HP Webcam reported as working in Device Manager but YouCam says otherwise.

[RickL]

I have a dv9000 series notebook and have done a fresh install of Vista.  Everything's working fine but I can't seem to get my webcam to respond.  I installed what I thought were the correct drivers.  According to device manager 'this device is working properly' but loading up youcam to test I find it cannot connect to the cam.

Any assistance would be appreciated, thanks.

[BBraxton]

Found youcam and youcam2 but am not familiar.

What other programs could be used to test the webcam's operation?

[taylorman]

I am in the same situation here. I had put XP on this computer and the webcam worked fine. I recently did a fresh install on Vista Ultimate32 with a new harddrive and all the updates and nothing seems to help. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. It shows up in Device manager and lists it is working properly, however, no programs seem to be able to access or recognize the webcam.

[RickL]

Having that exact problem.  Updated the driver with the instructions found online to no avail.

[SrEstroncio]

Having the exact same problem in my Pavilion dv5 Notebook PC with Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit.

Althought it is a recent problem, my webcam worked fine with YouCam and HP Quickplay for the first two months

and then suddently YouCam started telling me that there was no plugged camera found and HP Quickplay now says

the camera can't be accesed because it seems to be in use even though it is not.

I really look forward to advice on this issue. 

[asc32k4]

I think that I have the same problem! The webcam in my tx2510us worked for two months. Today I use a Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit.

In Quickplay I receive the message "The webcam cannot be used because is in use by another software".

I used the driver for "Acer Crystal Eye Webcam", the default "USB webcam driver" from microsoft and "USB 2.0 1..3 UVC Webcam" from Sonix.

Is this a hardware problem or software problem?

Best regards!

[MajorPain]

I had a similar issue doing an upgrade on a new machine I just bought. HP HDX 16 (X16-1370US) with the HP Mediasmart Webcam software (YouCam 2.0 essentially rebranded).

The OS with the machine was Vista Home Premium. I upgraded (from DVD) to Vista Ultimate (becuase I needed the domain login features, etc.)

Upgrading went off without a hitch, however I could not get the camera to work with the software. It worked great with Google chat (something to try to make sure hardware is still functional). I got a similar error as above and the camera was not in use by other programs.

I downloaded and installed the YouCam software from the HP website and replaced the Mediasmart version, same error. I installed the trial version 3.0 of YouCam from Cyberlink website, same error (very similar).

After MUCH research and reloading of various versions it dawned on my that perhaps all of the Windows security modules might view the webcam as a security risk and not allow the hardware to be activated without proper permission. Wait for it..... wait for it.....

Yea, I "right clicked" on the program in the start menu and said "Run as Administrator"..... it has worked ever since. Go figure. I wasted a day of my life and that is all it was (for me at least - or appeared to be).  In any case, here are the steps I took to resolve it.

Installed HP Mediasmart Webcam from Recovery Manager.

Installed YouCam from HP Website (which uninstalls previous)

Installed YouCam v3 from Cyberlink website (http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/trials/youcam/download_en_US.html) - also uninstalls previous

Had an epiphany...... right clicked the program in the Start menu and "Run as Administrator"

Camera started working...

Re-installed HP Mediasmart Webcam (which uninstalled previous "working" trial version) - to test it

Camera still working fine...

That's all I have... been tinkering with it for a day or so on-and-off. Glad it is back now.

Good luck.

Keith

[Chls122]

I just upgraded from Windows Vista home premium to Windows 7 Home premium, had the same issues... when i ran the HP MediaSmart Webcam as an admin worked fine! So apparently the issues are still happening from the vista to 7 switch.

[aleiram51]

I seriously made an account just to thank you!

I have had this problem for MONTHS and all it took was that right click.

Thank you so much!