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    Inspiron 1420 Weird Webcam/ Power Adapter problem

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by dansou5, Nov 8, 2010.

  1. dansou5

    dansou5 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So there is this really weird problem with my girlfriends laptop with Vista. First the internal webcam will work great on skype, and webcam manager. Then when the laptop is plugged in or unplugged with the power adapter, the webcam will turn off and an error message will pop up telling that the webcam can be connected to a faster device.

    To get the webcam to work again, the laptop will need to be restarted. Its werid because the webcam is disable but the internal mic is still functioning on skype.

    Does this sound like a power adapter error, possibly an overcurrent protection being fault???? Would it be worth it to buy another adapter.

    Ive just never heard of something like this. Any comments would be appreciated.
     
    dansou5, Nov 8, 2010
    #1
  2. Apollo13

    Apollo13 100% 16:10 Screens

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    Huh. I have a 1520, also with the internal webcam, and my family's noticed that when webchatting with them via Skype, usually after 5-10 minutes, the webcam image from me freezes at whatever frame it's on, but they continue to hear the sound just fine. But I've only used Skype twice with them, and one with another friend (plus a couple times voice/text only), so I can't say that it's a pattern. I'm not sure if the problem's on my end (be it laptop or Internet connection) or their end (Internet connection), either.

    At least one of the times this happened, I had unplugged my laptop and was walking around (on battery) when suddenly the video stopped working. It wasn't immediately after unplugging, though. I can't remember if I unplugged my laptop the other time or not. I don't think I did, but I'm not sure. I know I tried restarting Skype (no luck), but I didn't try rebooting the laptop. I can't remember if I rebooted between the two incidences or not.

    My power adaptor is a bit funky (won't work at all angles relative to the floor), and I half-intend to buy a replacement someday (but might not), but I don't see how that would be implicit in the webcam stopping working while running on battery.

    I'm also running an aftermarket-downgraded XP Home, rather than the factory-installed Vista. But the webcam hardware is probably the same on the 1420 and 1520.

    So I don't have a solution to it. But I've experienced the same basic problem.
     
    Apollo13, Nov 20, 2010
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