I have found an easy solution; after I called canon tech support ,they said any 12 digit number can be used as the serial number. I then successfully downloaded digital solution software 29.0A into my windows7 computer. My camera is no longer a brick, as I now have DPP for the RAW CR2 files, plus Canons Image Browser EX. For now this is good enough. Eventually I'll get a newer camera plus splurge money onto lightroom & photoshop, or some future software. Thanks for your thoughts on helping me.