HP Webcam problem – solution

January 1, 2009, 1:01 am

WEBCAM PROBLEM SOLVED!! (fingers crossed, here’s to hoping…)

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.  Acer Extensa 5210 Chicony Webcam Driver 5.7

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.

URL:: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=149463