Pancake Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 Ok all i want to do is use an external webcam, but no matter what i do my computer won't recognise it, only the inbuilt webcam. I don't even know how to access the webcam through Vista. I remember in XP there was a "Webcams" folder in Accessories, and i think also a webcam folder in the control panel? Well there appears to be no such folder in Vista, and i can't even find a clear solution online. How ridiculous! I only want to use a bloody webcam!! So 1999!
Happenstance Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 Had a quick look on Google and someone has said that you have to disable the inbuilt webcam in the bios before the external one can be recognised. If thats true then thats rediculous!
Dyson Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 loooool Vista. I feel for you. I've not had to put up with Vista (I'm still on XP..) but every time I hear anything about it, it just sounds awful. Consider getting the Windows 7 upgrade..
Pancake Posted June 4, 2011 Author Posted June 4, 2011 Jesus... i knew Vista was bad, i didn't realise quite how bad. Fucking hell... i guess i'll look into disabling the inbuilt one then! Update: Just disabled the built in webcam via Device Manager, but i'm still none the wiser about how to open the external cam. I've tried just unplugging and replugging the USB in, but still nothing came up.
Retro_Link Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 Try rebooting it with the webcam already plugged in and then once it's restarted see if it shows up under device manager, then try installing/running it.
Pancake Posted June 4, 2011 Author Posted June 4, 2011 It shows up in Device Manager fine, and says that it's working correctly, and all drivers are up to date. But there's still nothing to click on to actually open it! Oh... i give up!! Ridiculous thing!
Pancake Posted June 4, 2011 Author Posted June 4, 2011 No i dont. Come to think of it, they're probably only built for use with messengers and stuff like that. Does it never occur to them that people might want to use them for something other than IM chatting??
Shorty Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 Windows won't just "open your webcam", as in, start displaying a feed from it. Why would it? Webcams aren't designed to be security devices or glorified mirrors. Most people wouldn't want a feed to instantly pop up. Your webcam feed will only appear in dedicated software, like Skype. If you want to just start outputting the feed on your screen, maybe something like ManyCam or web-based iSpy Connect?
Retro_Link Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 This solution seemed to get Vista to regognise USB devices for numerous people WickedMX wrote: I've been experiencing the same problem with usb storage devices for the last few weeks and have visited numerous forums discussing it. After having no joy I decided to take a look around my system folders and have now got these devices working again. While looking around I discovered 2 points of interest: 1.In C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository I had two folders named "usbstor.inf" but each one had a different set of numbers attached to the end of the folder name. - could this be where part of the problem lies? 2.When i looked in my C:\Windows\inf folder i discovered the usbstor.inf and usb stor.pnf files were missing - this definitely had to be an issue. Once I discovered these anomalies, I proceeded to copy the pnf and inf files from the most recently updated usbstor.inf folder to C:\Windows\inf. I then went back to the update driver wizard, pointed to the inf folder and what do you know but they all started working again.
Pancake Posted June 4, 2011 Author Posted June 4, 2011 Thank yooou! I seem to have gotten it working now, via one of those programs! Happy now!
Retro_Link Posted June 4, 2011 Posted June 4, 2011 Thank yooou! I seem to have gotten it working now, via one of those programs! Happy now! So are we invited to the show or...?
Pancake Posted June 5, 2011 Author Posted June 5, 2011 I'm pretty sure webcams aren't exclusively manufactured for taking dodgy pics of oneself. It's just a handy alternative to my digital camera, which i find rather a chore to use for quick litte snaps of stuff i might want to post online.
Jimbob Posted June 5, 2011 Posted June 5, 2011 Oh, makes me laugh that people are still using Vista. That was one god aweful O/S, and one that i am thankfull i got rid of long ago. Now then, just need to hope that if my computer ever breaks down, it doesn't go into one of them computer shops. Even if you give them the disks for what-ever O/S you are using, they will only put the default back on. In my case, Windows Vista (erghh). I don't think i ever had the issue of web-cam installation on a Vista machine, which compared to all of the other issues i had with it would be minimal in comparison.
Shorty Posted June 5, 2011 Posted June 5, 2011 If that happened you could just reinstall Windows 7 yourself?
Kurtle Squad Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 This sort of rubbish is exactly why we avoided Vista. I'm sure Microsoft make every-other Windows crap in order to essentially force people into buying the next one. I hope you have less problems with Vista in future.
Jimbob Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 If that happened you could just reinstall Windows 7 yourself? True, it would be annoying though re-installing everything again. One of the reasons why i dislike using a PC store, the other reason is because they sold me security software, and a month later my PC was in a completly unfit state. This sort of rubbish is exactly why we avoided Vista. I'm sure Microsoft make every-other Windows crap in order to essentially force people into buying the next one. I hope you have less problems with Vista in future. Less problems + Vista, something that is close to impossible in my opinion.
Ten10 Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 (Is still using Vista, and prefers it to XP. Does have Win 7 on the beast of a machine that sits on the stairwell)
Shorty Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 I didn't hate Vista too much when I was using it, but now that most of the machines we have at work are on 7, I do often come across problems on the one Vista machine and think 'yeah... you need to upgrade to 7... Vista sucks...'
Choze Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 You need to upgrade to 7 no reason keeping vista. Its not worth the extra pain.
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