nikon coolpix 5900 has stopped mounting but visible in system profiler

Question

nikon coolpix 5900 has stopped mounting but visible in system profiler

I have a Nikon Coolpix 5900 and have successfully used it to load photos into iphoto for over a year. For some reason it has stopped mounting and is not visible to iphoto or image capture.

I have looked in the system profiler and it is visible on the USB port as Nikon DSC E5900 so I don't believe its a problem with the camera. It does not mount in the Finder or Image Capture or in iphoto.

I'm very puzzled.

I've checked all possible settings on both the camera and iphoto and can't see anything wrong.

I haven't upgraded anything with regard to iphoto etc. I'm on a powerbook G4 using osx 10.3.9 and iphoto 4.0.3 but neither of those have changed.

I would be grateful for any clues please.

Thanks,

Mike

pb g4, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Mar 17, 2007 10:33 PM

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Answer 1

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Mar 18, 2007 10:12 AM in response to Michael Wilde1

Hi, Michael. Reinstall the software that came with your camera. Or if there's a newer version of the software available for download from Nikon's web site, install that.

Your camera has a small amount of built-in photo storage memory, in addition to the SD card that you probably use. You must have a proprietary driver installed to allow your computer to talk to the camera. If that driver has been corrupted somehow, the computer may recognize that a device is connected and may even be able to identify the device, but can't communicate with it. Using a generic SD card reader (USB or CardBus) would allow you to transfer pictures from your SD card, but not from the built-in camera memory.

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Answer 2

Mar 19, 2007 2:26 AM in response to eww

I never installed any drivers for the camera. It was always recognised when I connected it without the need for installing drivers.

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Answer 3

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Mar 19, 2007 7:20 AM in response to Michael Wilde1

Hi again, Michael.

I never installed any drivers for the camera.

That may be, though I'd be quite surprised. I still suggest that you now install the software that came with the camera, just to see whether it makes any difference. If it doesn't, you can uninstall it.

You might also try reformatting your SD card in the camera. Sometimes a memory card with a corrupt format fails to mount on the desktop when it should, but puts up no error message. If you connect the camera to the Mac without any SD card in it, what happens?

In the past, when things were working well for you, did the SD card and the camera's built-in memory appear on the desktop as separate volumes or "disks"?

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Answer 4

Mar 19, 2007 8:16 AM in response to eww

The cd that came with the camera only has windows drivers on it so non starter there.

I am not in a position to format the camera memory card as there are over 500 pics on it waiting for me to transfer to the mac.

It is being recognised by the mac because it appears in system profiler as a nikon dsc E5900 but it will not mount in the file system. It used to mount only as 1 external volume.

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Answer 5

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Mar 19, 2007 10:30 AM in response to Michael Wilde1

If you're certain that your camera was shipped without any Mac software at all, I'm astonished. A Mac version of PictureProject is listed among the things included in the package on Nikon's web site for the 5900. The current version can also be downloaded here.

Apart from installing PictureProject, which may or may not function as a driver, all I can suggest is that you buy a USB card reader and transfer your pictures through that — if you can. If the card can't be mounted or read that way (with the camera entirely out of the picture), the card itself is corrupt, and you may want to try using PhotoRescue or MediaRecover to salvage the pictures off it. Then reformat the card in your camera — not through the Mac. It's safest never to format or erase a card or, in fact, to edit its contents in any way while it's connected to a Mac. Tinkering with their contents on a Mac is probably the most common way cards are corrupted.

After reformatting the card, test again to see whether connecting the camera to the Mac works as it used to.

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Answer 6

Mar 24, 2007 12:09 PM in response to eww

I tried what you suggested., I bought a card reader which states that no driver is required to be installed on a mac. It says that when the usb cable is plugged in an icon should appear on the desktop and when the card is inserted into the reader and the icon then double clicked the contents should be accessible.

No icon appears on the desktop when I plug the reader in. In system profiler "USB Storage" appears on the USB bus.

I also tried with a Compactflash card from an old camera I no longer use and that I know is ok and that doesn't mount either.

I don't think this is a card problem. The reader instructions suggest that the icon should appear when the reader is connected without a card in it but no icon appears although it is visible in the system profiler and the card reader light comes on when the card is inserted.

Is there any other reason that may be causing osx not to mount?

Thanks,

Mike

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Answer 7

Mar 24, 2007 1:45 PM in response to eww

Sorry I was not quite right with my last post.

I tried another card in the card reader and it mounted ok so I guess I have 2 cards that may be corrupt.

I then went on to try the 2 programs you suggested to recover the photos but neither work because neither package can detect the card in the card reader.

All the photos are visible ok on the camera so I suspect the only other possible way may be to go along to a camera shop and use one of their machines to see if they can read the card and transfer the photos to a cd?

Getting a bit worried now that these pics maybe not transferable especially since they contain pictures from my wedding and honeymoon!

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Answer 8

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Mar 24, 2007 2:45 PM in response to Michael Wilde1

I tried another card in the card reader and it mounted ok so I guess I have 2 cards that may be corrupt.

If you take the card that mounted when inserted into the reader, and put it into the camera, does it mount as expected when you connect the camera via USB? If it does, that will confirm that the problem is limited to the two cards that fail to mount at all.

I've never encountered a card that couldn't be mounted at all. I have no further ideas for you, so taking the bad cards to a shop and seeing whether anything there can read them sounds like as good a next step as any. Good luck.

EDIT: Oops. I forgot that the camera uses SD, not CF cards, so my first suggestion is a no-go. If you have a new (unused) SD card, insert it in the reader and see whether it mounts. Then put it in the camera and see whether it mounts with the camera connected via USB. Then format it in the camera and see whether it still mounts. It's possible that the camera itself is writing corrupt formats to your cards, in which case the camera will need repair.

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