WEBCAM PROBLEM SOLVED!! (fingers crossed, here's to hoping...)

DylanBennett · 08-01-2007, 02:47 AM

I think I solved the webcam problem! I'm still being very, very wary because of how maddening this problem has been. I've now tried my webcam in six different programs, even including YouTube's "quick capture" mode where you can capture video right through the Flash plugin in your browser. I'm very interested to hear what success others have with this (if any). Man, it's so nice to actually be able to USE my webcam now.

Want to know what worked for me? Acer drivers.

I found this driver: Acer Extensa 5210 Chicony Webcam Driver 5.7

(I have also mirrored the file here.)

Here are the exact steps I took.

1. Downloaded the file.
2. Unzipped it to a folder on my desktop.
3. Ran the "Setup.exe" file in the folder that got unzipped.
4. Went through the installer until it got to the end and then let it restart my computer.
5. Waited for my computer to restart.
6. It popped up something saying it was installing the drivers for my webcam. Waited until it was done.
7. Opened the Control Panel.
8. Opened the Device Manager.
9. Find my webcam under "Imaging Devices". I noticed it was listed as "HP Pavilion Webcam" despite having just installed the Acer drivers.
10. Right-clicked on my webcam and chose "Update Driver Software..."
11. Chose "Browse my computer for driver software"
12. Chose "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
13. Unchecked the "Show compatible hardware" checkbox.
14. Scrolled down to the Chicony manufacturer.
15. Chose the "Acer Crystal Eye webcam.
16. Told it to install anyway when it asked me a question about installing that driver.
17. Waited for the driver to be installed.
18. Noted that my webcam was now listed as an Acer Crystal Eye webcam in Device Manager.

And that was it. It appears to work totally fine now! Again, I have my fingers crossed that it won't suddenly break again, but so far so good.

Forgot to note: This is on a DV6000T running Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium.

And here's proof:

I took that with Dorgem, an excellent, free, open source webcam application.

vassil_98 · 08-01-2007, 03:02 AM

Must have been risky but I'm glad it paid back.Well done.

AlanW1980 · 08-01-2007, 06:23 AM

i will be trying this tonight... it's a lot simpler than the hoops I had to jump through last night to get a bluetooth headset working with Vista!!!

mtor · 08-01-2007, 09:00 AM

I will also be trying to do this tonight

DylanBennett · 08-01-2007, 05:49 PM

A whole day of monkeying around with my webcam. Still no problems. It works flawlessly in every program I've tried. Messenger, muvee AutoProducer, Dorgem, Sony Vegas Video, YouTube, and so forth. All work fine.

suland · 08-01-2007, 07:03 PM

tested and works fine here, on dv9500 Thanks for your experiment!

RdKryton · 08-01-2007, 07:29 PM

Working great for me too on a dv9000. Nice job.

soularas · 08-01-2007, 08:43 PM

man you are the best!!!!!

i've tried your solution and works fine.....

note: my webcam is still listed as hp pavilion webcam and works :S

my notebook is an HP PAVILLION DV6386eu

(i've only registered tosay thanks for the tip and of course added to favorites

)

THANKS AGAIN!!!

Johnnyc256 · 08-01-2007, 08:45 PM

The drivers are working perfectly for me so far. Pal talk is working correctly for the first time in months. I am running yahoo messenger, windows live messenger and Pal Talk all at once with no problems. With HP's drivers, Windows Messenger would cause other web cam programs not to see the web cam randomly. So far so good.

Its amazing that HP can't make a driver that works properly for their webcam, but a company such as Acer can.

digicamhelp · 08-01-2007, 10:13 PM

My webcam is working when I use a program such as Skype. But shouldn't I be able to access it through QuickPlay? I can't. I inadvertently deleted the shortcut icon for the webcam, and now I can't even find it in the programs folder.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have a new DV2550.Thanks.