Camera will not connect to computer

[ganzelc01]

I have a  Cannon Rebel XSI camera with BYE version 3.1.18. Last night I used it and everything worked perfectly. I finished up about 1:00 am, put the camera battery on the charger to use again during day to shoot the sun. Today, I connected everything as usual and I am messaged that BYE cannot connect to the camera. I restarted the the camera and computer, no success. I grabbed a different USB cord and still no connection. What else can I check?

[astroman133]

Silly, but is the camera on? and in Manual mode?

Does the Windows Device Manager see the camera?

If you have the Canon EOS Utility, make sure that it does not automatically connect to the camera when the camera is first plugged into the PC and powered on.

[ganzelc01]

Thanks, good point, but yes, camera is on. I don't have the EOS utility installed, so that's not an issue. No, Device Manager does not see the camera. To validate that it isn't my USB port, I tried a different computer. I'm wonder if there is some obscure setting in the camera that may have gotten changed.

[astroman133]

If Windows does not see the camera then there is no way that BYE will connect.

I would reboot the computer, make sure that both ends of the cable are firmly plugged in.

If you are using a known good cable and Windows 7 and later does not recognize the camera then I the only next thing that I could suggest is to do a factory reset of the camera. If it still doesn't work I would suggest removing the battery and letting the camera sit for 30 minutes before re-inserting the battery. Test that the camera works while not connect to the PC. Then connect the camera and see if Windows now sees it. Look for any USB devices that are recognized, but not identified. If could be that Windows does not have a functioning driver, although it should if it is Windows 7 or later.

Newer camera models have WiFi which if enabled prevents a wired connection. However the XSi is too old to have WiFi.

If after connecting the camera you still do not see it listed in the Device Manager then it could be a hardware issue with the camera. If you can take it to a camera shop then perhaps they can diagnose it further.

If the camera has been modified to remove or replace the UV-IR blocking filter to increase Ha sensitivity, I would not suggest letting a camera shop do anything more than try to diagnose the USB connection. It they recalibrate the sensor or send it to Canon and they recalibrate the sensor then the camera is most likely toast (it will take more $$$ for Canon to correctly calibrate it for the current filter that it would cost buy a new camera).

[ganzelc01]

Thank you Astroman! I will try your suggestions.

[admin]

Windows must see the camera first, so if it does not appear in Windows Device Manager, this is where you need to put all your energy. Having Windows recognize your camera is not a BYE issue per say, but we may still be able to help.

You said that you tried another computer, but did not say if it worked or didn't work on that computer. Did it work?

If you haven't changed any camera setting, then most likely this is not the issue because BYE does not change any settings other than the dial/av/tv for taking pictures.

Have you tried a different USB cable? Was the USB cable properly disconnected the last time it worked? Do you have cable drag on your setup that could have pulled on the internal USB connection to the point that it has gotten loose somehow? Even the smallest cable drag over time can cause connection issues.