Just bought toshiba PDR-M1. Love the camera. Was attempting to download my first set of pics. Using included software, Image Expert, everything was fine until I tried to open the "select album" dialog box. There are two albums listed. I tried both. Got the same message box each time. "Camera turned off or not connected to pc" ?? Camera was set to proper setting (pc mode). pc cable plugged into proper socket on camera. Plugged pc cable into 9 pin to 25 pin adapter and plugged that into 25 pin serial port in back. Mouse is occupying the original 9 pin socket. Also checked all baud rates given to use. Can anyone help? Jeff at greensheep@erols.com

-- jeff little (greensheep@erols.com), April 29, 1999

Answers

I had little success downloading through the serial cable. My guess is that the batteries were weak and couldn't manage the transfer. The transfer rate is unacceptably slow, and I very quickly decided to buy the Flash Path floppy disk adapter. I paid about $100 at a local store but I have seen it offered for a little less on some of the online stores.

Try fresh batteries. If that solves the problem you'll at least know what the problem is. I also bought two sets of NiMeH battereis to use in the camera. They work well.

Good luck.

-- Bob Huffman (huffmun@msn.com), April 29, 1999.

This topic comes up a LOT (Anyone interested in writing a FAQ on debugging serial-port problems on PCs? - Much needed, we'll publish it if only someone will do the writing!)

A frequent problem on PCs is that the supposedly 4 "COM" ports are really only 2, because they share interrupts, or some such. Thus, if you have a mouse and a modem card, it's likely you're out of interrupts, even though it looks like only one device is there. (The mouse.) Sometimes, its just balky, won't auto-detect which port the camera is plugged into. I don't recall ImageExpert, but most digicam software will have a preferences option someplace that lets you explicitly set the COM port. Try all of the settings, 1-4, one may work. Also, try setting the baud rate down to maybe 56K (which will be REALLY slow on downloads!) - Sometimes a PC and camera won't sync at 115K, even though both devices should be able to handle it.

The recommendation for a FlashPath or separate card reader is a good one, highly recommended!

Good luck!

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), April 29, 1999.