Digital cameras are nothing without a computer. You can snap all the shots you want, but unless you can connect the camera to your laptop to transfer the photos, you won't be able to share your pictures. While it's certainly not convenient that your computer stops recognizing your camera, it's far from an unsolvable problem.
Even though you may think of your electronic devices as plug-and-play products, all of gadgets that connect to your computer need specific software to work properly. This software is called a driver. Sometimes, your operating system loads a driver for you and sometimes you need to install manufacturer-provided drivers yourself. In both cases, when the driver stops working, the laptop stops recognizing the camera. Unplug the camera and reinstall its specific drivers to force your computer to recognize it again.
Unless your camera dates from the early 1990s, it connects to your laptop using a USB connection. Depending on which version of Windows you have and the configuration of your USB ports, your computer may assign a driver only to one specific port. This occurs with imaging devices frequently -- scanners, printers and digital cameras -- and plugging the device into a different USB port has no effect. Insert the USB cable into the camera and insert the other end of the cable into all of your USB ports to locate the one that you originally installed the camera on. Then insert other USB devices -- a mouse or memory stick -- to ensure that your USB ports are working correctly.
Some cameras -- in particular point-and-shoot models -- are sold with a camera dock, an electronic receiver that you plug your camera into. The dock connects to your laptop via a USB cable, through which the camera, dock and computer communicate. Tighten the USB cable to the dock and look for a light to ensure that the dock powers up. Plug the camera directly into the computer with a USB cable instead of running it through the dock.
The final piece of the laptop-camera communication puzzle is the USB cable. These cables are resilient but -- like any piece of electronics hardware -- can break. A broken USB cable manifests different problems, like intermittent communication or a complete non-response from a piece of hardware like your digital camera. Check the pins on both ends of the cable to see if they're loose, and check the connector pin on your camera. If the cable doesn't work on another computer with your camera, contact your camera's manufacturer to see about a replacement. You can find generic cables at a camera or electronics store.
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