera have different USB modes? Mass storage, PTP, etc? Are you switching the camera to "playback" mode?

Is there a factory reset for the camera?

Does the cable + camera work on other computers?
posted by mrzarquon at 6:56 PM on January 17, 2008

Also, try cocktail. It is shareware, but I believe the free version will let you clear out all the caches, including kernel and system caches, which may be causing your machine to fubar when it is trying to load the driver for your camera.

when it launches, select files, check the system and user caches, and under options, make sure you check Kernel.

It will then make you restart your machine, and give the USB camera another go (after doing a factory reset on the camera also).
posted by mrzarquon at 7:20 PM on January 17, 2008