Unable to connect Sony DSC-P8 camera to T60p

[Charles Mann]

I am having a difficulty in installing a Sony DSC-P8 digital camera on my T60p Win XP Pro. The camera works great on my A30p Win XP Pro. I see the driver path on the A30p as C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\SONYPVU1.SYS. I have been to the Sony web site and downloaded their driver for XP, and it puts the same driver in the same path on the T60p. I still am unable to link to the driver under device manager. I placed the driver in a folder by itself, and XP just ignores it. Where have I gone wrong?

[JohnDrake]

Some cameras (certain HP ones) have a setting to turn the camera into an external storage device, rather than a dedicated PnP device...does this Sony camera have such a capability? If so, it would merely show up as another drive letter on your system....

[Charles Mann]

John I just tried your suggestion on PnP. Win XP just looks like it does not recognize the camera as a USB device. The camera shows up as "other devices" in both cases, regular and PnP.

[JohnDrake]

...and...this occurs with the factory preload? Or a vanilla one?

(I don't like the non-standard preloads...usually they are not perfect)

[Charles Mann]

John..I have used both the CD that came with the camera, and the driver from sony web site. USB appears to be working as I have other devices installed, and thumb drives are recognized. The instruction manual that came with the camera calls out Win XP, so it is not that old...any ideas?

[Charles Mann]

John…More information, I am using an Advanced mini doc, with external dvd drive and external 500gb hdd, plugged into its USB ports. HP printer in the parallel port. All of these devices run OK now. The mini doc was ordered at the same time as the T60p. Way back then, I had problems installing the external dvd writer and external hdd, and when others were having problems with the mini doc, I called tech support to have it replaced, they said the doc’s FRU number was not on the replace list. I then restored my win XP pro back to factory delivery level, and was successful in installing the dvd, hdd, and a video capture device to the doc. I can take the T60p off of the mini doc, and the camera still does not work on any of the USB hubs, so I am guessing the mini doc is alright. I am not dead in the water, I can still download the cameras pictures on the A30p, and then copy over my LAN to the T60p, just wanted to get everything on the new computer…..what are your thoughts?

[DAH]

Have you actually gone into device manager and found your DSC-P8 and done a driver update? Pointing device manager to the folder where you downloaded the drivers? Often you must first download the drivers, then run the program to create a folder, then point found new hardware to the folder you created above. If you've plugged your DSC-P8 into your computer and did not have functional drivers it most likely created an unknown device in Device manager, and will not try to reinstall drivers until you either do it manually, or you remove the driver and then plug the device back in again.

Hope that helps

[Charles Mann]

DAH and John
OK here’s the deal….I have two computers on Windows XP Pro, a T60p with Lenovo’s version of XP, and A30p with a commercial version of XP. Why do I say Lenovo’s version, well I think I read somewhere in these threads that Lenovo tailors their Windows to the hardware they manufacture… correct me if I am wrong…So back to my problem…The Sony DSC-P8 is not a real new camera, but in the camera manual it does reference XP. To install the software you execute a utility to install the USB driver, before the camera is plugged into the USB port, this places a driver in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\SONYPVU1.SYS, then you install the application to access the camera for the pictures and copy them into a folder for further processing. At this time the camera is plugged into the USB port, XP assigns the above driver to the camera…OK this is how things work for the A30p….Now on the T60p, the driver utility puts the driver in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\SONYPVU1.SYS, the same as the A30p, the application is installed, but when the camera is plugged into the USB port, XP asks for the CD, because it does not recognize the driver SONYPVU1.SYS as the driver needed…I have used device manager to point to the driver, XP still asks for the CD with a driver for the camera. I have placed the driver in a folder by its self and XP still refuses to use it, I have renamed it with lower case characters…no luck…the device manager lists the camera as “other devices” and as a sub category “Sony DSC” both with yellow question marks….The A30p device manager lists the camera under USB as “Sony DSC”, and the driver information is correct….I thought for a while it might be the Advanced mini dock I use, but even with the computer undocked, it makes no difference, I want to use the USB port on the left side of the computer, but have tried them all. Another item, I can place the camera in its PnP mode that makes it look like a thumb drive, the A30p shows it in My Computer as a Sony Camera…the T60p does not show it at all. ….I am stumped, and looking for suggestions.

Charles

[kimx]

I have a sony DSC-H2, and in the menu on the camera I can chose to let the camera act as a USB-mass storage device, you could try that if you camera has this option.

[Charles Mann]

kimx
On the DSC-P8 the USB mass storage selection is "PTP", I have tried that option, on the A30p it works fine, but the T60p shows the camera as "Other devices" and under that "Sony PTP", both with a yellow question mark....I guess it is a old camera that does not rise to the level of the Lenovo XP Pro on the T60p.

Charles

[DAH]

OK Did you need to install a driver for your 500 GB hard drive? Have you plugged your camera in deleted the yellow question mark device, un-plugged your device, waited a minute or two then plugged your camera back in?

It sounds as if XP is not reading the device ID correctly for some reason, what BIOS are you running? XP should read your device, even Lenovo version of XP should.

[Charles Mann]

DAH
The 500gb hdd did not require a driver, thumb drives work without drivers also. My bios is 2.01. With the sony camera in the PTP USB mode and connected to USB, I uninstall the camera with the Device Manager, wait a minute and unplug, then replug, XP prompts for the installation CD, I say "OK", it searches for a driver, then indicates an unsucessful install. The Device Manager shows the camera as "Other devices" and the sub catagory is "Sony PTP", and both with yellow question marks. I guess I have flogged this horse too long. Maybe when I have a lot of time to mess with it further, I will install a regular copy of XP Pro and see what it will do. I still have the A30p to download to, and copy over to the T60p on the lan. Thanks for all that have responded to this issue....

Charles