Expert: John Oliverio - 11/14/2003

Question
My computer is an HP Pavilion 754n (6 months old) and has handy USB connectors at the front. We got a new Fuji FinePix 310 digital camera and we installed the software with no problem. When we attached the cable to the camera, and to a USB socket as instructed, the computer went dead! I pushed the power button and there was no response. I checked that the power cord was attached securely to the computer socket, and it was. I pulled the power cord out of the computer socket and reattached it. A little green light near the computer socket at the back came on. This time, when I pushed the power button on the computer, it restarted. This time, we plugged the USB cable into a USB socket without the camera attached and the computer did not shut down.
Not a half and hour before, we had installed the software onto a IBM Thinkpad R40, plugged the camera in, and downloaded the pictures from the camera with no computer shutdown at all.
What could be the problem? Please advise.

Answer
Terry,

Well, please keep in mind that this is more of a computer problem then a photography problem, so this is just a guess:  I think you've got a bad USB board.  I mean, you know the camera works OK because you tested it on the other computer.  (connecting the USB cable to the computer without the camera doesn't really prove anything).  So, if you eliminate the camera, that only leaves the USB board in the computer.

John