Sony Vaio FW and msn webcam wont start

Hi,

I got my new fw today and its great.
However, on msn it will not let me display my webcam and only lets me view other people's occasionally.
I havent fiddled with any of the settings on msn, so is there something i am doing wrong? or has anyone else had any similar problems with this laptop and msn webcams?

The webcam itself works perfectly when viewed in the webcam companion 2 software on the laptop.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

Are you trying to run the webcam companion software at the same time?
Then it won't work - (been there....)
Else on Windows Live Messenger, use the "tools" - "Audio and Video set-up" wizard

 

Yep I tried tools and audio video set-up and it said it could not open it. And no i am not running it at the same time.

Any other ideas?

 

What version of Messenger are you using? 2009, build 14.0.8064.206 works flawlessly. Try updating the messenger and maybe unistall/reinstall.
The Audio & video menu should open the same menu options you get from webcam companion. Sounds like something just didn't load correctly.

 

Ok thanks I shall try uninstalling and reinstalling it. I think its the newest type of messenger as I just downloaded from the windows live site.
Hopefully it should work then.

At the time I was installing lots of things as i was just setting up the laptop, so something may have gone wrong with that which would explain it.

Ill come back here if it works

Thanks

 

hey mate, i had this problem few days ago, solved the problem this way; i re-install the messenger. the second thing you should do is close up the webcam program itself from processions. it worked on my laptop.

 

ok cool thanks guys you have been really helpful. I will try that when I get the chance.
As a side point I was not expecting much from the webcam in terms of picture quality, but it certainly rivals my sisters new unibody macbook's, its fantastic, just in case anyone was wondering what the webcam was like.

Thanks

 

Hi again,

After reinstalling msn the webcam still did not work. As before the webcam did not start, a red error message came up in the conversation window saying something about windows not being available at the moment. When I go on tools and audio video setup a message comes up saying it is not available at the moment.

So I am utterly confused as to what to do next? Should I contact sony, but I dont think its a problem with the laptop, more to do with windows or msn.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Have you uninstalled any software from Sony when you were setting up your laptop? Any of the Vaio control options etc? Sounds like you have stopped some services that are required.
Does your Arcsoft web companion software work ok? There is a tab on there for setting back the camera to default settings - try that then see if messenger will start/load. Not knowing which model you have see if Sony had a new driver package for the camera on their support site.