webcam

[stacybeltran]

Was wondering if you could further elaborate on what to do next.I don’t see a button on the side of my laptop. I have a HP envy 5000. I have downloaded the latest BIOS. Yes imaging device does show up when I go to device manager.

[c64wood]

What OS are you running? Mine is a Chromebook

[The-_-Saint]

Glad this fixed the issue.  Happy camming

[The-_-Saint]

Glad it is working.  Stinks not having a camera when you need it.

[The-_-Saint]

What steps have you taken to identify the issue?  Is the camera visible in device manager?  If you haven't gotten that far or are unsure please post.

[The-_-Saint]

What steps have you taken thus far?

[The-_-Saint]

@stacybeltran if your device manager sees an imaging device but you cannot use the camera properly there are a couple steps you can take.  

1.   Try another software program to see if you get the same result with them not being able to see you.  Make sure in the program you have selected the correct imaging device in the settings as sometimes it will default to the wrong one.

2.  Go to HP, enter model or have it discover for you and download the newest video/camera driver available for your model.  It will likely be a zip file.  Extract it to directory you can find easily.  Goto Device Manager and uninstall the imaging device.  Then go to the menu at the top and click on "action" and scan for new hardware.  When it finds the camera it may install thendriver automatically.  In any event click to update the driver and browse to the directory where you extracted it.  If it finds it, install and test camera (reboot might be needed).  If not able to find driver Go into the extracted files and see if there is an "autorun" or "setup" application.  If there is run it from there to install it.

[SaishK106]

Since everybody nowadays is using the zoom to video chat, I thought why not give you all a few tips on how to prevent webcam hacking.

Tip #1: Install antivirus software
Tip #2: Enable Windows Firewall
Tip #3: Use a VPN on public Wi-Fi networks

Tip #4: Avoid traps by not clicking on random links

Tip #5: Don’t download hacked or cracked version of any software online
Tip #6: Disable remote access

[ineram]

I have the same issue, my HP Spectre x360 also doesn't have a switch. I've removed and reinstalled the camera software and driver many times over, in many different combinations, and sometimes I can get it to work for a little while, but after a few minutes to a few days it'll inevitably stop working again.

The camera itself works fine, and when I go to the Windows camera app, it'll always work, I just can't get it to work with any browser or videoconferencing app or anything for longer than a few minutes. I suspect this problem started months ago, because every time I restarted my computer I got the "YouCam.exe stopped working" notification, but I just dismissed it as I figured I never used the camera anyway, and the software wasn't crucial to the camera working. Turns out it is... and once I get it to work, as soon as "YouCam.exe stopped working" pops up, it's over, the only thing that helps is completely reinstalling everything again, and that only works sometimes and only for very short amounts of time at once.

I've tried switching the "share camera with app" setting off and on, does nothing, tried different versions of the YouCam software, same issue, tried not installing the software and only installing the device from the device manager, same issue, it simply will not work. And it has to be a driver compatibility issue, because it used to always work, and the camera still functions as normal in the Windows Camera App, so it's not a hardware failure.

I've also tried using DroidCam as my webcam, and that worked fine (but it's not really convenient and god **bleep** it, there's a camera in my very expensive notebook, it should work).

Support has been less then helpful, they just keep suggesting I restart my computer and download the software, even though I've mentioned dozens of times that I've already done that multiple times and it's not a permanent fix.

I find mentions of this problem dating back about 5 years, so it's a known issue that for some reason has no solution yet...

[The-_-Saint]

@Ineram I assume Windows is up to date with no pending updates?  If so I would conpare the driver from the HP website to the one from Windows.  See if they are the same.  Likely they are not.  See if rolling back the driver to a previous version helps from months ago helps.  Also can check the Microsoft community since Windows updates have been causing a host of issues with drivers.  It could also be that you have the katest and greatest but the apps you are using have not caught up.