Cant see memory stick photo's on PC

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.point+shoot (More info?)

Greetings all.

Have a mate that with a 'no pictures on the memory stick' problem that I
can't sort.

Hardware:

Sony DSC-S90 digi cam with 256MB memory stick pro, brand new.
PC is a Windows XP Home, bog standard bits, 12months old.

The problem is we can see photo's on the cameras memory stick with the
camera but when we plug the Camera into the USB socket we cannot see any
folders / photo's on the memory stick/camera.

What we've tried / proved / know

The folders/photos are readable on another PC just by plugging the camera in
and looking at the 'removable drive' with Windows Explorer.
The Camera's software also reads the photo's of the camera on another PC no
problem.

My mates PC recognises the USB device as indicated by the 'ding dong'
default sound.
XP found the camera when first plugged in and wen't through the normal
'installing software' routine.
The software has been removed and reinstalled. (Picture Package)
The software cannot 'see' the camera, though the software itself runs fine.
The camera shows up as a 'removable drive' in Windows Explorer, but with
'nothing' in it.
A USB flash drive plugged in the same USB socket shows it's folders and
files normally.
All files are set to 'show' (ie no hidden system files) in Windows Explorer.
XP is up to date with Microsoft updates, and all the correct drivers are in
place.
The PC is clean with up to date AV and Anti Spyware.
Plenty of HD Space.

Speculative thoughts:

Different printer to the other PC (Brother Laser)
Corrupt Windows USB files (which ones ? & more importantly how to fix)
Google hasn't helped as anything with 'cannot see files/photos etc' in it
suggests either file system errors or NTFS neither of which seem to apply in
this case.

Any suggestions to a fix would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Paul.