I have an Olympus digital camera and it seems to have difficulty establishing communications with my Power Macintosh G3 computer. Because of this I cannot download images to my computer.

There are a number of methods to enhance the digital camera's ability to establish communications with the Power Macintosh, the main issue is related to high power consumption when making the initial connection.

Don't use alkaline batteries. They lose power very quickly when taking pictures and downloading images requires even more power. Batteries that are reported to be dead by the camera may show power when checked with a battery tester. The camera places high loads on the batteries and the internal battery circuitry will report a low or dead battery when it reaches a level which cannot support the camera. The batteries may be usable in other devices such as a flashlight or radio.

What to use instead of alkaline batteries? Get an AC adapter and use it whenever you download images. The adapter will supply sufficient power to the camera for downloading images without running the batteries down.

Use Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries as another alternative to alkaline batteries. The NiMH chemistry works well in high power devices such as portable computers and digital cameras.

Olympus technical support offers the following advice for downloading images to your Macintosh:

1. Boot the system up using the base extensions

2. Turn AppleTalk off via the AppleTalk control panel regardless of whether or not you attach the camera to the serial port that is assigned as the AppleTalk port. To disable AppleTalk from the AppleTalk control panel you must set your user mode to Advanced, then click the Options button.

From the AppleTalk control panel, select the "Connect via" option to be something other than the port connected to the camera (that is, if you connect the camera to the printer port, select modem port).

3. Allocate as much memory as you can to the application.

4. With the camera off, initiate a download request from the software. Wait 2 seconds and then turn on the camera, this creates a surge of power which is necessary to initiate the connection with the Macintosh.

These are only suggestions, if further assistance is required contact Olympus tech support at 1-888-55-DIGITAL (1-888-553-4448).

Note: This article provides information about a non-Apple product. Apple Computer, Inc. is not responsible for its content and mention of this product should not be interpreted as a recommendation by Apple. Please contact the vendor for additional information.