Maybe there are some things you can do or how to fix the problem:

(suposed you use winXP and photos are stored in the camera 32 Mb memory and you see these memory like a disk ex: G: on MyPC folder)

1º Be sure your USB camera cable its works well
2º try to donwload from the camera to other computer / other OS

its possible that the camera firmware can read the pics inside but maybe the memory its unreadable for your computer (some memory block damaged etc)

if this happens you have two ways

1- try to read the camera with other firmware device, Archos DVR,s can read from other USB devices directly and copy the archives in the archos Hdd, may be some of your work mates or friends have something like this, or you can test it wit a local electronicks shop or mall

2- Try with "Bad Copy Pro" http://www.jufsoft.com/badcopy/ can repair and read deleted archives

If none of this works tell us

we work with digital cameras in hard conditions and have similar problems every day

Good Luck