Fixing Webcam Issues in Vista

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm totally sick and tired of the webcam problems in Vista with my DV6000T. A simple search on this forum yields dozens of other people with many, many problems with the webcam. This is really stupid on HP's part. It's just ridiculous.

So instead of griping on and on about it, I want to actually fix the problem. From everything I can ascertain from the many, many threads about webcam problems, it seems that HP just has horrendous webcam drivers for Vista.

What I want to know is who makes the webcam component for HP and does that vendor have their own Vista drivers that will work better? I'm sick and tired of waiting for HP to update their Vista driver (if they ever even decide to do it).

Am I alone here? Is anyone else as fed up as I am about this?

 

I believe Ricoh is the manufacturer of the webcam. I definitely agree with your griping about the webcam.

 

I imagine the only way to fix the problem is to write a new driver yourself, which is not such a viable solution! Until HP get the finger out and write a new driver, we're stuck with the old and crappy version. I know, I hate it too...!

 

Well, either way, I don't think I will buy another HP laptop because of poor driver support.

Aside from web cam, don't you guys feel that one side (specifically the left side) of the laptop tends to be hotter than the other? For my DV2000t, the left side speaker near the LCD hinge, is always too hot to touch. It is an engineering issue that has bugged Compaq and HP for a long time. They need to fix it.

 

Well, here's what I've been able to find. There are two webcam modules that HP apparently uses in their Pavilion lines. They are:

RY5U870-V*001 (Compact USB Camera Module)
RY5U870-V*002 (Compact USB Camera Module)

I'm guessing the DV6000T has the V*001 version because according to the spec sheet on that module, the LED next to the camera is blue. (It's red on the V*002 module.)

I've had no luck finding non-HP Vista drivers for these webcams, though. Anyone else want to help in this search?

 

i found drivers from fujitsu for the webcam. they are dated 15/12/2006 which is more recent than HP's drivers. according to the txt files the drivers support xp sp1/sp2 and vista.

unzip the file and double click on dpinst.exe to install....

i've tried it in xp and it works.... can't see much in the way of improvements though

here's the link
http://rapidshare.com/files/43454684/P7230_Ricoh_Drv.zip

 

Hi,

My webcam issues actually have been fixed.....I can not make the webcam fail again.

All I did was update to the latest windows vista update and it works. Call me nuts, but my webcam works in yahoo messenger and msn every time now, after reboots, without reboots, etc.

But I'm not holding my breath, but it has been over a week now.

*i may have installed the xp driver , had it fail, then uninstalled it and hit the windows vista update, but I can't remember.*

I absolutely agree that the webcam driver issue for a company this big is inexcusable.

 

brt02: Thanks for the info. I'll try those drivers and see. Worst that can happen is I have to move back to a restore point.

pufftissue: Well that's very good to hear. At least it gives hope that the problem can get fixed. I also installed the XP driver, just to try it, but then it hung my startup, so I had to move back a restore point. I haven't since done a Vista update, though, so maybe that's my next step? Here's hoping.

 

Its not only HP, Dell also has alot of driver problems with vista

 

Guys and gals,

Webcam "fix" was indeed temporary. It no longer works.

 

pufftissue: Sorry to hear that. That kinda sucks.

In other efforts, I'm trying to find any other laptop manufacturers that use this same webcam component. If other vendors (such as Dell, Sony, Gateway, etc.) have Vista drivers that work well for this module, I see no reason they shouldn't work for the HP laptops.

If anyone else comes across drivers from another vendor before I do, please post them here.

 

brt02: The link you gave wasn't letting me download anything. What model/type of Fujitsu laptop did you get that driver from? I'm trying to find a similar driver from the Fujitsu site, but don't know which line to look at.