dv6707us built-in webcam does not appear in Device Manager

[xban]

Hi,

I have a Pavilion dv6707us notebook. It appears to have a real physical HP WebCam device on top of the screen (unless I somehow purchased a laptop that was meant as a prop for an Ikea store).

I use Vista 32bit Home Premium with SP1.

However, the webcam cannot be used. In Device Manager, there is not even an entry for "Imaging Devices", so there is no way I can install a driver. QuickPlay and YouCam don't detect anything, which is kind of expected.

I tried the Recovery Manager, but again, I don't get the option to re-install drivers for the webcam.

The only external USB device I have connected to the computer is a mouse.

It seems as if this device is simply not connected internally. The warranty from HP has expired. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Serban

[Jim_Mohr]

try this driver ... may need to REBOOT after installation.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34501-35000/sp34746.exe

should show up under "Imaging Devices" as USB device

( This should work for BOTH Vista and XP )

Message Edited by Jim_Mohr on 01-05-2009 07:22 AM

[xban]

Thanks Jim, but it did not work unfortunately. The installer puts out a DOS window saying "Updating..." and then exits. Vista warns of the failed installation.

Looking inside the unzipped file it seems to first try to find the webcam device in the list of devices existent in the file c:\System.sav\RStone.ini. If it does not find it, it bails, writing a message "No WebCam on UUT" in a file called C:\System.sav\NoWebCam.log. I googled the message and only found a French post with no resolution.

So I looked inside RStone.ini, and it basically is an expanded Device Manager and thus, it cannot find a webcam. This is consistent with my original post, which mentioned that there is not even an Imaging Devices category in Device Manager.

I read the wikipedia entry for Device Manager: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_Manager (also documented here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539), and tried to enable the hidden settings:

C:\Users\serban>set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

C:\Users\serban>start devmgmt.msc

Same thing happens, it never shows any Imaging Devices entry.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Serban

[awesomedarksun]

Do you have any other usb devices connected to the machine at startup? 

If so what are they?? try removing them and restarting, then check if the webcam appears. This is an issue i have expierenced.

Also for that 

C:\Users\serban>set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

C:\Users\serban>start devmgmt.msc

to work

after opening device manager you must go to  view, show hidden devices

[braindead]

try updating quickplay.. sometimes drivers for webcam are included on quickplay.. and i dont know the reason but most of the time this workaround works.!

[hpaul210]

The EXACT same thing is happening to me.Did you ever resolve this issue? If so, how did you do it??

PLEASE HELP!!!!...

[xban]

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hpaul210 wrote:

The EXACT same thing is happening to me.Did you ever resolve this issue? If so, how did you do it??

PLEASE HELP!!!!...

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Sorry. The way I solved it is use an external webcam.

If you have time and skill, I would try to find the disassembly instructions and see if the connectors are properly attached between the screen and the laptop.

Serban

[kanglin79]

I too have this same issue. It happened after the some vista updates. HP cotinues to know that this is an issue and has refused to work with microsoft to fix it.  I currently have no imaging devices listed nor will it accept any driver.  This is the reason why my next computer will not be an HP. Sorry I could not be more helpful but my frustrations at this point have gotten the best of me.

[hillbilly2010]

This happend to me as well, and I scoured the Net looking for an answer, with no luck. Then I gave up, but just a few moments ago, I tried to listen to SomaFM on my HP which caused me to open the WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER for the first time since I re-installed the OS.

Because it was the first time that I had opened it, It went throught the inital setup ( make windows media player defaualt player for music, movies, .... yada yada yada ). I just did all the defaults, and made windows media player the player for everyhing.

Then I had this wierd feeling in my gut, so I open up the device manager and OMG I see that there is HP Webcam under Imaging Devices now!!!!

I dont know if this is what fixed the problem or not, all I know is that it was working two days ago, and now after that it is working.

I really hope this helps you out.

[bobhewson]

I too have aproblem with my webcam.  It was working fine, all of a sudden stopped.  Searched the net and fianlly found a refernce in HP site to install new drivers, did so - OOPs, reformatted my drive!  Fortunately I had data files backed up, but still lost hours in recovering and reloading.  One plus though is my webcam returned.

That was last week, today went to use again with Skype and it is gone again.  Not to be found.  No webcam in device manager, no webCam to be found by install new equipment. 

With Vista computers there is no software discs, just the HP recovery drive and recovery discs.  BUT to use them will put me back to day one and lose everything again.  Anyone have a suggestion as to where the camera dissapears and ho wto get Vista to recognize it. 

My computer is a HP Pavilion dv2000.

Thanks,

Bob