VPCZ11 Webcam issue

Hey,

in about 1 1/2 month im going to shanghai for 3 months of studies. My family and friends want to stay in contact and so do i.

First idea (of course) is skype.

But here comes the problem: my webcam is gone. I cannot find it in device manager, neither the pre-installed "arcsoft webcam companion" can find or connect to it. I wanted to reinstall the driver but there are no drivers on the support side.

has anybody the driver file or can say me what happened to my webcam?

thanks! (my girlfriend, mum and grandparents will thank you too!)

 

AFAIK, webcam uses Windows driver, there is no specific driver.

You may try Scan for new hardware, and see if it finds it.

If I understood correctly, Skype doesn't open/start webcam. I have z22, and uninstalled arcsoft companion as it's not necessary for proper work.

Cheers,
Miki

 

Scanning for new devices doesn't help. I've tried it allready and it did not find anything.

Any other ideas? Is there maybe a hidden shortcut to en-/disable the camera?

 

You have to download drivers for your camera/webcam to work. the one you want is called WebCam Companion® 3 Software and it should be available on the sony support website. Here is the link for the US drivers. you might have to download another one depending on where you bought your notebook.

 

That's the same Software i had on my Z before. Didn't work with the old version, doesn't work with a reinstalled version.

It tells me "Keine Webcam gefunden oder Webcam funktioniert nicht richtig" (No webcam found or webcam doesn't work properly)



Thanks for the help until now. I hope we will find out what's the problem and can solve it!

 

Tech mode on

The camera is connected through USB and should appear as "Sony Visual Communication Camera" in the device manager. Its USB location should be 0000.001a.0000.001.002.000.000.000.000

You can check that with USBDeview or lsusb in a linux live cd. There are no drivers needed to make the camera work under windows (microsoft automatically installs ksthunk.sys and usbvideo.sys).

If the camera does neither appear on USBDeview, lsusb nor device manager, probably the cam is defective or so is the respective wiring. The 4 camera wires are routed through the left barrel hinge and go up to the upper bezel on the left side.

If you have the hacked BIOS check that all USB devices are ENABLED, in particular device 8, where the cam is connected to.

Tech mode off

 

And here we go:

USBDeview screenshot

The left hinge you say? A few weeks back i droped my Z (plugged-in) on the left side (directly on the plug :cry: ) from my couch. Since then it's a bit deformed (the hinge is bended upwards a few milimeters). Could this have damaged the cable?

Do you have a pic how it should look like? If i got something to compare, i will open the case and check the cables. But if it is damaged, would it show up in usbdeview?

I didn't hack the Bios but didn't install the recent Bios Update from Sony. Is it recommended to do so? I'm always a bit feared when it's about doing stuff with the bios

 

It could have damaged the cable, camera module, many things - hard to say without actually seeing your laptop from the inside.

I dont have a picture for this particular cable. Check out the disassemble threads in this forum to route the cable. Its quite thin. I described where it sits in the laptops body and display bezel.
The screenshot proves that the camera *was* there (windows saves all the devices in a history in the registry) but is currently disconnected. Probably broken cable or camera. Any other issues since the drop?

I am sure a BIOS update won't help you on that issue. If your laptop runs free of issues, leave the BIOS as is.

 

The full power of the drop hitted the plug and the body. No other complains since then. I'm not quite shure but i think i wasn't able to get it work before the drop.

Ok so im gonna disassemble it and post pictures. The case is a no-brainer but the display bezel could be a hard piece of work. I will start with the body and see what i find.

Stay tuned

 

Here's what i got for you:

bended hinge
As much eye-candy it is to see the uncovered base-unit it's even more painintheass to reassemble it =/


Pics from the inside:

1

2

3

From my point of view, there are no damaged cables. Yes it is a bit bended but still looks ok for me.

Do you really think the webcam itself could be damaged? I think it is build tough enough to survive such drops (less than a meter).

Any chance it could be a software-related problem? I don't want to send it in (again) just before my examination period starts...

 

Nope, didn't install it with my clean W7 installation on VGN-Z590, and removed Arcsoft from Z22 first day I got it. My sister installed W7 on Asus Aspire few days ago (she got no OS version), no dedicated driver for webcam.

That crappy camera software is for additional functionality/settings but NOT mandatory for proper work.

It could be broken/disconnected as Pyro suggested, you can try clean install to get to the bottom of this (before sending it for repair, if you decide to). If broken, you may want to buy some cheap external webcam, don't know how much would it cost to repair.


Cheers,
Miki