Camera won't connect via USB

[HannahRebekah]

I got a new camera in Jan. and now it won't connect to my computer via the USB cable. I plug it in and it says 'check the connected device.' It's a Sony a850 and I don't know what else to do. I've unplugged it and plugged it back in several times and to different computers. Any suggestions?

 

[PhotoXopher]

Get a card reader, it'll be faster as well.

 

[Overread]

Card readers are a lot faster to copy images off the camera and they are dirt cheap as well.

However when connecting your camera have you previously installed the drivers and software that came with the camera onto your computer? If so its still possible that something has got corrupted so a reinstall might be in order. If that does not sovle things check to see if there is an update to the software online - it might be that the software is out of date and that a regular update to the computer has resulted in an incompatability.

 

[HannahRebekah]

Thanks, I think it might be the cord. My grandpa gave me a cord he had and it works with that. Very strange, because the cord is new and I haven't bent it hard or anything like that. Maybe I can convince my grandparents to buy me a card reader while I'm on vacation.

 

[Derrel]

On the camera there are probably two modes. One mode is for camera-to-PC Transfer,and that is the mode you need to select. Unless the camera is set to the Camera-to-PC transfer or "Download mode", it will likely not be recognized as a mass storage device. So, I would think this might be the problem, so I would go through the camera's menu system and locate this setting and make sure it is correct.

The other mode is for camera-to-PC tethering, which will not work for downloading images.

 

[kunhadi]

I got a new camera in Jan. and now it won't connect to my computer via the USB cable. I plug it in and it says 'check the connected device.' It's a Sony a850 and I don't know what else to do. I've unplugged it and plugged it back in several times and to different computers. Any suggestions?

After browsing thousands of websites and updated USB drivers on Windows 10 for hundreds times the solution is the USB cable. I have 14 USB cables and only 2 work, those were the one from Sony and another one a good quality expensive premium USB cable I bought from Amazon. I could not believe the USB cable is so important. But it's true..

 

[astroNikon]

I got a new camera in Jan. and now it won't connect to my computer via the USB cable. I plug it in and it says 'check the connected device.' It's a Sony a850 and I don't know what else to do. I've unplugged it and plugged it back in several times and to different computers. Any suggestions?

After browsing thousands of websites and updated USB drivers on Windows 10 for hundreds times the solution is the USB cable. I have 14 USB cables and only 2 work, those were the one from Sony and another one a good quality expensive premium USB cable I bought from Amazon. I could not believe the USB cable is so important. But it's true..

oops ... 7 year old thread ...
hopefully she's figured it out by now.