Have you tested the camera on another computer? Just to rule out the possibility of it being a fault with the camera or its lead.

On top of all what the two mods have asked, have you checked Device Manager in "Acessories>Admin Tools>Computer Manager" for any yellow flags when you connect it and/or whats there under USB devices?

Nothing shows up,its like it doesnt even recognize the camera.DELL Dimension DIM2400,Intel Pentium-4CPU w/ XP Home Edition 2002,service pack 2,does that help any,or just over share,I figure the more info you have the better to diagnose(sp),I appreciate your help ;-)

That is what my pc used to be! lol (but with with a celeron 2.2 CPU)

anyway...
is there anything under "Universal Serial Bus" in the device manager?
(start>rt. click on my computer>properties>hardware>device manager and universal serial bus is at the bottom, click the + next to it.

what exactly did dell tell you to do?

First to jaynee,no I've not tried on another computer,this is the only one I have,can it be tried on a laptop,say,like the one they give,or rather rent,for my son at high school?
Second to Kazna,yes,one yellow !-Microsoft system Manager,BIOS Device & one yellow ?-Other Device,now I must admit these are new there,'cause someone had suggested this before and there were NO flags(retarded user or retarded computer ,lol,you decide!)
Thirdly to Mad,several things show up under USB,4 host controllers(each with the same name-but different nos.,a few digits off of each other(if that makes sense) ,and 1 Root Hub.

yes, you can try it on any laptop, is the laptop xp?

where is the other device? is it in Universal Serial Bus Controlers?

do you not have any other usb devices to try? (memory stick, usb printer, usb keyboard/mouse...?)

does anything in the USB controllers have yellow ! or ? next to it?

you should have recieved an xp cd with your computer (a purple one saying operating system at the top) insert that click start>run and type 'sfc /scannow' (without the quotes) and press enter, this will check all your windows files

'Other' stands alone w/ 3dropdown sub-categories-all have the yellow ? and are named 'unknown' device' & no it's not with the USB controllers.
Yes the laptop is a XP Professional
I have no other USB devices and there are NO flags next to USB thingies
I'm gonna try and locate the cd,thanks so much for your patience

I think I found the cd,disk,to me it appears burgundy,is that right,not being picky-just men and women see color differently and I want to make sure it's the right one.It says 're-installation cd,microsoft windows XP home edition,including service pack 1a,is this the right one,'cause its the ONLY windows cd I have!!!

Ok,I tried to scan the files,but it says it doesn't recognize the file-sfc/scannow-w/o the quotes!!! What next

yes that is the correct disk,
you need a space after the sfc

copy and paste the following line:

sfc /scannow

a box appears saying "windows file protection" or something similar