HP Pavilion g6 - webcam disconnected/main driver missing?

[RacA]

Product name: HP Pavilion g6

Product number: A3A09EA#ABU

Dear HP support,

My problem goes as following:

One day I realised I cannot use my built in camera anymore. Tried reinstalling original preinstalled Cyberlink Youcam software, but as you can assume if that worked - I wouldn't be here. Then I tried troubleshooting according to HP guide. The problem is there is no category called "Imaging devices" at all.

I can place two bets on what could actually happen:

a) somehow I managed to delete basic HP webcam 101 driver. The exact name of the device is: USB\VID_05C8&PID_021E&MI_00

b) internal camera itself broke down (it's not unplugged cord issue - made sure myself)

I believe I could try installing basic separate driver for the camera, the problem is I cannot find one/cannot find reliable source. Could you send me/upload it for me? Do you have any suggestions how to proceed in this situation?

[Great-Deku-Tree · Accepted solution]

Hey @RacA ,

Welcome to the HP Forums!

I understand the webcam is no longer working on your notebook.

Make sure when you're in Device Manager you are showing hidden devices. (View > Show hidden devices.) If the webcam is missing it's possible that the Windows Image Acquisition service is corrupted or not working. Make sure this service is on automatic startup and not disabled.

The CyberLink YouCam software only enables extended support of the webcam and does not actually contain drivers. The drivers come from Windows directly and are quite generic. 

I would suggest restoring the notebook to a time when it was working, and if that fails reinstalling Windows before replacing the webcam. To restore or recover tap the F11 key while the notebook turns on to access the HP Recovery Manager.

Hopefully this helps! 🙂

[RacA]

Dear Great-Deku-Tree,

Your suggestion about hidden devices was most helpfull. Somehow I missed this option in the interface -_-

After I made it visible I could just disable and enable it, and for some reason it just started working. Also I am not sure if it was the case but I restored system startup to normal startup, as I messed with selective in the past to improve startup time.

I am testing startup services I am not sure of to determine if any of them had part in the issue.

Grateful for your help,

RacA