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Update: The Canon cable was bad.

I have been having problems with Windows XP recognizing my Canon PowerShot A85. I just purchased it 20 days ago. Everything was working fine at first. Then my computer would not recognize the camera a couple of days later. I would get an "Unknown Device". I downloaded the latest and greatest software and still no luck. After uninstalling, rebooting, installing, and then rebooting again my computer would see the camera the first time I plugged it in. Then it would no longer see it after that. At least I thought. I discovered that I was the problem. I switched the camera (while it was turned on) to picture mode while it was plugged into the computer. Once that happens your computer will never recognize the Canon A85 again until it is re-installed.

The Solution

1. Unistall the "Unknown Device" using Device Manager from the Hardware tab of System Properties
2. Unistall the 8 applications that Canon installs
3. Reinstall the Canon applications
4. Reboot machine
5. Turn off camera
6. Connect to computer
7. Make sure the camera is in play (not picture) mode
8. Turn on camera

I now can start taking some pictures again.