iPhoto won't import from card

Hi, i'm a Newbie Mac user sort of. I've been using iPhoto to download photos for about two years. Suddenly it skips the importing stage and goes right to showing the photos that are stored there. Does anyone know how to get it to import photos again?
Thanks

iPhoto > Preferences > Advanced > Make sure the top box is checked import photos to iPhoto.

Thanks OSXX, This is iPhoto 6.0.6 so the box might be a little different I guess. It is checked already though. I can import via the "Import" command under "file" but then there is no option to delete the photos from the camera after importing them. If I upgrade to the iPhoto 11 will that help? Do I have to subscribe to iLife to do that?