Vista Webcam Problem Roundup - Take a hint, HP!

I'm compiling a list of all the webcam-related threads from this forum by people using Vista. I plan to contact HP and include a link to this post. Maybe it will get them to wake up and realize there are consistent problems with their webcams and they have a lot of really frustrated customers.

1. Webcam issues (what's new)
2. built in webcam issues
3. (Creation of Video Preview Failed) Can't use webcamera [HP Pavilion dv6137tx]
4. Fixing Webcam Issues in Vista
5. dv2000 built webcam dont work in Windows Live messenger
6. DV2310US webcam not working, any fixes?
7. dv6548 webcam problem
8. Having a hard time with my new laptop built-in webcam!
9. HP Webcam and Video Chat
10. dv6383ea - Webcam Not Working
11. Msn webcam problems
12. hp webcam patch
13. Webcam problem Dv9000z vista ultimate
14. HP dv9207us - Webcam problem
15. Built-in camera not working since first boot on my new HP dv2324 laptop
16. need help!?!?!
17. dv6000t webcam problem.
18. Pavilion Laptop Issues - Advice
19. Malware may have been causing webcam fault!
20. Fatal error when trying to use webcam with MSN or Skype
21. Vista Webcam - DV9000T Series
22. Quickplay - Webcam Problems DV6375ea
23. quikplay + webcam + super fast playback
24. dv9000t + Vista, Can't change webcam settings
25. Problem with DV6000t built in webcam
26. dv6281 built-in webcam not working: unplugged or used by another programme...
27. Microphone And webcam doesn't work
28. Built-in Webcam not working?
29. Webcam problem on Dv6000
30. Vista and dv9220us webcam problem

Come on, HP! Get with it! Get some real Vista drivers for the webcam! Please!

 

Damm I didn't realize there were so many problems between Vista and the webcam

 

There's really only ONE problem - a fully compatible Vista driver for the webcams.

 

Thanks Dylan

I advise everyone who owns an HP Pavilion notebook and is planning to switch from XP to Vista or vice versa to have a look at

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1118102

Oh and I should point this out: in my case, the Vista driver seems to work fine, but the initial firmware upgrade to get the camera to work in Vista essentially disables the camera in XP. My problem really is about using the webcam in XP. So if you go back to XP from Vista (as I did) your camera may not work. The recovery DVDs do not restore the factory firmware of the camera!

So what we need is a driver capable of updating the firmware back to make it work in XP. Nobody wants to go to Vista only to be caught in it simply because some hardware can "no longer work in XP".

 

If you buy an HP notebook with Vista pre-installed, you shouldn't have any issues with the webcam, am I right?

 

You may have some issues because the driver isn't great. However, that's the extent of the problems. For me, reinstalling the driver works fine. There are no physical problems with the webcam. It's not as if the thing goes up in flames when you try to use it. ;-)

 

No, almost all the problems in the threads listed are problems people are having with Vista pre-installed. If this were a problem due to upgrading from XP to Vista, I would be much more understanding of driver problems showing up. This is a problem with HP selling Vista laptops out with a terrible driver.

 

Vista came preinstalled in my computer and I had and still have webcam not found errors since the first day I received my computer.

 

DId a clean install of Vista Home Premium on my dv9500t . . . before the first time I ever used the webcam on the new machine. SInce the clean Vista install three weeks ago, not one single problem with the webcam!

 

Zcott, what are you doing to "reinstall the driver"? And does it require a reboot to do so? Until they fix the driver, I'm okay with a step or two to get it working, but what I'm sick of is having to reboot to get it working.

 

I'm using the preinstalled Vista image and havent had a single webcam issue granted I havent used it that much. It works in quickplay.

 

Fortunately I've had no problems with the webcam on my dv9207us - came with the preinstalled vista image. Its used regularly for Skype and YM.


Although I did notice in the device manager that there were 2 Ricoh drivers for it which is weird.

 

If I had to take a guess, I'd say Norton Anti-Virus Software disabled the webcam thinking it was a harmful device.

 

I applaud your effort and wish you the best. I, too, have had nothing but problems with the webcam on my month-old dv2500t. I tried some of the "fixes," but nothing seems to correct the problem permanently. At its core this is a simple driver issue that HP needs to fix. I--and the legions of other HP users affected--will be waiting.

 

This is the response I got from "Kenneth" at HP:

 

And so I replied...

 

Same here. I haven't had an opportunity to use it in any non-QuickPlay environment, but in QuickPlay, it works fine.

 

Try in something that's not QuickPlay. That's one problem people have. It works in QuickPlay first, then they use it something else, then when trying to use it again in something else, it doesn't work. And these aren't "weird" programs either. Live Messenger, AIM, Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.

For a time, if I wanted it to work, I had to first load up the webcam in QuickPlay, then quit out of that, and then load what I really wanted to use it in. Now even that procedure doesn't work. (It doesn't even show up in QuickPlay anymore, so I can't load it there.)

One annoying thing about all this is that from HP Support's point of view "there's no problem" because they'll have you reboot and try the camera in QuickPlay, and of course it works. Of course. It almost always works after a reboot when you try it in QuickPlay. But it's after that when you try using it in other programs, or multiple times, or load some non-QuickPlay program first, etc., etc., that it will give you problems. But HP's support procedures consider the problem solved once you've rebooted and confirmed the webcam works.

 

And Kenneth responded. The e-mail is way too long to paste here, but basically he walks me through re-installing the driver again and checking the functionality in QuickPlay and muvee autoProducer. Then he says that if that doesn't do it, I'll need to send in my laptop for hardware repair. He finished with instructions on how to send in my laptop.

If you want to read his e-mail, you can read it here.

So I responded...

 

At least he read what I wrote this time. Kenneth responded...

 

Same problem here, my notebook came with XP Media Center Edition and I got the Vista upgrade kit from HP (so technically, they should support it). The firmware update that came with the kit is irreversible. They should give a firmware downgrade and I've been asking them for it for about two months now. But all I keep getting is the same email about installing drivers over and over again, or enabling/renabling the Image Acquisition service.

I'm wondering...if so many of us are facing this problem, why isn't HP taking it seriously? If they could give us a firmware update for Vista, why can't they just give a downgrade so that the camera works in XP if someone like me wants to downgrade to XP?

I'm in a fix...the HP Battery check program doesn't work for me in Vista, and the webcam doesn't work in XP. I'm using a relatively new battery and my supplier wants me to report to him with screenshots of the Battery Check every time I have a complaint.

 

I was having issues with my HP webcam. I have dv6327cl, and the only thing that worked was when I went into Device Manager < Imaging devices < Hp Pavillion Webcam and clicked on the Driver tab, disabled the device, waited a few moments and enabled it. It's worked like a charm since.

I'm not really tech savvy. I was just really ticked off and did everything but take a bat to my poor laptop.

Vista has given me quite a few problems, including the site who said I did not have a genuine copy of Vista and I'd have to buy a 90 dollar product key. I had registered it when I got the comp. Brilliant of Microsoft, really.

I really hate it when you invest in something and it gives you nothing but trouble.

But I hope my advice helps somebody else who is frustrated and about to dropkick their comp.

~Danielle

 

In XP, my camera registers as "USB Video Device". No amount of driver installing and reinstalling helps. It seems as if the firmware upgrade shields it from usage in XP. Also, I have a feeling it is "on" (its warm compared to the rets of the surface) even though the light isn't on...

 

Damn I thought I was the only one who had problem with the my webcam. A few months ago I switched over to Vista and now I can't even get the crappy ass camera installed.

 

Has anyone tried the Essential System Update for USB devices at the HP site?

It doesn't have any detailed info, but it might help with some setups.

 

I couldn't find an essential system update for USB devices..can you give us the link?

 

The link is for my specific model number, but I think it should show up for any of the dv6000 series since it's a Vista issue, not a hardware issue:

USB UPDATE

Scroll down near the bottom to see the OS updates. This one might already be part of the automatic Windows updates, but I'm not sure yet.

 

In case you missed the post, I solved this problem for myself. No thanks to HP on this one. It was my own digging and hunting that found it. If anyone watching this thread wants to try out that solution, please let me know if you have success or failure.

My webcam works totally fine now.

 

In my case its an XP issue (after downgrading from Vista, where the camera worked).

 

I think you did not check it right in Vista...It is working in Vista but not for a long And the guy who posted the fix drivers deserves clapping. Now it works for as long as you want it.

 

I purchased a HP dv9506dv recently and the QuickPlay web cam behaved erratically, it would stop working about every other day. reboot sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. I spent two weeks talking to HP technical assistance, tried everything they asked me to including restoring to factory condition. Nonetheless the problem persisted. HP gave me a replacemment and the web cam worked fine for a while but is giving me problems again. Whether it's an issue with Vista compatibility ot HP design fault, I don't know and frankly don't care, HP owes me and other customers suffering the problem an answer and a solution. One more thing, HP claims that the Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 installed in dv9500TX is a 64-bit processor whereas my understanding is that it is a 32-bit processor capable of handling some 64-bit applications with the help of two other devices. Does anyone have a definitive answer?

 

I've had to reinstall the HP Vista driver a couple times after turning of my computer. My webcam works in Windows Messenger and in the HP Webcam Demo Program, but (still) nothing happens when I click on the HP Webcam icon. I have apparently lost that file when I upgraded to Vista. QuickPlay doesn't recognize my webcam either. I am not encouraged by the thread posted by Maverick... that I wouldn't be able to get it to work even if I use the recovery discs........
I tried Dylans suggestion as well and that didn't work either. I tried the Dorgrem program and it wouldn't work with the HP driver very well.

 

I will try this tonight. Disable the driver from the device manager for the webcam. Re-install latest driver from HP. Reboot. Then enable the device driver again for the webcam. Let's see if this works.

I am using yahoo messenger regularly. The first time I turn on the webcam it works fine. But then when I turn it on and then try to turn it back on, I get the error "webcam not connected". It's like the driver is being shut off once you close the webcam via YM. I dunno about the other messaging clients like AOL or Netmeeting. But it seems like the driver is getting shutoff accidentally.

I have a spare webcam connected to the USB and no matter how many times I cycle it at YM, I am not having problems.

 

This is the exact problem a lot of people have experienced. I managed to solve it and the solution worked for many others as well. Here are the steps I took. My webcam works totally fine now.

 

Here my problem. I am running Vista Home Premium on a new HP DV9500 notebook. It has a builtin HP Webcam and I also have a USB Logitech Webcam, When I first started to use the computer a couple of weeks ago, both webcams were working fine. In QuickPlay (and other programs) both web cams showed up and I could use either one just by selecting one or the other.

Then QuickPlay did an "update" and everything went south. The built-in webcam can no longer be activated. In QuickPlay it still shows up but when I select it in favor to the USB I either get a blank page (If the USB is unplugged) or it activates the USB instead of the built in. In the other programs that use the camera (Live Messenger, Skype, etc.) It says can't connect or show a blank screen.

I have checked the Device Manager - the HP Webcam show as being there, working and having the latest drivers. I have removed from the hardware list and reinstalled it and reinstalled the drivers, etc. No joy.

George at HP Tech Support, after first and immediately trying to get me to do a destructive recovery (that's their first response to every thing - easy for them, not for us user), finally got the message that we were NOT going to do a recovery and instead we were going to work the problem and find an answer. I have narrowed down the most likely problem area to be a bad registry entry. I just don't know enough to find and fix it. George says that their "engineers are working on a solution". Since I still have the use of the USB webcam, I can wait for them - unless one of you has a fix?

I would suggest that looking a copy of my registry setup entries and comparing them to the entries to those of a system with a working HP Webcam might highlight what needs to be fixed and how to do it.

Any takers? I really, really, really miss my XP!! This Vista has more bus that a New York restaurant!

Talk to me!