Help! USB driver problem wrecking my head..!

peckerhead

Hi lads, hope someone can help, I'm at my wits end with this...!

Bought a dinky little digital camera on eBay for my kid — Fuji iX-100, think it was discontinued about 3 or 4 years ago. Nice and cheap (Stg£16 delivered), grand little point-and-shoot w/ flash and a bit of extra memory - but no software. Grand, I thought, it's an USB device, I shouldn't need any drivers under WinXP...

Only problem is WinXP doesn't recognise it and can't install an appropriate driver, so doesn't recognise the device. I've googled left right and centre, I've been all over the Fujifilm websites (.com, .co.uk and .jp) and the model isn't even listed in the drivers/downloads sections, although I did manage to get a full manual for it...

The only links Google is throwing up is to some very technical-looking (for me! ) Linux/Unix forums where people are asking the same thing as me : "Where can I download a driver for this thing?!?". I tried a thing called gphoto2, but no joy. I emailed Fuji tech support, but I haven't got anything back yet. And, as luck would have it, old reliable www.driverguide.com seems to be acting up at the moment and won't let me sign in, so no luck there for the moment, either. I have tried a couple of other other Fuji XP driver downloads, but they're for later Finepix models and they don't do squat for this little lady...

Anybody got any suggestions? (other than "buy a card reader"! I don't have any other use for a SmartMedia reader...)

TIA,

J-blk

There only seems to be a Windows ME driver out there:

http://www.usb-drivers.com/drivers/259/259821.htm

I doubt this will work in XP though - a compatibility chart on another site lists that there are Windows XP updates for this camera (as the above driver is only for 9x it seems) and links to Fuji's page. That's a dead link though.

The problem is that with a device that was discontinued 3-4 years ago, it may have no XP support at all - many companies dropped support for legacy older products when XP was first released in 2002. In that case, the card reader is indeed your only way to get the photos off it...

peckerhead

Thanks, J-blk,

No, I tried it (after eventually getting around the driverguide.com login problems) - no joy.

Guess I'll have to go back to eBay and try to pick up a cheapie card reader... :rolleyes:

airetam_storm

Cant you let windows search the net itself for drivers?

peckerhead

I did; it couldn't find anything...

Also searched the Finepix CD that came with my own S5000, thinking there might be some sort of 'catchall' driver in there - no luck.

Curiously, the manual for the iX-100 mentions XP compatibility, but says (as does the relevant sections of the Fujifilm website) that no drivers should be necessary under XP...

J-blk

The only other thing I can think of here is the "mode" the camera is in. When I was searching for any info on it, it was indicated that this camera works both as a digital camera and a webcam (manufacturers thought that was a great idea awhile back).

So, I'm thinking that when you connect it, it defaults to webcam, rather than digital camera. Digital camera mode should realistically work as USB Mass Storage so no drivers for XP indeed. Is there anything in the manual to indicate that you can switch modes when it's connected via USB? Just a thought...

GS404

Found a link...check these....

- http://www.fujifilm.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/bin/winxp_15.exe

If they dont work, they have the CD on the online store, but they are currently out of stock, so I'd suggest giving them a shout and check with them.
Just be really nice and ask the dude you're talking with if there is anything at all he can do to help. Most techie are nice guys as long as you are nice to them.

- http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/technical/spares/index.php?id=1

"
How can I obtain replacement software for my camera?

Software and drivers for most Fujifilm digital cameras are available to download from our website.

Please click here and select "Service and Support" and then "Downloads and Software"

You will need to register with myfuji on the site in order to downlaod software and manuals. Just click on the "Register Now" button and fill out the form.


Alternatively, replacement CDs are available from The Fuji Shop
There are two ways you can contact us:

Telephone
You can call us on 0870 084 1317 between the hours of 9 and 5, Monday to Friday.

Online
You can visit our website 24 hours a day by visiting http://www.thefujishop.co.uk.


All major credit cards are accepted with the exception of American Express"


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I'd see a few posts saying it should be a removable drive, so I found this article in the Kbase...always worth a try...

"
What should I do if the message "Installation failed because no function driver was specified for this device" appears while installing the USB driver on Windows 2000?

If a message of this sort appears during installation of the USB driver on Windows 2000, use the procedure below to update the driver:

1. Restart Windows 2000 Professional.
2. Load the CD-ROM bundled with the product into the CD-ROM drive.
3. Load a Smart Media containing photographed images into the digital camera and set the camera mode to "Playback".
4. Use the USB cable to connect the digital camera to the PC and then switch the digital camera on.
5. From the desktop screen on the PC, open "Control Panel" and double-click "System" to open the System Properties.
6. Select the "Hardware" tab and click the [Device Manager] button.
7. In the Device Manager window, click "USB Controller", right-click "USB Mass Storage" and then open "Property(R)". (If you cannot find "USB Mass Storage" in "USB Controller", select it from "Other devices".
8. Select the "Driver" tab and click the [Update driver] button to launch the device driver upgrade wizard.
9. In "What do you want the wizard to do?", select "Display a list of the drivers for this device so that I can choose a specific driver" and then click the [Next>] button.
10. In "Select a Device Driver", choose "USB Mass Storage" and then click the [Have disk] button.
11. The dialog box for specifying the location appears. Select "USBDRV WIN2KPRO" on the CD-ROM drive and click the [OK] button. (You can also use the [Browse] button to choose the location.)
12. Return to "Select a Device Driver" and click the [Next>] button.
13. When the "Upgrade device driver wizard" reappears, click the [Next>] button.
14. The "Upgrade device driver wizard" completion screen appears. Click the [Finish] button to complete the driver upgrade.

If you cannot find the device driver for the USB driver:
1. Follow the above procedure up to step 8.
2. In "What do you want the wizard to do?" in step 9, select the "Search for a suitable driver for my device [recommended]" checkbox and then click [Next].
3. When the driver has been located, select the "Install one other driver" checkbox in the screen for the located driver and then click [Next].
4. FUJIFILM's "USB Mass Storage" and Microsoft's "USB Mass Storage" are both displayed. Select Microsoft's "USB Mass Storage" and click [Next].
Microsoft's "USB Mass Storage" is then installed and the digital camera is recognized."

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Oh...what does XP see it as?

Oh and the last note...this is how ye use it as a webcam...
-
To use the @xia ix-100 as a webcam, connect the camera to the PC and open the software called NetMeeting.

NetMeeting is installed on all Windows PCs as standard; it can be found by clicking Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications.

(If you are running XP it can be found by clicking Start, Run and type CONF)

Once NetMeeting is started and the camera is connected please follow the on screen instructions.
-

peckerhead

Hiya lads, thanks for the interest...

This thing has confounded three of our own tech guys in work, one of whom really knows his device drivers sh1t!

Firstly, @J-blk - no, this thing only works as a webcam courtesy of MetMeeting, as mentioned by GS404. there isn't a webcam 'mode' as such - just stills or VGA video clip (w/o sound). So that wasn't the problem...

Secondly, @GS404 - the 1st link you provided is to exactly the same driver package as my own 'tech guy' colleague turned up. But we tried it and it didn't work...

He also rang Fuji (Irl) and they explained that the software behind this wasn't actually written by them, but by @xia. So I trawled around their website - yes, in Japanese! ('though when you mouseover the links you can guess more or less what they point to, 'cos all the page names are in English...) Even downloaded Japanese font support for Acrobat reader so I could browse the few .pdf sheets! They provide support for a few later models - the iX-1, iX-20 & iX30 — but zip for the old iX-100. Downloaded and tried out those driver packs anyway (including Twain) - just on the off-chance - but still no joy!

I reckon this is just an example of a one-off, bottom-of-the-range model that Fuji & Axia between them just decided to pull support on. Pity really, cos it's a grand little cheapie digital camera, otherwise. I checked out the pictures on the telly screen (via the video out cable), and the quality doesn't look too bad at all, considering.

Fuji (Irl) also said that that CD is now practically a collector's item - which explains why it's out of stock at the UK Fujishop. And in any case, you can understand why I'd be reluctant to fork out £15 + p&p extra for a secondhand camera I paid £11 for! (+£5 p&p)

How and ever - happy endings! - I'm glad to report that in the meantime I managed to 'snipe' another eBay auction for a SmartMedia card reader + 64Mb card for the princely sum of £2.20 (+£2.50 p&p) which is now — hopefully! — winging its way across the waves. So all's well that ends well...! (plus the yoke will now hold 230 pix @1.3Mp instead of the 58 that fitted on the 16Mb card supplied with it)

Thanks a million anyway for trying your best - appreciate it! Bit of a pisser to admit 'defeat' by what should just be a hassle-free USB storage device :rolleyes: — but the bottom line is my darling daughter now has a nice little 'real' digital camera plus extra memory, and I don't have to really care if she breaks it or loses it some day...

Cheers again.

J-blk

Good to hear there's a happy ending after all...

Under £5 for the card reader and postage... LOL - makes me feel ripped off for paying around the €20 mark for mine, new...

As for not really solving it, guess it's one of those cases when moving to XP - lots of older devices where left out in the cold. Still, the fact that you know there IS a driver out there in the wild for XP, does add to that nagging feeling....

Nice one though - camera and memory reader for under £20....

peckerhead

Cheers J-blk...

ripped off for paying around the €20 mark for mine, new...

Ah, but new, with a guarantee - that's not the same as a secondhand yoke that could be DOA ('though I seriously hope not!)